New York City legend Rack-Lo will be in conversation with Dallas Penn for a celebration of powerHouse Books’ latest release “Lo-Life: The Autobiography of Rack-Lo.” A slide show/visual presentation will accompany the talk, highlighting the global brand experience and supporting the book release, followed by a book signing.
Mannequins will be placed throughout and around the POWERHOUSE Arena store, adorned with Lo-Life/Polo Ralph Lauren apparel for perusal.
About the Book.
Lo-Life tells the remarkable true story of the Lo Lifes’ OG founder, Rack-Lo, aka George Billips, who, at a young age, simultaneously formed an infamous Brooklyn street crew and introduced high fashion to street life. Now a veteran of a near-fatal gangster lifestyle, his story transformed into one of self-determination, culminating in a career as a successful fashion entrepreneur.
Rack-Lo made some bad choices: he left school, he thieved, he went to jail, he got shot; he had a lust for fast money, materialism, and clothes, and a knack for police run-ins, street confrontations, and skipping out on warrants.
Rack-Lo was deep into street life in the late 1980s, when he united teenage crews from the notorious Brownsville and Crown Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn to found the legendary gang Lo Lifes, who made a name for themselves dressing head to toe in highly coveted Ralph Lauren’s Polo brand clothing—or “Lo.” They acquired this “preppy” fashion by any means necessary: stick-ups, shoplifting, and hustling. What started as an informal gang uniform, organized around clean designs and bright colors, became a devotion to a lifestyle brand, and eventually created an association between street-level crews and the luxury brands that would fundamentally change the pop culture foundation of the fashion industry. Rack-Lo’s personal testimony captures the Lo Life era (1988-2005) like no other.
But Rack-Lo didn’t let the game change him. Instead, he changed the game. He survived gun violence, Riker’s Island, police brutality, street conflicts, a poor educational system, and domestic violence long enough to turn around his life and reinvent himself; Rack-Lo continues to be revered for his distinct fashion style, leadership, ability to mobilize his people and brotherhood to visualize and revolutionize a better society.
This is the incredible true story of Rack-Lo.
About the Author.
Growing up in Brooklyn’s Brownsville and Crown Heights neighborhoods, Rack-Lo, or George “Rack-Lo” Billips, viewed the world at large through the lens of street life. It was on these streets where he built a legendary status that would go on to have a global impact. Credited as the “catalyst” of the Lo-Life movement, he was responsible for introducing the Polo Ralph Lauren brand to Hip Hop culture.
Rack-Lo established a fashion institution that resonates with folks of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds, and has penned numerous books based around his life and Hip Hop culture as it relates to style, fashion, community, and his role as a pioneer in leading a diversified fashion conglomerate. Once a founding member of one of Brooklyn’s most infamous teenage gangs, Rack-Lo is now a prolific writer, published author, curator, film director, model, event coordinator, stylist, creative director, editor, podcaster, webmaster, husband, father, and grandfather. He currently works as a Career Counselor at national nonprofit Jericho Project in the Bronx. He credits a similar youth program with changing his life.
About the Conversation Partner.
Timmhotep Aku is a Brooklyn-bred and based culture worker who has written and edited for Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Complex, The Fader, XXL and other publications. He was the story editor on the Signal Award-winning podcast series, “The Blog Era” and a writer on the Webby Award-winning limited series "Hip Hop DNA." His Black art-inspired radio show, “Subject To Change,” airs monthly on London’s NTS Live.