During the 2000s, hip hop was becoming one of the most popular and influential music genres around the world. The artists within this music genre had a lot of influence in the style and outfit choices of this time.
It is known that the hip hop fashion of the 200-s is most known for the staple pieces like the baggy t-shirts, sports jerseys, grills, durags, air force ones and baseball caps.
As hip hop became a commercial success, record labels decided to spend more, so that the artists could release bigger music videos.
This allowed more hip hop artists to showcase their fashion sense and styles to a wider audience. The influence of fashion in the 2000s due to hip hop is still felt today.
In this guide, we will be discussing the hip hop style and fashion from the 2000s, that we still know and favor today.
Grills
A very popular and common fashion choice was grills. Grills became really sought after during the 2000s, after fans saw their favorite rappers showcasing their wealth with these pieces of jewelry.
As previously mentioned above, a lot of hip hop artists including rappers started to get used to commercial success and larger label budgets.
This tenant could spend more money and showcase their wealth as well. Grills is one of the best examples of rappers showcasing how much wealth they now have.
Yet when people think of grills, they also think back to the 2000s as well.
Grills are generally associated with southern hip hop artists. This is due to the fact that the majority of artists that were seen wearing grills came from Houston and Atlanta.
Someone we can’t forget about when it comes to grills is Nelly. Especially as Nelly helped make grills much more mainstream, due to his song Grillz featuring Ali, Big Gipp and Paul Wall.
Baggy Clothes
A huge staple in the 200s that was due to the influence of hip hop culture was baggy clothing.
In addition to that, a lot of clothing during this time was exaggerated as well, so clothes were extremely baggy on purpose. A lot of hip hop artists wore this kind of clothing, such as baby jeans and t-shirts.
Then baggy clothing slowly became the norm in society. Baggy clothing was often referred to as urban fashion. As a result of this, new brands were created that specialized in baggy clothing.
These brands included Wu Wear, Fubu, and Phat Form. All the clothing from these brands catered to similar audiences who have a similar fashion sense and taste.
Yet, as the years have gone by, baggy clothing went out of fashion. Instead, a lot of artists preferred to go for much more fitted clothes.
However, there is still a place for baggy clothing in our lives. It is still popular, but just used differently. For example, baggy and fitted clothes are often paired together.
Therefore, fitted or skinny jeans are now often seen paired with a baggy hoodie. This is a really popular way of seeing how hip hop fashion from the 2000s has made a lasting impression on our fashion choices today.
Baggy is still loved, but just not to the excess that it once did, and now is paired with much more fitted clothing.
Air Force Ones
If you are a fan of your sneakers, then you will have most likely heard about Air Force Ones. This brand has its own fan base and culture, due to one of the most iconic sneakers all over the world.
However, the love people have for these sneakers is thanks to the hip hop fashions in the 2000s.
Throughout the 2000s, hip hop artists paired most of their outfits with a pair of Air Force Ones.
A lot of rappers like Dr Dre and Dame Dash made these sneakers really popular, as they would wear a pair of Air Force Ones daily.
Alongside that, not only did Nelly make Grills popular, he also had a helping hand in the popularity of Air Force Ones too.
It has been said that Air Force Ones have been designed in a particular way, that is simple but still looks great.
Due to the surface area of the sneaker being so wide, it gives people plenty of options to create custom designs on it.
Nelly made a song about these sneakers, which then obviously made them a fan favorite, that are still loved today.
Basketball/Football Jerseys
When it comes to hip hop and rap culture, you will always see sports jerseys making an appearance somewhere in the artists’ music videos.
Commonly, you will find that the artists themselves are normally sporting the jersey and wearing their home team.
In fact, that was a big thing that happened a lot in the 90s, but this fashion choice was so popular that the trend carried over into the 2000s.
Thus, over the years the connection between hip hop, athletes and sports has become seamless.
There is a lot of respect and admiration between athletes and rappers, therefore we still see music artists wearing some kind of sports jersey in their music videos.
Timberland Boots
You can thank the popularity of the Timberland boot due to hip hop.
Actually, these boots were originally created with construction workers as their desired audience, yet hip hop turned these boots into a really fashionable piece of footwear to own.
To this day, Timberland is still a very popular brand, and very well known all around the world. It is still very recognizable, and this all thanks to the hip hop culture from the 90s and 2000s brought to this footwear brand.
It has been revealed that Timberland never had any intention for their boots to be worn by rappers. Yet, like a lot of brands, they found popularity and an audience that they never first expected.
This can be said for Vans, Dr Martens and Converse. However, due to the hip hop culture sporting baggy clothing during the period, they needed to wear footwear that didn’t cover their entire foot.
Urban Clothing Brands
In the 90s. A lot of rappers would wear clothing from urban brands such as Fubu, Pelle Pelle, Karl Kani and Lugz.
These urban brands created and produced clothing that was changed for a more urban audience and market.
