Hip Hop Nation
By Candace Lee

Withstanding for over 20 years, hip hop culture has infiltrated popular culture and become the universal symbol for American culture across the globe.  The industry has grown to encompass not just music, but everything from cosmetics to fashion to movies and television.  While there was a time when most of the faces seen in media falling within this genre were black, it has since seemed natural to assume that hip hop could be equated with African American culture.  However, today hip hop dominates youth culture all of the world and has been embraced by a wide range of different ethnic groups, nationalities and cultures, as well as people of all ages and genders.

Ebony magazine estimates that two of every 10 albums bought are a part of the hip hop genre, while 80% of purchasers are white.   Additionally, the output of the hip hop industry alone tops US$2 billion in the apparel industry, with influences seen as early as 1991 in high-end labels like Chanel—further proving that hip hop has infiltrated all walks of business.  The success of the multibillion dollar beauty and hair industry has been no exception and can largely be attributed to the presence of the hip hop culture.

These staggering numbers have obviously had a huge effect on trends and celebrity culture around the world, as they’ve realized the value in pushing hip hop styles out to many audiences that, despite their beginnings over two decades ago, still find the trends fresh.  Glaring examples of the power of hip hop are most apparent within the hair care industry specifically through the ever-expanding and amazingly profitable sectors of hair extensions, lace front wigs and arguably the latest, trendiest look of short, angled precision haircuts.

Hair extensions have made quite an evolution since their fairly recent beginnings.  Originally exclusively worn by celebrities and the very wealthy that could afford the labor and hair to make it appear authentic, the presence of hair extensions has become the norm and have aided in the creation of an industry that is not only glamorous, but versatile.  Coming a long way for 80s R&B singers and seen on everyone from supermodels to pop stars, it’s commonplace to see a wide-range of looks that center around the presence of extensions.  Many artists’ entire image has been built around long, flowy, full hair that can only be created with the aid of extra pieces.  The self-defined “princess of crunk & R&B” Ciara is most recognizable by her characteristically long locks that range in color from blonde to black and can change on any given day—a look only healthily possible through the use of extensions.  The likes of Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton have even created their very own extension lines that have seen huge profits as new products. 

Gail Hudson, a celebrity hairstylist that has recently started her own line of products and has specialized in extensions on everyone from Beyonce to Mary J. Blige, concurs that the most telling sign of the success of extensions has been the wide variety that have come about and the authenticity of the looks that can be created utilizing them.

“No one would ever know that my clients have extensions.  I believe in healthy hair while wearing extensions and today that’s possible.  When my clients remove extensions, they see growth, not breakage,” she said.

Hudson also commented on the universality of extensions saying that today everyone uses a range of varying methods that are more closely decided by their hair type, as opposed to their skin color .

“On the Caucasian end, they used to wear a lot of wigs and falls, while on the African American side there were a lot of cornrow extensions to accommodate the sew-in method.  I get the most requests for infusion, which is one of the most evolved methods because it is done strand by strand,” she said.

The same is true for lacefront wigs, which have made many of the same transformations over the years and are even more versatile because they’re more readily available for change.  Wigs have made a complete comeback as an answer to the setbacks that exist with high-end extensions that can be time consuming to install and limited in their use in terms of longevity and price.  Eliminating the need for excessive blending for an authentic look, the lacefront wig was popularized by Tyra Banks and has since been worn by celebrities in every field.

For those looking to stray away from longer looks, precision hair cuts that were popularized in the 80’s by female rappers are being worn by some of Hollywood's finest.  Taking inspiration from pioneers like Salt ‘N Pepa, actress Katie Holmes and the always posh pop star-turned-designer Victoria Beckham have recently adorned red carpets with angled bobs.  Naturally, in line with the rest of hip hop culture, these trends have trickled down to middle America, creating a phenomenon in hairstyling that hasn’t been this emulated since the Jennifer Aniston layered hairdo of the 90s.  Carefully crafted to accentuate facial structure, celebrity hair stylist Ursula Stephen may single-handedly be responsible for a large part of the craze, as she has served as pop star Rihanna’s hair stylist for the past two years.

“People always look to hip hop artists to make decisions about their hair.  Clients are always asking for a certain artists’ hair style.  Often artists don’t even understand the power that they have with showcasing different looks, that’s why I try to get them to do different things as I’ve done with Rihanna.  They get nervous and scared just like everyone else about drastic changes to their hair, but I always remind them that people will wear it if they do,” Stephen said.

Stephen, who has shaped Rihanna’s hair image for her characteristically short, banged, black “Good Girl Gone Bad” album look, explained that she’s witnessed stylists encouraging the long “Beyonce-look” on everyone, and knew it was time to do something different when it came to creating a new look for the pop star.

“I like to do long hair, but cuts are always funky to me.  I can remember telling her [Rihanna] that everyone was doing long and blonde, so I said we let’s be different and go short and dark.  You start getting into a rut when you do the same thing and you always want to do certain things to be recognizable,” she said.

Inspiration from all of these hairstyles has accompanied the influx of millions into hair salons, as well as millions of dollars with them.  Celebrities acceptance of the do’s have largely contributed to the evidence of hip hop’s influence both artistically and culturally, making the hip hop industry easily one of the most substantial cultures that has ever existed.  It has gone from being a small cultural identifier to an American and worldwide identifier, accomplishing what no other culture has achieved—a fusion of all cultures together to create a combination with worldwide mass appeal.  Crossing all boundaries, it is only expected to grow in influence as it evolves to continue to include a widening array of people.