Source: Power 105 / Power 105
Before Jacob The Jeweler was keeping your favorite rappers dripping in ice, Dapper Dan was keeping the artists who paved the way for them fresh and clean.
The legendary clothing designer of the Hip-Hop game has come a long way from reworking high end name brand clothing into exclusive attire for pimps, hustlers and rap celebrities to holding it down as one of Gucci’s hottest designers.
Today (July 11), the triple OG sat down with Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy to talk about why he stuck with Gucci even after the blackface controversy, how he survived after his factory got shut down, and why he doesn’t start his own clothing brand.
Here are the 10 things we learned from Dapper Dan on The Breakfast Club.
1. Started From The Bottom
Growing up with the legendary Pee Wee Kirkland, Dapper Dan remembers they were so poor they used to steal food and whatnot just to get by. Eventually he began to sell drugs to make ends meet but ended up locked up with one of the men who allegedly murdered Malcolm X. Interestingly enough the alleged killer got “crazy respect” behind bars.
2. Betrayal
Dan remembers the moment he decided to get out the drug game was when he found out the guy who snitched on him and his team was the same man who introduced them to the street hustle. Weirdly enough getting snitched on might’ve been the best thing to happen to him.
3. Saw It Coming Before It Happened
In 1968 Dapper Dan wrote a piece for a newspaper called 40 Acres And A Mule in which he warned everyone about the gentrification that would be coming to Harlem sooner or later. Dan says he studied the subject at length back then and even tried to get some of his drug dealer friends to buy the property up before it could happen. Unfortunately they didn’t listen. No one listened and now 50+ years later Harlem has become, well, gentrified.
4. Shut ‘Em Down
After Dapper Dan got hit with the cease and desist order from clothing brands to shut his business down losing a quarter of a million dollars in the process, Dan says he survived by using his gangster connects and taking his talents to the underground market and “hit every Black city from New York to Chicago” to continue to make his products. At the time Dan says he had a 2000 square foot factory on 120th street in Harlem and “had 23 Africans working for me. 12 in the day time and 11 at night. I was open 24 hours a day.”
5. Reading Is Fundamental
Dan remembers that when his father realized he could read as a child, tears fell out his eyes with pride. He remembered the passion on his father’s face when he got busted and that’s when Dapper said “I’ma read my way out of this.”
6. CIA
Back when he and his crew were revolutionaries, Pan-American Airlines had given them a trip to Africa only to cancel their reservations when they showed up at the airport at the behest of the State Department. Luckily for them a Black philanthropist (who still remains unknown) put up the money for them to travel. Once they got to Ghana he says their passports disappeared and ended up on a desk at the State Department. Later on they found out that an undercover CIA agent was shadowing them while they went on their trip.
7. Why No Dapper Dan Clothing Brand?
Dapper says the reason he decided to partner with Gucci instead of starting his own clothing brand is because he wants that “global money” from countries around the world instead of the few dollars he can make in the US only from people who are familiar with him. Noting that these brands have the power of distribution and name recognition, Dan doesn’t want to fall into a “Jim Crow economy” stating, “I don’t have the power to make moves like that.”
8. Gucci
As for why he signed up with Gucci, Dan says they reached out to him because they were focused on “culture inclusivity” for a minute and felt he’d be the perfect man to help them without being accused of culture appropriation. After meeting the lead designer at Gucci, Alessandro and speaking with him he knew it was the right move.
9. Paying Homage
Dan says that when Supreme and Louis Vuitton had a runway show for their collaboration, they put letters on everyone’s seat stating “This collection was inspired by Dapper Dan,” yet no one seemed to care or even put it out there.
10. Gucci Backlash
Touching on the subject of the Gucci boycott over their blackface inspired products, Dapper Dan says “Don’t tell me there’s any organization in the world that don’t have a number of people who are not racist. Let’s be real about that.” He then added “This will be the first boycott, people of color, Black people have ever had in America that we get zero result. That’s too damn stupid.” He then asked people to look up Gucci’s “Change Maker” program Gucci implemented for people of color looking to get involved in the business.
