Hiphop fashion has been used as a form of self-expression since it's creation. Many lines have
come & go, representing a lifestyle within a community. However, none have really
touched the deep opression of today's society. At least not until Rodrigo NY was created. And
guess who got the interview? Yes, Urb1 got the scoop on todays most rebellious clothing line.
True hiphop in the words of Jay-Z!
(SoJones)
Peter (Owner of Rodrigo-ny), What's the Deal Bruh?
Let Me Start this I-view by Saying What You Are Doing Is Greatly Unappreciated by Hiphop Fashion
And I Hope Your Day to Shine Comes as I Think You Are Heading a Bigger Picture than Just Hiphop
Fashion... Getting on into This Fashion Interview, When was Rodrigo-ny Started? Why? What Extra Curricular Work Do You
Do Besides Clothing?
(Rodrigo Founder)
What’s Goin on Bro? I Appreciate the Props. It Is Always Good to Know Someone Sees Where You
Coming from with Your Work.
As Far as Getting into the Game, I Can’t Even Say We Are in it Yet. I Have Been Working on the
Concept of the Company and the Technical Side of Things for a Little over 3 Years Now, but I
Wouldn’t Say I Am in the Game Just Yet. I Felt it Was Important to Figure out the Company’s
Message, as Well as the Mediums We Would Primarily Be Using, Before We Tried to Communicate
With Others. One of the Reasons I Got into Fashion Was Because I Felt it Was a Valuable Way to
Convey a Precise Message. I Am Not Concerned with Setting Any Particular Trends for the Sake of
Having Someone Be “In Style”. I Am Concerned with Getting a Point Across, in a Manner That
Inspires Either the Person Who Wears It, or the Person Who Sees It, to Do Something about the
Depicted Subject Matter. If Something Does Not Have a Message, I Am Not Interested.
I Think One of the Biggest Problems Today Is That There Is No Substantial Message Behind Most
Companies and the Products They Are Pushing. Companies Sell Us Products That We Have Been Made
To Believe We Need, but at the End of the Day, That Product Has of Little or No Benefit to the
Consumer or Their Community. The Reason this Happens Is Because Countless People Start Companies
With the Sole Purpose of Making Money, and We Has a Culture and Consumer Applaud Them for It.
No One Ever Gets Upset When Someone Says, “I’m Gettin Money”. That Is Acceptable in America. It
Doesn’t Really Matter What You Do, If You Are “Gettin Money”, Most People Will Applaud You for
It. That’s One of the Reasons We Collectively Continue to Be Oppressed. We Openly Let People
Push Their Propaganda onto Us. Whether it Is a Campaign for Diamonds, New Television Show, or
War on the Terrorists We Work With, Our Culture Collectively Embraces These People and Their
Poisonous Propaganda.
There Are a Lot of People out There Who Are Selling Us a Dream. But at the End of the Day, it
Is Just That. My Goal Is to Create Something That Is a Reflection of Reality, Not Some
Far-fetched Fantasy. We Have Enough Unobtainable Dreams out There Already, and the Reason for
That Is Because it Is Hard to Deal with Reality. It Is Easier to Create Something Far-fetched
And Superficial, Because That Is Easier to Deal With, Whether You Are a Consumer, Manufacturer,
Or Retailer. Everyone Is Trying to Escape Reality. Me, I’m Trying to Deal with It. That’s One
Of the Reasons I’ve Been at it 3 Years, and Still Don’t Even Consider Myself in the Game Yet.
I’m Trying to Build Something Monumental, and for Me to Do That, I Need to Make Sure My
Foundation Is in Place.
Besides the Clothing, I’ve Been Working on a Couple Small Magazines, Two Books, My
Illustrations, the Website, and Finishing up School. I Pretty Much Have Everything to the Point
Where I Want it to Be, So I Will Be Proceeding with it All Publicly in the near Future. Within
The next Couple Months, I Should Officially Be in the Game.
(SoJones)
What Inspired the Name of Your Clothing Line? I Feel You Might Have More to Say than Meets the
Average Person's Eye...
