Add-2 Pays Tribute to the Allmighty “Starter Jacket” (Video)

If you're not an '80s baby like me it's hard to describe how huge Starter jackets were. Let me put it this way: there were two types of kids growing up. Kids with Starter jackets and those without. So when Chicago rapper Add-2 decided to weave their tale of growing up poor with repeated "Starter Jacket" references, it took me back to a time when your greatest achievement in life was obtaining a Raiders jacket.

"Starter Jacket" is off of Add-2's "Tale Of Two's City Vol.3: The Rise & Fall", a dope mixtape that may or may not feature a guest appearance by Charles Dickens. (Did I just make a terrible English literature joke? Yes I did, and I'm not taking it back.)



The Refined Take:

1) When I was growing up kids got jacked for their Starter Jackets all the time, kind of like how there were all these sneaker robberies when Air Jordans first came out, so it's no surprise to see the jackets associated with both the best of times and the worst of times. (English literature joke number two! I'm unstoppable.)

2) You know what's tripping me out right now. I bet all the younger folks watching this saw that Magic jacket and thought about Dwight Howard instead of Shaq and Penny Hardaway. Damn, I'm getting old.

3) Although it's hard not to get nostalgic, I don't want to spend too much time focusing on the jackets themselves. This track is about much more than that. The jackets are only serve as a symbol for the hard times Add-2 went through growing up, and they tell their story of inner city struggles with dope lyricism. They're definitely on my radar.

4) Sorry, I can't help myself. The most underrated Starter jacket of all-time. The Kansas City Chief jacket. No one was rocking that jacket but it the red and gold color scheme was the ish.

5) To download Add-2's "Tale Of Two's City Vol.3: The Rise & Fall" click here.