Image via Complex Original
California's Bay Area is a pocket of hip-hop style that's unique to San Francisco, Oakland, and the surrounding towns and cities. Rappers from there love to get hyphy, show their thizz face, and create their own flavor of slang and rhyme cadences. They also all had awesome style in the '90s. If they could have looked into a crystal ball, they would seen modern day rappers, entertainers, and stylish dudes rocking very similar gear as them.
The Yay Area has always lamented their underrated contributions to hip-hop culture in general, claiming that mainstream music bites their slang and genre-bending sound. It seems like this also applies to their look. Please believe that the rappers who called the Bay home were so far ahead of their time, style wise. Here's How Bay Area Rappers From the '90s Predicted Today's Style Trends.
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Theophilus London is trying to bring 2Pac and his biker pants and bucket hat back.
In his early days with Digital Underground, 2Pac was posted up in Oakland. Before he was certified "Thug Life," he was dressing funky as hell. We're talking about going shirtless, wearing bucket hats, and biker pants. Who knew that Theophilus London bring back almost the exact same look back? We always knew that Pac was one of the LVRS at heart.
Drake isn't just impersonating '90s rappers, he's trying to get on Mac Mall's windbreaker level.
Every other day, Drake wears something different from the '90s. This includes Tommy Hilfiger jackets and multi-colored clothing. Rappers like Mac Mall were keeping the Bay on lock, wearing the flyest gear the '90s had to offer, and giving another reason for Drake to want to get hyphy and shout, "Imma do it for the Bay."
Anyone rocking a black and white snapback better know they're paying homage to Celly Cel.
Celly Cel definitely had some "Heat 4 yo azz," but we're referring to the custom black and white snapback that he wore in the album's liner notes. It feels like every streetwear brand has a black and white snapback the past couple seasons, but none of them are as twangy as this Bay Area legend.
Camron is taller than Too $hort but whose custom varsity jacket game is longer?
His name is $hort, his game is long, but just like his rhymes Too $hort didn't keep his style too complicated. However, his custom varsity jacket that threw up the dollar signs rivals Killa Cam's. Which jacket will give you a better chance of scoring your weekend girl?
Printed jogger pants have always been worn for running game.
The Humpty Dance was Shock G's chance to throw on a disguise and anonymously do the hump. Maybe he scored points with the ladies because of his costume, but we think that Shock looked fresh in his printed jogger pants. If you wear a pair these days, you might be doing a hump of your own.
Master P knows mostly-white-everything with a bit of color is how your stunting can be 'bout it 'bout it.
Before he moved back to Nola in '95, Master P was a Yay Area fixture. His clean style at the time mainly dabbled in the realm of monochromatic 'fits, but adding a bit of print and color intensified both the white palette and the patterns. This was a move that, like the title of his first studio album, allowed dudes to Get Away Clean.
Wearing chore coats is best done when the only chore you have to do is slangin' or stylin'.
Cougnut will forever be immortalized on Dre Dog's "Smoke Dope and Rap," but we remember him for being G'd up in his lightwash denim chore coat. Americana dudes might have copied his style, but they better think twice before tying a rag around their dome.
Jaden Smith wishes he could B as Legit in his jacket and extra-long shirt.
It takes cojones to be one of the dudes who can pull of the extra, extra long shirt with a regular length or even cropped jacket. B-Legit might have played second fiddle to E-40, but his choice of wearing a tall tee with his regular winter jacket makes him a secret style icon to young bucks like Jaden Smith who take calculated style risks and let their drapey layers flow.
E-40 told A$AP Rocky when to go and wear a snapback and flannel shirt.
E-40 Fonzarelli garnered enough swagger that he could just walk around say, "Sprinkle me, mane," and A$AP Rocky has attained the same status these days. It's hardly a coincidence that they both prefer wearing snapbacks and flannel shirts. This is an uneffwittable combination for any dude.
Denim shirts and beaded necklaces are for those who are thizzin' or chilling in tepees.
Mac Dre is known for his 'fro, but before he picked everything out, he was rocking rugged workwear and #menswear's current favorite accessory: beaded necklaces. If only he could have predicted that Hiroki Nakamura and the steeziest dudes would have adopted his Bay Area flavor—and sold it for way, way more than he ever paid.
