Clothing: Jewel 8 of 12

Since day one, KC Wonder has represented as a conscious clothing label, educating the people on Hip Hop and history where we can. We know the importance of style and fashion to Hip Hop culture and this is why the eighth jewel in our 12 Jewels collection is 'Clothing'. As a conscious label, we felt the influential Hip Hop trio De La Soul was the perfect inspiration for this Jewel’s collection.

Members of the infamouspositive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric collective Native Tongues and emerging in the late 80s,De La Soul didn’t subscribe to the flashy, food-focused, commercial aspects of Hip Hop culture that was evolving in the 90s.

As group memberTrugoy the Dove (and more recently Dave) spat in De La Soul’s 1996 track Stakes Is High;

"Sick of Versace glasses,
Sick of slang,
Sick of half-ass awards shows,
Sick of name brand clothes.
Sick of R&B bitches over bullshit tracks,
Cocaine and crack
Which brings sickness to blacks,
Sick ofswoll' head rappers
With their sicker-than raps"

We know it is a tad ironic that we’re using this line as inspiration for our Clothingcollection but KC Wonder is a proudly independent conscious label, unlike these other large name brand conglomerates, plus we agree with De La’s statements and this rhyme is still very relevant today.

KC Wonder feels that it is our duty to the people to highlight these shortcomings, as we did in Jewel 1 Knowledge when speaking on high-end fashion brands jacking Hip Hop’s style.

Any Hip Hop head would know that the Stakes Is High was a crucial album for the group’s career and was the first album that was not produced by their long-time collaborator Prince Paul. The title track Stakes Is High was produced by the late JDilla and marked a distinctly different sound for the trio. And though the song was not a commercial hit, it was lauded for its lyricism and critical examination of the decline of Hip Hop. It is almost as though De La Soul could see the future and predicted where Hip Hop was going.

For this collection, the apparel features a silhouette image of De La Soul and the notorious lyrics“Sick of name brand clothes” in the same bubble-like typeface as the Stakes Is High album cover. The design and style of this collection pay homage to the artwork of De La Soul’s fourth studio album, Stakes Is High. As all of the jewel lines, this collection features at-shirt, hoodie, long sleeve crew, snapback hat, and poster.

We hope you’re enjoying this Hip Hop pilgrimage and have learned something new along the way.

Peace and Love,

KC Wonder.