two weeks later, we had a deal. and he invited me to become parter ins with him and go into business. >> he was very selective in who he gave his cloets to. >> back then, that was like the coolest thick. and it just made the sdreem accessible. it made me feel like if he could

do it, i could do it. . >> stores were afraid of this customer. these stores were highly-traded, white suburban and very tradition traditional. >> f a lorve teach or a long ti industry is making those names big and bigger by constantly talking about them.

television very difficult. we came out with it and they didn't know how to identify. so what they did was whoever wore the clothes, too short or snoop dog. anyone orphan on the west coast. and then you've got to associate walking in that store.

i don't know if it was race or not understanding what we were doipg. at that time, the hip hop period, the vibe was this is a fad. it's not going to last from music to fashion. >> i had black and white buyers say kind of the same thing. black people won't buy that or white people won't buy that. that's what they would say. people perceived me as a whi grks ger. >> they had to. the nand was from.

>> 1996, this was the start of the business-making transition from being a mom and pop specialty business to being a department store business. >> it was a crazy time. it was on fire. it was a movement going ochb. hip hop was just exploding.

>> it was crazy. >> the only time i stopped typing is when ill asked her. i said i ain't going to charge you? i don't charge my people for nothing. hey terry stop! they have a special! so, what did you guys think of the test drive? i love the jetta. but what about a deal? terry, stop! it's quite alright... you know what? we want to make a deal with you. we're twins, so could you give us two for the price of one? come on, give us a deal. look at how old i am. do you come here often? he works here, terry! you work here, right? yes... ok let's get to the point. we're going to take the deal. the volkswagen model year end sales event ends

on labor day. so hurry in to your local volkswagen dealer today. imagine - she won't have to or obsess about security. she'll log in with her smile. he'll have his very own personal assistant. and this guy won't just surf the web. he'll touch it. scribble on it. and share it. because these kids will grow up with windows 10. get started today. windows 10. a more human way to do. okay! fun's over. aw. aw. ♪ thirsty? they said it would make me cool. they don't sound cool to me. guess not. you got to stick up for yourself, like with the name your price tool. people tell us their budget, not the other way around. aren't you lactose intolerant? this isn't lactose. it's milk.

♪

and they all come there. >> we went to this thing called the magic show in las vegas. we were $300,000 worth of orders. we then come back. we don't have any money. we turn down, like, 27 banks. we take all the furniture we can. we sell what we can.

we move industrial sewing machines in there and we hire a staff. we slept in sleeping bags for a year. and that start today populate the stores. the stores started to sell polar sweets and sweat shirts in august and texas. and then people started to realize who we were. >> fubu was able to do what cross colors didn't in terms of volume. >> while its predecessor did what it did in 180, you're talking $350 million. it went beyond just the local kids in the hood. the leaders in that just naturally used the media and

used tv properly was fubu. fubu was clever enough to put a hat on in the gap commercial and change everything. just change everything. >> l.l. was aults someone who made his own rules. he put fubu in the gap commercial. >> once you hear the gap calling. >> it became, basically, a fubu commercial. >> e wanted to meet this dude. if whole time we're in there, he didn't everyone look at my face. as he's typing the script to the

movie, he sounded like a very intelligent conversation about black culture, hip hop, things like that. the only time he stopped typing was when i asked him. pac,how much would you charge him to do an ad. he stopped. he said i ain't going to charge you, you're black. i don't charge my people for nothing. >> ever since then, you became tight. tupac was one of the reasons why my brands became national and global. they worshipped him like a god overseas in and europe.

>> i've seen places all over europe. that's huh they relate to the music. they don't just listen to it. they embody it. what makes you go to vietnam. you can't explain. i remember the pictures with the black suits the leter. >> when i was back, like, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, i was one of the only kids in italy that was able to listen to hip hop music, rap music. i was getting clothes when it was already not yet popular in europe. it's about freedom.

it's about supporting the roots of the culture. >> the clothes is there. >> you cannot talk about people only in the u.s. anymore. it's come from tokyo, hong kong, paris. it comes from everywhere, anymore. everybody got the same [bleep] it's business. in you're in the right timing with the right marketing, you're going into a bidding war. that's it.

>> they've all had some success. some some more than others. i think people, as they hear it more, they understand it mr and apreern yat it more. >> it's the man who was married to the fabulous. what they did was extraordinary. not only for the hip hop coupleture, but for the you will ban culture. the fashion culture. the music culture smartened up.

and then you have all of news different things. >> they began to sell bits and pieces of it in any way they could. this is when you got all of these fashion labels associated with rappers. >>. >> i will try to show a lifestyle. that's what i'm ultimately trying to do. >> it wasn't after until we saw the numbers.

by the time they were on the scen scene, . >> i think, for shawn john, my whole news and motivation was what i grew up seeing in the streets. taking it and combining it to what i uz seeing on runwayings from all over the world. >> ebb always asked me why i started decybering clothes. i waysically just wanted to look good, man.

i was just, like, looking at myself and saying, well, damn, you look good. >> i just didn't want to make it a fashion brand. i wanted to make it a lifestyle. i wanted to make sure that we're going from the block to the board room. you're able to represent yourself the right way. >> next times we were up against brands like mecca, phatpharm. roccaware. the fit was different and if prices were a little more higher. >> he said, hey, guess what, i'm

going to do urban fashion, but i'm not going to do urban i e'm going to do high urban fashion. >> shawn was about aspiration. he did this high-low thing. at such a big level and turned it into this global brand. le also won the cod award for men's wear. >> winning that award was wigger than sean john. it was bigger than me. when we won that award, as i said, we won that award. we all won it together.

