Daymond John - Display of Power: How FUBU Changed a World of Fashion, Branding and Lifestyle

HOW FUBU CHANGED A WORLD OF
FASHION, BRANDING AND LIFESTYLE

By DAYMOND JOHN
with DANIEL PAISNER

To contact the author, please check out the following:

www.myspace.com/Daymond John
www.stealthbrandingcorp.com
www.mogulsonly.com
www.displayofpower.com

Copyright 2007 by Daymond John

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by NAKED INK, a division of the General Trade Book Group of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc. Please visit us at www.nakedink.net.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data on file with the Library of Congress.

ISBN 10: 0-9825962-3-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-9825962-3-4

Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 5 4 3 2 1

Have you lost your mind? I mean, how is it that you can disrespect a mans ethnicity when you know weve influenced nearly every facet of white America? From our music to our style of dress, not to mention your basic imitation of our sense of cool. Walk, talk, dress, mannerisms we enrich your very existence, all the while contributing to the gross national product through our achievements in corporate America. Its these conceits that comfort me when I am faced with the ignorant, cowardly, bitter and bigoted, who have no talent, no guts. People like you who desecrate things they dont understand, when the truth is, you should say, Thank you, man! and go on about your way. But apparently you are incapable of doing that! And dont tell me to be cool. I am cool.

Cedric the Entertainer as Sin LaSalle
in Be Cool

Dedication

THEY SAY THAT BEHIND EVERY STRONG MAN IS A STRONG WOMAN. WELL, I HAVE FOUR BEHIND ME, AND THATS POWER! AND SO I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO THE FOUR POWERFUL WOMEN IN MY LIFEBECAUSE TOGETHER, WERE UNSTOPPABLE!

>> MARGOT JOHN MY MOTHER FOR GIVING ME LIFE, COURAGE, HONOR, DISCIPLINE, AND FOR PUTTING HER DREAMS ON HOLD FOR ME TO HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE. FOR BEING BOTH MY MOTHER AND FATHER, AND LEADING ME DOWN THE RIGHT PATH, EVEN IF THAT MEANT LETTING ME GO DOWN THE WRONG PATH TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR MYSELF.

>> MARIA MY EX-WIFE FOR BEING THERE FOR ME FROM THE BEGINNING, AND FOR SHOWING ME WHAT TRUE LOVE IS AND TRYING TO SET ME STRAIGHT WHEN I WAS OUT OF CONTROL. FOR DISAGREEING WITH ME WHEN I HAD TOO MANY YES MEN AROUND. FOR RAISING OUR KIDS WITH A DEDICATION AND FOCUS THAT CAN RARELY BE FOUND IN THE PARENTS OF TODAY. THE ONLY REASON I CAN STAY FOCUSED ON MY WORK IS BECAUSE I NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE IN MY WORLD IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.

>> DESTINY AND YASMEEN MY DAUGHTERS FOR INSPIRING ME EVERY DAY. FOR BEING THE ONLY TWO PEOPLE IN MY LIFE WHO DONT NEED TO THANK ME FOR ANYTHING, BUT WHO DO ANYWAY. YOU ARE SENT FROM GOD. I TRULY BELIEVE THAT. YOU ARE HUMBLE, TALENTED AND BEAUTIFUL, INSIDE AND OUT. DADDY LOVES YOU.

contents

Mother Knows Best Drive (Literally) Who Moved My Government Cheese? Re-Mix Gonna Party Like Its 1999 Never Hurts to Ask

A Blanket of History The Geography of Cool One Less Shrimp The Truth About Kicks The Ripping Point Same Story, Different Decade

True Colors American Brandstand Get the Bags, Norton What the MAGIC Show Would Become Display of Power

New Money Look the Part 05 Negotiation from Ignorance Young, Gifted and Black-Owned

Dress for Success Storefront and Center My Bodyguard Over-balling Why the Yankees Always Win Go Directly to Jail I Fired Oprah Windows on the World The Heat Cycle Do Your Homework They Work Hard for Your Money

Black on Black Smells Like Hip-Hop The Nigga This Year Hey, Hey, Hey Hands On Change it Up The X Factor Whos In Your Ear?

It was 1997. Id just started making some money. I was driving a brand new Lexus GS400. Gold. My girlfriend was renting a house in Rockville Centrea mostly rich, mostly white neighborhood on Long Island. I was feeling pretty good. I stopped for gas on Sunrise Highway, on my way home from the city. It was late, but not too late. There were other people at the gas station, but not too many. I didnt recognize anyone in particular, but someone must have recognized me.

I got back to my girlfriends house and took the dog out for a walk. A little Chow Chow puppy named Coco. My girlfriend came outside, too, and we were in front of the house just a couple minutes when we noticed a black guy coming down the street, looking a little out of place. He looked a little shady. Grimy. Shifty. Hair all undone. Like he was up to something.

Now, who was I to talk, right? Me, a black man in a white neighborhood, not exactly the George Jefferson type, walking a little puppy, middle of the night. Who can say, maybe I looked a little shady too. But I knew my business, and Id never seen this other guy before. He passed by once and turned the corner. I thought, This is not good.

My girlfriend didnt like the looks of this guy either, so she hopped in the car to follow him, see what he was up to. I couldnt call the cops, just because someone looked out of place. It had happened to me too many times. Maybe I had no bus fare, so I had to walk, sometimes through a nice neighborhood. Maybe my car broke down, and there was no public transportation. Things happen. I didnt want to jump to conclusions and convict this guy for no good reason.

Well, he must have doubled back and hopped the fence around the house, because the next thing I knew he was walking up to me from behind, asking, Hey, you got the time? Right then, I knew what was coming. Right then, I thought I was dead. It took a couple weeks for me to put two and two together and figure that someone I knew must have seen me at that gas station on Sunrise Highway, someone from my old neighborhood, someone who knew I was finally making money, and that my ride was probably insured, and they could jack the car and it wouldnt cost me a thing. All of this hit me a little later on, but soon as I heard those wordsHey, you got the time?all I could think was, This guys gonna kill me. Last time I heard that line I was with my father in Central Park, fishing. I was about eight. Someone sidled up to us and asked my father for the time, and my father started beating the crap out of him. Just like that. Id thought my father had gone completely crazy, beating down this guy like that. He had a short fuse, my father, but this was over the top, even for him. It wasnt until years later that I realized what had happened. Only other time in my life Id ever been jumped, or robbed, and this black guy in Rockville Centre uses the same line.

Hey, you got the time?

This guy pulled out the biggest gun Id ever seen, and led me to the backyard. Put the gun to my head, told me to lay face down on the ground. I had a nice gold chain around my neck, and he pulled it off. He told me to empty everything from my pockets. In those days, I carried a wallet with all my credit cards and papers all rolled up and held together with a rubber band, but there was also about $1000 in there. The guy didnt even see the money. He took the loose change in my pocket, and the keys to the car.

I lay there, face down, and realized Id heard a million of these stories. Some of my boys, theyd been on the dishing-out end of the same scene, and theyd told these stories into the ground. Id never been on the receiving end, but I knew how it would go. I heard this cat cock his gun. I said, Its all good, its all good. You got what you wanted. Im not calling the cops. Why dont you just take my shoes, so I cant run after you?