Killin It
-Tony
Dec 21, 2010
The Lo Lifes: A Brief History
Today's popular Ralph Lauren culture would not be anything without the contribution of the Lo Lifes. Probably the freshest crew you will ever see, they are essentially a group of individuals who live in New York and during the 90's (and still today) they wore nothing but Ralph Lauren. From the Cookie Jackets, Suicide Sweaters, P-Wing Polos, and Silk Crest Shirts. The following story is a brief history of their story and origin. The Lo Lifes NEVER bought polo, whatever they could steal was what they could wear, and somehow they managed to steal the rarest, craziest, most colorful pieces they could get their hands on.
Read On...
I remember before we became the Lo Lifes, we would see each other on the trains, we used to plot on robbing one another for the Lo item we were wearing. It never came to that though.
It was on the Deuce (42 street and Broadway), when we first clicked together. There were a lot of movie theaters and game rooms there. There was mad girls from all over. One of the main attractions on the Deuce was the photographers with all the different backgrounds to take your pictures in. We were steppin' up to take a picture one Saturday night when "Ralphies Kids" were already on the Polo background. Their wears were crisp, but that was the one thing we had in common. So, nigga'z was like "Yo!! lets take this flick together." So both mobs got in one flick together. Little did we know, it would make history according to Brooklyn's streets. "Lo Lifes" were mainly known for boostin', running up in stores and just snatching everything. We made this common in our everyday activities. We turned it into a lifestyle, and to this day it is still the way some original members put food on the table.
When we traveled, we would roll at least 50 or 60 deep and could be recognized by the rainbow of Ralph Lauren labels. By 1989, we grew and had members in the "90'z" (East Flatbush) and East New york. We would get all dressed up just to go out and commit crimes. Sometimes we would go to clubs wearing like 5 different polo shirts each. We would wear one on top of another and switch shirts. All night while walking around the nightclub, your prop status was rated on how much "Lo" you had and how big your heart was.
When Lo Lifes first united, it was a mutual respect from Brownsville to Crown Heights. We did everything together. Boost, fight, party, look for girls and basically shared the same problems inner city youth face. Everyday was a fashion show and a shop lifting spree through upstate malls, Manhattan stores, even fast food restaurants like McDonalds were hit. We stole everything from our deodorant to our milk and cereal for breakfast. Sometimes we got confused for the Decepticons. They did their thing too. The only difference between us was the attire. We stayed extremely "dipped." Our whole mentality revolved around staying "dipped". My man "Shills-Lo" was telling me the other day that he is who he is, because of his Lo Life experiences. The "Lo Life" experiences gave him his pattern of thinking and showed him means for survival and ways to help Mom's pay the rent.
Boostin' became a culture. We don't claim to be the first to ever do it . All we are saying is that we made it go mainstream out on the N.Y. streets and even out in Philly where Boostin Bill, an original member established a whole other episode of Lo Lifes. There was the uptown LoLifes who were Chris, Ibit, Rob, and a whole bunch of Bronx heads who did crime so fast we used to have to race them to the victims, word!! When we first established the Lo Lifes, a lot of us were very young. Ten years and counting have gone by and Lo Lifes spread so much, that many people none of us even knew claimed to be Lo Lifes. On the streets, in the Rap industry, even ABC's 20/20 was planning to do an episode on Lo Lifes. They held a meeting over at ABC and some how we found out about it and got there an hour late. We walked into a room full of different rappers and boosters who claim affiliation to Lo Life. There were even Lo Life hats made which was featured in a "Source" magazine advertisement. None of us had anything to do with it or whom ever designed it. Lo Lifes is a title each original member has lived by and some died by the name. So rightfully, the name is ours.
The Lo Lifes list is endless. There are so many members from both sides that never even met each other. Whether you were part of Ralphies kids or Polo USA, once it was established everyone instantly became Lo Life. Even if you never met the other side.
We would terrorize 42nd street on Friday and Saturday nights. We were always so deep we would never pay to go into movies. There was so many of us, you would be stupid to try and stop one. Even at the stores in the same area, we would steal every 40oz of Old English 800 by just picking them up and walking out. We would be responsible for 75% of the crimes committed up there. As for the department stores we hit, Manhattan was a regular target. Macy*s, B'Altman's, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Ave, Trump Towers, Century 21, BFO's, and like I mentioned before even McDonalds. Our main target was Polo. Either putting it in back packs or stuffing it down girdles. Most of the time when there was so many of us, we would just rush the store and take all you can carry. Leather and Shearlings stores were hit also along with Womens gear stores. This would always be the quickest shit selling and that was how a lot of heads made their money. One thing we all had in common was the love for true hip-hop. We would go to a lot of the most popular hip-hop clubs. We never paid for drinks. We would steal the bottles from behind the bar and stay drunk all night for free. We usually left the club after getting into some shit or taking somebody's shit. A lot of the things we did resulted in consequences. In prison, official heads wore as much polo in jail as in the streets. You had to be a real nigga to be able to keep your Polo in the prison system where inmates would rob each other for expensive clothing.