(Rodrigo Founder)
I Actually Choose the Name Because I Wanted the Company to Be More about the Designs than a
Catchy Gimmick or Name Brand. Most People Won’t Know the Origins of the Name, or What it Really
Means, So it Prevents Them from Being Attached to It. I Want People to Remember the Designs and
The Messages That Are Incorporated into Them More than the Brand That Produced Them. My next
Line Doesn’t Even Have the Name Anywhere on the Garment. It Is Strictly about the Designs. I
Feel My Style Is Unique Enough for People to Eventually Know Who Made by That Alone, So for the
Next Line There Will Be Nothing More than a Small Tag with the Company Name and Url Attached to
The Garment.
(SoJones)
Rodrigo-ny Designs Are Very Powerful and a Perfect Example of What Jay-z Calls Real Hiphop
("Being a Rebel"). What Motivated You to Start this and How Rooted Are You in Hiphop?
(Rodrigo Founder)
The Daily Oppression, Racism, Poverty, Materialism, Corporate Pimping, Lack of Unity,
Government Corruption, Bias Media Outlets, Superficial Values, Tainted Religions, You Name
It, it Probably Motivated Me. I Had a Little Run in with the Law 4 Years Back, and That Shit
Changed My Perspective on Everything. It Changed My Way of Life, and it Changed My Entire
Thought Process. I Was Given a Second Chance at Everything, and I Have Been Making the Most of
It Since. I Realize it Takes a Pretty Hard Slap to the Face to Wake Most People Up, So I Can’t
Say I Don’t Understand Why Most People Operate the Way They Do. But at the Same Time, I Don’t
Think I Can Live with the Idea of Letting Ignorance Rule the Day.
I Am Going to Do this till the Day I Drop, and I Really Don’t Care How Hard I Have to Work in
Order to Make Even the Slightest Dent in Things. I Literally Work Round the Clock, and I Love
Just about Every Minute of It. My Inspiration Comes from Finding a Way to Correct the Problems
I See Each Day. I Know None of Them Will Be Permanently Resolved Within My Lifetime. But I Feel
If I Work Hard Enough, I Can Get Things to the Point Where Substantial Progress Is Being Made
Once Again, and Future Generations Can Follow in Our Footsteps. We Have Recently Become So
Distracted by the Petty Little Things in Life, Many of Which Are Designed to Keep Us from
Progressing, That We Have Forgotten What it Means to Be a Society That Operates for the Good of
The Whole. We Have Become Very Unorganized, Selfish, and Materialistic, and We Desperately
Need to Break this Cycle. That Is One of the Things That I Strive to Do.
I Also Get a Lot of Motivation from Hip-hop. It Is Pretty Much the Only Genre I Listen to
These Days. It Keeps Me Going While I’m Working. Not So Much the Message These Days, but
Rather the Vibe of the Music. Four Artists Whose Message I Do Find Inspirational, However, Are
Paris, Dead Prez (M-1 and Stic.man), and Immortal Technique. All Four of Them Are on Some
Next Level Shit, and They Are All Putting Their Money Where Their Mouth Is. Artists like That
Really Do a Lot for the Community, as They Are Combining Art, with Knowledge and Entertainment.
That’s Some Powerful Stuff When You Do it like They Do, and That Is Precisely the Type of Thing
I Find to Be Inspirational. I Have a Lot of Respect for Them and Anyone Who Attempts to Do the
Same.
(SoJones)
A Hiphop Clothing Line of Real Illustrations from the Actual Hood, I Feel like Your Designs
Almost Paint a Picture... Where Are You Getting Most of Your Pictures in Your Designs From?
(Rodrigo Founder)
They Come from a Variety of Places. Some Are from Actual Spots in New York, Some I Make Up, and
Some Are a Combination of Things. But as I Was Saying Before, They All Come from Reality in One
Form or Another. Reality Is My Biggest Inspiration.
(SoJones)
I've Personally Never Seen You in a Major Publication but I Could Be Wrong... Have You Been
Featured in Anything on a Large Scale? I Know the Urb1 Newsletter Will Definately Be Featuring
You in One of the Upcoming Prints!
(Rodrigo Founder)
Nah, I Haven’t Really Even Bothered Contacting Anyone like That Yet. Like I Said Before, I Am
Not Even in the Game Yet. I’m Still Laying down My Foundation. When the Foundation Is in Place,
I’ll Start Building on It.
