0:00 Okay, without even having to show it, please explain Y2K Asian pride American fashion. Oh, like big big pants that cover the shoe, like the Jencos? >> Yep. That's what you remember having? >> could get a Millers Outpost or Anchor Blue and they remember they had those sizes. Yeah, they had they had baggy beyond baggy. >> Beyond baggy. >> And then they had huge which was like 50 inches around. Which by the way, that's in right now. If you go to even like the teenybopper type of like stores in the mall, it's straight up like baggy. >> Oh, yeah, yeah. >> They call it that again. >> if you're poor and you have to go to the swap meet and get Solos. >> Solos. >> Oh, Solos. Yeah, Solos are great. But then for like eight let's say for the Asian pride Asian-American Y2K fashion, what was different from just the Asians versus the other races? >> ████ visors. >> It's not like generational. It's like
0:51 what >> it was the haircuts. The haircuts were pretty big. >> Frost tips, bangs, and visors. >> the haircuts? >> So, you had yeah, frost tip bangs, the fade with the spiky hair, and then you had slicked back hair. Some people had the flat tops with the slicked back hair. And I think that was a very California Asian style. And then [snorts] but the clothes was also kind of different. But I would say the haircut is what did was distinctly Asian. >> it's so distinct that we never saw it again. Isn't that crazy? >> Yeah, it'll come back. It'll come back. Super big flannels. >> You know, like >> Oh, huge flannels. >> Or big polos. >> Polos, yeah, with a giant yellow ████ Nautica >> Nautica jackets, Tommy Hilfiger jackets. >> all had an Asian pride haircut? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Which one was you Which one did you have? >> I had bangs. >> Just the bangs over your hair? >> Shaved head bangs. >> You did that? You? >> I wouldn't have. I don't I only had that
1:41 for like sixth and seventh grade and then I remember my mom got so mad. >> You want to be gangsta? >> Yeah, but I I wasn't. I was ████ >> I had that in eighth grade where I I shaved my head and I just left the bangs and then my dad got so mad he made me get a military haircut afterwards. Like a flat top. >> That's even more gangsta. >> Look good though. >> It was really gay. >> I had bangs too. >> You had that, too? >> Yeah, it was like down to here. >> I had too. >> Oh, yeah, I remember your photos. Those are funny. Did you ever have hair cut like that? >> A little bit. I think I I I had like I had the long ████ spiky hair during that period a little bit. But otherwise, I think I've had this ████ same >> Did you bleach it? Or did you >> No. No, it was just like Goku spikes, ████ >> was just a Goku >> One of my biggest flexes as a as a fourth grader was like, "Dude, look how spiky my hair is." >> That was one of your biggest flexes? >> I would like tell people, I'm like, "You want to touch it? It's pretty ████ spiky." >> Dude, when you're the only Asian, they do that.
2:31 >> They do that. >> They're like, "Oh, s███." >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, yeah. >> Let me touch your hair. >> You had to be the only >> Yeah, yeah, I was the only Asian. Remember everybody was wearing puka shells? >> Yeah, that was my jam, dude. >> Puka shells [laughter] >> Puka shells was a really big thing. >> Puka shells is kind of back, too. >> Yeah, they're back, dude. And then I I remember like in that period, the the kind of emergence of like hip-hop type clothes. So, people started wearing bigger like cargo pants with like Echo, remember Echo the rhino? Like uh Fubu, like it was starting to see like this emergence of other brands that were >> Like streetwear, almost. >> Yeah, streetwear. Like almost like the birth of streetwear, yeah. >> Pre-LRG, though. >> Yeah, yeah, pre-LRG. >> Pre-LRG, for sure. >> Yeah. >> Another ████ funny thing was I remember how everybody I definitely know what Vietnamese people were doing this all the time was always drawn a specific cartoon version of people. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Johnny No cartoons. >> Yeah. It's like dressing like that.
