Meet Rakim Hogan | Artist & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rakim Hogan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rakim, what are you inspired by?
A lot of my inspiration came to me at an extremely young age ,since I was a kid fashion was in front of me. I always had a memory of seeing a pair of Louis Vuitton “jaspers” at age 10 to seeing my dad wearing bapestas I feel like it was always destine to be.When I would start to develop a taste of my own it would be people such as Pharrell,Drake,Nigo,Kanye,and Lupe Fiasco, just to name a few. There would also be a time when I was heavily into skateboarding and extreme sports along side of the beautiful era of “backpack” rap I would start to explore different creative mediums as far as designing skateboards and altering clothes to make them better or different. As far as today I’m usually inspired by everyday life. If I’m not out the house doing something then I’m in the house thinking of something to do, even now as I write this I am at the club under the influence but all things said are completely genuine. As an artist I feel like you need to go out and experience things in order to grow in any way, life will always show you things you need to see when you least expect it so when you do go out go with the intention of living, learning, and listening, then inspiration will follow.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Honestly the only thing I can say is hard work lead me to be where I am today. There have been plenty of late nights and early mornings that helped make everything I’ve accomplished possible but it’s all been worth it. I can’t say that road has been easy at all, the ups and downs of being a creative can be stressful and exciting all within a two week span. When it comes to creating art and clothing you have to be prepared to fail and take losses from time to time but when you get comfortable with getting back up the possibilities are limitless. The thing about taking losses is that it teaches you what you’re really capable of, rock bottom will teach you lessons that the mountain tops never could. There have been times when I literally wasn’t selling anything until I started to market the products I had and let people know what I had to offer, a lot of times people will know what you do but won’t buy anything or inquire simply don’t know what you have or know what you have coming up. Having a strong online and social presence something is something that I did have to learn and develop along the way. In a space such as art or fashion it’s always good to rub shoulders and cultivate relationships, one thing Ive come to learn is it pays more to help people as a friend than do business as a stranger. Relationships that are not based on business or monetary gain often bring other helpful people around or can provide perspective from different aspects of life. At this point of where I’m at I just want people to know that My brand is all about creating a community, creating a community where people can come together and share a love for fashion, art, music, and all mediums in between. It’s about showing people what’s truly possible when you bet on yourself.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
For me Detroit has a lot of more lower key spots that are a ton of fun, and a lot of places with great Detroit style food.First I would break down the layout of the city as far as East and West, then we’d probably stop on warren and grab some weed before we get the day started. As far as food we would start with going to Detroit One Coney Island which is my personal favorite. After that if it’s on a Sunday we’d go tailgating for the lions game which is always a great time. Detroit also offers a great selection of museums such as the Dia, Mocad, and the Detroit history museum just to name a few. Honestly there are so many wonderful things to do in the city that I couldn’t possibly name them all.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I honestly can say that I have been fortunate enough to been surrounded by some of the best support groups a person can have. One of these people who would be a driving force for me is my Cousin Meech (@meechie00) he would help me understand what it was to take risk and that in order to be rewarded you had to give it your all and be okay with failing even if you do. Another person who I would shout out is Royalty (@royaltythefinest),her role in my life would be nothing short of defining, she would come into my life and teach me things about myself that I never knew where there before. She taught me that in order to truly be and feel successful you have to heal the things that hold you back and start to love yourself before loving anything or anyone else. Another thing she would help me understand is that the energy you put out into the universe always comes back one way out another so moving with purity and intention should always be something that you practice in order for those same sort of opportunities to come your way. Last but not least I would say shout out to the Burn Rubber family,they would help mold me into the person I am today. As a kid my uncle would always come home with new clothes and shoes from there and I would watch from a far just to see what they had in stock or who had what clothes on but it wouldn’t be until recently as of last year when I started working there I would pick up as much fashion knowledge and connections that I have so far. All in all these are just a few people and places that I feel helped shape the successful person that I am today and I would just like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Website: https://ae0b99.myshopify.com/?fbclid=PAAaZvN-s120GMstMRtmtF_J4KdTgsfxzxzBYaraAity0FwVp3ZwvBwxY7PhY_aem_AXT8wJtGTWjTFbOT8Dn0XjKWKpCBcx0YYraYY8AtIrHm-LyDb8rVE0nQ1bJS9Jl7YZM

Instagram: https://instagram.com/23marty_?igshid=NzZlODBkYWE4Ng%3D%3D&utm_source=qr