IHMDJ! I Hate My Day Job

The interesting thing about IHMDJ founder and designer Antoine Hester is the fact that he actually likes his day job. The 25 year old Hester is a consultant by day and a sneaker collector and graphic artist by night who loves hitting up a rooftop in Brooklyn party every now and then. By no means does Hester’s day job define who he is as a person but currently it pays the bills. The one point of emphasis that this Morehouse graduate and native Georgian wants to make clear is that he’s not doing this to make money. This current line was made to bring back the golden era of hip hop because in his words, “1996 isn’t coming back.”

Scheme: What was the wackest job you had and what did you take away from it even though it was the worst?

Antoine: I actually had a couple of jobs that required me to go door to door when I was in high school. For one company I sold home alarm systems and also for a couple of months I worked with the U.S. Census where we’d go around and get statistics on how many people are in a household and the demographics. That was probably my worst job experience just because going door to door is difficult because you’re coming into someone’s home unannounced and you have to learn to be a people person and understand their attitudes - and people generally don’t want to be disturbed. You have to package up what you’re selling and groom yourself and try to pull them in within a few seconds to see if you can make the sell or see if you can get them interested. So I learned a lot from that in terms of being prepared when you approach someone. You only have a couple of seconds and if you don’t have your pitch together - you’re stuttering and not articulating clearly when trying to communicate - you’re not going to go anywhere. I think that’s benefited me in the street-wear industry. A lot of people you approach whether it be boutiques, manufacturers, magazines, outlets or press, these are really busy people and you have to be on your game and let them know what you’re trying to do and keep it moving. Also you have to learn how to work with many different attitudes in different situations. A lot of people aren’t going to be open to what you’re trying to push to them at first especially now when street-wear is so saturated; people are like, “Yeah I’ve seen that before.”, and everyone and their cousin has a t-shirt label right now. People are already kind of defensive so you really kind of have to have your stuff together and know what you’re trying to accomplish.

Scheme: So to the people who haven’t heard of your line what differentiates you from the rest of the people out there?

Antoine: One, since my day job is business consulting and technology consulting I think I have business acumen or business grooming that some of the other people that were brought up in the creative side of the industry may not have - from my experience working with global clients, major reorganizations, and IT implementations. Just learning how to structure your work and how to solve problems strategically - I don’t care what business you’re trying to run - that will be beneficial whether it’s a multi-million dollar corporation or a small t-shirt label. Also in terms of my label I think the difference is in the quality and execution of our design. I’m not the best graphic designer on earth and I don’t claim to be, but what sets us apart is the thought that goes into our design and the cleverness and the wit behind the references. I think people see that and they appreciate that over what you see from some of the other labels out there. Anybody can take some cool colors or some cool symbols, flip it and put it on a t-shirt - but to try and capture a mood or a statement and articulate that on a shirt through graphics, that’s a bit difficult and that’s where I think our strength is.

Scheme: Your line brings about a very nostalgic point in hip hop culture where things were cool and hip hop was in a good space from Freaknik to (James Yancey) Dilla. Is that one of the points of the line to bridge that gap? A lot of people meet rap music and hip hop where it is and there’s no real education as far as where it came from.

Antoine: Definitely. As far as this season, a big influence was golden era of hip hop. Trying to conjure images of those days back when Big Lez and Joe Clair were hosting Rap City on BET. Back in the days when radio meant something and you could turn on the radio and hear some really innovative hip hop and not have to be concerned with hearing the same top-40 single five times in one hour, just trying to bring back images and emotions from that time. I remember getting dressed to go to class in 8th grade and I put the same Grand Puba CD on every morning. That’s like an audio soundtrack to my life and that was a big part of my life growing up and I’m just trying to capture that in the brand.

“I’ve seen a lot of t-shirts come out now and they’re like ‘R.I.P. Dilla’ and they’re talking about Donuts and the references to Donuts - and his career is so much more vast than that Donuts album.”

Scheme: When did you first hear a Dilla track because a lot of people focus on his adlibs or signature saying in songs but you brought back a classic track and if you’re a real Dilla head when you first read (Fellatio, Homosapiens, Promiscous, Interference) some people would think that, that’s nasty but if you’re a Dilla head you know what that means. What made you decide to pick that particular track?