he was able to show that a music brand could make bigger shows. all of the sudden, it became a free-for-all. and there wasn't a celebrity, urban or not that didn't get in the business. >> if i was to buy my son a coat that cost $600, i'm going to send him to school with a bull et proof vest.

the keys to this home belong to mark and alissa anderson. they bought the place four months ago on what was arguably the scariest day of their lives. neither has any idea what the future holds for them. but they bought into a 30-year mortgage anyway. that was bold. they must really believe in themselves. buy in. quickenloans/home buy. refi. power.

hey! let me help with that. oh, thank you! ♪

introducing the one-and-only volkswagen golf sportwagen. the sportier utility vehicle.

well, basely, to start, my expectation of it was nothing other than self expression and style saigsz. a stylization that was there to accompany our music. but i also wanted it to retain its own like polo or tom my hillfigger. >> he says i'm not going to keep wearing everyone educational's stuff when i can have my own line. that makes sense. but if you don't pull together the right team, that is not going to last. you might get real estate in that store for 6 or 18 months, but you're just taking away

another design ear else real estate that's really real about it and can give some good product. >>. >> i mean, there's nothing that made you think that shady was into fashion. you know, as a consumer, you sort of just knew. it was a money play. they put a million million behif these brands. >> the fashion industry is fickle. it goes up just like the economy. what happened? a number of factors.

you have an oversaturation of brands. you had brands moving too fast into the department store business. >> now its's floor space. competition of floor brads. if you're a designer who stays true to who you are, you're eventually going to clash. we had a partner. he wanted to drive all of the time. constantly. >> people offering me deals and i was turning them down. 3%, 4% of my company? you're going do give me 4% of

mine? when somebody's paying for your dream, it's not your dream anymore. >> you can't just say a hip hop key is going to become the next luby thomas. ralph lauren, polo disappeared. you're talking about company that is are able to establish themselves in a society when african americans were discriminated against, economically in business and such. in order to have -- i mean, levis has been around for how long?

forever. unfortunately, they've not had the staying power. depending on the flavor of the day, we wear it, but we put it in a different distinction. i think that has a lot to do about different discussions. distinctions in class and race. brands are identifiers as to who we are from head-to-toe. it's almost like the grass is greener on the other side. >> what do you know about this

coat? >> everybody wants that coat. >> i don't feel safe wearing it. >> this coat right here? >> people rob people for these coats. they're expensive. a lot of the main, tough areas. >> good evening, everyone. i'm joe torez. >> just a short time ago, police charged 16-year-old corey dunton with attempted murder. >> sources say it all started over a fight over a coat and ended with a 14-year-old boy shot whose family fears he might never walk again. >> if you know, you see it. it's all over the news. if i was to buy my son a coat that cost $600, i'm goirng to send him to school with a bullet proof vest.

back in the days when i was young, you got beat up. it's just crazy. it's disturbing. it's really, really disturbing. >> the air jordan frenzy started friday morning. people waiting in line to get their hands on the shoe. >> in ga dwa, four people are arrested as they try to get a pair of shoes p. >> espinoza just spent $180. but, now, all he has to show are cuts and bruises. >> i've got an abundance of shoes. sometimes i sit back and look and i'm, like, dang. >> if you do something someone else is doing, you're not fresh. you're not fly.

what's fly is when you do something no one else does and does it first. verizon now has one simple plan. just pick a size. small, medium, large and extra large. if you need less data, pick small. if you need more, go with extra large-- a whopping 12 gigs for $80 a month plus $20 per phone. pick a size. change it up anytime. it's the simple way to get the best network. and now, get $300 when you switch. only at verizon. take a look at these bbq best cracked pepper sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? ♪ whoomp there it is uh, yeah... well, uh, well there's this one. best insurance mobile app?

yeah, two years in a row. well i'll be... does that thing just follow you around? like a little puppy! the award-winning geico app. download it today.

digestive core.r so choose ultimate flora by renewlife. it has 30 billion probiotic cultures. feel lighter and more energized. ultimate flora. more power to your gut.

by the time we hit the 20 0s, it was, like, wow, you got to watch the trends because of all of the traffic and the activity that was happening online. >> before, when our influences were confined to what was at our reach and now, with the expansion and the power of the internet, i have access to every fashion, look, brand across the world. so i can be whoever i want to be. >> we're in a space where they're exchanging so many ideas, that i think that you're getting back into individual looks. >> it's no longer, like, urban

or punk or this or that. all that stuff, to me, doesn't mean anything now. gld hip hop fashion, right now, people are taking way more risk. they feel empowered with a lot more freedom. it's almost like the more risks you take, the more respected you get. >> everybody want to be recognizing. everybody want to be noticed. i think what really changed fashion, for real, for real, to a lot of things okay to the world embracing homosexuality. >> it's giving them the green light now.

people were scared to just express themselves. now, we learned to just accept each other's culture. >> here's a young guy. and he's wearing stuff that's out the box. he's wear iing a different typef brands.

>> i think it's what was being preached to that consumer in that audience that loves their music. so, now, it's at a point where it's about versace. >> i think everything comes back around. we're at a period where we're trying to buy grksz ucci and otm. that happened in the 80s for me. and that's where we're at right now. most people want things that they can't attain. ip think we, as culture, inspired to buy the gucci and the gurus. that represents to us success.

>> while urban brands were for us by us, there's always this cachet of i'm going to go back to the reliable brands that i'm always used to. somehow, thoesz brands have much more staying power. they represent a particular social class that i want to be at. they represent the ultimate and luxury. you walk in the store and you see 75-year-old women and saddles for horses.

