The DMV's own Wale is wearing a suit on cover of Self Made, Vol. 1, the forthcoming project from the artists signed to Miami rapper Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group label, and it is freaking people out.
Wale fans are unaccustomed to seeing him so dressy, and they're also worried that the rapper may be abandoning the Nike Boots that made him "flyer than the rest of 'em," not to mention famous. Add to that the fact that when casually attired rappers don anything tailored, it's often a harbinger of a new watered down, less authentic sound, and it makes sense that people are concerned.
But, while the sight of Wale in a suit has a prompted a glut of Men's Wearhouse jokes on Twitter, it shouldn't necessarily be cause for alarm--wearing a suit doesn't always signal a sell-out.
There are many different types of hip-hop suits. Yes, there is the "shiny" suit immortalized in countless rap lyrics as a symbol of going pop, but there are also gangster/mobster suits (see late N.W.A, early Death Row Records), "mack" suits (see Big Daddy Kane, Pete Nice), and "court date" suits (see Murder was the Case-era Snoop, Tupac).
So, on the occasion of the debut of Wale's new grown-man style, let's revisit just a few of the great moments (and horrible embarrassments) in the history of the hip-hop suit.
1988: Big Daddy Kane releases Long Live the Kane; pretty much everyone in the video for "Ain't No Half Steppin'" is suited up.
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