A History of the Bucket Hat

“I want to tell you something,” says a bucket hat–wearing youth in The African Cypher, director Bryan Little’s documentary about street dance culture in South Africa. “When my hat is like this, it means no problem at all.” Then, his intense gaze practically burning holes in the camera lens, he rotates his bucket: “I just put a little bit of trouble in my hat... And when I turn it again”—now he flips up the front of the brim—“it means double trouble." Finally he slides the bucket all the way back on his head. "And you know when I put it a little up like this,” he adds, “that’s called disaster.”

This street-level lesson in bucket-hat semiotics demonstrates just how far this particular chapeau has come from its beginnings as standard issue to protect the necks of Israeli Defense Force troops battling in the desert sun back in the 1940s. Since that time it has become the most versatile lid ever devised. Depending how you rock your bucket, it can communicate casual cool (fishing-lure floppy) or untouchable excess (Gucci bucket glam). But whatever your bucket hat says, it does so loudly.

Place the blame on the head of Gilligan—or the credit, if that’s what should be given to the fumbling first mate who brought the bucket into the TV headwear hall of fame. But he didn't tell Big Bank Hank to kick the bucket in the world's first rap video. Whoever is responsible, the truth is inescapable: the bucket hat has evolved from quirky outlier to style staple. For irrepressible characters ranging from renegade scribe Hunter S. Thompson to hip-hop hooligans Earl Sweatshirt and Schoolboy Q, the bucket hat is an essential part of their character. And now everybody seems to be jumping on the bucket bandwagon. Not since its late '80s heyday has the bucket hat been more au courant. So how did this flippable lid end up on the whole world's bucket list? Let's take a moment to look back.

Written by Peter Relic

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Gilligan (1964)

Portrayed by putty-faced actor Bob Denver, the lovably hapless first mate was never without his iconic all-white bucket hat throughout the three-season run of Gilligan's Island. But the real breakthrough came in the 1981 TV movie The Harlem Globetrotters in Gilligan's Island, where Gilligan joined the basketball tricksters to play a team of super-robots called "The Invincibles." With the clock winding down, the game-winning shot was in Gilligan's hands. Was it merely coincidence that this was Gilligan's final television appearance? Did the Globetrotters take his bucket hat back to Harlem with them just as rap's first full decade got going? We may never know. What can be vouchsafed is that this particular type of headwear has remained a hip-hop style essential.

Hunter S. Thompson (1966)

As the prolific papa of "gonzo" journalism, Hunter S. Thompson left behind a trail of classic books, including 1966's Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and 1973's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Thompson's personal motto was "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro," which he did with a cigarette clenched between his teeth and a bucket hat splayed on his bald head. The great man's bucket became so iconic that Johnny Depp required one to get into characters as Thompson when he starred in the movie adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Lt. Col. Henry Blake (1972)

Not far behind Gilligan and Good Times' J.J. in television's bucket hat pantheon is Lt. Colonel Henry Blake of M*A*S*H. Actor McLean Stevenson had originally auditioned for the lead role of Hawkeye, but when that part went to Alan Alda, Stevenson became the man who insisted on wearing his fishing-lure-adorned bucket hat in the middle of a war. For Blake, the hat was a comforting touch of home, not unlike Linus's security blanket. We can only assume he had it on when his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan.

J.J. Evans (1974)

Actor Jimmy Walker remains synonymous with J.J., the shambling, bucket hat-wearing string bean he played on Norman Lear's hit '70s sitcom Good Times. Yes, his character came to eclipse the show itself, accelerating its devolution from a nuanced portrayal of a loving black family living in Chicago's Cabrini Green projects to a goofy over-the-top caricature. That's the bad news. The good news is that his hat game was pure geek-funk "Dy-no-mite!"

Elton John (1975)

It may come as a surprise that Eminem's flamboyant buddy Elton John is an avid sportsman. Having owned a British football club, Sir Elton is also a big tennis buff, and wrote his hit "Philadelphia Freedom" in tribute to the short-lived pro tennis team starring his friend Billie Jean King. Elton is pictured here on court in 1975, rocking a bucket hat and custom sweatshirt combo. Electric boots sold separately.

Big Bank Hank (1979)

He may have bitten Grandmaster Caz's rhymes for his historic verse on hip-hop's breakthrough record, "Rapper's Delight," but there's one thing nobody can take away from this founding member of the Sugar Hill Gang: in the world's first ever rap video, Hank rocked his bucket hat with authority.

