PRODUCT

Armor All

SPIN
December 1997
by Julie Taraska

Hip-hop's rapid growth industry: bulletproof street gear

Back in the day, personal security for the hard-core hip-hopper consisted of a posse of hulking bodyguards and a few armored sport utility vehicles. But now, in the wake of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., more and more artists are investing in an extra line of self-defense to put between them and the public: customized bulletproof street gear.

Helping artists both both stay alive and keep it real, the latest slug-proof wares include leather jackets, sneakers, camouflage ensembles, full-length mink coats, amd, for the Lil' Kim's of the world, bras. Lined with blended Kevlar, a soft fabric that's lighter (at 11.3 oz/ft) than a sheaf of cardboard, these hard-core fashions - ranging in price from $300 to $13,000 - are able to withstand firepower up to a .357 Magnum. Got a Nautica sweatsuit in a favorite color or a size 18EEE trainer? Any item of clothing can be armored; only the wearer is wiser.

Kevlar clothing is nothing new: In America, it's a $20 million-a-year industry. But such outfitters as Darryl Barnes, president of Urban Body Armor, are now opening shops catering specifically to an increasingly anxious hip-hop market. "People are jealous (of these rappers) and they need to be protected," says Barnes, whose New Jersey-based company has sold items to Bad Boy Entertainment, Death Row Records, and Queen Latifah's Flava Unit, among others.

Artists are, for the most part, uncharacteristically silent as to who's packing bulletproof gearl But Busta Rhymes, for one, thinks every rapper should vest up in it. "We're assholes if we don't, especially in this chaotic climate," he says. "Do the safe thing, not the sorry thing."