Joe Freshgoods, purveyor of the popular Chicago-based streetwear line Dope.BoyMagic (DBM), has teamed with hometown pal Chance the Rapper to create a pretty funny line of shirts commemorating our 44th President and fam, including a street-stand airbrush luv design (above) and a shirt in solidarity with Malia Obama’s speculated and alleged downtime activities.
On thankuobama.us, Freshgoods and Chance are selling an assortment of Obama looks for around $30-40; if you wanna spill the big bucks for your summer look, cop the All-Star Jersey, home team mascot a bald eagle, of course. (CAW!!!!)
Chance, as you probably know, is a personal friend of Barack and Michelle, and was invited to both visit and perform at the White House several times during Obama’s tenure. Mashable describes this as a line for “a nation grieving,” but that implicit focus on Trump’s ascendancy is a distraction from the way Obama both influenced and reflected U.S. culture, a truth that no number of discriminatory laws can erase. Black culture has been the dominant influence on young America for decades now, and with Obama in the White House, hosting some of the country’s brightest and best talents—as acutely embodied in Chance—he simply codified that.
And so while Freshgoods was also selling “Fuck Donald” t-shirts alongside the Thank You Obama collection—they’re currently sold out, much as these Obama tees are soon to be—the more remarkable fact is that of an independent streetwear line celebrating our first black president promoted by two young black kids from Chi-city is about as good a snap on your “bootstraps” as you can imagine. Salute to these young patriots!
