- Turn your head.
- What is that aloe vera?
- No it's lotion so that way
makeup goes on smoother.
- It's burning my skin.
- Alright now put your head all the way back
and close your eyes real softly
so you don't have any creases.
(relaxed hip hop music)
- I grew up in Huachuca City, Arizona.
It's about an hour and a half south of Tucson.
I didn't really communicate with many black people.
What is that thing?
- It's a sponge to get the foundation off, sorry.
- I fell like it's a cat's tongue
just licking my face.
Everyone likes a cat's tongue though really huh?
Growing up around Caucasians in rural areas
black history isn't on the to do list
or to learn about list every day.
Black history to me, I didn't learn 'til I went to college.
I had a minor in Africana studies.
Black history is still something
that America probably should learn about
you know black culture is huge.
(relaxed hip hop music)
Right now we're at Generation Cool
you know America's premier 80s and 90s
vintage pop culture boutique.
Me and Robbie started it about five years ago.
I remember like it's yesterday,
it all happened 'cause me and actually Robbie
had given me this white man can't jump shirt
and I had just gotten they had just retro
the white man can't jump David Robinson shoes
and I was like man this is cool.
I had an Ice Cube shirt, I had a Usain Bolt
track jersey and I'm like man
I'm gonna do a little black history
28 days of black history and back
then it was just I would just show pictures of the outfits.
(hip hop music)
I started realizing like yo people
will actually want to see me in it
and me make a fool of myself or make
light of situations.
♪ The moment I wake up
♪ Before I put on my makeup
Yo this is Jazzy Jeff and how did I get my starter
hat to look like this, the Jazzy Jeff break down.
First you grab the hat, then you grip the hat.
This is history that you're not going to learn in textbooks.
Make sure it's a starter hat.
Yo professor, how does Mike defy gravity
do you know do you know do you know do you know?
That Spike Lee hat, that's probably
one of the items that I had to
go through extreme connections.
Having the shop helps me get these connections
to get some of these costumes.
I had to get those glasses too which
at the time was a lot of money,
that was 279 for glasses to get those,
those are the exact ones that he wore,
exact model that Spike Lee wore in that picture
and that's have to make it exactly
like Spike Lee did it.
Before I know it I was buying 500 dollar outfits
and stuff like that, it's very expensive
but it used to be very cheap.
(light hip hop music)
- [Ashley] Preparing J.R. for his black history month
celebration tribute.
- Does that look creepy enough?
- I think it's really cool, it's fun,
something to look forward to every day
throughout the month of February,
when it ends it's kind of sad.
- Looks kind of fire.
- He always provides some kind of brief
little history paragraph you know
who the person was, what they did
and it gives you a little bit of a lesson
but something to also kind of laugh about.
- [Manny] God you look just like him.
In the second scene.
- Okay.
- Yeah you look just like him.
- For it to be criteria for me
you have to be an influence in my life.
Two is like can I get the costumes to make a great
black cosplay type, is that such a word, black cosplay?
Why does it not look like Dennis that much?
Is it more like a side angle that they're shooting at?
- [Manny] No you look like him.
- You think? - Yeah on camera
you look like him.
There's been like two to three years now
that I've been helping him.
The quality of it really stepped up
and so this here like we just have
to keep raising the bar.
I learned a lot about black history.
And just from being J.R.'s friend
I learned a lot about black culture
past hip hop and past what we see day to day.
J.R. looks ridiculous but he pulls it off so well.
- Dennis Rodman to me was very fun.
He was always been an influence to me.
He's the first basketball player
to show individualism with his hair
and his antics and his piercings and his tattoos.
Let's be real, 1994 and 1990 that wasn't
really something you'd seen in the NBA at that time.
Go back to the last.
I like that one.
That's good.
(light funk music)
I get into their uniform, you do transform
into them somewhat.
Yes when I become Prince
I was like and I walked the streets as Prince
I'm like wow if I'm walking the streets
as Prince and everyone's loving me
and like man that's great man you're Prince
and taking pictures with me I was like
imagine what it was like to be Prince.
I'm a little jealous sometimes when I was Prince
I'm like man I should've been Prince.
It's fun and informative so I want
you to look at it and I want you to be like
wow that was fun, you know that's what
I want you to think of it
and also I want you to know about
the actual person that I'm depicting
'cause it is black history.
(light funk music)