Do the clothes make the man? Young men and old will stand in line at 5 o’clock in the morning for a pair of Jordan’s or Air Force Ones, but why? Men will actually resort to stealing and killing each other just to rock the “right” gear, but is it really necessary? Is a man’s character defined by the clothes on his back or by what’s inside? Men at times go through extreme measures to “dress to impress” but who exactly are they trying to impress? It would be impractical for a woman to say she is never attracted to the material appearance of a man, that’s what catches a woman’s eye, most times, before she even takes heed to a man’s facial features or even more importantly, his personality.
Why do men wear their shorts hanging to their ankles? Do they not know where sagging originated? What is the point of wearing a shirt that stretches to their knees? They might as well just put on a dress. Then the obsessive jewelry is also a stretch. Some men think all the jewelry looks good, but it really looks gaudy. It is as if men sometimes want to be singled out at times and robbed.
Young men look at rap videos and the image they see is the image they wish to uphold. They want to have all the ladies shaking their backsides in their faces and accessible at all times just like the rappers do. The upside is that the kinds of young ladies that are in the rap video really do exist in real life. With the right clothes and the right cash they will shake it until their tails come off and most likely do more. The downside of attracting that kind of attention is that it comes at a risky and high price, bringing STDs with them, and the ones who are lucky enough to get pregnant by a “baller” will be nothing but drama.
There is no originality when someone does what everyone else is doing. When Nelly started stomping in his Air Force Ones, everybody woke up and was in line at their local shoe stores so that they could stomp too. When Kanye West and Lil Wayne decided that skinny jeans were better than saggy jeans, all the guys decided to “do their mom a favor and take that thing 2 sizes down” as Andre 3000 said in the “walk it out” remix. Would it be safe to say that now that Jay Z cant wear skinny jeans because his knots are too thick, everyone, including our former skinny jean wearers, will mysteriously grow thick knots and have to retire their skinny jeans. Maybe they will start to rock “Roc” jeans like Jay-Z does. Who knows? The one thing that is a clear fact is that we are trying to be them and cannot focus on ourselves. Would it not be the best thing to focus on our education and building a real career instead of settling for the artificial life of trying to live through their careers? It is not smart to try to keep up with the Joneses?
The next man is probably better because instead of trying to set and follow trends, he is trying to set his standards high and follow the necessary steps to success.