DEM FRANCHIZE BOYZ: NATIONAL HEROES
Not too long ago, I was listening to the White Tee Instrumental by Dem Franchize Boyz because I love that beat so much. Everything about it just hit so hard but that beat prompted something else for me as well. I thought about the lyrics and how it impacted the community at large during that time period.
Yup in My White Tee !!
The song White Tee was about A Basic Plain White T-Shirt, yup that was it. What made it so powerful though is the song was basically a changing of the guard for urban fashion. At the time everyone was stuck on Throwback Jerseys. Throwback Professional jerseys was the crave and was worn by anyone who meant anything to the culture.
However, jerseys was expensive, at least they were back then because we were children/teenagers who didn’t have their own source of income yet.
Especially if you had siblings, keeping up with the trend of popular jerseys could become an expensive task. I roughly remember my jerseys being at least $70.
Also, you couldn’t get the jersey alone you had to get the matching fitted that was an extra $40. Then you had to get some fire kicks, not no bullshitters either! That was at least $120 if you was serious about your kick game.
Now here’s how Dem Franchize Boyz essentially became heroes. That group basically said yeah all that is cool or whatever but my guy all I need is this white tee and I’m good.
The White Tee became a nationwide phenomenon and saved plenty of money in black households.
You could buy a pack of white tees or just a singular tee. And the tees were available everywhere, from the gas station to Walmart.
White Tees were extremely versatile as well. I could wear them as street clothes I could dress them up but no matter what if I didn’t have anything I could always go “Man I got a white tee I’ll be straight”. All you needed was some fire jeans and crispy pair of forces and you was good to go.
So on behalf of those who adolescent years was during the throwback/white tee era, I would like to thank Dem Franchize Boyz for help saving me from having a trash fit and keeping money in my family’s pocket. I would have to wait till my mother got paid for those jerseys or wait for my grandmother to get her check. But those white tees man my family was coming home with those like it was toilet paper.
My grandma would leave the house empty handed and returned with a white tee. And she would iron the tee for us extra crispy giving it that crazy sauce so I can really go nuts in any environment.
All in all the white tee can still be worn to this day with no hassle, its just done seldom because of the flashy times we live in.
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