Carl Spackler (1980)

In a career filled with indelible roles, Bill Murray hit a high point in the comedy cult classic Caddyshack. As slovenly assistant greens-keeper Carl Spackler, Murray fought a valiant-if-doomed battle against a gopher who was determined to chew up the manicured golf course at the fictional Bushwood Country Club. And he did it in a chin-strapped camo bucket hat.

Artur Jorge (1981)

The Portuguese soccer legend played fitfully for his country's national team in the 1970s. In the '80s, Jorge won three national titles as manager of FC Porto. And yet, in his bucket hat and adidas jumper, the mustachioed manager looked like he should've been signed to Def Jam.

Devastating Tito (1982)

The Fearless Four were a Harlem rao crew whose single Kraftwerk-fueled single "Rockin' It" featured prominently in the seminal film Style Wars. Even after their lineup expanded to six, Tito was the sole member to brandish a bucket hat-with devastating effect.

Run-D.M.C. (1984)

Although they're best known for rocking fedoras with their adidas, the members of Run-D.M.C. were known to slip on a bucket from time to time. D.M.C. in particular had a fondness for the classic Kangol, although Jay supposedly considered the bucket hat wack.

LL Cool J (1985)

With due respect to early bucket hat proponents Big Bank Hank and Devastating Tito, it was Def Jam's teenage rapper who made the fuzzy, fire-red Kangol a hip-hop style essential, earning him the sobriquet of rap's "most recognizable bucket hat stan." (LL also favored the traditional canvas bucket hat, as snapped by legendary photographer Janette Beckman.) Intriguingly, other early bucket hat purveyors include Cool J's putative boss, a young, dusted-out Russell Simmons (the pre-yoga proto-executive paired the bucket hat with tight-fitting polo shirts for a distinctly beach bummy look). The bucket became so inseparable from LL that rumors spread that something was wrong with his head. His arch-rival Kool Moe Dee even used it as a signifier for LL on this How Ya Like Me Now album cover, positioning a red Kangol bucket under the tire of his Jeep.

Tenor Saw (1985)

Buoyed by his massive 1985 soundboy killer "Ring The Alarm," Tenor Saw was a dancehall reggae legend who died tragically at age 22. Here, Saw rocks his distinctive "high-rise" style Kangol Casual bucket hat. (Which is now available on Kangolstore.com as the 75th Anniversary Casual.) Respect.

Kurtis Blow (1987)

The rap immortal—and best rapper alive circa 1980—rocked a Kangol bucket on the cover of his 1987 album Kingdom Blow. The curl relaxer stains never came out. And those are the breaks.

"Do The Right Thing" (1989)

The unsung heroes of Spike Lee's 1989 film are Sweet Dick Willie, Coconut Sid, and ML (played by Robin Harris, Frankie Faison, and Paul Benjamin, respectively), a trio of elderly gentlemen who pass the time seated on the sidewalk, commenting on the action in the neighborhood like a classical Greek chorus. With just one umbrella to shield them from the Brooklyn summer sun, one wears bucket hats. What better way to chill?

Fresh Kid Ice (1989)

What the heck was 2 Live Crew's proudly Chinese member doing wearing a navy-and-gold Michigan University bucket hat? Maybe it was that in 1989, the year of As Nasty As They Wanna Be, 2 Live Crew's biggest album, Michigan U. won their one and only national championship in football. Still, it took serious balls to wear that bucket hat around Miami.

Weird Al Yankovic (1989)

Leave it to master parodist Weird Al to drop a gem like "Isle Thing," a parody of Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" about a dude hitting on a chick who'd rather watch reruns of Gilligan's Island. Given the maritime theme, and out of respect for Bob Denver, it was only right for Al to rock a bucket throughout.

Reni of The Stone Roses (1989)

Drummer Alan "Reni" Wren of the Manchester rock band The Stones Roses was seldom seen without his bucket hat during the the Ecstasy-fueled "Madchester" scene of the late 1980s. Sometimes Reni's bucket hat was clean white; sometimes he wore a paint-spattered model in homage to Jackson Pollock. It was thought Reni had hung up his hat for good, before, in 2013, the drummer dusted off his bucket as the Roses reunited to play Coachella.

EPMD (1989)

For the cover of their sophomore album Unfinished Business, Erick and Parrish chose to rock matching suits, Jordans, gold chains, and white bucket hats. Stunting with luxury whips by the seaside, their look epitomized Long Island swag. The P-double-E-M-D would continue to rock the bucket in years to come, with Parrish showing a particular predilection for the floppy chapeaux.