In the Meantime, I Appreciate People Such as Yourself Taking the Time out to Lend a Hand. I
Appreciate Anyone Who Helps People out like That, Just as I Am Willing to Help out Anyone I
Can. We Gotta Get into More of a Community Based Mindset. People Don’t Realize How Easy it
Is to Help Someone Else. We Have Become So Conditioned to Looking out for Ourselves and Having
Everything We Want Instantly, That When We Don’t See an Immediate Solution or Benefit, We
Instantaneously Lose Interest. I Wish People Would Learn to Be More Patient and Persistent, and
Begin to Realize That it Takes a Lot of Time and Energy to Build Something Substantial. Don’t
Believe the Hype. There Is No Easy Solution, No Matter How Many Underage Superstars Mtv Forces
Down Our Throats.
(SoJones)
Would You Ever Go Large Scale via Selling out to a Major?
(Rodrigo Founder)
I Have No Plans of Selling out to Anyone at Any Point in Time. If Someone Wants to Build with
Me, I Will Always Keep That Option Open, but I Wouldn’t Create Something Powerful and Then Put
It in the Hands of Someone Else in the Name of Profit. That’s a Disgrace for Everything You
Stand For, Especially When Your Whole Company Revolves Around Social Change. I Have No Interest
In Money Besides Using it for Food, Clothing, Shelter, and Overcoming Oppression.
Other than That, I Have No Need for It.
I Despise What Money Does to People, and Feel it Is One of the Primary Reasons Our Consciousness
Continues to Decay. Everyone Is Chasing after That Good Old America Dream, When the Reality Is
People Have a Better Chance If Finding a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow. Everyone Can’t
Be Rich, and Everyone Isn’t Going to Be. People Need to Dead That Materialistic Bullshit, and
Realize it Isn’t Going Happen. Find Something Better to Do with Your Life, and Realize You Can
Obtain Everything You Think Money Will Get You and Then Some If You Take Part in Something
Worthwhile.
(SoJones)
What Do You Hope to Accomplish with Your Clothing Line and What More Can Hiphop Fashion Heads
Expect from Your Clothing Line, Rodrigo-ny?
(Rodrigo Founder)
My Main Goal Is to Create Awareness and Unity. I Think Clothing Is a Good Medium for Both, as
You Can Use it to Convey a Message, as Well as Organize People in an Efficient Manner. If Your
Designs Are Strong Enough, and Contain a Message Only Certain Person Will Wear, When Someone
Sees Another Person in That Apparel, They Know Right Away Where That Person’s Mind Is At. The
Stuff I Got Coming out Isn’t Gonna Be Something Posers Will Be Wearing, So Anyone Who Has it on
Is Gonna Have Their Head in a Very Particular Place.
I Want People to Be Able to Use this Apparel Not Only to Express Themselves, but Also Link up
With Other Like-minded People. Start a Conversation, Hand out a Flyer, Do Whatever You Gotta Do
When You See Them to Make Something Happen. Just Make Sure You Do Something. We Can’t Afford to
Keep Being So Passive. We Gotta Start Getting out There and Making Progress. Oppression
Hasn’t Ended. It Just Flipped its Format. It’s Our Job to Go out There and Hold Our Oppressors
Responsible. I Hope the Upcoming Line Inspires That Mindset.
(SoJones)
Peter this Whole Rodrigo-ny Clothing Line Is Going to Make a Lot of People Think I Believe. I've
Moved Around a Bit in My Lifetime and Saw a Lot of the Subject Matter You Are Trying to Touch
Down On. Hiphop Fashion Could Use Some Strong Roots like Your Line. We'll Have to Hook up Later
To See Where Your Clothing Line Is at and Do Another I-view.
Thanks for Doing this Interview My Brotha.
(Rodrigo Founder)
Thanks Again for the Time Bro. Appreciate the Interview and Everything You Standing For. If
There Is Anyone I Can Do for You, Don’t Hesitate to Ask. I Got a Long Month Exhibition Going
On for Black History Month If You Wanna Check it Out. I’m Dropping 75 Images, Illustrations,
And Editorials this Month. Just Stop by the Site If You Wanna Check it Out.
