classic caps with old school hip-hop styling
The concept is simple: I take classic hats (mostly snapback baseball caps, but I can do fitteds and Kangol bucket hats and more) and lace them up with 8 eyelets and high-quality fat laces.
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About the creator
My roots in hip-hop culture go back over 35 years. I pay homage to the culture, style, music & ethos of hip hop with every cap I make.
Hip-hop started small in the Bronx in 1973, but it's a global phenomenon. It reached me when I was a 13-year-old kid growing up in Exeter, England, in the mid 1980s. I still remember hearing Mantronix for the first time. It changed my life forever.
From then on, I was all about hip-hop culture - not just the music, but everything that came with it, including fashion. I began wearing the early hip-hop styles of the mid '80s, including many different pairs of fat laces added to my Adidas Superstars or Puma Suedes.
These iconic sneakers, laced B Boy style with super fat laces, represent the essence of old school hip-hop style. By taking something widely available and ordinary, and accessorizing it in unexpected ways, hip-hop culture's fashion pioneers were making their mark on the world.
My caps celebrate old school fat laces - and that spirit of unrestrained creativity - in a new way.
Respecting and supporting hip-hop culture
Now in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul - which has a world-renowned hip-hop scene that I was already aware of when I still lived in England - I've been a founding member of UMAHH (the Universal Movement for the Advancement of Hip Hop), a local community organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of hip-hop pioneers, while looking to the future and nurturing the next generation. I've also been involved with the Twin Cities Dilla Days celebrations since their inception 5 years ago, helping to coordinate regular beat battles and annual events to honor the musical genius and legacy of hip hop superproducer J Dilla, otherwise known as Jay Dee or Dilla. In previous years we've put on combined beat battle & break battles for the producers and dancers, and brought the mighty Pete Rock to headline the weekend's events.
Grandmaster Caz, legendary MC with origins in hip hop go back to 1974 and a career that has spanned the four decades, headlined our celebration of the 45th anniversary of hip hop in August 2018. The seminal moment of DJ Kool Herc's "back to school" party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, The Bronx - August 11th, 1973. Caz gave a funny and deep knowledge hip hop history presentation and killed the night with a pure hip hop DJ & MC set. Local hip hop artists filled the rest of the bill, and there were all 5 core hip hop elements happening around the venue. The B Boys and Girls had their own breaks DJ and linoleum set up, MCs and DJs were in full effect on the main stage, graffiti was being created, and knowledge was dropped.
My involvement with the National Hip-Hop Museum in Washington D.C. has given me opportunities to make custom hats for many of hip-hop’s icons and pioneers. I’ve done designs for inductees including Grandmaster Caz, Rakim, Kool Moe Dee, Coke La Rock, MC G.L.O.B.E., Nice & Smooth, Kid Capri, DJ Cash Money, Pete Rock, Chiefrocker Busy Bee, and Grand Wizzard Theodore.
You can also get an exclusive design collaboration with world champion turntablist DJ Cash Money, signed by the man himself, through his Instagram page.
If you have your own design or color combo in mind, contact me to see what I can custom create for you. You can check out the current collection here, or put in a custom request for your own unique design.