Am I “upset” that Taz Arnold is charging $75 for snapbacks he found in flea markets and swap-meets and embroidered his logo on the side? Hell naw. This is America and stuff like that happens all the time. Plus, if I was mad about anything it would be because I didn’t think of it first, honestly. He found a hustle and is making bread with it so more power to him.

What I have a problem with are these light weight, fly guy, Big Sean dick riders impersonators walking around like just because TI$A is on the side of their cap, they’re hot shit. Newsflash: paying more money for something that you could get for cheaper does not make you a boss, it only shows that you have more disposable income than most people, you friggin’ douchebag.

I’ve seen a couple dudes around rocking these caps and as both a fan of Taz Arnold’s movement and streetwear enthusiast who can think outside the box, I try to make it a point to give them compliments. In the same light I would give props to the dude with with a snazzy bow tie or a young lady doing damage in those Jordan “Space Jams”, dope is dope and I don’t mind letting people know when they’re hitting on something, sartorially speaking. I think it’s a polite gesture that could really make someone’s day–I know it can have that effect on me at times.

But without fail, each dude I’ve tried to compliment has responded with some sideways “No shit, Sherlock!” attitude that makes me want to slap the fire out of them.

In public.

Like a boss.

In fact, the last time it happened I almost slapped dude for real.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to commend people on their sartorial decisions but I can’t help it. Streetwear is still in its infancy in the Southeastern United States so as an advocate for it’s cause I almost feel compelled to let another fellow enthusiast that he/she is not alone and I appreciate their choice to support independent brands.

The most recent occurrence happened when I was in Greensboro, North Carolina for the Watch The Throne concert. After successfully navigating the arena to find my seat, I found myself restless so I decided to roam the concourse to find and subsequently chop it up with my homie Courtney. But before I met up with him I spotted–directly in my path–a gentleman rocking a dope 10.Deep crewneck sweatshirt and the aforementioned TI$A snapback. He was just standing there, so seeing that it didn’t seem as if I would be impeding his progress to anything, I stopped and spoke. My goal was to exchange pleasantries, maybe hand him a business card and alert him to H1GHER LEARNING–nothing crazy. The conversation was as follows:

“Dope hat, family.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s a TI$A joint right?”

“Yeah! Yeah! It is.”

“True. Don’t seem many of those man…”

He then proceeds to “size me up”.

What exactly does that mean? It’s when a person looks you in the face, allows their eyes to travel down your wardrobe, all the way to your shoes and then once they reach the soles of your sneakers, their eyes return back up your body ending at your head/face. In the corporate world it’s known as a “once over“. People give members of the opposite sex once overs all the time. In most cases, when a dude give a lady the once over, it’s a part of our instinctive “Would I Smang It?” internal conversation. But in the streets (or Watch The Throne concerts), it can be taken as a sign of disrespect–well, I know that most black men feel that way.

Anyway, after Solider Snapback completes the “size up”, he then coyly replies that he knows that you don’t see many of those hats and then he smirks.

Double Yue. Tee. Eff.

I don’t answer him, deciding instead to stare at buddy–just straight ice grill him, ya know? No smile, no nothing, just a blank “Word!?! That’s how you feel?” look on my face and my arms held firmly at my side. I guess once he realized that I wasn’t in the mood for his pettiness the smirk leaves his face and he takes a cautious step back. You know when you get the feeling like some shit’s about to go down and you take that backwards step to evaluate the situation so you can figure out if you need to get the hell out of there or ball up your fist in preparation of a fight? Yeah, he did that.

Content with his subdued body language I left him standing there, found Courtney, and enjoyed the rest of my evening. I’m not trying to go to jail for smacking a Hypebeast around so I let buddy slide (besides, what kind of street cred can one accumulate by beating up a dude that wears size 28 jeans?). What these guys need to understand is that other people may not take kindly to that brand of disrespect as calmly as I did and may make the decision to do something about it (trust, I’ve seen it happen). The moral of the story: your snapback–no matter how “limited” it may be–doesn’t give you the authority to act like a complete dick.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, if you’re a consumer of high-end street fashion items I’d like to alert you to TI$A‘s 2012 vintage snapback commerical. No word on any release dates but if you’re into that kind of thing I’m sure you’ll be able to find out when they release. Now if you’ll excuse me, I feel like getting my two-step on!

*Cues “SouthSide Blood Cuzn” by Taz Arnold*

SOURCE: S4C.