3:22 >> Yeah, like that chick the chick with the like bell bottoms and then she has the the hair right here with the ponytail and a white tank top. >> Guys have the slacks with the dress shirt and then their hair split like this. >> I remember seeing chicks like that, I'd get so ████ hard. >> Hell, yeah. >> Yep. >> [laughter] >> Did you guys like >> drawing in [clears throat] tattoos? >> Remember when they came out with Can't Hardly Wait and then Seth Green's character? Basically, when I saw that movie, I thought he was making fun of Asians when I first saw it. Because he had goggles on his head and then he had a visor, too. But then like I didn't know that that was To me, I just thought that was a cool Asian. [laughter] Cuz we didn't make fun of that back then. I thought that was dope. >> Or wearing the visor upside down. >> Yeah, that's what he would do. >> That's like when raving started getting in. >> Right.
4:12 >> Guys were starting to wear >> But then they made his character be more of like a wigga, like a hip-hop guy, which I was like, what? >> The goggles, weren't that from Usher? That was like >> Missy Elliott did it, too, I think. Yeah. >> Yeah, a lot of Asian dudes were doing that. >> I think they were adopting a lot of those styles from what they saw in music video, though. >> But the funny thing is I didn't really see I felt like black people and white people still thought that was silly to do in real life. But Asian people just did it. Yeah. I was like, they're probably getting clowned on, but because the community was so all Asian, nobody was really making fun of it. We just thought it was dope. >> I remember you either wore Superstars >> Yeah. >> Cortezes if you're a gangster Chucks >> With the socks in them. Was that the same era? >> You did low-top socks. You packed your socks. Yeah. >> You you And then you had fat >> Take a tube sock, you roll it up three
5:02 times, put it in with fat laces, and you ████ Yeah. >> K-Swiss, too, was a huge one. >> K-Swiss was tight. Couldn't afford it. It wasn't on sale at Big 5. >> Do you think it was only Asians that tucked in their pants and stapled it? >> Oh, I did that. I didn't think it was only Asians. >> know about staple, but I definitely remember there was a technique to like how you would roll it up. >> during the same era, the the Mexican rebel guys would cut a slit. Have you ever seen that? >> Mhm. >> They would do a They would cut one slit at the cuff of the pants so that it split and it almost looked flared. >> Also kind of like drapes over the shoe. Oh. >> That's tight now. Yeah, that's [laughter] tight >> That's tight now. >> Is that the era where people were like doing ████ with pens? You remember? >> The pen spin thing? >> The pen spin ████ Was that the same era? >> I guess so, yeah. >> Yeah, but that was also tied in with like the the era of like gel pens were brand new. >> learn how to do that? You could do that?
5:52 >> No, I couldn't do it, but I was like, all right, cuz that's pre-fidget spinner, right? So they're like, this is my fidget spinner. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> were kids like uploading YouTube videos of them doing it and they had like bajillions of views like, oh, this is what we're supposed to be doing with our lives? >> Mhm. >> Yeah, I remember that. >> There was also a way to like wear your backpack at school and ████ You know what I'm saying? >> Oh, you sag it. >> Yeah, sag all the way down. Jansport, whiteout, and ████ just tagging up like the bottom of the leather part of your >> Yeah, you write draw with whiteout on it. >> Oh, wow. >> taking, you know, gum. You know how it's that silver foil? You separate it and you cover your entire binder with the silver. I don't know why that was cool, but it's ████ but everyone did it. >> I just remember girls always >> Yeah, it's ████ >> I just remember girls always >> one tin foil sheet instead. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, they would just >> You want to see You want to see like the double mint or spearmint on >> Wrangler or whatever.
6:42 >> It's not real, dude. It's not certified if it's a >> That's how your binder looked. You had that and then you had flyers for parties you didn't even go to. >> Yep. >> I remember um there was a rumor going around. I don't know how true it was, but all of a sudden my whole school stopped wearing Tommy Hilfiger because they heard >> Tommy Hilfiger was racist? >> You know, like Asian people or something. >> He was like, "I wouldn't have made my clothes if a bunch of ████ were going to wear them." >> There were so many different versions of what he said. >> Something about eating dogs and stuff. >> were spreading the one that he said that Filipinos look like monkeys in his clothes. Every race had their own version, even black people. How did that even really? >> Yeah. >> Is it true? >> No, it's not true at all. And he had to go on Oprah to dispel it. >> But a lot of people just stopped wearing Tommy Hilfiger. >> Anything that was a genius if he had a competitor that wanted to take him down, what a genius way to do it. That's like the Mountain Dew shrinks your dick stuff. >> True cancel culture. No, that was true.