Empire Skating Rink in Brooklyn was were we met every Sunday. The rink would close at about 5pm. Lo Lifes would unite out front and walk toward the subway headed to Manhattan to get paid. The ill shit was that the entire skating rink on Sundays was composed of boosters. It was a big fashion show. After a while, when we would leave on Sunday, other boosters in the rink knew where we were headed and what we were up to. So, a lot of others would follow us and add on to the chaos. Everybody wanted to be down and every Sunday was a repeat of last week. Except for one week we said we would hit the stores in Manhattan before the skating rink opened Sunday morning. So we went to Manhattan had a quick rush at Lord and Taylor's for all kind of flavor Polo bath robes. Then we went to Empire skating rink, there was at least 40 or us in the middle of the day at a skating rink wearing bathrobes. Of course, we always got the girls. They even got with the program so we had Lo Wives. Stealing was a sport and a source of income and from the way some turned our 10 years later, it is all they may ever know. In the streets we weren't always the culprits, we were preyed upon as well by jealous people who wanted what we had (our Lo) and just didn't know how to get it the way we did. In conclusion, some of us were killed and some of them killed and so on. Ignorant, but the truth. Ten years later, traces of Lo Lifes spread to California and even Japan. Rappers are getting free "Tommy Hilfiger" to advertise, and we are still wondering what ever gave D-Lo the idea for their clothing line? HMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!, it was the original Lo Lifes who started using the word Lo after their names. "The Million Man Rush" is what we call our story just like the "Million Man March", a movement many claimed to be a part of, but only a chosen few can say that "I WAS THERE!"
Imagine the unimaginable, hundreds of inner city youth coming together for a specific cause, "TO GET DIPPED"! (fly, fresh, etc) Which in Brooklyn, it meant your clothes were new and usually from the most flashy designers with the illest colors. Tommy Hilfiger was still an amateur in the streets, Izod was past tense and Versace wasn't even heard of in the hip hop fashion dictionary. Niggas couldn't even pronounce the word until Biggie Smalls came on the seen. The head honcho in the labels was Ralph Lauren's "POLO". In our eyes he was worshiped like God. It was even to the point where some of us would carry a picture of Ralph Lauren in our wallets. "MONEY, HOES, AND CLOTHES" was our motto and "LO" was our life.
The name "Lo Lifes" came about in '88 when Big Vic Lo (THIRSTIN HOWL III) got caught talking to a girl after he just got another girl's phone number. The girl said "You are a low-life" in a disrespectful manner. His reply, "You are right!" I wear "Lo" everyday and "LO" is my life. Then everybody replied, "That's right, We are LoLifes!" It was never officially voted on, or anything it was just the name we lived by.
The Lo Lifes were originally composed of two boostin' posse's from different sections in Brooklyn. There was the Crown Heights half who were originally known as "Ralphies Kids" (Ralph Lauren's Kids). That name was made by G-George who lived on St.Johns and Utica Ave, which was also where "Ralphies Kids" could be found. Then there was the Brownsville half who were originally called POLO U.S.A. (UNITED SHOPLIFTERS ASSOCIATION). That name being made up by Ski-Lo and Pumpkin (Rest In Peace). The Brownsville half were all mostly from the Marcus Garvey Village with others from Van Dyke Houses.
"LO LIFES!"
(SOURCE)
-Tony
Read On...
I remember before we became the Lo Lifes, we would see each other on the trains, we used to plot on robbing one another for the Lo item we were wearing. It never came to that though.
It was on the Deuce (42 street and Broadway), when we first clicked together. There were a lot of movie theaters and game rooms there. There was mad girls from all over. One of the main attractions on the Deuce was the photographers with all the different backgrounds to take your pictures in. We were steppin' up to take a picture one Saturday night when "Ralphies Kids" were already on the Polo background. Their wears were crisp, but that was the one thing we had in common. So, nigga'z was like "Yo!! lets take this flick together." So both mobs got in one flick together. Little did we know, it would make history according to Brooklyn's streets. "Lo Lifes" were mainly known for boostin', running up in stores and just snatching everything. We made this common in our everyday activities. We turned it into a lifestyle, and to this day it is still the way some original members put food on the table. When we traveled, we would roll at least 50 or 60 deep and could be recognized by the rainbow of Ralph Lauren labels. By 1989, we grew and had members in the "90'z" (East Flatbush) and East New york. We would get all dressed up just to go out and commit crimes. Sometimes we would go to clubs wearing like 5 different polo shirts each. We would wear one on top of another and switch shirts. All night while walking around the nightclub, your prop status was rated on how much "Lo" you had and how big your heart was.
