JSHEP: UNCUT

This is the first in a series of lost classics and comedic “triumphs” from my back catalogue, w/extra special thanks to Stunna B!
STATS
TOPIC: El-P’s Style Transformation, April 2006 — when El-P was breaking out in like, super-premium acid wash jean jackets and aviators all of a sudden
WRITTEN FOR: The Fader
PITCHED/ ASSIGNED: assigned
NEVER RAN BECAUSE: The original photo shoot was bunk, and El-P wouldn’t agree to a do-over because he thought the whole idea [a fashion piece on El-P] was ridiculous in the first place. We had a pretty good heart-to-heart about it, though, which manifested in the following:
From Co-Flow to solo, El-P has been the redheaded rapper rocking an extra-large hoodie, an airbrushed trucker and a clean-shaven skull. But sometime after his 30th birthday, the Def Jux presidente chucked the caps and sweatshirts in favor of snug pants, a fanciful cashmere Hugo Boss topcoat, and a mane of actual hair, in the form of a Morrissey-grade pompadour. He explains his transformation as follows: “There’s something about dressing like a 16-year-old hip-hop kid that is the inverse of casual. But I’m not adult contemporary or anything. And I noticed that more females are coming to my shows. For that fact alone, I’m just gonna keep rolling like I am.”
The hair remains the most transformative — and symbolic — development for El. “At a certain point I looked in the mirror and realized that I was a white guy, and that I didn’t have to shave my head all the time… that I could have hair. That was okay. There’s this thing with white rappers — we just don’t wanna have hair, because for some reason it looks too white. I just stopped being afraid of looking white. Because that is what I am,” he muses. For awhile, the streets were all atitter about his hairdo; friends and colleagues were calling to ask what was behind the new coif. El found the attention tiresome, and reacted by clipping it back again. “It’s a whole phenomenon now. It’s like, if someone has hair now it means their music is different. I’m just like, ‘Blow me. Listen to my record,’” he notes.
And while it’s practically mandatory for inveterate rappers/ label heads to stay crispy, El-P is doing his part to keep Brooklyn chancleta-free. “I’m not walking around wearing blazers and sandals and shit,” El stresses, “but I was like, ‘Why am I wearing jeans that are three sizes two big for me? Being an artist, I really fucking hate looking like other people, but there’s this weird thing in hip-hop where everyone really wants to just look like each other, and I’m not particularly interested in that. I don’t have any crazy style thing; I just started dressing like an adult. I feel like it suits me better, instead of being the fat guy who looks angry.” —Julianne Shepherd