>> the class conversation is bigger than the race kvrgs. that's part of the reason why they're very skeptical about, you know, working with mule zirgss or rappers. we're considered to be lower class than the siners. it suffers from a bad identity. it has a self loathing

atmosphere where we're never as good as american designers as the french or the europeans. >> why are we waiting for exten approval? i think we spend more time than all the integral people there talking about what they love in our industry and the people nay love. >> lately, a lot of people say. oh, yeah, they lobbied you and supported you. it is inspiring because it is kids. they're really spending them and they all come out. i like people that are taking risk. . >> we're not like the

traditional design eers that's come through these doors. it's not what we're trying to do. we've always humbly tried not to say shawn johnson sometimes, depending on who you're talking to. you want to be taken seriously in those fashion talks chlts . >> my brand is 100% influenced by hip hop. it's only my responsibility that i have to do what i did in

music. >> who's to say i gave a definition of what fashion is or what cat goir is. if it's great would recollect, it's great work. >> freedom sort of liberates everything. it's not bound by here. fashion is about authentic experience. that's what being an artist is.

what's fly is when someone come ins and does something that no one else does or does it first. >> to be fre, to me, is to be individualized. >> and when you are fresh and you are recognized, people notice. when you, right here know it, i feel so weird.

♪ >> are you ready? >> where are you from? >> money-making man hatten. you all look kind of fresh. tell me about your fashion. >> what do you daul the fashion overall? >> fresh. >> word, word. what about your fashion, your look.

how do you describe it? >> being fresh is more important than having mund. the entire time i grew up, i only wanted money so i could be fresh. >> fashion is a whole other thing. >> hip hop culture is not just about the music. it's also about a lifestyle.

>> a kind of free for visual style. >> hip hop culture. it had a boldness to it. >> wo . >> we were big dreamers, all of us. the light at the end of the tunnel was always, you know, the pot of gold. the clothes t fashion. >> someone said to me, your cloets are your wings. if you're going to fly, your clothes are going to fly. so wash it and by doing that, we

put it on and it's a whole different story. we take it to the next level. >> the animal kingdom, well, it's a parallel crazy. peacocks t way they flare up. certain african chiefs were really ostentatious. they're really out there with they're whole, like kings, in great britain.

>> if you go through the history of african american culture, particularly of the 20th century, style, fashion, cloets were always a very prominent part of people's identity. it allows one to find their own parenation to the world, so to speak. it kachl for a way for people to be distingt. to be identified in a crowd. to stand out. and i think oaf time, the you think about the indick nous role being played, that you would look your nest.

>> i want gee susz to walk with me. >> they had to make sure that they're slavesment had at least one skbood outfit. so they'll go to churj on sunday, ef though most of them were practicing other african indigenous religionings. >> certainly you did put your best on. >> this is a very point factor of how you see style in the religious environment of the church.

>> if you talk about african american culture, blues, jazz, music hip hop, there's always a unique cloeting style. a unique approach the fashion. >> in toerms of how hip hop has fused together to be a cultural influence, one has to look back. >> little richard, to me, was an extravel gant, out landish black version of liberacci without the sequence. he is still an iconic symbol of

freedom. sfwh are in spite of that, they speak to if you look good, you feel good, which is why they've been so quiet. >> a rat done bit my sister nel

when i was on the moon. i can't pay no doctor bills, k4e7b jeers from now -- >> e.g. happened. it's where you can go and think out a piece of who you are. >> the '70s in south bronx. in a building that had 50 apartments. that's when gangs began.

>> it was extremely important on how you dressed. >> so you must, at all times, have sleeves. >> the art of customizing pip hop, for the most part, got that from the so-called gangs or street panels, without a doubt. i actually cute each one of those out myself and put it on. these are top and bottom blockers in a center parable. all ef these that i put on,

these laces, these beads, this mink fur, this is all added on. this was the classic out law look back then for the street gangs. >> there are stitches here that he made. he saw thmule voo.

>> cornell be in, jamin was ambassador for the ghetto brothers. imstead of real yating, the ghetto bank robberies can be in the paetsz meeting at the boy's club.

we've never look for trouble, man. the thing is, we're not a gang anymore. they made a truce. and so the truce worked for a while. along with the atmosphere. instead of the wars we used to have, it was that battle. people battle with their mouth. right there on the spot. >> all of these crews have the

style of you would puzing on the beverage. 340u hay're more refined and clean. >> lack of a word to the trend that was coming. >> i think the colors from hip  hop came from graffiti. you do your own thing. jean jackets were the first knd

kd. do you like the passaaadd? it's a good looking car. this is the model rear end event. the model year end sales event. it's year end! it's the rear end event. year end, rear end, check it out. talk about turbocharging my engine. you're gorgeous. what kind of car do you like? new, or many miles on it? the volkswagen model year end sales event ends on labor day. so hurry in to your local volkswagen dealer today.

we thought we'd be ready. but demand for our cocktail bitters was huge. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding. fast. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. you can't predict it, but you can be ready. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com.

everyone is looking for ways while to cut expenses.s unique, and that's where pg&e's online business energy checkup tool can really help. you can use it to track your actual energy use. find rebates that make equipment upgrades more affordable. even develop a customized energy plan for your company. think of it as a way to take more control over your operating costs. and yet another energy saving opportunity from pg&e. find new ways to save energy and money with pg&e's business energy check-up.