When Lo Lifes first united, it was a mutual respect from Brownsville to Crown Heights. We did everything together. Boost, fight, party, look for girls and basically shared the same problems inner city youth face. Everyday was a fashion show and a shop lifting spree through upstate malls, Manhattan stores, even fast food restaurants like McDonalds were hit. We stole everything from our deodorant to our milk and cereal for breakfast. Sometimes we got confused for the Decepticons. They did their thing too. The only difference between us was the attire. We stayed extremely "dipped." Our whole mentality revolved around staying "dipped". My man "Shills-Lo" was telling me the other day that he is who he is, because of his Lo Life experiences. The "Lo Life" experiences gave him his pattern of thinking and showed him means for survival and ways to help Mom's pay the rent. Boostin' became a culture. We don't claim to be the first to ever do it . All we are saying is that we made it go mainstream out on the N.Y. streets and even out in Philly where Boostin Bill, an original member established a whole other episode of Lo Lifes. There was the uptown LoLifes who were Chris, Ibit, Rob, and a whole bunch of Bronx heads who did crime so fast we used to have to race them to the victims, word!! When we first established the Lo Lifes, a lot of us were very young. Ten years and counting have gone by and Lo Lifes spread so much, that many people none of us even knew claimed to be Lo Lifes. On the streets, in the Rap industry, even ABC's 20/20 was planning to do an episode on Lo Lifes. They held a meeting over at ABC and some how we found out about it and got there an hour late. We walked into a room full of different rappers and boosters who claim affiliation to Lo Life. There were even Lo Life hats made which was featured in a "Source" magazine advertisement. None of us had anything to do with it or whom ever designed it. Lo Lifes is a title each original member has lived by and some died by the name. So rightfully, the name is ours.
The Lo Lifes list is endless. There are so many members from both sides that never even met each other. Whether you were part of Ralphies kids or Polo USA, once it was established everyone instantly became Lo Life. Even if you never met the other side.
We would terrorize 42nd street on Friday and Saturday nights. We were always so deep we would never pay to go into movies. There was so many of us, you would be stupid to try and stop one. Even at the stores in the same area, we would steal every 40oz of Old English 800 by just picking them up and walking out. We would be responsible for 75% of the crimes committed up there. As for the department stores we hit, Manhattan was a regular target. Macy*s, B'Altman's, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Ave, Trump Towers, Century 21, BFO's, and like I mentioned before even McDonalds. Our main target was Polo. Either putting it in back packs or stuffing it down girdles. Most of the time when there was so many of us, we would just rush the store and take all you can carry. Leather and Shearlings stores were hit also along with Womens gear stores. This would always be the quickest shit selling and that was how a lot of heads made their money. One thing we all had in common was the love for true hip-hop. We would go to a lot of the most popular hip-hop clubs. We never paid for drinks. We would steal the bottles from behind the bar and stay drunk all night for free. We usually left the club after getting into some shit or taking somebody's shit. A lot of the things we did resulted in consequences. In prison, official heads wore as much polo in jail as in the streets. You had to be a real nigga to be able to keep your Polo in the prison system where inmates would rob each other for expensive clothing.
