{"id":91931,"date":"2015-07-20T17:31:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T15:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackouthiphop.com\/?p=91931"},"modified":"2015-07-20T18:00:35","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T16:00:35","slug":"interview-rakim-aaron-lacrate-talk-street-wear-dapper-dan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/interview-rakim-aaron-lacrate-talk-street-wear-dapper-dan\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Rakim &#038; Aaron LaCrate Talk Street Wear &#038; Dapper Dan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"91950\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/interview-rakim-aaron-lacrate-talk-street-wear-dapper-dan\/rakim-interview-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?fit=3600%2C5328&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"3600,5328\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"rakim interview\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?fit=365%2C540&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?fit=640%2C947&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?resize=365%2C540&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"rakim interview\" width=\"365\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-91950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?resize=365%2C540&amp;ssl=1 365w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?resize=692%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 692w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/rakim-interview.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Check out the interview with Rakim <a href=\"http:\/\/milkcratenyc.com\/blog\/rakim-aaron-lacrate-talk-street-wear\/\">here<\/a> or read it just below.<\/p>\n<p>AL: We first worked together back in 2000, when I did the A&#038;R coordination for Bathing Ape, and we did that track <em>NYC to Tokyo<\/em> with your old manager the late great <strong>Bill Blast<\/strong>. What was the first street wear item you had to have growing up as a kid?<\/p>\n<p>RA: I think the first time I was particular about having some sneakers was the <strong>Chuck Taylor\u2019s<\/strong>. Na mean, coming up just a little dude. We were rocking the white high tops in the hood heavy.<\/p>\n<p>AL: What dropped next?<\/p>\n<p>RA: After that the shell top <strong>Adidas<\/strong> popped off. I remember telling Mom, it\u2019s enough of these Skips. I used to rip my Skips up and tell Mom, I need a new pair of sneakers.<\/p>\n<p>AL: What was the evolution between that and like, <strong>Dapper Dan<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>RA: <strong>Dap<\/strong>, he\u2019s the OG, he would sew a suit on your back.<\/p>\n<p>AL: For a guy to make custom clothes in that era ,of that quality shows such innovation. That\u2019s the core of American street fashion, it\u2019s to take something dope and flip it on a street level.<\/p>\n<p>RA: And that\u2019s what the hood was doin. We was taking records that was made already, sample it up, do it again. Put that neighborhood touch on it and it\u2019s a whole new world.<\/p>\n<p>AL: And that\u2019s exactly what <strong>Dapper Dan<\/strong> was doing.<\/p>\n<p>RA: Yeah, and I feel <strong>Dap<\/strong> for doing that. He took high fashion and made it for the hood. <strong>Gucci, Fendi, Louie<\/strong>, they wasn\u2019t making leather jackets with the hood. They wasn\u2019t making leather pants. They wasn\u2019t doin all that. So for <strong>Dap<\/strong> to bring all that to the table was genius.<\/p>\n<p>AL: Is it safe to say <strong>Dapper Dan<\/strong> is the first American street wear designer?<\/p>\n<p>RA: We gonna have to say that LaCrate, Dap is that dude. Early.<\/p>\n<p>AL: I agree man. So let\u2019s switch up a little bit. You started out on 4th and Broadway records. After you dropped the first single, how fast were you doing shows?<\/p>\n<p>RA: About 2 weeks later we were booked at <strong>Latin Quarter, Rooftop<\/strong>, and <strong>Union Square<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>AL: Can you describe a little bit what the NYC club scene was like back then?<\/p>\n<p>RA: I remember sitting at the table on the side of the club and <strong>Just Ice<\/strong> would be on the other side of the club. <strong>Just<\/strong> would scream across the club, \u201cYo <strong>Raa<\/strong>\u201d, \u201c<strong>Yo Raa<\/strong>\u201d and me and <strong>Just<\/strong> would go and sit down. I remember when cats like <strong>Alpo<\/strong>, sent some Moet over to the table. The music was loud the club was packed.<\/p>\n<p>AL: Thanks for this interview <strong>Ra<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>RA: <strong>LaCrate<\/strong>, thanks for the interview my dude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Check out the interview with Rakim here or read it just below. AL: We first&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-nUL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}