i lost my mind the first time i went to the fever to hear these rappers and these battles between busy b and grand master

cass. up until that point you had to use your imagination telling you how it was. >> remember in the back you had jammin'. party at the park. we didn't really know hip hop was getting that big. even back then it was all about fashion. it was outrageous at this time but it was like oh he's a superstar, a rapper. that's what they do. you had to pass to wear crazy jackets and cowboy boots. ♪ fresh because i'm the best >> back in the days, if you find any cold crush flyers, you'll see those cats used to dress up. they would get suited for a lot of their events. i mean armani suits.

mink coats dripping to the floor. however, though, because of hip hop being a new form of music and something the youth catered to, basically everybody accustomed to wearing suits on stage started to dumbing it down to keeping it straight b boy. >> the majority of hip hop artists really dressed b-boy style where you have on the lees and the puma's. and a bvd tank top. it was part of the hip hop fashion. >> hip hop fashion was with kind of derived through the music and kind of a, we're not going to follow the rules mentality both in rap music and fashion. ♪

♪ say ho -- ho, ho, ho now scream ♪ >> i remember in terms of making a statement and really influencing me, seeing dunn dmc on stage.r dmc on stage.y dmc on stage. dmc on stage.u dmc on stage.n dmc on stage. with their hats, leather pants an dressed for success you thought meant something else and here they were breaking the rules and winning. i remember that change in my life in the sense of everything that i have been taught was a farce to me from that point. >> what we were on stage is what all the youth wear. that's what all of our fans wear. dressing this way lets them know he's just like me. ♪

>> being in new york with so many people walking past each other on the street every day, you get a chance -- it's like a runway, you know what i sneen all the streets were like runways for different clothing brands. >> there was always all sorts of different flavors in the hood. there wasn't one definitive sort of style. >> guy from brooklyn would have on shark skins, glasses with no lens in it and a crease like i don't know what. that was a brooklyn cat. he didn't have to say anything. you knew he was from brooklyn. a guy from harlem would have on, let's say a ve hour sweet sweat suit. whatever brand the sweat suit was from he would have the sneaker to match. the same thing with the bronx, a mix of harlem and brooklyn

together. queens, queens had their own flow to it. >> i used to go to apollo, amateur night at the apollo. you could be in that venue and know that person is from harlem. that person is from queens. you know, you would just know by the way they were dressed. >> we were fresh. ♪ we were chillin', fresh dipped. no money. no money. no money in the pocket. might have had 50 contract between us. >> the insecurity of not having anything is the only time you can showcase that you do. if you have home and you have roaches and ten people living in an apartment, the only way that you can kind of show that you have anything and feel some kind of status is what you have on your body, what you have on your body is a reflection of how you are economically doing. as a young man, if fresh crispy

gear you getting money. if you are dirty you ain't getting money. everyone prefers to be clean. everyone prefers to have different variations of clothing. it is a status symbol based on insecurity. ♪ >> right now we're standing on the iconic delancecy and orchard street. a historic location that many of us used to shop at in the 1970s. there's a documentary photographer back then i started to take some of my first photographs on this block here. it is interpreted around the world as being fly, being unique, being special. you know, for many, they see it as a strong style. what i see is pride and dignity.

it they took great pride in the way they dressed and carried themselves. i wanted the world to see something like they havent seen before. despite their conditions they are able to have integrity and the pride they take in having clean sneakers and fresh gear that was color coordinated. it helped to inspire people to dress that way. >> you couldn't get a discount anywhere except on the lower east side. >> this was like one big department store but stretched down seven, eight blocks. >> the one thing that they had that they could show off to the world was their clothing. it was very important. they may not have had the best apartment, the best car but they had the best clothing and it was very important to them. because when they put that suit or leather jacket on or the mink jacket on or whatever it was, they were king. ♪

♪ >> for a lot of people who may grow up in the projects or whatever, they want to stand out. so they wear loud colors. i think the colors in hip hop came from graffiti. whatever cans of paint, whatever colors were available for painting those became the cool colors. you did your own thing. you can paint your own design on the back of a jean jacket. jean jackets were the first canvas for hip hop. >> what was really popular is doing names on the side of your jeans, and that's what i was doing a lot of. people paid me to put their

names on the side of their jeans. ♪ standing by the street suddenly you had this -- ♪ ♪ i can't stand around and the closer i get the better it sounds ♪ ♪ when i heard the beat -- >> i remember coming across a black beat magazine with ll cool j on the cover. inside there was an article about his sweatshirt he was wearing, which was an air brushed portrait of himself, as a b-boy. it was painted bay guy named king fade from the shirt kings. >> this is the shirt here that gave the shirt kings notoriety. when ll cool j who is a major, major star, wore this shirt in every photo shoot you could imagine, it took what we were doing in south side jamaica

queens, it made the world notice who we were. >> what shirt kings were about were drawing things that we saw in our community. we basically remixed them, we turned them in to a joke because this became our reality. you know, so we put mickey on crack. >> when times are bad, a lot of people tend to gravitate toward art. art takes your mind to another place. you know, shirt kings, it allowed me to not become something else. ♪ >> shirt kings and dapper dan took europe. what we were thinking in our imaginations, they put it in to reality. >> the belt i'm wearing here, this style stuff dapper dan was putting together on your shoot,

on your baseball bap cap. the welcome v was on your baseball cap, the pouch that hung from your neck. dapper dan would use that where louis vuitton wouldn't. people that could afford it would want that instead of lewis you may walk in to louis vuitton and look down. you feel at home and he's going to cater to your needs and take care of you. >> i believe urban luxury fashion started with people starting to want to apyre to wear luxury brands. they were unobtainable at the time. and he figured out a way to make it attainable. he did what we did with music. we sampled songs, looped them and made it our own. he found a way to do it in clothing. >> let me tell the story. 30 years ago, this whole block was filled with bentleys, rolls

royces, cars you have never heard of to see this man. he was the first to take designer clothes, gucci, louis vuitton and made suits and pants. $1,000 pants. i never bought a pair pa. i couldn't afford no $1,000 pants but this is the first guy who did this. the only way to make it in the business, which i realized early on is when you got raw goods -- if i have a roll of fabric, that roll of fabric is anything i want it to be. anything that the designer didn't have i would embellish it for them. i blackenized it. i made it so that it would look good on us. i took it where they'd never take it. louis vuitton was never wearing clothes like that at the time.

