An obvious antecedent to today’s so-called “bling,” the ostentatious dookie chain (gold ropes of varying length) emerged as the fashion prop of choice for hip-hop artists — both aspiring and established — in the 80’s, thanks in large part to the growing influence of Yo! MTV Raps (which yours truly watched with some regularity as a teenager from the safety of his parent’s suburban living room). Like other messy historical conundrums, it is difficult to pinpoint or establish the true origins of this phenomenon/trend, but certain figures, long associated with this look, come to mind as possible candidates. Below, I’ve embedded five classic vids from the decade that shine light on this weighty and blinding phenomenon. One last thing, though: this list is by no means exhaustive or even authoritative. Feel free to school me in the comments below.

5. The court jester of 80’s rap, Biz Markie made his mark with lighthearted stories (in comparison to the majority of street-tough peers) about girls, cars, everyday life, b-boys, parties, music, his friends, etc. He was also one of the first to recognize and creatively exploit the allure of the golden chain.

4. With block-rocking beats, matching Adidas jumpsuits that defined the era and an in-your-face attitude more apropos of a touring punk band, Run D.M.C. proved that rap could successfully crossover into the musical mainstream without sacrificing its artistic credibility. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we ever once see them without their beloved chains in the clip below.

(more…)

Hey friends.

We’re in the midst of moving the FIC operations to a bigger and better space this week, so I don’t have time to write a new post for you today. That said, I want to direct you towards one of my favorite tee tee blogs, Thunderfrogs, where I authored a guest post earlier this week on Terminator-related shirts.

I’ll be baaaaack — on Monday with a new piece: travis@founditemclothing.com

One of the more gratifying aspects about working for Found Item Clothing comes when I see a stranger garbed in one of our shirts. By no means an everyday occasion, it might be a hot girl random dude on the street, the drummer in a cool metal band, or better yet, the host of a web-based television program.

Take Current TV’s Rotten Tomatoes program, which reviews new movies with a passionate and occasionally snarky edge. Thanks to a tip from a friend, I’ve now seen one of the hosts, Brett Erlich, sporting at least three of our shirts in different segments. Clearly, homeboy has good taste.

If you look closely at the clip embedded below, you’ll note that he is wearing our baby-soft, baby-blue Surf Nicaragua shirt.

Here he is donning our Toxic Waste tee:

Big kudos to Mr. Erlich!

Any press is good press: travis@founditemclothing.com.

Having come and gone to mixed reviews and less fanfare than expected, Watchmen might be considered a cultural failure by some fanboys — but not by me. The blend of eye-candy visuals and slavish attention to the source material compelled me to see the movie twice during opening week, and I even sprang for this kick-ass tee from Nerdy Shirts. With its simple design and striking color combination, it has quickly moved into the upper echelon of my t-shirt rotation.

The close-up:

And to think I didn’t even include this in my list of cool Watchmen tees…

I eat eye-candy for breakfast: travis@founditemclothing.com.

Attentive readers might recall that we recently published a comical list of the top moments in lobster history. As with most of the posts here, we conducted extensive research surfed the web in preparation, but somehow this absolutely perfect short-sleeve button up, worn by Kramer on Seinfield and sold by one of our unscrupulous competitors (not to be named at this junction, tho), was overlooked:

I’m a rock lobstah, yo: travis@founditemclothing.com