On the fifth floor of Clyde’s building, in apartment 5C, lived a kid years younger named Shawn Corey Carter.Īcross the boroughs of New York, hip-hop and all its elements were evolving.
The building ebbed and flowed with neighborhood kids of varying generations and backgrounds. Years later, he would tattoo a Mighty Mouse caricature on his upper right arm with his pen “Mighty Nike'' written underneath. But his absolute favorite was Mighty Mouse, a superhero mouse with bravado and heart. As a six-year old, he would spend hours in the family’s ground floor apartment in his imagination, immersing in the cartoons in the Sunday paper and carefully emulating the characters he saw on TV: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Betty Boop. The Harewood family - immigrants from the Caribbean - moved to Brooklyn and its Caribbean diaspora community in the early '70s. Photo courtesy of Mighty Nike The Birth of Mighty Nikeĭespite the calamities taking place around those red benches, the neighborhood that Harewood looked out onto was bursting with style. “All the characters I drew in high school wore either Fila or Nike,” Mighty Nike said. In short, Mighty Nike witnessed firsthand the long arch of how Black style became big business. Their local success eventually lead to an explosion of Black-owned independent clothing brands - like Walker Wear, Fubu, and Mecca - that would usher in an era where big brands recognized hip-hop’s power. Founded by King Kasheme, King Phade and Mighty Nike, the Shirt Kings were ground zero for streetwear. For years, Shirt Kings created bespoke pieces beloved by hip-hop pioneers, drug dealers, and everyday people alike, customizing their looks for street runways where a cuban link, a dookie rope, and a custom airbrush jacket communicated power.
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