Monie Love (1990)

As a member of the Native Tongues Posse, lovable British rapper Monie Love made a memorable appearances on the Jungle Brothers' "Doin' Our Own Dang" and De La Soul's "Buddy" before releasing her own hit "Monie In The Middle." Her Down To Earth album cover displayed trail-blazing taste in fruity-colored bucket hats—a good twenty-plus years before streetwear shops became super-saturated. You've gotta love a girl who knows how to wear a bucket hat.

Sen-Dog (1991)

The bucket hat is not an intrinsically hard look. Yet it's precisely the benign vibe of the bucket hat that gave a shock of menace when worn by Cypress Hill enforcer Sen-Dog. With his fire hydrant physique and Cantinflas mustache, Sen appeared with a lowered brim on the 12-inch cover of "How I Could Just Kill A Man." Gilligan never threatened The Skipper like that.

Chubb Rock (1992)

On the back cover of his album I Gotta Get Mine Yo, the Jamaica-born rapper wore a rather too-small bucket hat with an upturned brim and a pained expression. Word to the Chubbster: as a general rule, bucket hats should appear floppy rather than fussy.

MC Solaar (1994)

Due in large part to his alliance with GangStarr, MC Solaar remains France's biggest export unto the U.S. hip-hop scene. Canary yellow bucket hat plus smooth-as-brie flow equals Gallic rap cool personified.

Buckethead (1999)

It's a bucket. Worn as a hat. Thus it is, technically speaking, a bucket hat. But really it's a KFC container, upended and plopped on the head of the singular guitar virtuoso known (but of course) as Buckethead. In 1999, the mask-wearing madman broke through with his album Monsters And Robots (a collaboration with Les Claypool of Primus) before going on to replace Slash as lead guitarist in Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. Despite questions about his reliability, Buckethead was then primed to join Ozzy Osbourne's band, until Ozzy insisted he remove his bucket. Buckethead refused. Which is awesome.

Ol Dirty Bastard (1999)

On the Kelis-featuring single "Got Your Money" from his Nigga Please album, the late great ODB concealed his cranium inside a black bucket hat with a white-trimmed brim. Despite his casual headgear, his expression was anything but. Big Baby Jesus was never nuttin' ta fuck wit.

Jay-Z (2000)

Jay notably rocked the bucket hat on the yacht in the video for "Big Pimpin'." But his most memorable behind-the-scenes bucket hat is recounted on the outro to Kanye's "Last Call," as Mr. West recollects his first meeting with Jay-Z at Baseline Studios on Beanie Sigel's birthday: "...then Jay walked in. I remember he had a Gucci bucket hat on. I remember it like, like it was yesterday. And Hip-Hop said, 'Yo play that one beat for him.' And I played 'Heart of the City'....And I played another beat, and I played another beat. And I remember that Gucci bucket, he took it and like put it over his face and made one of them faces like 'oooh'."

DJ Nobody (2000)

Shaggy-haired Los Angeles producer Elvin Estela, a.k.a Nobody, burst on the scene with the psychedelic Soulmates, his year 2000 debut album featuring rappers including 2Mex and Abstract Rude. A decade later Nobody released One For All Without Hesitation, a free full-length download reflecting his new identity as an Auto-Tuned R&B crooner. The cover depicted a slouching caricature of Nobody dressed in a blue suit and yellow chamois bucket hat—a chapeau he often wore while spinning at L.A.'s underground beat club Low End Theory.

Jamie Lynn Spears (2001)

JT may have brought sexy back, but leave it to Britney's little sister to do the same for the bucket hat. This crucial entry may have been lost to history had Jamie Lynn not recently tweeted a vintage Polaroid of herself rolling with big sis (who's been known to brandish a bucket herself) and JT. Sure, Britney and Justin didn't last, but yo—bucket hats 4eva!

Thirstin Howl III (2002)

The infamous "Polo-Rican" from Brooklyn has the bucket hat encoded deep in his DNA, his moniker a tribute to deep-pocketed Gilligan's Island character Thurston Howell, III. In 2002, Howl took it back the essence with his album Skilligan's Island, which included the bucket hat-savvy jam "Alaskan Fisherman."

Cam'Ron (2004)

The Harlem rap king may be better known for pink furs and matching Range Rovers, but in the video for "Get Em Girls/Killa Cam" taken from his 2004 masterpiece Purple Haze, the Dipset General could be seen waving stacks of cash while wearing a camouflage bucket hat and matching fatigues. When you're carrying that kind of paper uptown it's best fly under the radar as much as possible.