Antoine: I’m glad you said that because your 100% on point. I’ve been a Jay Dee fan - and notice I said Jay Dee - since day one. His production on the first Busta Rhymes album, the first Slum Village album changed my life. I remember, I was in Georgia at the time listening to a mix show on Hot 97, which is a big hip hop radio station down there, and they played the Players song on this show which used to come on at like 1am in the morning and I recorded it on an old cassette tape. That song was just hypnotizing and I played it like 100 times in one weekend. That’s when I first became infatuated with Jay Dee. I’ve seen a lot of t-shirts come out now and they’re like “R.I.P. Dilla” and they’re talking about Donuts and the references to Donuts - and his career is so much more vast than that Donuts album. I wanted to do something that was just for fans, and like you said, a lot of people… like that tee isn’t for everybody and if you wear it everywhere people are going to be like what the hell are you doing. If you’re a Jay Dee fan or a Slum Village fan you see it and you automatically know. It’s a bit of an esoteric design and it’s not meant for everyone but the people who know are going to get a kick out of it and appreciate it.

Scheme: Explain the purpose behind the Freaknik shirt because it had a lot of positive and negative connotations with it. People didn’t think it was as sexualized when it first came out, what was the message behind that tee?

Antoine: I’m originally from Georgia and I went to college at Morehouse so I know and love Atlanta and right now I’m in Bed-Stuy. I’ve been here for about 3 years and you see a lot of Bed-Stuy coming through in our line. I felt the need to do something that spoke to Atlanta and the ATLien in me, that’s a big part of who I am. So I was thinking what is characteristic of Atlanta? What does Atlanta have that contributed to hip hop? And images of Freaknik just came back to me. I was small when it was in it’s heyday but I remember running through it… and you could see the cars… I mean you could go to any random gas station and you could just see cars tricked out and people just outside with red plastic cups drinking and the whole city was gridlocked. It was just a big party in the city. It was a hip hop icon as well, if you go back to hip hop records people we’re dropping Freaknik references like Lil’ Kim with Crush On You so I thought this was important but also just to touch on my Atlanta roots. I have another shirt that plays on the I Love New York design but it’s I’m in Love with a Stripper. The South is kind of taking over in rap music right now so I wanted to reference that and pay homage to

“I don’t hate my day job and the brand name is not really meant as a declaration it’s meant more as a comment on those common frustrations that the working class person experiences.”

Scheme: Where do you want to see this clothing line go, because currently this isn’t the only thing you do?

Antoine: Right now I don’t have any desire to make it my day job; I don’t know where it will go in the future. I have a bit of history in graphic design and I’ve played around with screen-printing. I tried to have a clothing line while I was in college and it didn’t go anywhere and I learned a lot of lessons from that. This is just something I wanted to do but right now this is not my day job and I’m not really looking at it to make a profit. I’m just trying to create a quality product. Something that I like and something that speaks to my fashion style and sensibility. Something that will stand up as a strong brand in the street-wear market. I think I have a bit of an advantage over the other people doing this because they are looking to make that quick dollar and they’re writing orders here and there. I turn money down all the time because right now I’m really trying to keep it an exclusive boutique label… only top tier accounts. Since I’m not depending on this to make money right now - my day job pays my bills - I think I have an advantage because I don’t have to exploit the brand and quote unquote go “pop” if you will. If you think about it there’s not really that much money involved I mean you can make money with t-shirts but it’s never going to replace my day job

Scheme: You make a lot of references to the golden era of hip hop in your line, do you see yourself pulling from any of the current rap music and hip hop culture?

Antoine: I mean hip hop has changed, mainstream hip hop, we all have our huge scroll of complaints and I won’t address those right now, but at the same time I do like some of what’s going on with the commercial hip hop. You go to Atlanta snap music… I’m feeling it… I mean if it’s catchy… and I like some of the stuff going on. For a while MF Doom was my favorite emcee. As of recently – and I never saw it coming - Lil’ Wayne is killing it and is probably one of my favorite emcees. The face and definition of hip hop is changing, there is a lot of new stuff coming out that’s derivative like Spank Rock or J’Davey, but those days of 1996 are never going to come back and I just want to love those through the label.

Scheme: People who hate their day job, what advice would you give to them when you got to that breaking point when you couldn’t leave your day job because you had to eat and you had bills to pay.

Antoine: I’m glad you mentioned that because I don’t hate my day job and the brand name is not really meant as a declaration, but more as a comment on those common frustrations that the working class person experiences. Whether you’re a consultant, a bus driver, or construction worker, everybody has to get up and go to their day-to-day grind, whatever that is. I wanted to capture those frustrations that we all encounter. You know, after a long night partying and then the alarm goes blaring at 6am, the first thing that pops into your mind is f*ck I don’t want to get up! That’s really what I am commenting on. I don’t hate my day job but I do have those moments where I’m just like why am I doing this I can’t stand this.