7:33 >> I still think that. I still think that. >> Y'all Y'all know >> Was it Marilyn Manson took out his ribs to suck his own dick or >> Or Richard Gere put a hamster in his ass? >> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah, there's Whoever starts these things that work >> That went viral. >> That one probably is true, though. The the gerbil in his ass? >> The gerbil in Richard Gere's ass? >> That's crazy. >> More than Marilyn Manson removing his ribs to suck his dick. >> Well, we could check that. I thought that one was true. >> [laughter] >> I thought that one was believable. >> Hey, you know what's crazy, though? Like this That's like a millennial thing where like they're like, "Oh, how how Like someone will post a video say how many people will remember this?" >> Yeah, Word of Mouth. >> I thought it was an American thing. There's people everywhere around the world. They're like greetings from Egypt, I remember. Greetings from Egypt. Straight from Estonia. Like I knew this as a millennial. And I'm like, how the ████ did all of us just do this like with the word of mouth? Always. Yeah, there was
8:23 always something. Even Little Kim there that Little Kim had too much ████ they had to pump her stomach. >> She swallowed too much ████ >> That was true. That was true. That was true. >> Dude, that's crazy. >> Do you know how much you would have to swallow, dude? It's a lot. >> that rumor like another time about someone from like Backstreet Boys the same exact thing. >> Lance Bass, right? Didn't they say I remember they said about him. >> There was that phenomenon where somehow every kid knew how to pull out their ████ Nintendo and blow on it when there was never written anywhere formally. >> Yeah, but we don't even know if that works or not. >> Do you know what I remember that I don't really see anymore? Like every plaza would have like a pet store. You could buy like a lizard or a fish or whatever. And there's like I don't see pet stores no more. >> Out here you they got them. >> They do? >> Yeah. Puppies for less. >> Wow. [laughter] >> It's really called that. I went inside. I was like, holy ████
9:13 >> They're just puppies? >> But they're But it's not even less. It's hella expensive. >> Wait, also they do a bunch of those things where it's like these are like save these dogs type stuff. >> But they're they're all bred. >> Oh, yeah. >> But then someone has to save them though. Someone has to >> They're trying to they're trying to put a stop to them out here. They're campaigning to make them illegal. And then I was telling the pet store like, oh yeah, so you guys aren't going to be around much longer. And then they're like, no, we already have a loophole for when they do that. >> Oh. >> So like, what? And they're [laughter] just going to stay open, yeah. >> Like the illegal Airbnbs that find a way to operate somehow. >> Pretty much, yeah, exactly like that. Remember like so back then everyone had a lot of people had pagers, right? Were Were Asians the only ones back then that had the crazy candy colored ones? Remember how they would just keep keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller? >> Oh, like the little egg, yeah. >> like a tiny one with a chain. I only saw Asians with >> I do remember all my non-Asian friends
10:06 asking me like, so I had a 5190, the phone, the Nokia. >> Nokia. And then like I you would start decking it out. You can make the antenna have a light in there or you can make >> The whole battery could be a light and ████ right? Yeah. >> Have the keypad be a different color. And I remember all the non-Asian homies are always like, "Dude, where'd you get all this stuff at?" And I think if you just went to any Asian plaza >> there was like a cell phone car accessory store that you can get all kinds of crazy ████ out of. >> That is the first though is the cell phone accessories is Asian folks. >> The what? >> Didn't you work at one of those? >> At uh no, I worked at a normal one. >> Oh, okay. >> I worked at a white one. >> A non-Asian one. >> [laughter] >> But it was a phone accessory place, yeah. >> Yeah, but like all the Asians had crazy decked out phones and it's easy to do. >> Do you also were you also part of this thing? I know there's a big SGV thing, but um when it came time for prom or formal or anything like that, people got their corsages and boutonnieres and
10:57 flowers from Hong Kong flower places because they would spray it with a ████ load of glitter and they would put all this paint on it and it would be so over the top that everyone in Asian schools got those. And if you the normal ones with just regular flowers, it looked really like whack. Like you were supposed to get Hong Kong flowers. >> Wow, maybe I didn't even know there was regular ones. I just went to whatever's in my neighborhood, so they're probably Asian stores. >> Flower Mart on Las Tunas would be where we would go. And then it was always Hong Kong style. They they like dip it and like they color it, yeah. It was like way crazy. But I think that's like a lost art. Like nobody does that anymore. >> Flower shops are a ████ lost art. >> what's another thing another white white TK Asian thing? Was uh guys plucking their eyebrows. >> Oh, yeah. >> All right. They always had the ksh ksh >> Mine were Bella Hadid >> Suspect. [laughter] You made it super thin? >> I did, yeah. Cuz that was just like the that was just the style of the time.
