Since Andre 3000 of Outcast made his appearance on DJ Unk’s Walk it Out remix and suggested that hip- hop’s dressers edit the proportions of their t -shirts (tall t’s), a surprisingly large number of hip-hoppers have taken heed to the influential rapper and nationally recognized style icon. Although André may have a valid point when he states that the hip- hop version of the t-shirt appears more appropriate to sleepwear, I would like to discuss the stigma that is associated with culturally appropriated style in American society and more specifically in American popular culture.
The excerpt from André’s verses on the Walk it Out Remix pertaining to the tall t follows as such:
Your white tee well to me looks like a nightgown
Make ya momma proud take that thing two sizes down
Then you like the the man that you are or what you could be
André 3000, “Walk it Out (Remix)”
André criticizes the tall tee for being over sized and personally reminding him of sleepwear, which immediately removes any sense of originality or style from the hip- hop version of the American classic. He addresses the notion of the tall tee as directly offensive to black social and familial values by referring to black maternal appreciation of dress and appearance. Most significantly, 3000 associates the tall tee with masculinity, or a minimum version of it. He proposes that, the over sized tall t is indicative of a certain type of masculine appearance that he finds negatively connected with hip hop’s version. Ironically, the hip hop version of the American iconic white t-shirt appropriates black and urban notions of masculinity, style and expression. Over sized white tee shirts and baggier jeans are staples indicative of black dress and expression, which can be traced back to the zoot suit and funk styles. The fact that there seems to be negative ideas associated with hip hop’s version seems hypocritical and racist. The white t-shirt is both an American icon and a symbol of American masculinity—what casual American male dress is supposed to look like. And, a simple variation on design should not offend its definition of status. Throughout the decades, there have been variations on the white t-shirt including the A-shirt or commonly referred to as “wife beater,” which photographer Herb Ritts and then young actor Richard Gere made popular in Ritts’ famous photo of Gere wearing an A-shirt and denim jeans in front of a gas station in 1978. Also, photographs of James Dean, another American male icon, on the set of Rebel Without a Cause, wearing the American fitted version in 1955, denotes the American masculine ideology of bravado and sex appeal. These photographs presented to American popular culture more than just an image of celebrity, but they gave young American males an ideological version of hyper-masculinity. Even contemporary takes on the white t-shirt have presented variations such as the plunging v-neck and the more tailored fitting versions made increasingly available in all most every clothing market. Interestingly, the aforementioned variations of the shirt have not garnered a largely negative reception from American popular culture.
It seems hip hop has followed in the footsteps of cultural appropriation by creating the white t-shirt on its own terms by making the t-shirt larger and longer. However, there seems to be notions of masculinity that the tall tee presents to popular culture that is both unsettling and unacceptable. However, André 3000 appears to be presenting hip-hop (through his actions and his words) with a fresher image of black masculinity--one that is articulate, sophisticated, respectful and attentive to the stigma that accompanies current black male stereotypes.
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