Hey Wazzup? Homeboy style arrives in Dublin. Baggy T-shirts, baseball caps and gold chains - it's Queens gangsta-rap fashion straight from the mean streets of New York City. Think Will Smith, L.L. Cool J, the Fugees and Lennox Lewis. Throw out those fitted suits, grab your tracksuit, layer on the chunky gold jewellery and start hollering WAZZUP! on the phone. Or don't; it doesn't suit everyone. FUBU, the New York fashion-cum-sports label, was launched here at a Fresh & Funky party in HQ, Abbey Street. Considered vulgar by the fashion establishment, the clothes struck a chord with the youth on the streets of America, says Patrick Burke, the Irish distributor of FUBU,
Established back in 1992 by a 22-year-old Daymond John from the basement of his Queens home, the label found fame when celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Magic Johnson, members of American boyband N'Sync, and more recently Ali G, adopted it. New London fusion hip-hop band T P D were strutting their stuff; FUBU sponsor Fresh & Funky nights on Sundays at HQ. Club promoter Gilly Robinson, along with Cork D J Stevie G, has been running the R & B club in Dublin for about six months. Londoner Robinson runs similar events in London's West End, Club Milk in Belfast, the Strand Bar in Derry and the dance clubs of Cyprus.
DJ Stevie G arrives in a jumper, but is soon spotted in the baggy gear. You wouldn't want to mess with these guys.