The Notorious C.O.O.G.I.: Biggie's History With The COOGI Brand
“However, I stay Coogi down to the socks…”
Today marks 16 years since Christopher Wallace, better known to the world as The Notorious B.I.G., was struck down in the prime of his career. The fatal gunshots that took his life at 24-years-old—as a result of an ongoing eastcoast/westcoast rivalry between him and fellow deceased rapper, Tupac Shakur—ended the bright future of a hip-hop heavyweight, in every sense of the word.
With just one multiplatinum album under his belt (1994's Ready To Die)—and a sophomore project two weeks shy from being released (1997's double-disc Life After Death)—Big was living large and in charge of the hip-hop scene. While some of us will never really come to terms with his absence from the rap game, his memory is still there...growing far “bigger” than his moniker suggests.
One thing in particular that we’ll always love about Big Poppa is his unmatchable style—and, more importantly, his love for COOGI.
VIBE takes a brief look at Biggie’s history with the COOGI brand, and breaks down how a man, self-described as “black and ugly as ever,” brought Australian clothing to the streets of Brooklyn.—Keenan Higgins (@HIGzILLMATIC)
Today marks 16 years since Christopher Wallace, better known to the world as The Notorious B.I.G., was struck down in the prime of his career. The fatal gunshots that took his life at 24-years-old—as a result of an ongoing eastcoast/westcoast rivalry between him and fellow deceased rapper, Tupac Shakur—ended the bright future of a hip-hop heavyweight, in every sense of the word.
With just one multiplatinum album under his belt (1994's Ready To Die)—and a sophomore project two weeks shy from being released (1997's double-disc Life After Death)—Big was living large and in charge of the hip-hop scene. While some of us will never really come to terms with his absence from the rap game, his memory is still there...growing far “bigger” than his moniker suggests.
One thing in particular that we’ll always love about Big Poppa is his unmatchable style—and, more importantly, his love for COOGI.
VIBE takes a brief look at Biggie’s history with the COOGI brand, and breaks down how a man, self-described as “black and ugly as ever,” brought Australian clothing to the streets of Brooklyn.—Keenan Higgins (@HIGzILLMATIC)
WHICH CAME FIRST: THE B.I.G. OR THE COSBY?
During the mid-90s, Christopher Wallace undoubtedly made it a hood priority to rock the iconic knit pattern. However, he wasn’t the first to put a generation of urban style seekers onto the COOGI brand.
Back in the 80s, another figure in African American pop culture made COOGI—more importantly, their sweaters—a go-to for guaranteed freshness: Bill Cosby. Everyone’s favorite TV dad made the COOGI sweater a staple on his timeless sitcom, The Cosby Show (1984 – 1992).
The now-deemed “Cosby sweaters” became so popular, three of them went up for sale on eBay during a 2008 auction to benefit the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation (named in honor of Cosby's only son, who was, eerily similar to Biggie, murdered in L.A. in 1997 on the brink of beginning his doctoral studies). According to The NY Daily News, the money was raised to help fund educational programs.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, minimum bids were set at $5,000 per sweater. If you don’t know, now you know.
BIGGIE BRINGS COOGI TO BROOKLYN
While Cosby was the first to introduce the Australian brand to Black culture, Biggie was the first to influence the streets with it. According to an MTV interview with veteran stylist Groovey Lew, after seeing Mount Vernon native Walt G rocking the sweaters, B.I.G. was instantly hooked.
via MTV News:
"We used to go to [Manhattan club] the Grand on Sundays," Lew told MTV News in a 2009 interview. He continued by adding, "And my man had all the Coogis and the Kangols. And I got the pictures where [Walt] G got his Kangol on and his Coogi, but Big had on Army jackets and Timberlands. So [Big] fell in love with this kid's style right there — just took it to the next level for the world to see. If you weren't Bill Cosby or just a rich motherfucker from Australia playing golf, nobody knew about [Coogi]. Big homie started running around with it, and that's what opened the 'hood up to it."
Name–dropping the brand in hits like “Hypnotized” and “Big Poppa,” Big helped make COOGI one of the most lucrative clothing brands in urban culture for a near decade. He may have reigned supreme on the lyrical front, but he made sure nobody slept on his style either. Shit, we might still be "COOGI down to the socks" if B.I.G. was still around to show us the way.
BIGGIE DIES—AND SO DOES COOGI
Maybe Biggie wasn’t the absolute reason COOGI’s popularity skyrocketed in the urban fashion world. However, after that fateful night on March 9th 1997, COOGI lost their number one representative.
By 2001, the Herald Sun reported that original founder Jacky Taranto (who unfortunately died in a 2007 car crash) was 25 million dollars in debt and no longer had the assets to maintain control of the company. Taranto eventually sold the COOGI brand to U.S. investors Norman Weisfeld, Bruce Weisfeld and Jimmy Khezri. Reports claim that the financial trouble stemmed from the post-9/11 economy, but doesn't it seem a bit odd that the company faced hardships less than five years after B.I.G.’s murder? We’re just saying.
COOGI INFLUENCES A GENERATION OF "FLY GUYS"—COURTESY OF B.I.G.
When an artist dies, everything associated with them becomes legendary. Similar to Aaliyah’s side swoop and Pac’s nose ring, Biggie’s postmortem Coogi sweaters became a thing of vintage hip-hop gold.
In 2009, Jadakiss helped recreate the essence of Big’s Coogi steez in his Vashtie-directed video for “Letter To B.I.G.” off the Notorious soundtrack. An ad campaign with the brand soon followed:
Most recently, rap’s golden child, Drake, has started a sort of sweater-revival of his own. We’ll let him rock, but we know where he got the blueprint from.
COOGI TODAY
Much like their 90s competitors, like FUBU, Mecca, Pelle Pelle, and Avirex, COOGI's mass appeal on urban fashion has slowed down a bit. However, don’t count them out just yet.
The brand is currently promoting their Spring 2013 collection, which consists of UK-inspired tees (seen above) and woven goods for men, women, and kids. Take a look at one of their pieces from the collection:
Think BIG would’ve copped this? We all know he loved a good hoodie ("It don't make sense, goin' to heaven with the goodie-goodies/Dressed in white/I like black Timbs and black hoodies"), so this seems like it would've been right up his alley.
The bottom line is, we truly miss hearing The Notorious B.I.G. on our radios & seeing him floss in the illest gear, breezing through the Florida Keys with Puffy. We wish he was still here to put us on to the next hot thing in urban fashion, but wishing isn’t going to bring him back. Nonetheless, we’ll be missing you, homie.
