12 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LIFESTYLE
THURSDAY,OCTOBER 10,2002
Clothing style represents culture, fashion
Hip-hop is a genre that is not just music. FASHION
Sarah Behunek sbehunek@kansan.com
Hip-hop is a genre that is not just music. The artists who create the eclectic beats, the DJs who mix them and the break dancers who groove to them wear clothes that are synonymous with the music. Hip-hop has a definitive style. Baggy clothes that allow movement are characteristic of hip-hop fashion. Yet, within the style there is room for interpretation.
The urban style combines sports gear such as basketball jerseys with sweat suits and crew-neck sweaters with brand names, such as Ecko, in graffiti-like writing. That's what makes this genre of fashion so interesting — it combines two extremes: laid back and clean cut. Although the pants are baggy and the sweatshirts are ... well, sweatshirts, people who are into the hip-hop scene and dress accordingly do not look unkept.
Most fashion today gets its inspiration from the last five decades. Hip-hop style, on
the other hand, is gear that represents youth culture and couture. There is no chicken before the egg question here. Obviously the music came first, then the style.
Over the past three decades, hip-hop fashion has become so defined that there are hundreds of strictly hip-hop oriented labels: Rocawear, WuWear, Vokal, Ecko. Not only are these brands created for hip hop, they are owned by hip-hop artists.
David Bandy, Overland Park junior says the artist-owned clothing lines are a
hip-hop phenomenon. As a guy who dresses in hip-hop style, Bandy explained that fashion was an art form - a mode of individualistic expression. Like the music, it is more eccentric, flamboyant and colorful than the usual jeans and T-shirt look.
"It's born out of something else," Bandy said.
Levi's makes baggy jeans, and plenty of sweat suits are available from Nike, but people with hip-hop lifestyles prefer to go with the clothes affiliated with an artist.
"Well, I don't know who Levi is. He's not making records," Bandy said.
He said the reason hip-hop fans bought artist-designed clothing instead of mainstream brands was that people who wore the clothes supported that music.
But one can enjoy and produce quality beats without dressing the part.
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has brought a new level of affluence to hip-hop clothing.
He has made progress in the fashion world with his clothing line Sean John. It is seen as one of the most chic, glamorous clothing lines in the world, up there with Gucci and Versace.
His brand, as symbol of youth and music, is a major player in the fashion game, and its prominence makes hip-hop a more recognizable lifestyle.
Another important element of hip-hop fashion is the excess factor, or as some would say, the bling-bling. It is the portrayal of cars, diamonds, and other objects of luxury that taint the hip-hop image. Bandy said this was just a phase.
"The early '90s was gangster rap and now the money sets the stage," he said.
The flashy material possessions are simply a product of the success and notoriety hip-hop has received in recent years. It represents making it in a rock 'n' roll world, which hip-hop undeniably has.
Get cardio-fit with dance classes
HEALTH
Maybe it's the thought of sweat, the waiting in line and the monotony of exercise machines that make the word "workout" strike fear in the hearts of many.
Leslie Kimmel
lkimmel@kansan.com
But if you consider having the music up full blast, jumping around and making a challenge fun, the idea of a workout could easily change from tiresome to fun. Take it from me — I've been going to dance classes for 14 years.
Heather Hellman, Wichita sophomore, has been a KU Fit instructor for the past two semesters. She said classes such as cardio funk, a hip-hop aerobics class she teaches, were good workouts because they worked more muscle groups than one might normally exercise. Dance classes such as these give a full-body workout and help with overall muscle toning.
Plus, grooving to a good song can be more fun than pounding away on a stationary treadmill.
Hellman said her cardio funk classes gave her students a chance to work out with street-style moves. Her students learn eight counts of hip-hop dance steps to pop and hip-hop songs.
"It usually takes about an hour to teach six to eight eight-counts, and that's from learning a move to starting over and then (adding) a new move," Hellman said.
When you keep learning new dance steps, your body stays in constant motion, making it easy to keep up your heart rate. When your heart rate reaches your target
zone and is able to stay within it, your body is getting a cardiovascular workout.
Going to workout classes ensures that you will get a full, proper workout. Instructors make sure their students are doing each move correctly and that they finish up the session.
"You are supposed to do cardiovascular training for 30 minutes three to five times a week, 30 minutes of strength training two times a week and 30 minutes of flexibility training a week," Hellman said.
KU Fit offers a variety of classes in each of these areas. Different levels of yoga classes help students work on flexibility, weight aerobic classes improve strength and other classes offer cardiovascular training.
Classes are scheduled Monday through Thursday in the early evenings, twice on Saturdays and Sundays and once on weekday mornings. A class in each area of training is offered at a different time on weekday nights. So, by checking out what KU Fit has to offer, students can get the workout
KU FIT HIP-HOP DANCE CLASSES
Steppin' Up: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. Saturdays at room 212 in Robinson Center
Cardio Funk: 7:30 p.m. Mondays at room 212 in Robinson Center
For a complete listing of KU Fit classes go to http://www.ku.edu/~recserv/.
Plus, grooving to a good song can be more fun than pounding away on a stationary treadmill.
But if you're reading this and thinking you can't walk 10 feet without tripping, much less follow choreography, don't lose hope. Aerobics classes — and, yes, even dance classes such as cardio funk — are structured to accommodate even the clumsiest of students.
their bodies need.
"I teach the moves (by) each arm and each leg and what they are doing," Hellman said. "(You) don't have to have any coordination."
If your current workout routine consists of running for 30 minutes while watching closed captions of daytime soaps, pick up a KU Fit class schedule at 208 Robinson. Membership in KU Fit and access to classes are free for students.
lowa City students object to advertising junk food, video games
By Amy Jennings
The Daily Iowa via U-Wire
University of Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Local students say junk-food commercials broadcast during daily TV programming in Iowa City, Iowa, schools teach bad eating habits and directly conflict with the district's nutrition policy.
Four City High students expressed their concerns about the Channel One advertisements to the Iowa City School Board during its meeting Tuesday night. The board deferred discussion on the use of the student news program, which is intended to teach current events to junior-high schoolers, until a retreat scheduled for Oct. 19 to Oct.20.
The high schoolers said forcing students to watch the 12-minute program made them a captive audience for two minutes of commercials advertising junk food and video games.
"The hypocrisy of forcing kids to watch commercials for Snickers and Skittles and then teaching them how to make nutritious choices is almost hilarious but very disturbing," said David Heckman, City High junior.