i didn't realize the impact it was having. i wanted to just serve my community and awould be satisfied with the neighborhood i was in, getting respect from them. >> back in the day it was about high-end brands. if it wasn't the actual high-end brand, it was dapper dan. i got the seats done in gucci. >> i had them make me a shaerling once with extra deep pockets in case i needed to have guns. you could do those thing and it cost 2 grand. i thought i was the man. >> i was open 24 hours a day for eight years. may take a three-hour break and for rappers i would have the gate down here. rappers come through and pull the gate up and my policy was

run to the gate. aaron b, rock kim, big daddy cane, salt 'n' pepa, teddy raleigh. i'm not mad at you. i still have a check for $700 that bounced. ♪ [ sirens ] >> let's put the nail in the coffin, first they raided me broke. part two was crank out anything i do on your mtv and mtv gave birth to the rap game. that was their coverage. >> should have come up with the dapper dan brand. he definite ly could have. >> dapper dan was tom ford. before tom ford, he should have been hired instead of shut down. he should have been hired for one of those elite clothes brands back then. he hadded the foresight to do back then what they started to

do ten, five years after him. >> tommy hilfiger would show up in the hood and open up a trunk with clothes. and hand them out to -- it was like the drug dealer, you know, giving you a free hit. and then you are like, i want more. ♪ imagine - she won't have to remember passwords. or obsess about security. she'll log in with her smile. he'll have his very own personal assistant. and this guy won't just surf the web. he'll touch it. scribble on it. and share it. because these kids will grow up with windows 10. get started today.

windows 10. a more human way to do. bill's got a very tough 13lie here...... looks like we have some sort of sea monster in the water hazard here.

i believe that's a "kraken", bruce. it looks like he's going to go with a nine iron. that may not be enough club... well he's definitely going to lose a stroke on this hole. if you're a golf commentator, you whisper. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. this golf course is electric...

♪ >> my -- walk through concert doors and roam all over coliseum floors i stepped on stage at live aid all the people gave and the poor got paid. and out of speakers i did speak i wore my sneakers but i'm not a sneak. my adidas touch the sand of a foreign land with mic in hand and took command. my adidas -- we make a mean team my adidas and me. we get around together and we are down forever and won't be had when bad weather. my adidas ♪ >> the most important thing was sneakers, you know, because if you had some sneakers it was a difficult time. >> a lot of stuff was always built off your shoes. that is what was important. you built your outfit off your

shoes. >> this is what i like to call sneaker heaven. i could wear a brand new pair of sneakers every day for 7 1/2 years. that's a fact. when i was a kid i asked my mother for a pair of sneakers one day. she bought me a mark 5. nobody alive knows what this shoe is. i thought i was the hottest guy in the world because my name was on the shoe. my name is mark. i went on the block and they laughed me off the block because it was a $10 shoe and i got destroyed. getting fresh starts with your feet first. i went to catholic school. you had to wear shoes every day. we'd fake a sprained foot so you could wear one shoe. >> shoes you could be killed r for, too. there is one question you never wanted to hear when somebody you didn't know rolled up on you, that is what's your size.

>> they would go like this, yo, what size you wear? your size, why? why you want to know? if you are alive. if you were a chump and sucker, you would probably be quiet and probably get punched in the face. ♪ >> they would thank you for your shoes. it wasn't a pretty sight. >> i did get robbed one time. >> i was leaving the jew man. these guys got the drop on me. i don't know what i was thinking about going to the bronx by myself. >> i knew a kid up in the bronx, they said you don't get those. we went to the jew man and cop the white and brown. >> after my brother gave me my

allowance back, begged my grandfather for $20 and i could get my shoe dyed at jew man you want everybody to know you have the swag now, or flavor back then, you are dipped, fresh, you are the one. >> it was a competition like everything else in the hood. the way the fat lace started. we used to take laces that came in the shoe, like converse, and stretch them and starched them with starch and iron them. it was a ritual. it took like a half hour to get your -- right. and the way you laced them in your shoes was a different sort of science. the manufacturers, when they lace their laces they go the other way, under and up. us, we go up and under. that's a clear way to tell who's hip in terms of street flavor on the hip hop tip. >> i have been on the cover of village voice, five-page article

based sneakers. i would say this collection is worth a half million dollars. >> here we go yo here we go yo what's the scenario ♪ [ rapping ] >> in the late '80s, growing up in new york, you know, kids were in to fashion and hip hop obviously influenced everything we did. but, you know, at that point it baisk basically meant getting different, you know, designer labels like polo or something like that and wearing it in a particular way. >> you weren't just a regular black kid rockin' polo. we saw new balance, members only. if it wasn't rockin' that it is because you saw them rockin' it and made it his style and other

folks emulated that. for us, that's kind of like a natural thing. >> i remember at the taste of chicago when i first saw him. he had the all over print polo with the wallies an padora and gold chain, gold fronts and i was still like sewing izods on my shirt and stuff. that moment moved me so much. we realized i wasn't in a suburb in high school anymore. >> when i was in school and i went to brown, the first thing i would do is go to yves saint laurent. i was taking my stiepened money and go to louis vuitton or gucci. you are bang, young people are always attracted to or addicted to fashion because it's expression, aspiration.

