Kickin It Old Skool
by T. Semakula
The eighties. Blue Adidas with fat white laces, Gazelles, and furry white Kangols. Members Only jackets and painted on Sergio Valente. Crack was roaming the hood like a crooked cop, taking out aunties, friends, and mamas. Hip Hop gave birth to a new canon that spit out stars such as Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, and Special K.
Nowadays, the eighties are considered Old Skool-the folk that used to rule this decade have faded like the memory of Rodney King being slapped with the police batons. Let’s face it, Micheal Jackson’s looking for a sponsor, Prince pushed past fifty, and sweet little Rudy, from the Cosby Show, kicked off her old persona, and portrayed a cracked out hooker in Tyler Perry’s latest blockbuster.
There is always beauty for ashes. The house of the eighties has burned down, but the frame has remained intact. Hip Hop found its heartbeat during the eighties, pumping out hits such as Paid In Full, Roxanne Shante, and BDP’s By Any Means Necessary. The Hip Hop elite are quick to pay homage to the pioneers that cropped up during this decade. Fat Joe claims to be LL Cool J’s number one fan. …I mean, LL Cool J is, you know, my idol in hip-hop and, you know, every time I rap, after I do songs, I be, like, 'I hope LL likes this. Back in the eighties, Mr. Ladies Love Cool James planted Def Jam on the map with hits such as I Need Love and I Can’t Live Without My Radio.
…crack, a cheaper and more potent offshoot of the drug (cocaine), turned the inner cities into war zones
Crack made the hood the new location for warfare. The battlefield resembled school playgrounds and street corners. Local dealers and gangs battled for the blocks that drew in the most revenue. The battleground was also in the living room. Children lost their fathers, mothers, and grandmothers. The hood became fat with skinny crackheads who bumped into children on their way to school. Jamaal Shabazz’s book, A Time Before Crack, chronicled via photographs, the hope and promise of black folk before crack moved in and shut us down.
This drug, that is smoked through a glass pipe or an aluminum can, caused black folk to wax reflective about their communities. It shined light on how fragile our neighborhoods were, be it economic, social, and political. It charged community groups and churches to stage marches in front of crack houses and dealers.
…My Adidas cuts the sand of a foreign land…
The eighties gave birth to a new term, urban wear. For the first time, fashion, homegrown from the streets, took over the runway. The look of Hip Hop and the inner city found its way onto the front covers of magazines. Fat laced Adidas, big hoop earrings, and blue jeans became the norm. The sneaker took over the loafer as the shoe of choice and even white boys traded in their Dockers for a white tee and a fresh pair of baggy Levis. The eighties made the look of the hood, fly, and companies such as FUBU, ROCA WEAR, and Phat Farm cleaned up on Wall Street. The look is so potent that the corporate world screams bloody murder as they watch baggy pantsed job applicants sashay into an interview with a fresh pair of Jordans.
The eighties is no doubt the Old Skool. However, this skool opened itself up to a new global cannon called Hip Hop. The eighties taught us how to love and cherish what we hold so dear, when folk started folding under the weight of crack. The eighties gave the hood props for having its own style – just check out Kanye West, one of the new crop of Hip Hop bred ultra millionaires, kickin it on the mic, with a clean pair of Jays.
Article Sources
Run DMC. My Adidas. Raising Hell. Arista, 1986
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Check out Cynthia Toronto’s bio.....
CYNTHIA TORONTO, a California transplant, is a seasoned character actress who has appeared in most mediums including stage,film, television, voice-overs, radio, video, and nightclubs. She is versatile, having developed original productions and performed extensively in experimental theatre, theatre for young audiences, dance theatre, and improvisation-based-on-audience suggestion companies on both coasts, as well as stand-up, sketch comedy and as a singer/lyricist in alternative rock music bands.
Recognized as a forerunner of cutting-edge Spoken Word Performance on the West Coast, she has pioneered a form combining elements of poetry, music, theatre and media in work that portrays unique glimpses of urban life. Her poetry has been called ‘jolting, shocking, Dr. Seuss-like, relevant, profound, and often hilarious’. An award-winning poet, she has written eight books of poetry and been published in several anthologies and literary magazines, as well as being featured in three documentaries on Los Angeles poets. She has also been featured in several New York poetry venues including, Four Horsemen and Pink Pony readings at The Cornelia Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brownstone Poets, Stark, Nomad’s Choir, The Green Pavillion, Gathering of the Tribes, Time Out/Shout Out and the national Poets for Peace readings amongst others.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University, and as a Teaching Artist, has created and implemented performance education programs in residencies sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Arts Council and Arts Alaska, in addition to public and private schools, and arts/community organizations in California and New York. For the past seven years she has taught at several colleges in the greater New York area, including Spoken Word Performance at New York University; and currently teaches Acting and Speech as an Adjunct Professor at City College of New York and Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York sites, as well as continuing to perform her solo shows and pursue an acting career.
To book Ms. Toronto for an event, performance, etc email her at ct347@nyu.edu.
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