COOLumn #001

Introduction

Words: Yannick Niang & Sebastian Nicu

Streetwear is more omnipresent and multi-faceted than ever before. The different sub-scenes are rooted in places all over the world, grow inexorably towards the »sky of grails« thanks to the Internet and thrive in the »glow of hypes«. According to this wonderful flora metaphor, you can think of this COOLumn by Sebi and Yannick as a kind of friendly discussion among gardeners who discuss all the curiosities of their trade down to the last detail. Oh by the way: Sebi is clearly the studied botanist (NO, we have nothing to do with VBG, nobody can lease the realm of plants for himself) and Yannick is this douche from the neighbourhood who thinks he has a green thumb. So let’s cut to the introduction:

Sebi: I first met Yannick on the bus about 10 years ago. When I decided to accompany a drunk friend on her way home, we somehow got into a conversation. A short time later, a guy we both knew invited me to a house party where I recognized Yannick again. And that wasn’t very difficult, because even then he had a weakness for colorful clothes. Even though we always liked each other (I hope), it still took a few years until we really became friends. After coincidentally meeting at a few concerts and parties, Yannick suddenly stood in front of me at the sneaker shop where I was working at the time and happily announced that he was my new co-worker now.

Since then, our two CVs look quite similar: different retail jobs, American studies (which I actually finished unlike this lazy guy), various writing jobs, hosting dubious podcasts (please listen to GANG GANG and Dress Relief) and for a couple of months now we are both part of the team of the great HHV Journal.

Nevertheless, we often disagree, which is why I’m really looking forward to our column. In my spare time I like to tease Yannick because he dresses solely in rap merchandise, which he denies. That’s why in one of the upcoming issues, we’ll be doing our best to find out where merch stops and where rapper-led fashion lines start. Apart from that, this column is mostly about rap, clothes and pop culture – because that’s what HHV stands for in our opinion.

Yannick: If you know Sebi, the bus story is very entertaining. Why else would you talk to a stranger who maneuvers a beer corpse through Munich on a Friday evening? Sebi’s manner is unique, in the first (and second and third) moment you wonder why the guy is so bored of what you’re saying that he doesn’t even try to sound interested. At the same time you catch yourself laughing at his disgusting, dry and always dark humor (Shut up, Sebi) and yourself and incidentally learning something about the shoes you’re wearing. Because when it comes to streetwear and the associated scene, Sebi is a goddamn brain. There’s hardly a movement, hardly a hype from which he doesn’t get wind of as soon as possible. Which doesn’t mean he’s a hypebeast! Because if he doesn’t bring them to life himself, then he exposes and condemns most trends for their superficiality and obvious stupidity.

But enough with the praise! Sebi is right, we often disagree (AND you should check out our pods!). We regularly argue about rap, make fun of each other’s musical tastes and laugh about our outfits (though Sebi is honestly and unfairly the fit god). On the other hand, we also discuss phenomena like the rapper-pants-paradox, which says that not a single rapper wears good pants. So this column is going to be a pretty lame and chaotic, but also honest and entertaining bunch of words and we’re looking forward to stirring up the HHV Journal a bit and providing some variety!

Yannick und Sebi waren übrigens vor einiger Zeit gemeinsam im Dress Relief Podcast zu hören – checkt mal hier:

Visual content – Photography: Daniel Nguyen / Meklit Fekadu – Artwork: V.Raeter