because you grow up in a world where fashion is so important. a lot of people in hip hop have aspirations and aspiration is can you go in to the store and buy that brand? >> when you think of versace, ralph lauren, it seems like it's far away. it's a dream. somewhere where you would like to go. those people could care less about you. but, it seems like if i can grab that and wear that, i'm living a fantasy. ♪ ♪ >> low lives originated in brownsville and st. john in crown heights, two crews getting fly crews that came together and created a big brotherhood.

you know, that influenced the world of fashion and hip hop abroad. >> a booster is somebody who goes to any store, but in this case expensive stores and steals. and then, you know, it might be $600 jean and you can buy it for $100 from them. >> anybody who shoplifts. >> we were robbing, stealing and all of that. even each other. a lot of people rob your whole house for everything you have. just a polo. they are not taking anything else. i remember taking the train. we'd take the train to 34th street. as soon as the train doors open, everybody rushing in to the store racing to get the stuff. people running in to the street carrying these clothes. some clothes getting dropped and you see super heros out of nowhere to try to protect the store and run back to the train

station and the train tracks and the next stop to get away. >> i knew about low lives but i didn't know what extent. then i met thirston howell and it was crazy is. it was all polo. i didn't even know polo made this. >> it transcended from the likes of the benton and izod la cost, we were attracted to those things before we were touching the polo. the thing with the polo they didn't sell it in the ghettos or local stores in the neighborhood, you had to go to high-end stores on fifth avenue and all of that. so if you went and got that stuff and came back in the hood, you were like rich. we are living in the projects, man. i didn't have furniture in my house but i had polo everywhere, you know? >> classic case of low-life syndrome. this is right here the big low

symbol. the polo, ralph lauren. you know what i'm saying. another low symbol. -- >> thank you, ralph. thank you the cream polo sweatshirt with the cream shah kneel letters across the front i wore in college. thank you for allowing me and so many people thank you, ralph. we were like free promotions for him. >> tommy hilfiger would show up in the hood and open up a trunk with, you know, clothes and hand them out to -- you know, it was like the drug dealer, you know, giving you a free hit and then you are like, i want it. so you are looking for it. you are buying it. he was smart. he knew what he was doing. they knew exactly what they were

doing. they didn't pay grand pooh-bah. they didn't offer official endorsement deals to any of these artists. but tommy hilfiger, ralph lauren, they made a lot of money off of these guys. >> being a promotion walking around in a club, they were introduced to the rappers in the golden era. and them seeing us in the club 50 guys wearing the same shirt. when the rappers saw it they did it in their videos than was going around the world. they were influencing the world through that. stores were afraid of this culture. they really were. they really didn't want the customers in the store. thooe the stores were highly traded white suburban, very traditional. ♪ verizon now has one simple plan.

just pick a size. small, medium, large and extra large. if you need less data, pick small. if you need more, go with extra large-- a whopping 12 gigs for $80 a month plus $20 per phone. pick a size. change it up anytime. it's the simple way to get the best network. and now, get $300 when you switch. only at verizon. there has got to be a way to redeem our hotel points. i just want to take a vacation. this seems crazy. oh really? tell us something we don't know, captain obvious. ok. with hotels.com, when you collect 10 nights you get one free. oh. so you only need to know how to count to 10 to earn a free night at places like that nudist resort. yeah i don't know how that got there. because you stayed there, took a selfie and hung it prominently on the wall. hm? hotels.com. they won't judge your life choices.

thlook what i got.p. oh my froot loops! [sniffs] let's do this? get up! get up! get up! get up! loop me! bring back the awesome yeah! yeah! yeah! with the great taste of kellogg's froot loops. follow your nose!

digestive core.r so choose ultimate flora by renewlife. it has 30 billion probiotic cultures. feel lighter and more energized. ultimate flora. more power to your gut.

♪ do me baby ♪ to what you are doing because i'm about to ruin the image and the style you are used to i look funny but yo i'm makin' money so

world i hope you are ready for me. ♪ i'm a new fool in town and my 120u7b laid down by the underground. i drink a botle of hennessy. so let me introduce myself. >> the explosion of hip hop music in the '90s, hip hop moves in to mainstream which means television through music videos, music television. we had ralph mcdaniels well before mtv documenting our stories, bringing them in to our home every day after school at 3:30 that's what we watched and then we started to see it. we had television shows like "the fresh prince of bel-air" and "in living color" that showed the looks that were not just designer brands that we were used to seeing on "lifestyles of the rich and famous" but brands we can relate to. there are things that catapulted the look to become mainstream. >> the music put a light on us where we have been dressing in the hood.