11:47 >> I remember some guys would do Adidas sign here. >> Oh, really? Oh, yeah. They would shave shave lines, yeah. >> People still do that. >> Copying our style. >> I don't think dudes really pluck their eyebrows to like perfect lines anymore like they did. >> No, they cuz they would pluck here and then they would go >> be down for a threading, man. ████ I don't give a ████ anymore. I'm like look good, look good. >> to have earrings. I had two here, one here, and then one here. >> Oh, okay. Damn, those with the bangs looks tight. >> I thought I was hard. >> [laughter] >> I thought I was hard. Now I think it's gay. >> That's the funniest part is that like all of these fashion elements combined, you don't expect that guy to think he's hard. >> Yeah, yeah. >> [laughter] >> It does, yeah. I can see why my dad called me gay all the time. My dad called me gay all the ████ time. >> That's true, cuz you had like sparkly women's earrings. >> Cuz I would have bangs, right? My dad
12:38 was like, "Why the hell do you have those?" I was like, "I could be ████ hard." He's like, "Dude, they'll just grab and just fight you and punch in the face." I'm like, "That's not how they fight. They don't grab me by the bangs." >> Dude, that's >> [laughter] >> Very practical advice. >> Same thing happened to me when I So like I shaved half my the top half of my mustache so you have a thinner line next to your lip cuz genuine or whatever. So I would do that and my dad was banging on the bathroom door while I'm doing it cuz he thinks I'm doing another gay thing. >> Yeah. >> And then I opened it and >> So he was right. >> Yeah, I opened the door and he goes, and he just walks away. >> [laughter] >> That's even gayer than I thought. What? Do your lips look bigger? They look huge. >> My Mexican homies who all call me chinos and stuff like that. You know, there was a era where all Mexican dudes had like a bowl cut, right? So I went to I was a kid, I went to the barber shop and you know, this is like early when they had just started letting me walk to the barber shop by myself. This close to the
13:29 dry cleaners, right? Not It's just an old white guy so he doesn't really understand stuff. And I'm like, "Yo, I want like a bowl cut, right?" He didn't understand so I was like, "I don't know. It's like a It's pretty like a sharp line." And this guy really just gives me like one line. >> Oh, ████ >> All the way around, basically. >> Woah. >> So like you're a kid so you don't at the time I didn't know how to be like I didn't know how to fix it. >> [laughter] >> You're like, "Yeah, it looks pretty good." >> Yeah. >> You know, so I was like, you know, they show you the mirrors like this, you're like, "Uh you don't know how to ask for revisions and s███." You're like, "Yeah, okay. I think so." I remember walking back just all like I don't know what to do. I go back to the dry cleaners. Dude, my dad got so pissed he slapped me, walked me straight back to the barber shop and it was like, "I'm sorry, can you just shave this?" >> So they shaved the whole thing? >> Yeah. >> Oh my [laughter] god, dude. Cuz we Cuz you wanted that like mushroom
14:19 cut look. >> Yeah, you just trying to fit in with your Mexican >> I'm just trying to fit in with the ████ Home Improvement brothers. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, Jonathan Taylor Thomas ████ >> I just want to fit in to those three dudes. That's it. >> But you had to be like decent looking enough already. >> Well, cuz you don't know any communication on how to get what you want either. So, you're you're screwed either
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