# The hottest new liquor store fashions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422 "2008-07-22T21:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/1 "2008-07-22T21:59:05Z")
I saw something the other day, and I’m curious to see if others have the same reaction to it that I did. The liquor store across the street from my house has some new merchandise: a couple of t-shirts, nice & huge for that baggy gangsta’ look. The first shirt has sparkly gold print - very ghetto-fabulous - in a font that’s obviously intended to look very hardcore. Across the top of the shirt it says “Thug Life”, and has a large image of Tupac Shakur, giving his best hardcore menacing glare. The other shirt is very similar - same humongous baggy size, same gangsta’ font - but instead of sparkly gold print, it has sparkly blue print. Instead of “Thug Life”, it says “Yes We Can!”, and instead of Tupac, it has Barack Obama, giving the thumbs-up. Does anybody else think it’s a bit off to be equating these 2 people/messages? I mean, granted, these shirts don’t represent anything more than some knockoff shirt manufacturer’s attempt to make a buck, but still…one of these things is _not_ like the other. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/2 "2008-07-22T22:05:32Z")
Which one did you get? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/3 "2008-07-22T23:37:00Z")
FWIW Tupac was kind of the intellectual of gangster rap. For example, he was a decent poet. The “Thug Life” on his chest meant “The hate u give little infants fucks everything.” He spoke to a generation of kids by reflecting the reality of the lives they lived- a reality that didn’t wasn’t at all acknowledged in other forums. We have to remember the ghetto was 10X worse back then and people were growing up in a virtual state of war, which pop culture just never mentioned at all. And of course, his death immortalized him and the irony of it is still poignent. So while you and I might view him as nothing more than a violent degenerate, he kind of the Kurt Cobein (but more poltical) of his generation. Someone who really spoke to people, and yet was ultimately done in by his own temptations in the world he sang of. ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/4 "2008-07-23T00:44:34Z")
Oh, I agree with you **even sven** - and my Zune has a good share of the Tupac library on it. I don’t view him as a violent degenerate by any means. But still, the two men and the two messages are so different, I found the equivalence quite odd. In particular, Tupac’s glass was very much half empty - his music focused so much on slapping the listener across the face with the negative realities of life, and that negativity eventually caught up with him and brought him down as a heartbreaking example of the reality of the stories he told. Obama, on the other hand, can barely get out a sentence without the word “hope”, and pushes a vision of a better world. The two messages spread by both of these men are so opposite of each other, it strikes me as a bit strange to see that someone had put the two side-by-side as equivalents. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/5 "2008-07-23T02:24:12Z")
If I’m in the business of making a comfortable profit off the trade of novelty shirts, I don’t care what’s on them. I just want to make money. I really, really, really wish I could have written the above in gangsta talk. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/6 "2008-07-23T05:03:18Z")
In my state, you can’t sell anything in the liquor store except liquor. You can’t even buy a corkscrew, let alone the latest in Tupac textiles ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/7 "2008-07-23T05:09:16Z")
[QUOTE=even sven] FWIW Tupac was kind of the intellectual of gangster rap. For example, he was a decent poet. The “Thug Life” on his chest meant “The hate u give little infants fucks everything.” He spoke to a generation of kids by reflecting the reality of the lives they lived- a reality that didn’t wasn’t at all acknowledged in other forums. We have to remember the ghetto was 10X worse back then and people were growing up in a virtual state of war, which pop culture just never mentioned at all. And of course, his death immortalized him and the irony of it is still poignent. [/QUOTE] I don’t know anything about this genre myself but wasn’t gangster rap really big in the eighties, before Tupac? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/8 "2008-07-23T08:18:05Z")
When I read the OP I thought is was going to be about [this](http://www.americancart.com/tequila_man/index.php?action=item&id=112&prevaction=pricelist) which seems to be the fashion around here. I gotta admit I’m tempted to get one… ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/9 "2008-07-23T18:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=even sven] FWIW Tupac was kind of the intellectual of gangster rap. For example, he was a decent poet. The “Thug Life” on his chest meant “The hate u give little infants fucks everything.” [/QUOTE] Wow, what are the odds that such an awkward phrase would just happen to form that acronym? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/10 "2008-07-23T18:25:59Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Wow, what are the odds that such an awkward phrase would just happen to form that acronym? [/QUOTE] Truly poetry in motion. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/11 "2008-07-23T18:27:11Z")
What’s “Yes We Can” an acronym for? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/12 "2008-07-23T19:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] What’s “Yes We Can” an acronym for? [/QUOTE] Yankee Economic Sanctions, While Effective, Cause Alienation Worldwide Sorry, that’s the best I got ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/13 "2008-07-23T20:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I don’t know anything about this genre myself but wasn’t gangster rap really big in the eighties, before Tupac? [/QUOTE] No, the 80s was old school rap, not gangsta. RunDMC, Doug E. Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-ONE. Public Enemy was politically radical but I wouldn’t call them gangsta. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/14 "2008-07-23T20:41:07Z")
There was some 80’s gangsta rap. Ice-T released “Six in the Morning” in 1986, N.W.A.'s _Straight Outta Compton_ was released in 1988. KRS-One’s 1987 _Criminal Minded_ was one of the first in the genre, Kool Moe Dee’s _Wild Wild West_ was a little gangsta-ish. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/15 "2008-07-23T20:50:43Z")
[QUOTE=zoid] Yankee Economic Sanctions, While Effective, Cause Alienation Worldwide [/QUOTE] Uh…the acronym for that would be YES WE CAW. My contribution: You Empty-headed Shit-eating Whitey Evildoers Can Aspirate my Nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/16 "2008-07-23T20:51:19Z")
[QUOTE=even sven] So while you and I might view him as nothing more than a violent degenerate, he kind of the Kurt Cobein (but more poltical) of his generation. Someone who really spoke to people, and yet was ultimately done in by his own temptations in the world he sang of. [/QUOTE] Kurt Cobain: 1967-1994 Tupac Shakur: 1971-1996 _Kurt Cobain_ was the Kurt Cobain of Tupac’s generation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/17 "2008-07-23T21:25:34Z")
I’m just gonna sit down and laugh over that comment. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/18 "2008-07-23T21:55:17Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] There was some 80’s gangsta rap. Ice-T released “Six in the Morning” in 1986, N.W.A.'s _Straight Outta Compton_ was released in 1988. KRS-One’s 1987 _Criminal Minded_ was one of the first in the genre, Kool Moe Dee’s _Wild Wild West_ was a little gangsta-ish. [/QUOTE] Kool Moe Dee, that’s who I was trying to remember! Yeah, Wild Wild West but even there the sound was…bouncier? Rap today…and get off my lawn! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/19 "2008-07-24T09:33:22Z")
Now if I get that long-desired tat of my own personal credo: “Top Hat, Umbrella, Galoshes: Livery Implausible For Elephants,” people will assume I’m editorializing on the importance of good parenting. ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422/20 "2008-07-24T13:51:44Z")
Update: The Obama shirts (apparently there were 3 of them) are SOLD OUT! My condolences to those planning a trip to my local liquor store to get these latest fashion items. I’m sure the Obama campaign is pleased with their support in the alcoholic community, and their stunning victory over Tupac. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hottest-new-liquor-store-fashions/457422.md?page=2)