but without hip hop there was no light in the hood to see what you got on. you know, nobody was like what these folks in the hood. nobody cared about that. they only cared about that when it was in and that birthed the street wear culture. >> the first time we started seeing that urban really had some dollars behind it was through cross colors. here was a brand that was actually started in california by a black fashion executive who actually came out of the surf business, who realized that there was with something going on. he would come to new york all the time and go on the subway and visit spike lee's store in brooklyn. he was seeing how young men were wearing with their clothes. >> i was doing business with a store called merry-go-round enterprises. i started to talk to the buyers

there about who their customers were, who they sold to. it was mainly what the stores refer to as an urban customer. ♪ >> for me it was the african-american customer. i rode the subways in new york because at the time i felt rap music was coming from new york. and that was a definite lifestyle, culture at that time. they were wearing like jeans that were four or five sizes too big. i thought, oh, that's interesting. they are using a belt to hold them on. so i thought, well, i could do something like that where it was a baggy silhouette. however, the waist was a waist that would fit that person's body. my medium was a large.

my 32 was a 36 silhouette with a 32 waist for a bottom. no one is really saying, you know, i'm designing for this customer. i'm designing for this market. i'm designing for streetwear. i design from the ghetto, for the street and those were all the thoughts going through my head. ♪ now this is a story about how life got flipped turned upside down ♪ >> i hired a marketing guy at the time by the name of david stennett and i said why don't you call up the fresh prince of bel-air and, you know, see if they are interested in wearing our clothes. and i'll never forget, he came back and said, karl, you won't believe what's happening. they love your stuff. they were looking for something like this but didn't know it existed. they love it. they want more. two or three nights later, there

he was on the "fresh prince of bel-air" wearing our clothing. >> thanks, residents, have a holly jolly christmas. my brother, you have a problem with my -- why don't you tell me that to my face then. we can do whatever you want to. it is your world squirrel, i'm just trying to get a nut. >> next thing in living color called us. oh, we saw your stuff. ♪ and then later what i was told, you changed the whole spec of the young man's market. fitted silhouettes aren't working anymore. so i think the industry began to change their specs where everybody else started to do larger sizes. >> '92, really '90 is when baggy jeans started but '92 is when

you know for sure it had impacted. even's pa everybody's pants were with big. >> i was a freshman in college when it peaked and the idea there was clothing that united young people and races it was intriguing for me. the idea of clothes that made you proud of your ethnicity. here was a time when women were really wearing those same oversized clothes, just as much as the men were. i think of tlc before i think of anyone wearing cross colors and being an influence in wearing a men's brand. >> no one really catered to the women when it came to trying to dress us. it was a male's game. i remember the first time i saw tlc wearing cross colors. i was like oh, hmm, got my attention. let me see. made me want to bring out more of the woman in me. they really created a spark.

like wait a minute, i want to shine, too. i need some bright colors. >> it became clothing for everyone. it was celebrities loved it because we embraced celebrities. we embraced the music artists. never was there a company that reached out to artists and said wear my clothes. i think we were the first to do it. so we were definitely on to it. >> cross colors within four years went from zero to $100 million. so the success of cross colors then birthed a series of other entrepreneurs that decide we want to create our own brands, too. so out of cross colors came this phenomenal group of individuals from jeff tweetie, june ambrose, tony shellman who went on to launch several brands from mecca to paris nation. april walker and i can go on and on and on. >> we wanted to get in the denim

business and we did our research and found out that guess was manufactured in california. my friend found a factory that was manufacturing guess and flew me out here and stood outside of the factory until the workers got off work. we didn't know spanish very well. so we kept saying it to a bunch of people and they kept walking it away. and one guy said -- he spoke english. this was our link to everything. a guy named juan. he showed us where to get the fabrics from and we started movin' and shaking. we took the new york hustle and brought it to california. we had a store on crenshaw boulevard. some entrepreneurs decided to come in to the store and rob us at gun point and took all of our samples, everything we had. at that point we had the choice to either stay here or go back to new york. one day we went to the palladium

and cross colors was in a fashion show and i saw karl jones and asked him how to get in to department stores and i want to get my brand out there and he said come to my office tomorrow and i will be willing to talk to you. i went to his office and he said i saw your stuff and i would be willing to help you out. he invited me to become partners with him in the business two weeks later. >> he was very selective in who he gave his clothes to. he gave it to tupacs, more sophisticated guys. cross colors was tlc, snoop dogg, things of that nature. we made sure they had a different vision and branding was slightly different in how we marketed the brand. >> i did a karl ad and that was the next cool thing.

and it made the dream accessible. it made me feel like if he could do it i could do it. >> he had a sophisticated level. he understand quality, clothing tailoring and he wanted the best. >> a lot of obstacles for if us. we were young. i was 22 years old. i didn't make a lot of money back then. we were kind of learning the ropes a little bit. >> stores were afraid of this culture. they really were. they really didn't want this customer in their store. these stores were highly traded, white suburban and very traditional. for a long time department stores were fighting it. by the time we called urban designers, hip hop designers they couldn't break in to department stores. it was tommy hilfiger, polo. all the big names. the music industry is making those names big and bigger by

constantly talking about them, but, you know, when we get our own brands, we're not being let on the floor to even compete. >> it was very difficult when i was running karl kani to get department stores to look at our product. they didn't know -- most department stores put a name to a product. at the time it was men's sportswear, minutes traditional and men's suits and that was pretty much it. when we came out with karl kani, they didn't know how to identify it. what they did was, too short or snoop dogg or anyone on the west coast, they considered it gang wear. they toned it down and called it street wear. and then it became urban. so imagine this buyer, who's never been to the streets in their life, all of a sudden carrying a line that is considered gang wear and then you have to associate what kind of consumer, demographic is

walking in to the store. >> you know, retailers would tell me the sweat suit is the same as feloc sweat suit. why should i pay yours i don't know if it was race as much as a not understanding what we were doing and at that time hip hop period, the vibe was this is a fad. it's not going to last from music to fashion. >> i have had black and white buyers say the same thing. like black people won't buy that or white people won't buy that. that's what they would say. people perceive me as a wigger. i would get that a lot. it didn't surprise me when the buy side had the same apprehension. when the buy said was a little cynical. like hmm. >> he really didn't want the

consumer in their store but they had to and karl krk ani created the demand you have to have my product. >> wear your karl kani. >> we were the first to have shops next to tommy pill fieger and nautica. >> stores realized what the income and outcome was. they took heed to it and bought a lot of it. >> 1996, this was the start of the business making a transition from being a mom and pop specialty store business to bag department store business. ♪ >> the world is yourselves, the world is yours ♪ ♪ the world is yours the world is yours ♪ >> crazy time. it was like on fire.

