I have researched the way artists in the rap genre dress. They all wear baggy clothes, oversized t-shirts, trousers which are half way down their bottoms. The main thing is that they either wear branded, expensive clothes, or clothes of their own production, or of artists which they have collaborated with. In this away they work around their image and this is always happening in every music video.
I thought that I would have a look at a couple of rappers and their websites and what sort of clothing they wear. This is what I found…
The image above is a screen shot of Eminem's official website under the tab 'store'. Here he sells multiple accessories, CDs and his branded clothes. As we can see the prices range from $25 - $35. This isn't exactly cheap. He is obviously making money on this and most people would have to save up to buy a $35 t-shirt.
As we will come to notice all these t-shirts are of the most basic design. They are not vests, they are not played around with except what is actually printed on the shirt. A lot of rappers are listen to in a very large number mainly by men. Some artists, and this is becoming normal nowadays, have started to produce clothing for women as well. Here is an example from Eminem.
The first thing to notice is that there is a different variety of styles to chose from but there are only five different prints to choose from. This differs for men where there are more different and interesting prints available. $25 is the least amount of money a girl will pay for a shirt in this online store. The prices vary from $25 to $40. This is much more expensive and $40 for a women's t-shirt is a lot. But there again this clothing makes EMINEM go VIRAL.
This is an interesting form of a marketing strategy. Even underground artists usually wear clothes from a brand which is known and this makes the audience buy similar clothing in order to show that they feel good wearing these clothes and in the same time they show what they are all about.
