Any other NYers noticed this? I occasionally see guys, in their teens or early 20’s, wearing sweat pants, but with one leg pulled up to just below the knee. Given the demographics, my WAG is that it’s a gang thing. A quick google search seems to substantiate this somewhat. But the sites are vague. One (a public service law enforcement site) lists rolled up pants legs, along with sideways baseball caps as a sign of gang membership. Can anyone fill me in on the one leg rolled up thing or any other aspects of the outward expression of gang affiliations?
A better search of the SDMB yielded this thread which discusses the bandanas and jackets worn by gangs, but no mention of the rolled up pants leg.
I hesitate to jump in on this because I can’t remember the source (even though I KNOW I’ve heard this in the past couple of days- sleep deprivation I guess).
I’ve been told that the “one leg up” look signifies that the wearer is packing heat.
no. it is merely a hip hop style.
the sites you used for research are ignorant.
i have been told that the rolled-up pant leg style comes from jamaica, where bicycle-riding is very common. anyone who has ridden a bike knows that pant legs can get dirty from or caught in the chain, and a simple solution is rolling the pant leg.
A guy that plays pool at a bar I frequent on the Lower East Side wears his jogging pants just as you describe. I’ll call him Dude A. After a few Pabst Blue Ribbons and over a friendly game I asked Dude A why he wore his pants that way. He calmly (an nearly unintelligibly) explained that he dealt drugs and this was his way of letting folks in his neighborhood (and in the bar too I guess) know that he was not only a dealer but that he was currently IN STOCK. When I asked if that’s why other people wear their pants that way Dude A got edgy and replied, and I qoute, “That’s me, you know? That’s me.” I said that I understood even though I didn’t and changed the subject.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Dude A probably IS in a gang but the one-leg up fashion doesn’t seem to have anything to do with possible gang membership. I say this because other guys in my neighborhood in Brooklyn (also possible gang members) wear their pants this way and they are of an entirely different ethnic background from Dude A. Also they’re in Brooklyn and Dude A is in Manhattan - I just don’t see Dude A and the guys in my neighborhood belonging to the same gang.
Anyhow, that’s my two cents. It’s a grand city, ain’t it?
I’m in SF Bay area in California and I’ve seen that style here, too.
One of my friends who works with “youth” says that it’s a carry-over from prison. Apparently, one pant leg gets rolled up to make the connections during an electrocution (Is this true? All I know about executions I learned from “The Green Mile”). So by rolling up a pant leg they are saying “I don’t care what you can do to me” or maybe “You’re going to kill me anyway, so I can do what I want”. The kids picked it up from visiting prisoners or from ex-cons.
This does not seems a likely explanation, so perhaps the Jamaican bicyclist one is true.
A guy that plays pool at a bar I frequent on the Lower East Side wears his jogging pants just as you describe. Just fro grins and giggles, I’ll call him Dude A. After a few Pabst Blue Ribbons and over a friendly game I asked Dude A why he wore his pants that way. He calmly (and nearly unintelligibly) explained that he dealt drugs and that this was his way of letting folks in his neighborhood (and in the bar too I guess) know that he was not only a dealer but that he was currently IN STOCK. When I asked if that’s why other people wear their pants that way Dude A got edgy and replied, and I qoute, “That’s me, you know? That’s me.” I said that I understood even though I didn’t and changed the subject.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Dude A probably IS in a gang but the one-leg up fashion doesn’t seem to have anything to do with his possible gang membership. I say this because other guys in my neighborhood in Brooklyn (also possible gang members) wear their pants this way and they are of an entirely different ethnic background from Dude A. Also they’re in Brooklyn and Dude A is in Manhattan - I just don’t see Dude A and the guys in my neighborhood belonging to the same gang.
Also, it might just be fashionable. Weird things become fashionable. Anyhow, that’s my two cents. It’s a grand city, ain’t it?
Not to start any problems, Kilgore, but:
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What non-ignorant sites did you refer to for your answer?
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Do you find it odd that although “anyone who has ridden a bike know that pant LEGS can get dirty…”, we are only talking about the rolling up of ONE pant leg? So are the majority of Jamaicans one-legged, or are they only concerned with keeping one half of their bodies clean?
Also, Beggar, just FYI- the one leg rollup is not specific to NYC, although for all I know it could have originated there. I’ve seen this in Boston for a few years. Whatever the original meaning, I’d be willing to bet that it has been lost to the majority of those who practice it, much like the peace sign circle that originally meant “ban the bomb”.
UGGH! I double posted. I HATE when I do that. Sorry folks.
Cap turned sideways? You mean I’ve been in a New York street gang and didn’t even notice? First it was untied sneakers, then jeans so baggy that you have to wear name-brand boxers. Or how about earring in right ear means you’re gay.
Come on folks, even if some gang members do indeed use the one pant leg up to show membership, by now so many young urban types are doing it as to make the gesture meaningless.
I think it’s plausible. You only need to roll the chain side up (right leg) to stay clean.
no, no, no. it’s just a style from the hip-hop nation.
like many hip-hop styles, it’s meant to be somewhat confrontational. “mainstream” people often talk about how stupid one leg up looks.
so if you wear your pants that way, not only are you annoying many people, but you’re cool enough to not care what people think.
remember when baggy clothes were looked at as stupid? you can lump this look in with a lot of fads that have passed through hip-hop:
enormous high-top fades
hideous gold fronts
(this one was real brief) wearing two different shoes
(i think all these really go back to enormous perms on pimps)
i think anybody who tells you otherwise is misinformed or fucking with you. which doesn’t mean that gang members or drug dealers don’t wear their clothes like that. it just means they are a little behind the times (the look is actually pretty played).
Any Hip Hop sites that discuss Phat fashion?
Sorry, that should read: Any Hip Hop sites that have the 411 on phat fashion? 
Kilgore is mostly on the money actually.
There’s an exhibit going on at the Brooklyn Museum about Hip Hop culture and style from fashion to music to sports and television. There’s a bunch of stuff on the rolled up pant legs, something about east and west coast pride and some such thing.
I don’t have anything to cite or quote, but the Museum is there if you feel like visiting, and I’m sure ther’es more on the Hip Hop style in print. Don’t expect to understand Hip Hop if you haven’t grown up with it around you too much. But try at least while learning about it if you choose to do so, not to be too closeminded about how and why it became what it did.
a friend of mine, actually. the ignorant sites i refer to are the ones mentioned in the OP that seem to equate hip hop with gangs.
take a deep breath. think.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Kilgore Trout *
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Well, Kilgore, I definitely have to applaud your self-constraint in not redirecting my retort to the flame page…
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Kilgore Trout *
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Well, Kilgore, I definitely have to applaud your self-restraint in not redirecting my retort to the flame page…
And now I’ve been caught using the wrong word and catching it too late!
I’m going to have to disagree with most of the posts so far. I’m also surprised that choosybeggar is just now noticing this. Its been around for a few years now.
Anyway, xtal was right. The practice first started in New Jersey, at the Newark Country Correctional Facility. Inmates there rolled up one pant lag as a challenge to the guards (I guess corrections officer is the official term). Anyway, if a guard told them to roll down the pant leg they would refuse. If the guard then rolled it down himself, the prisoner used this as an excuse to get into a fight with the guard.
Eventually, when a convict’s sentence was up, he continued to wear his pants this way (presumably as a challenge to the rest of society, I guess). Eventually other people in their area picked up on this, and today it is a fashion statement often made by people who have nothing more serious than a speeding ticket on their record.