During the late ’70s, cocaine was imported from South America at an astounding rate. Just as fast as it came in, users demanded it, as it was their ticket to a short-lived euphoria. Basic economics suggests that, as a seller of anything high in demand, you’ll eventually need to raise prices. This wasn’t feasible, so dealers instead had to get a little innovative, to serve an extra junkie and make an extra dollar. To “stretch their work” dealers began to cut the cocaine – with the help of adulterants that stretched the amount of coke they had, and substitutes which mimicked the drug’s effects. This resulted in the birth of crack.
By 1985, the amount of New Yorkers who admitted to using crack had skyrocketed. Lives were lost, neighborhoods were destroyed, and irreparable damage was done to our city.
But what was once seen as a widespread epidemic, is now just somewhat “taboo”. We’ve overheard young artists from the Lower East Side (who weren’t even alive in the ’80s) talk about experimenting with the drug recreationally. It’s been so long since crack hit NYC, that we’re now able to openly joke about it.
Crack, for better or worse, is still relevant in today’s pop culture. Through reappropriation, even clothing labels have taken the idea of crack and tied it into their own identities. Alife recently released their ‘New York Crack’ collection — and it’s actually pretty sick:
Take a look at some other brands who have created pieces that address the crack era.
The Paper Root Clothing ‘PB & Crack’ Collection:
Paper Root Clothing partnered with Karmaloop to create tops with a more comical undertone. As you can see, we still love Tyrone Biggums.
The Dissizit ‘Straight Crack’ collection:
This bold collection from 2013 features a design spun off of the “Enjoy Coke” advertising campaign, not to be worn in formal settings
We even made this playlist, just for sh*ts and gigg’s, to take your mind off the workday.
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