Hip hop clothes are popular among all the classes of the society. High class millionaires or suburbia teenagers were all wearing baggy clothes as a defiant type of sportswear. Even basketball stars were appearing in public wearing hip hop clothes. The mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick has publicly stated his admiration for hip hop.

But these good times came to an end. The basketball players gave up baggy clothes and huge diamond-embedded medallions as the new NBA dress code asked for a business casual style. They didn't start wearing corporate suits but they proved they can dress in collared shirts and dress shoes. The new NBA dress code didn't stop them from wearing cowboy shirts, for instance, it just banned the hip hop clothes.

The reason for this action is simple: hip hop clothes will always be linked to the hip hop culture's aggressive and problematic beginnings when hip hop represented a way of expressing one's defiance and resistance against society rules.

Kwame Kilpatrick's affection for hip hop came to the same end for similar reasons. When he first ran for city hall, he had the aggressive, defiant attitude hip hop fans or artists have. He was wearing a quite big diamond stud in his ear as many hip hopers do. The diamond stud became a controversial aspect during his campaign, but he refused to remove it until polls showed that the diamond stud was making him lose votes. After becoming the youngest mayor of Detroit, he returned to wearing its favourite trade mark. He also displayed publicly his admiration for hip hop clothes and hip hop culture in general.

But the voting public didn't seem to appreciate this attitude and Kwame Kilpatrick was heavily loosing votes for his re-election campaign. Something has to be done quickly. So, during a very solemn ceremony, he removed his trade mark, the diamond stud and he stopped supporting the hip hop culture.

The reason behind this political move was the fact that people were considering the diamond stud a symbol of his negative image among voters. The public was associating his trade mark to the aggressive language and behaviour of the hip hopers.

After this political strike, Kwame Kilpatrick was re-elected as mayor of Detroit and he never returned to his diamond stud. After all, in the eyes of the public hip hop meant trouble.