In part one of our interview with Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers QB spoke about his love for music, his campaign with Gatorade Beat the Heat for proper athlete hydration, and why he could never see himself becoming a rapper.
In part two, Cam spoke with VIBE’s Evan Schwartz about his signature fashion sense, his clothing line with Belk, his friendship with Michael Jordan, and what it’s like to have goofy teammates interrupting your interviews.
VIBE: How did you develop your personal style?
Cam: That’s something that I think, growing up in Atlanta, it brings a particular swagger about a person. There are three or four places in the country where people think of fashion: One is LA, obviously. Another is New York. And I think Atlanta has to be in the top five cities where fashion is very big. Growing up in Atlanta, knowing fashion, and me partnering with Belk to have my own clothing line is big, and it’s got a lot of teammates of mine excited because they get perks, trying to get the hookups on dress shirts or suits. They always try to give me a hard time with the way I dress.
VIBE: Your teammates make fun of the way you dress?
Cam: Oh absolutely. But like I say, I’m comfortable in my skin. I think dressing nowadays went from trying to fit in to wearing something to try to stick out. That’s not only in the NFL – you look around and it’s taken off like a virus in the NBA. Everybody is focused on it. My mom looks at games, she doesn’t just look at LeBron playing the game, she looks at LeBron during the post game interviews. Dwyane Wade, just recently Paul George wearing what he wears. Obviously Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook.
VIBE: Do those guys ever call you for fashion advice?
Cam: I need to be calling those guys for fashion advice!
VIBE: Can you set the trend for the NFL and get your teammates to start dressing better?
Cam: We have some guys on this team that dress unbelievably. Country boots, to cowboy style, to urban, to European very tight clothing. There’s a big fashion sense on the Carolina Panthers. I can’t speak for every team, but for us fashion is extremely big in our nature. We check each other’s style on the team bus when we’re going to the game.
VIBE: What were your style icons growing up?
Cam: Outside of the sports realm, I was big into Eastbay. I always looked at Eastbay Magazine to try to find what was the newest shoe coming out. Going to the mall, you obviously saw Ralph Lauren. We didn’t have the opportunities or the outlets to see the Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry. We could only wish and just say, ‘One day, we’ll have the opportunity.’ There are things you look at from rappers, entertainers as a whole, and you see them. When they go on the red carpet you take notice of what they’re wearing and you try to go out and cop it for yourself.
VIBE: Did you camp out for sneakers growing up?
Cam: Naw, I was never one of those guys. With me being close friends with Michael Jordan, I always give him a hard time and say, ‘Under Armour’s on the rise!” He’s a person that took his brand, not only the Jordan brand with the sneakers, but overall the things he’s done with his name and his brand are unbelievable.
VIBE: How do you relax away from the field?
Cam: My place of refuge is definitely watching movies and playing video games. I know that’s kind of hard to fathom. I have a younger brother that is the joy of my life right now, with me not having any kids, and every time I get the opportunity to play him online or face-to-face I play him. I have some close cousins that we always very competitive when it comes to playing Madden, NBA2k, even FIFA. Now we have Call of Duty that’s about to come out, and we get very energetic and competitive with video games.
VIBE: What movies do you like?
Cam: Recently I saw The Hangover III, a great movie. Tonight I’m going to see Iron Man 3 or Fast and Furious. Going to the movies is one of my greatest hobbies.
VIBE: What about TV shows? Do you watch reality shows?
Cam: Just recently I bought the whole series of 24. I absolutely love watching Duck Dynasty. Those guys are great. Watching Uncle Si, and Phil, and those guys, it’s great.
VIBE: What happened with Jordan Gross video bombing your interview?
Oh God! [Laughs] That’s the perks of being on a goofy team. Here I am doing an interview, and Jordan Gross takes a bet. We can see the interviews in the conference room, so he says that he was watching my interview and someone bet him that he wouldn’t go in and wreck it. I didn’t even know it was him because I was trying to stay focused on the interview without getting distracted. So he was there for a couple seconds, and he got paid. I’m trying to contact him as we speak so I can get a piece of that pie!