hip hop was growing fast. it was a movement going on. fight power. hip hop was exploding in every way and any way. as far as apparel was concerned, it was like there was no main focus. it was just whoever had an apparel company was basically part of the movement and tay got to win. it was crazy. crazy to be a part of it. >> only time you stop typing is when i asked him, i said so how much would you charge me to do an ad? he stopped. he said i ain't going to charge you. you black. i don't charge my people for nothing. ♪ hey terry stop! they have a special! so, what did you guys think of the test drive? i love the jetta. but what about a deal?

terry, stop! it's quite alright... you know what? we want to make a deal with you. we're twins, so could you give us two for the price of one? come on, give us a deal. look at how old i am. do you come here often? he works here, terry! you work here, right? yes... ok let's get to the point. we're going to take the deal. the volkswagen model year end sales event ends on labor day. so hurry in to your local volkswagen dealer today. imagine - she won't have to or obsess about security. she'll log in with her smile. he'll have his very own personal assistant. and this guy won't just surf the web. he'll touch it. scribble on it. and share it. because these kids will grow up with windows 10. get started today. windows 10. a more human way to do. who thrives on the unexpected. ha-ha! shall we dine? [ chuckle ] you wouldn't expect an insurance company

to show you their rates and their competitors' rates, but that's precisely what we do. going up! nope, coming down. and if you switch to progressive today, you could save an average of over 500 bucks. stop it. so call me today at the number below. or is it above? dismount! oh, and he sticks the landing!

i'm out here in las vegas at the magic convention. clothing convention. >> magic is where all of the clothes storing and companies and all of that come and they all, you know what i'm saying, come to buy it and put it in a store near you. >> we went to the magic show in las vegas and didn't have enough money to exhibit or walk in to the trade show.

we wrote $300,000 worth of orders out of this hotel room. we get turned down by 27 banks. we go to my house and get my furniture and sell what we can. the rest we cannot sell we burn oil drums. it takes two weeks because we want to get it out of there and we move industrial sewing machines in there and hire a staff. we slept in sleeping bags next to the machines and for a year we would crank it out of the house. that started to populate the stores and stores started to sell fleece and sweatshirts and people started to realize who we were. >> fubu was able to do what cross colors didn't in terms of max, at its peak, did 100 million and that was in 1990, less than seven years later, you are talking about a brand that

proved itself at $350 million. it was beyond just the local kids in the hood. >> you know, the leaders and that that sort of naturally used the media and used tv properly was fubu. although videos were being dominated by karl kani, fubu was clever enough to put a hat on ll in a commercial and changed everything. just changed everything. ll was with always somebody who made his own rules and because he felt the gap at the time didn't respect the culture or him, he put fubu in the gap commercial. >> you can't resist the shopping big ballin'. [ rapping ] ♪ >> gap spent $30 million on that commercial and it became basically a fubu commercial.

>> pak wore my clothes all the time. i want to meet this dude. set up a meeting wchl goe to pac's room. the whole time he didn't look up. he was typing a script to a movie. as he is typing he is having an intelligent conversation with me about black culture, hip hop, the only time he stopped typing is when i said, so, pac, how much would you charge me to do an ad. he stopped. he said i ain't going to charge you. you black. i don't charge my people for nothing. the man kept his word. two weeks later he was in new york. we did a photo shoot. it was all love and then ever since then we became tight. tupac was one big reason why i helped my brand nationally and

globally because they worshipped him like a god overseas and in europe. ♪ >> i've sine seen the influence of hip hop fashion all over the world. japan and places in europe, all over europe. it's how they relate to the music. they don't just listen to it. they embody it. ♪ >> when you don't understand english, what makes you go to buy an album? the look, transmit something you can't explain. i remember the pictures with the black suits, leather, the gold, the glasses. >> when i was in italy, 15, 20 years ago i was one of the only

kids in italy listening to hip hop or rap music. i was getting clothes and music from my friends who were like you need to go to new york and buy that. it was already not yet popular in europe. i always loved it because it is about freedom. it's about, you know, supporting the roots of the culture. ♪ >> the international market, the hip hop culture is there, the demographic is there. the clothes are there. ♪ >> you can not talk about hip hop only in the u.s. anymore. it is not from the u.s. hip anymore. one world. one world for the money, one world for the music. one world for the fashion. everybody has the same [ bleep ]. everywhere in he world is business. so we don't talk about the future or style, not music, we

are talking about marketing in the timing. if you are in the right timing with right marketing you will do millions. that's it. >> meeting with russell simmons. >> call me. >> currently represent 40 artists. they have all had some success, some more than others. i think people as they hear it more, they understand it more. or appreciate it more. >> a person that must be given a great deal of credit is the man who was married to the fabulous model simmons. russell simmons. what russell and kimora simmons did is extraordinary not only for the hip hop culture but the fashion culture. for the urban fas