George Santayana
There is an Atlanta city councilman named C.T. Martin that is spearheading a law to ban baggy pants that showcase the undergarments worn by a large segment of our youth culture. The banned ordinance falls under the indecent exposure law that is already on the Georgia law books. Wow! Just think we are experiencing record highs in unemployment; violent hand-to-hand crime making a comeback (in Martin’s community no less), home envisions taking place at noon and black kids (with their saggy pants)are still getting shot in the back by the police. Yet with this level of chaos in full bloom, in Martin’s backyard, you just have to wonder how he finds the free time to double as the Fashion Police? Why not just pass a law on being a better father?
For the record, I think the baggy pants fashion is one step below retardation, which by the way is not illegal. If I had a son [and… Lauryn Hill if you are listening that offer is still on the table] who attempted to wear his clothes below his ass, I would kick him in his buttocks so hard that the swelling in his trousers would fit snug on his now inflated rectum. See no laws, just size 13 Timberlands, a field goal attempt and a Father-of-the-Year speech.
My California coastal brother recently passed through Atlanta and got wind of the proposed law and agreed with the Councilman. See, this is what I come to expect from 6-7 break-dancer that used to wear Dashikis to family functions. Dwayne, Ike Turner called, he wants his mushroom belt back. There a lot of things wrong with today’s youth culture, but attire is not even in the top 10. After all, we all went through a stupid dress phase.
Recently I saw one half of the Atlanta-based rap group Kris Kross at a car wash. (I’m not sure if it was Kris or Kross) but who ever it was, he had his clothes turned the right way and he once got paid to wear it backwards. Like most kids, they will grow out of the silly closet statements…. It’s the actual closet I am worried about.
Man, I remember paying a lady on my block $2.00 to sew my name on a Puma suit. LL used to roll up one pant leg whenever he did Rock The Bells. Kool Moe Dee’s name was Kool Moe Dee. My high school teacher drove a Pinto. I saw a Muslim at KFC. Quincy Jones, James Earl Jones and Sidney Poitier hand their black revolutionary checks to white women. Snoop has a perm.
Oprah had a show about Hip Hop. I heard the Pope drove a bullet-proof car, where the hell was his faith? Certainly not with the youth. Sorry for the digression.
Do you think clothes really make the man? Well, Bill Clinton got head in the Oval Office and his pants had to be below his ass… and C.T. Martin probably voted for him. Now he wants to vote to fine or lock kids up for wearing baggy pants? I know this fashion came out of the prison culture, but so did the furniture that you are sitting on reading this article.
as always, click on title for bonus clip
1 love,
Ray Lewis