Empire Skating Rink in Brooklyn was were we met every Sunday. The rink would close at about 5pm. Lo Lifes would unite out front and walk toward the subway headed to Manhattan to get paid. The ill shit was that the entire skating rink on Sundays was composed of boosters. It was a big fashion show. After a while, when we would leave on Sunday, other boosters in the rink knew where we were headed and what we were up to. So, a lot of others would follow us and add on to the chaos. Everybody wanted to be down and every Sunday was a repeat of last week. Except for one week we said we would hit the stores in Manhattan before the skating rink opened Sunday morning. So we went to Manhattan had a quick rush at Lord and Taylor's for all kind of flavor Polo bath robes. Then we went to Empire skating rink, there was at least 40 or us in the middle of the day at a skating rink wearing bathrobes. Of course, we always got the girls. They even got with the program so we had Lo Wives. Stealing was a sport and a source of income and from the way some turned our 10 years later, it is all they may ever know. In the streets we weren't always the culprits, we were preyed upon as well by jealous people who wanted what we had (our Lo) and just didn't know how to get it the way we did. In conclusion, some of us were killed and some of them killed and so on. Ignorant, but the truth. Ten years later, traces of Lo Lifes spread to California and even Japan. Rappers are getting free "Tommy Hilfiger" to advertise, and we are still wondering what ever gave D-Lo the idea for their clothing line? HMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!, it was the original Lo Lifes who started using the word Lo after their names. "The Million Man Rush" is what we call our story just like the "Million Man March", a movement many claimed to be a part of, but only a chosen few can say that "I WAS THERE!"Imagine the unimaginable, hundreds of inner city youth coming together for a specific cause, "TO GET DIPPED"! (fly, fresh, etc) Which in Brooklyn, it meant your clothes were new and usually from the most flashy designers with the illest colors. Tommy Hilfiger was still an amateur in the streets, Izod was past tense and Versace wasn't even heard of in the hip hop fashion dictionary. Niggas couldn't even pronounce the word until Biggie Smalls came on the seen. The head honcho in the labels was Ralph Lauren's "POLO". In our eyes he was worshiped like God. It was even to the point where some of us would carry a picture of Ralph Lauren in our wallets. "MONEY, HOES, AND CLOTHES" was our motto and "LO" was our life.
The name "Lo Lifes" came about in '88 when Big Vic Lo (THIRSTIN HOWL III) got caught talking to a girl after he just got another girl's phone number. The girl said "You are a low-life" in a disrespectful manner. His reply, "You are right!" I wear "Lo" everyday and "LO" is my life. Then everybody replied, "That's right, We are LoLifes!" It was never officially voted on, or anything it was just the name we lived by.The Lo Lifes were originally composed of two boostin' posse's from different sections in Brooklyn. There was the Crown Heights half who were originally known as "Ralphies Kids" (Ralph Lauren's Kids). That name was made by G-George who lived on St.Johns and Utica Ave, which was also where "Ralphies Kids" could be found. Then there was the Brownsville half who were originally called POLO U.S.A. (UNITED SHOPLIFTERS ASSOCIATION). That name being made up by Ski-Lo and Pumpkin (Rest In Peace). The Brownsville half were all mostly from the Marcus Garvey Village with others from Van Dyke Houses.
"LO LIFES!"
(SOURCE)
-Tony
Dec 20, 2010
Martha's Vineyard: The Black Bourgeoisie
LOCATED seven miles off the southeast coast of Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard is one of the oldest and largest Black resorts in the country. Since the turn of the century, it has been a vacation mecca for such prominent Blacks as Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters, Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and famed composer Henry T. Burleigh. As word of the island's hospitality to Blacks spread, many noted Blacks purchased homes there.
A weekend tour of Oak Bluffs, where most Black islanders make their home, reveals that Blacks on the Vineyard are a people rich in accomplishment and history. But their uncommon style is only part of the reason the isle continues to lure Black families back again and again, many for generations.
For Black islanders, the party circuit is as much a part of summer vacation as the island's rich history. From May until September, they host a nonstop smorgasbord of lunches, brunches, cocktail sips and clambakes on the beach. "The whole East Coast of professional Blacks needed a place where they could come together and Martha's Vineyard was that choice of place," explains New York's Dr. Beny J. Primm, who bought his home in 1971 and has been coming to the island since the mid 1940s. "In recent years, Oak Bluffs has also become the vacation place for young East Coast Blacks because it provides a place where they can be involved with one another."
Clearly, for Black islanders, Martha's Vineyard holds a wealth of memories that make it almost impossible to consider vacationing anyplace else. Dorothy West, a 30-year resident who is the isle's unofficial historian and the sole survivor of the famed Harlem Renaissance writers group, puts it this way: "You come once; if you don't like it, you don't come back. Come twice and you're hooked for life."
Vineyard Vines is a clothing line that was started on the Vineyard in 1998, with its classic prep aestetics it looks to provide those summer island visitors an affordable option of dress during the summer months. Taking hints from the boating and yacht club lifestyles, this brand remains true to its initial purpose over 10 years later.
The Black Dog is a restaurant and tavern in Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The restaurant was founded in 1971, and became well known for its souvenir T-shirts, featuring its logo of the eponymous black dog. The Black Dog currently has many locations on Martha's Vineyard and one on the island of Nantucket, as well as in the mainland Massachusetts towns of Falmouth, Provincetown, Newburyport, and Chatham. Outside of Massachusetts they have stores in Newport, RI, Portland, ME, Mystic, CT, and Annapolis, MD.