However, artists and rappers like Diddy, 50 cent and Jay-Z started to create their own clothing brands which were often heavily seen in their music videos.
As their videos were a great way to promote and market their clothing lines.
Brands such as Sean John and Rocawear were originally created in the 90s, but these brands saw a huge influx of popularity during the 2000s.
In addition to that, in the 2000s, other rappers started creating their own brands, like Nelly due to the success of their music careers.
Overtime, artists would use their clothing lines as another way to make more money, which was really successful at the time.
Durags
For a lot of people, a durag is used for hair maintenance to keep your waves and frizz free. However, in the 90s and 2000s, the durag had a more cultural meaning, and played a large role in the hip hop culture at the time.
Throughout the 2000s, the durag was often associated with rappers and artists such as Nelly, Mobb Deep, Jay-Z, Camron, 50 cent, Chamillionaire and Memphis Bleek.
Yet, even today, you can still see durag appearing in music videos and seen as a cultural piece of headwear.
Sweatbands
You’ll notice that with hip hop culture during this time, it was all about taking something and giving it a new lease of life and meaning.
For example, the TImberland boots were designed for construction workers, but rappers made them popular. This can be said about the sweatband. It was created for athletes, and yet the hip hop culture gave it a new meaning.
The sweatband was seen as an alternative to weaning a cap. In addition, we are aware there is a connection between sports and hip hop, thus more and or artists were seen incorporating sports apparel into their style.
Trucker Hats And Skate Culture
The friendship that blossomed between Nigo and Pharrell saw a dramatic growth in skateboard culture being seen in hip hop culture.
There are various music videos that incorporate the music of hip hop and skateboard culture. Somehow, these two cultures manage to blend into each other really effectively.
Also, trucker hats were seen as a great alternative option to the more traditional fitted caps. They symbolized doing things differently, which is what the hip hop culture of the 2000s was all about.
Smart Casual
With hip hop culture, there were two trends running side by side to one another. On the one side you had the baggy clothing and then in contrast there was the slim and smart casual clothing.
It’s quite interesting that originally, the slim fitted clothing that is seen in hip hop during the 2000s was only really favored by a small group of people.
Yet as the decade got nearer the end, this style of clothing grew in popularity. In addition, it was the slim-fitted clothing that pushed baggy clothing out of the limelight.
A lot of hip hop artists could be seen sporting the slim fitted and smart casual look. This included Pharrell, Andre 3000 and Kanye West.
Their slim fitted style was a risk as everyone else favored the more baggy clothing. Yet their risk paid off, as more and more people began to enjoy the more fitted look by the end of the 2000s.
Pink
Pink was a huge color during the 2000s, and this is all thanks to Camron. Before Camron, a lot of hip hop artists wore quite dark colors.
Yet Camron went against this and in the early 2000s you could see him weaning bright pink clothing. Seeing a man wearing pink was a big and bold statement, as pink still had very formative associations.
However, Camron wasn’t bothered, and continued to wear this color. This then led to other hip hop artists incorporating the color pink into their own style of clothing.
Exaggerated Jewelry
In the 2000s, hip hop had been commercialized, and the status of hip hop artists and rappers had evolved.
As a result, hip hop artists were creating and wearing bold and exaggerated pieces of jewelry to show off their wealth and success to the world.
These pieces of jewelry were very attractive to look at, but they were a statement to show off how successful they are.
Jordan’s
Another style of snakes that were made huge due to the hip hop culture of the 2000s was Jordan sneakers. In a wide range of music videos from hip hop artists, you can see these sneakers being shown off.
Therefore, the brand continued to grow, as these music videos served as free marketing for the brand as well.
As a result, Jordan’s are still a well known sneaker brand today and have become a household name.
Rappers enjoyed wearing these and Air Force Ones daily, therefore when a fan saw a rapper wearing a pair of Jordan’s, sales of that sneaker rose immediately.
Baseball Caps
There is a special connection between sports and hip hop, like with sporting jerseys. Yet this also includes baseball caps too.
Baseball caps allowed hip hop artists and rappers to represent their hometowns and cities that they supported.
The popularity and influence that the hip hop culture once had meant that the baseball cap was no longer brought as a way to protect the individual’s head. Instead, the baseball cap became a fashion statement and has various purposes.
The baseball cap could have various color options and could be worn in various ways. It proved to be a great and easy way to show your support for your favorite team or city.
In addition, this piece of clothing benefited from getting free promotion due to music videos it was seen in.
Conclusion
As you can see, hip hop culture and fashion had a major influence during the 200s. Some effects of their influence are still seen today.
Baggy clothing, baseball caps, grills and exaggerated jewelry are now all trademarks of the hip hop culture of the 2000s.
If you’re struggling with fitting in within London, let me give you a piece of advice - change how you dress yourself. Sweats are for at home when no one can see you, and impressions influence everything.
I want to use my website to show you how to present yourself in cities to ensure that you’re not being held back by your clothing choices. So, let’s get to work and get you that bit closer to success!
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