Taz Arnold Talks Tights, Childhood Gangs & Style Philosophy
Just another day at Taz’s house. (Photograph by Kevin Amato)
It’s hard not to notice Taz Arnold'the producer/designer’s eye-catching fashion sense stands out wherever he goes. Most recently, he had all the blogs (including us) talking when he wore a pair of leopard skin tights while hitting up shows at Paris Fashion Week with Kanye and the rest of their crew (see the outfit here).
So who is this guy Taz anyway? Hip-hop and R&B fans probably know him from his production with Sa-Ra Creative Partners, a group that’s signed with Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music. Fashion enthusiasts may know him from his recent design work for luxury brand MCM. But Taz is finally ready to properly reintroduce himself and his collective, known as TI$A.
We’ve got a first look at his crazy new video “Mission Statement,” which was created in partnership with Kenzo Digital (the man behind City of God’s Son) for ti$avi$ion.tv. Watch the video below, then continue reading our exclusive interview to get a glimpse inside the unique mind of Taz…
Interview By Brendan Frederick
Complex: What did you want to communicate with this video?
Taz: The objective is to show the aesthetic of the new movement that's building. I kinda look at everything that's happening right now in this whole movement of music and fashion, and it’s like TI$A is spearheading that movement. Mixing the brands up and really showing cats how to like be into the arts, and understand the science of art.
Complex: Who is TI$A? That’s the name of your crew?
Taz: Tisa, in Swahili, means “ninth born.” And “tesa” in Arabic, means “nine.” And in numerology, 9 means completion. Eight is infinity when you turn it on the side, and then 9 is 0 and 1 together, and it means completion in numerology. So TI$a would be a complete vision. TI$A Vision. And it also stands for Taz Is So Arnold. I’m so me! But the collective is called TI$A, and it stands for completion.
Complex: What were you like as a kid? How did you dress?
Taz: As a kid? I’ll say this. In 1986, I was in a prep gang on 108th street in Crenshaw called “The Nerdz Gang,” like the candies. It was a spin-off of being a nerd, but these were like criminal cats riding surfboards, skateboards'all black, mind you'and selling a little weed and shoplifting surf clothes. And that was the first gang that I ever wanted to be in, and like I was in the 6th grade…
I grew up at the beach. Watts is like 10 minutes from the beach'people don't know that. I lived like west of Watts, like Imperial and Crenshaw'that's literally 10 minutes from the beach on the street. I used to boogie board, go snorkeling in the ocean. My dad was a scuba diver; my mom ran on the beach everyday, like 4 miles to the marine and back and she would take me. That was a part of my growing up too, not just the hood. I'm from the hood, but muthafuckas in the hood go to the beach too…it doesn’t cost anything'it's free! [Laughs.]
Complex: [Laughs] That’s true.
Taz: So that was my culture too. Sea culture, and urban shit. Hippie culture and ghetto shit. That's what I was like as I kid. I was a dude trying to rock the best. I was mixing all the surfboard brands in '86 when I was in the Nerdz. I was getting custom-made suede Vans made with the Off The Wall checker board on the bottom with the brass hoops, different colored suedes…whatever, cause you could get custom Vans then.
Complex: So how did you go from being into the surf and skate brands to getting more into fashion?
Taz: GUESS was real big in elementary school for me. GUESS cost like 80 bucks for a pair of jeans. Kids in my elementary school were wearing GUESS with a $300 leather bomber jacket, with brand new adidas on with fat laces. A lot of these kids, their older brothers and parents might have had money, or a lot of them that I knew, their siblings was selling drugs, or an uncle was selling dope, 'cause that was going on. My parents sold drugs when I was a kid. My mother grew weed at my house in the backyard and sold the weed to her musician friends.
Complex: Did they let you smoke weed when you were a kid?
Taz: I never wanted to; I could have. But I’ll put it like this: when my mother was pregnant with me, she took LSD. My mother was a nurse, so I was an experiment for my mom. I was her only kid.
Complex: Would you say your parents were hippies?
Taz: Yeah, they were hippies…it was crazy at my house. Pyramids…my mother is into the sciences. The sacred sciences, magnetizing water, humidifiers in the house to energizer air and shit like that. Her and my dad slept under a pyramid with crystals hanging from it. You feel me? Like in a water bed and shit with a fucking pyramid with the third eye embroidered on the headboard that said “Om”. Now I have this tapestry hanging over my bed. I took it from my moms cause it was in her closet. So yeah, that’s kinda hippie. They never said hippie, I never thought hippie. They're black, and I was living in Inglewood in South Central, but yeah. I was given LSD when I was 3 years old. A half a tab, my mom said. But I never did drugs my whole life until like 3 years ago, when I started smoking weed. I never even drank alcohol, ever, in my whole life.
Complex: Why not?
Taz: 'Cause I just wasn't interested. I was trying to focus on my mission. Be dope. Get money, get it popping, get a nice car. I was thinking like that in high school. Like, I need a house! I need to be owning shit. I was kinda like a ruthless little kid trying to just kill niggas with style and shit. Shit on niggas like, “Oh, ya'll wearing Fila? Ya'll wearing GUESS? I’ma wear this shirt from Maui & Sons with the custom-made Vans and wear the GUESS.”
