The high-five revolution - influence of Afro-Americans on American style

Ebony, August, 1991 by Renee D. Turner

From bebop to hip-hop, from cornrows to the fade, from zoot suits to harem pants, and from the high-five to the Arsenio Hall "bark," Blacks have been the pacesetters for American style, defining what's "cool," "fresh" and who's "got it going on."

On the cutting edge of fashion, language, mannerisms and dance, contemporary Blacks are picking up where their forerunners left off. While zoot suits and bebop vernacular set the pace for the Jaz era. the style and rhythmic street narratives of rap music are redefining american pop culture

Black-inspired style and attitude have been transported from the streets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other urban centers to the runways of Milan, the shelves of leading U.S. department stores and the hallways of American schools. It's emancipating - backward baseball caps and loose-cut spants. It's the colorful, graffiti-infused art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the late 28-year-old New York artist hailed as the guru of the hip-hop aesthetic. It's hip-hop vernacular. It's the frenzied dance and rhythms of M.C. Hammer, Heavy D and their disciples - the same rhythms and styles Madison Avenue is using to hawk everything from soft drinks to software. "Black is Back," rhyme the rappers of Public Enemy.

"Rap has made young Whites more receptive to African-American culture," says John Baugh, a Standford University linguistics professor.

Black style, as a result of the wider circulation of Black street music, has penetrated the American psyche.

The trend has been gathering momentum for some time. Michael Jackson's innovative music inspired young Whites in the |80s to don a silver glove, leather strap-up jacket and to Moonwalk. Now the style of M.C. Hammer, the mass icon who made a rap a mainstream genre, is being imitated by Vanilla Ice and the rest of America. Everyone's doing his Running Man and wearing his baggy harem pants and tuxedo-style jackets. His clothes are so much the vogue that a major pattern manufacturer is marketing the style to do-it-yourself fashion fabricators.

The new Black style consists of doorknocker earnings, vibrant Moroccan beads, loose-fitting pants, wildly painted jeans, Ghanaian cloth wrap-around skirts, and other Afrocentric attire. It's Kente cloth crowns atop Reggae-inspired dreadlocks or fade hair cuts, with creative lines shaved into the hair or eyebrows. Even Bart Simpson's towering flat-top hair cut arguably was inspired by Black entertainers like Kid of the rap group Kid n' Play. The red, black, green and gold colors of Caribbean and African nations, worn by American Blacks in pendants and other attire to symbolize the African Diaspora, are being touted by Whites as the latest fashion chic.

"We gave them a major color explosion and attitude," says New York designer Rufus Barkley. "Young Blacks are creating the style of today and it's filtering into the market."

Just as Black-inspired street style is setting new standards, Black language and mannerisms also are crossing cultural boundaries. TV programs are teaching America to say, "Honey don't play that" and to do "two snaps in a circle." Thanks to rap, young people are greeting each other with, "Hey, Homeboy," and "Yo. What's up?"

"We've livened up everyday language," says Dr. Geneva Smitherman-Donaldson, a linguist at Michigan State University-East Lansing, Street vernacular has its roots in African culture, she says, adding that the tradition of giving a word like "bad" and "stupid" opposite meanings is common in West Africa. "We make everyday conversation more interesting by the way we tell a story. When giving compliment, we might say, |She's really wearing that dress."

Thanks to television, more Black mannerisms are being adopted every day. Arsenio Hall, the popular late-night talk-show host, has people barking and winding their fists in the air as a sign of approval. The high-five congratulatory hand slap has moved from the urban basketball court to the sports arena and corporate settings. Even President George Bush has given a high-five in a moment of elation."

"Blacks are constantly reinventing language - conscious and disturbed by the fact that their styles are being expropriated by Whites," says Gerald Early, the Washington University (St. Louis) professor who wrote Tuxedo Junction. "Blacks have always been interested in innovation as far as stylization goes and have always looked for expression through clothing."

The irony, say observers, is that it's rare for any Black to get credit for being a trendsetter.