When I was growing up and listening to Hip Hop, references to cultural icons was a common thing. Mentions of Michael Jordan or Jackson or Pablo Escobar, Virgil Abloh, and Dapper Dan were a regular. Even today in Hip Hop, references to Hollywood/Sport/Fashion icons has made Hip Hop synonymous with some of these other industries, which is a main reason why Hip Hop is the #1 genre of music today. With Hip Hop & all it’s sub-genres as the face of the music industry, it makes it all the more important for Biopic’s about the founders of this great genre be created.
With that being said, Sony Pictures and Jerrod Carmichael from ‘The Carmichael Show’ are developing a movie around the life of Hip Hop and fashion icon Dapper Dan. Dapper Dan is solely responsible for outfitting and dressing some of New York’s biggest Hip Hop icon’s in the 80’s and 90’s including (but not exclusively); Jay-z, LL Cool J, Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, P.Diddy, Mike Tyson, Aliyah and Floyd Mayweather. THR broke down the news of Sony developing the picture:
Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day is a streetwear pioneer that outfitted some of the biggest New York City-based stars of the ’80s and ’90s out of his iconic store on 125th Street in Harlem. His clientele included Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, P. Diddy, Mike Tyson, Aaliyah and Floyd Mayweather.
His style of remixing high-end logos from the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton into his designs led to litigation that eventually prompted the closure of his store. Over two decades later, in September of last year, Dapper Dan struck a partnership with Gucci to relaunch his exclusive Harlem atelier that includes a Dapper Dan x Gucci capsule that will be available along with the fall 2018 collection.
We’ve seen a Tupac biopic, a Gucci Mane biopic is on the way… is a Dapper Dan biopic necessary? Maybe not, but I think I would be interested in a high-stakes coming of age movie set in Harlem. There’s no news if Jerrod Carmichael would be playing Dan himself but he’d be perfect for the portrayal and he’s had the acting chops for it as well. Regardless, the Hip Hop community approves!