Complex: So you always had that attitude?
Taz: Yeah, I was always the one with that attitude; I still have that attitude. That's why I outdo cats. I know that sounds like I’m feeling myself, but that's just the truth…I'm exotic with my shit.
CLICK “NEXT” FOR THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW, INCLUDING TAZ’S THOUGHTS ON HIS INFAMOUS FASHION WEEK OUTFIT AND HIS RECENT WORK WITH MCM…
nah March 18, 2009 at 1:50 pm
tryin too hard my dude
Juice March 18, 2009 at 3:27 pm
tryin (way) too hard
light March 18, 2009 at 5:43 pm
i heart taz!!!
his style is bold!!!
his words reflect truth !!!
this is not trying…this is only the truth!!!
“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” -Geothe
westcoast/art school/ hater March 18, 2009 at 10:26 pm
this dude got picked on by the white kids & the black dudes his whole life… After he got to art school people started to ride his nuts for being “progressive”… now he rides kanye’s nuts and coat-tails for a living… your “movement” isnt going any further then this weak ass article and the “hype” you get on blogs from your silly outfits….
RL23 March 19, 2009 at 4:02 am
Can we just wear clothes, live life, and die. Does everything have to be so unnecessary. Do people have to constantly re-create themselves every two years. Just buy pants, shirts and your other necessitates. There is a difference between just wearing clothes and trying to attract attention. And no offense to Mr. Arnold but I do not think he is a “Fashion Icon” or The New Ralph Lauren.
educate March 19, 2009 at 2:54 pm
i normally dont leave comments on blogs…but i just had to, because of the previous ignorant comments
its so so sad…when people just don’t get it! Its due from a lack of “real” education of the mind.
Research the history
Do the math!!!
luvlife March 20, 2009 at 9:41 am
I love this cat. I love this movement..He has fully tapped into his gifts. He’s like a walking magazine. People refer to him for style inspiration and that OK. He does what he does fearlessly and with passion.
Haters step one…. you too can tap in and discover your gifts within …..step to execute …!
ti$A keep gettitin!
tELLY March 20, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Taz is mad original and ahead of his time. The video is genius, and people need to wake up and see the future
SRC March 20, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I love this guy! Its amazing the things we can develop and the places we can go when we become comfortable with ourselves enough to accept our own genius. Keep more of him coming!
suradon March 21, 2009 at 3:22 pm
yo this video is SUPER OFFICIALE!!!!!!!
Bester March 21, 2009 at 3:27 pm
check out the “City of God Son” project this dude Kenzo did, that shit is bat shit crazy for real. Nas Jay Z and Ghostface on some gang war radio program shit
Trilla March 23, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Somebody kill this nigga….
Gutta March 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm
^^^^
Co-sign, I will do it $5.99…Nah fuck that I will do it for free…lmao :D
Libra Salomon March 25, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I watch closely what Taz is doing…he is right about reaching the ‘MASTERS” in style cause thats the way style is, you start from the bottom and work you way up to the the top “MASTERS” in style and fashion. Its not just about style its about elevating your mind,knowledge and understanding yourself to the point were you also evlove in a material way which is the way you express your self with style. Taz Arnold understands why he is on this earth today an playing his role to the fullest.
yf dubble March 30, 2009 at 1:19 am
lol @ them ethugs. now yall wantin to kill niggaz for talkin somethin other than white tees and nike boots? wow that’s wasup. look at the history of our ppl, we are always the most progressive and least supported in the beginning by our own. especially in the arts & sciences. see jimmy h.; sun ra; prince;
ninGa tuRdels April 11, 2009 at 3:45 am
Go look in your closet…or better yet look at yourself now…what are you wearing?…is it a pair of sneakers or boots with the matching denim AND matching shirt AND matching hat AND any other MATCHING accesory….is this what your closet consist of ?simply matchy trendy pieces that may have not been there if they were not embraced by someone else who made it acceptable for you and others like you…now ask yourself what that says about you? ….you have to wait for SOMEONE ELSE to make something “COOL” because you can’t be your own person…you need the approval of the mass in order to feel and be accepted…. If fashion to you is simplicity then by all means be simple….and if it’s complex then nobody has to understand you but you…no explanations… And regardless of what extreme you are on , simple or complex, or somewhere in the middle the idea is to be YOURSELF, EMBRACE YOU…. FTW LIVE YOUR LIFE…AND TELL THEM THE ninGa tuRdels TOLD YOU TO… SHELL YEAH!!!! (now we resume with our regularly scheduled misinterpretaion of others ideas)…
Hayzeus May 6, 2009 at 12:25 pm
so much hate in the world! Back to the drawing board for y’all..
Randy Randhawa August 10, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I love what this cat is about. How he’s saying that you should be true to youself and do what you gotta do. I however don’t like alot of what he wears, but at the same time i love a bunch of shit he wears. Like that blue mcm jacket, ima get me one of those.
Luxury Phoebe October 8, 2009 at 3:40 am
People need to get it together and meet your new master, hating on TAZ is pure ignorance.
Taz I am your largest fan. Fuck Music, Fuck Fashion, you are fucking wise as heck. only a fool would hate on you.
blessings TAZ