I can personally remember all of my Jack and Jill friends taking trips up to the Vineyard every summer for as long as I can remember, MV seems to be the haven for Upper Class Black families living on the East Coast, and it has been that way for quite some time. It's all about what bluff you stay on, and with houses running easily into the million dollar range, a summer home hear is no easy accomplishment. You'll be able to catch me lounging on Oak Bluffs in the summer, just give me about 10 years, I should have made it by then.
-Tony
Source
A weekend tour of Oak Bluffs, where most Black islanders make their home, reveals that Blacks on the Vineyard are a people rich in accomplishment and history. But their uncommon style is only part of the reason the isle continues to lure Black families back again and again, many for generations.
For Black islanders, the party circuit is as much a part of summer vacation as the island's rich history. From May until September, they host a nonstop smorgasbord of lunches, brunches, cocktail sips and clambakes on the beach. "The whole East Coast of professional Blacks needed a place where they could come together and Martha's Vineyard was that choice of place," explains New York's Dr. Beny J. Primm, who bought his home in 1971 and has been coming to the island since the mid 1940s. "In recent years, Oak Bluffs has also become the vacation place for young East Coast Blacks because it provides a place where they can be involved with one another."
Clearly, for Black islanders, Martha's Vineyard holds a wealth of memories that make it almost impossible to consider vacationing anyplace else. Dorothy West, a 30-year resident who is the isle's unofficial historian and the sole survivor of the famed Harlem Renaissance writers group, puts it this way: "You come once; if you don't like it, you don't come back. Come twice and you're hooked for life."
Vineyard Vines is a clothing line that was started on the Vineyard in 1998, with its classic prep aestetics it looks to provide those summer island visitors an affordable option of dress during the summer months. Taking hints from the boating and yacht club lifestyles, this brand remains true to its initial purpose over 10 years later.
The Black Dog is a restaurant and tavern in Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The restaurant was founded in 1971, and became well known for its souvenir T-shirts, featuring its logo of the eponymous black dog. The Black Dog currently has many locations on Martha's Vineyard and one on the island of Nantucket, as well as in the mainland Massachusetts towns of Falmouth, Provincetown, Newburyport, and Chatham. Outside of Massachusetts they have stores in Newport, RI, Portland, ME, Mystic, CT, and Annapolis, MD.
I can personally remember all of my Jack and Jill friends taking trips up to the Vineyard every summer for as long as I can remember, MV seems to be the haven for Upper Class Black families living on the East Coast, and it has been that way for quite some time. It's all about what bluff you stay on, and with houses running easily into the million dollar range, a summer home hear is no easy accomplishment. You'll be able to catch me lounging on Oak Bluffs in the summer, just give me about 10 years, I should have made it by then.
-Tony
Source
Dec 19, 2010
Dec 18, 2010
The Black Ivy League
If you go to schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford etc. you literally have unlimited access to the "American" preppy lifestyle. African Americans seeking higher education at places like the aforementioned schools don't have the custom made blazers, polos, ties, or even crests that their white counterparts seem to afford. So as we delve into the discussion of "The Black Ivy League" a consideration for the oldest schools set aside to contribute to African American education. If we want to be considered ivy league, we need to start dressing the part. I've talked to girls at Spelman that seem to think the uniform at Morehouse is Sperry's, khakis, and a polo, we need to start branching off a little more into that sophisticated, colorful, stylish yet classic, prep look. Living in ATL where the locals are already #poloshawty it helps to differentiate yourself slightly through clothes that fit properly, are well coordinated and put together.
Somethings got to give...
-Tony
The Black Prep
I have been behind the scenes, lost in the sauce for a little while, just finished my last first semester of college. Im on the job hunt, hungry as ever, but I am going to start a few projects that have been looming in my mind for a while now. So with that being said, this blog should change significantly over the next few weeks leading up into the New Year 2011 (why wait till the new year to make changes you can make today?) I am going to change this to a black preppy blog, not unlike the ones you have seen elsewhere on the internet, but I am thinking about starting up a small accessories line catered to the prep community. Also, Please be on the lookout for upcoming news regarding CHIT we might be out of sight right now, but don't think for a minute we aren't making moves.
Things you can expect to see on the site in the next few weeks:
Store Features
New Permanent and Guest Blog contributors
Clothing Selections
Editorial Spreads
Poetry
Suggested Readings
How To
Now don't get me wrong, we are going to continue to provide you with the culture you seek, just in a slightly more organized manner.
Sincerely,
The Management
Things you can expect to see on the site in the next few weeks:
Store Features
New Permanent and Guest Blog contributors
Clothing Selections
Editorial Spreads
Poetry
Suggested Readings
How To
Now don't get me wrong, we are going to continue to provide you with the culture you seek, just in a slightly more organized manner.
Sincerely,
The Management
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