
The clothing line started in 2006 with shirts featuring support for Barak Obama. Joining the world of Obama-mania, Hoodman was not afraid to put this political icon on a t-shirt. Hoang's idea is "to use 'cool' to sell politics." This is not a new idea at all. We all remember 2004's "Vote or Die" or "Rock the Vote" campaigns backed by Diddy and other hip-hop elite. Sadly, that campaign ended with no surge in the youth vote at all. Hoang is trying to show that his line of fashion is purely political and liberal to the fullest. With strong anti-war shirts, "I Ain't Got No Quarrel" featuring Ali, there is no wonder that Barak Obama and Youth for Barak Obama aren't willing to set-up fundraising with the shirts anytime soon. Regardless,there is no need to have direct contact with a candidate to keep on showing support. I really hope that Hoang in coalition with other Obama supporters can expand the shirts outside of NYC

The new line that is featured in all of these pictures is not as overtly political as the first line. At first glance someone would think that it is a novelty Nintendo t-shirts line, but on the contrary it is the most socially aware of the lines. This line is about "identity and negative treatment of hip hop identities and characters." I'm in love with this line and I plan on getting a t-shirt or two for sure. To highlight how hip hop is not only to blame for teaching children about violence he creates a juxtaposition of parent friendly (but with a violent reality) Nintendo characters with hip hop stars like DMX, Andre 3000, and Snoop Dogg. Also through this he is displaying how there are virtually no Black or Asian characters in Nintendo games. He jokingly says, " Do The Right Thing? had black people with Italians, why can't Mario Kart?”

sources:
http://formatmag.com/fashion/hoodman/
http://allhiphop.com/blogs/lifestylefashion/default.aspx
2 comments:
thanks for the support!
-eddie
You write very well.
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