Coolio = Amani Toomer

Submitted by Yostal on

OK, to my knowledge this has never come up:


That is the video for Coolio's single "1-2-3-4 (Sumpin' New)" from 1996.  When I saw it, I immediately noticed Mr. Ivey is wearing a 1995 Nike Michigan home jersey #18, which would make it Amani Toomer.  It would also make it one of the earliest Nike Michigan replica jerseys to feature the swoosh.  (He looks to have the tackle twill model rather than the screenpressed.)

But wait, at both 0:27 and 0:54, we see that one of Coolio's posse is rocking a #21 white Michigan road jersey.  I do not see the swoosh on it, so I am going to presume that this is a Howard homage rather than a Biakabatuka, although the video would have been likely shot post-1995 Ohio State game, so perhaps it is a 313 shout out.

Anyway, since it had never come up to my knowledge, here it is.  Enjoy your Thursday afternoon.  Because there ain't no party like a Big House party because a Big House party don't stop.

jethro34

June 9th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^

I very clearly remember that from back in the day (1996 I believe) and knowing for certain it was a Toomer jersey.  I hadn't caught the 21 jersey before, but even though that was Tim's time, I would guess it was a Desmond-inspired jersey.  In spiute of Biakabatuka's accomplishments I don't remember feeling like he got anywhere near the kind of national love that Desmond had.

BRCE

June 9th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^

Not saying that's why Coolio wore it, but Michigan apparel was big in 1990s hip hop culture largely because it was seen as a way to represent the Crips (blue).

ESPN did an old Outside The Lines story on sports garb in gangs and interviewed several guys in LA repping Michigan caps who said they had never seen UM play a game.

UMfan21

June 9th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^

I agree some times it has to do with gang affiliation, but many times in hip hop culture it's just about representing whichever team is "hot" at that moment.   To me, hip hop is all about "freshness", so you want to show a winner.  You have two options: Throwbacks or currnent winners.  Both are prevalent in hip hop videos.

 

Watch the video for "X" by Xzibit. That came out around 2001 I think, and at the end Snoop Dog is wearing an MSU jacket.  He clearly has no ties to MSU, and green is not part of his gang colors.  It's just "cool" becasue MSU was fresh off their national title in basketball that year.

jmblue

June 9th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^

We were huge nationally then.  As noted above, there's someone also wearing the away jersey in the video, and the color white has no connection to Crips (or Bloods, for that matter).  Around the same time, Skee-lo (I think) rocked a maize Chris Webber jersey in his video.

 

Louie C

June 9th, 2011 at 7:14 PM ^

I noticed that back in the day when that video came out. I remember quite a few west coast rappers rocking Michigan gear. There's a few pics of Snoop from the early '90's rocking State gear as well.