Joyce Carol Oates (2008)

Literary giant Joyce Carol Oates has published over forty novels as well as several bookcases full of poetry, short stories, plays, essays and incisive criticism. She's been nominated for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize several times. Since 2008 she has been the Roger S. Berlind Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University's Creative Writing Program. She also looks fetching in a bucket hat.

Daniel Savio (2009)

Purportedly the originator of the unfortunately-named electro sub-genre known as "skweee," Daniel Savio is a man who believes "hard times require hard sounds." As Daft Punk go evermore futuristic with their space helmets, leave it to all-analog synth mack Savio to keep it strictly throwback with his bucket hat.

Rick Ross (2011)

Bucket hats might be casual headgear, but they must be worn properly. You can be as hefty as Chubb Rock and still pull it off, but the bright white Polo bucket Raw$e rocks in his "Ashes To Ashes" video made Officer Ricky look like the world's biggest shuttlecock.

Earl Sweatshirt (2012)

As Gilligan's Island was to Gilligan, so was Samoa to Odd Future's resident rapscallion. Earl Sweatshirt returned from his island reprogramming stint rocking a bucket hat in the shadowy video for "Chum," then popped up at this year's Grammy Awards wearing a chin-strap style formerly favored by 2Pac. In a piece on the bucket hat resurgence, writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd referenced a summer 2012 tweet by Earl: "Me sagan left brain n juan Take credit for bucket hats." Given hip-hop's storied bucket hat tradition, this seems like a willfully ahistorical claim, though perhaps Earl was simply saying that you can pay in credit for a $70 bucket hat at the Odd Future store.

Kid Cudi (2012)

In late 2012, Kid Cudi released the single "Just What I Am" featuring his Ohio buddy King Chip. Over a dusted beat, Cudi brags about his leather pants and, in the video, holds onto his red plastic cup for dear life while wearing a real fine camo bucket hat. Mr. Solo Dolo stays stylishly low-pro.

Mets Bucket Hat Guy (2011)

For a fashion item so cyclically au courant, and in a world where every last bit of paraphernalia is lyrically fetishized, there's a surprising dearth of hip-hop odes to the bucket hat. Leave the void to be filled by late night's baby-face bawse. Having primed viewers with segments where he battled a guest known as Mets Bucket Hat Guy in a word-association game, Jimmy Fallon then delivered his rap "Get That Bucket Hat" as The Roots blazed a trap beat behind him.

Nas (2012)

To mark his triumphant return to form on the album Life Is Good, God's Son appeared on the cover of Complex wearing a white bucket hat at the proper angle in a fitting homage to the gentlemen on the corner in Do The Right Thing.

Devin Funchess (2012)

During his freshman season in 2012, tight end Devin "The Dude" Funchess made an immediate impact on the Michigan Wolverines football program, catching five touchdown passes and receiving an honorable mention All-Big Ten nod. Dude made a big impression off the field too by wearing an extra-wide-brimmed navy-blue Michigan bucket hat.

Trilligain (2013)

The number of rappers currently wearing bucket hats is getting a little ridiculous, but Trilligain makes the list on the strength of nearly his name alone. In March of this year, the Lake Erie rapper dropped his highly based, debut mixtape Anarchy Ape, featuring the key track "Not Waving (My Bucket Hat)." One to watch.

Illa J (2013)

As the younger brother of the late, great J Dilla, John "Illa J" Yancey carries a heavy legacy on his shoulders. Luckily he wears a clean bucket hat on his head. In 2013, Yancey Boys (aka Illa J and Frank & Dank's Frank Nitt) released the video for "The Throwaway," a fast rap keeper over a previously unused J Dilla beat. Illa J looks seriously suave rocking the bucket.

GrandeMarshall (2013)

One of this year's surprise mixtape treats is the woozy, ennui-drenched Mugga Man set by Fool's Gold's Philadelphia phenom GrandeMarshall. Check the video for the title track, where GM repeatedly checks his look in the side mirror of parked cars, making sure his bucket is tilted just right.

Trinidad James (2013)

In the video for his star-studded remix of "All Gold Everything," the Atlanta rap phenom rides in on a gold bicycle wearing a black-and-white print bucket accented with a red-and-white Trini bandana. A-town bitch!

Schoolboy Q (2013)

Although LL Cool J can now be seen hatless on television each and every week, Schoolboy Q seems to have taken Todd James Smith's place as the hip-hop star who's never seen without his trusty bucket. "I kept buying bucket hats," he explained in a recent Complex interview. "Next thing I knew, I felt like I didn’t look right without one." As a member of the Black Hippy collective, it's only fitting that Schoolboy Q popped up this spring wearing a tie-dyed bucket that would've made Jerry Garcia proud.