• Gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A. popularized an early form of gangsta style in the late 1980s, consisting of Dickies pants, plaid shirts and jackets, Chuck Taylors sneakers, and black Raiders baseball caps and Raiders Starter jackets. Starter jackets, in addition, were also a popular trend in their own right during the late 1980s and early 90s. They became something of a status-symbol, with incidents of robberies of the jackets reported in the media.

    Hip hop fashion in this period also influenced high fashion designs. In the late 1980s, Isaac Mizrahi, inspired by his elevator operator who wore a heavy gold chain, showed a collection deeply influenced by hip hop fashion. Models wore black catsuits, “gold chains, big gold nameplate-inspired belts, and black bomber jackets with fur-trimmed hoods.”Womens wear Daily called the look “homeboy chic.” In the early 1990s, Chanel showed hip-hop-inspired fashion in several shows. In one, models wore black leather jackets and piles of gold chains. In another, they wore long black dresses, accessorized with heavy, padlocked silver chains. (These silver chains were remarkably similar to the metal chain-link and padlock worn by Treach of Naughty by Nature, who said he did so in solidarity with “all the brothers who are locked down.”) The hip hop trend, however, did not last; fickle designers quickly moved on to new influences

  • As a child, we had dreams. They were in the language of children because we were children. Then we put aside many of those childish dreams and “grew up.” Of course, growing up meant that we followed what the adults around us said being a grown up was. We gave up on the big dreams.

    Instead, we started substituting goals for dreams. If you were raised in a typical American household, those goals had to do with success and money. They focused on the outer achievements, not on inner values and dreams. It’s pretty ironic that with the primary focus on those kind of achievements, more and more people find their wealth slipping away. Could it be that there is something fundamentally off with how the average person thinks about the future? Of course! And in this section of the book you’ll learn how to tap back into your real passion and purpose in life as you clarify your big dreams.

    The big dreams of a Maui Millionaire are not always brand new dreams. You’re not reinventing dreams. You’re rediscovering the dreams of your childhood. Now, though, you’re doing it with the years of experience and education that allow you to use the language of adults, with the heart and faith of a child.