The FUBU founders talk homophobia, “Shark Tank,” LL Cool J, biggest regrets and more

This week, Daymond John, Keith Perrin and Carlton Brown of FUBU sat down with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN for a very special episode of “Drink Champs.”

The four founding members of the streetwear brand (J. Alexander Martin couldn’t make the show) were born and raised in Queens, New York. These longtime friends became business partners in the late 1980s before officially launching FUBU clothing in ‘92. It took a few years for them to get the brand off of the ground, but through the 1990s, it rose up as a global fashion force that went on to accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales per year.

Plenty of iconic figures, then and now, have offered their public support for the clothing entity. Everyone from Michael Jackson to Drake has been seen in FUBU, which further solidified its impact within Black and Hip Hop culture. After three decades, the franchise is still expanding, and with so much success, all founding members are considered fashion moguls with sharp business acumen.

They spoke about the tricks of the trade and detailed how they were able to rise in the ranks as a unit in the three-hour discussion that was full of lightbulb-on moments. Below are nine major takeaways from the conversation, and the full episode can be watched here.

John touched on some of the early hurdles they had to get over as a group in terms of perception. He said, “When we were coming up and we were doing clothing, Hip Hop was very homophobic. And prior to us coming out — of course Karl Kani, Cross Colours — prior, the idea of a clothing designer was some flamboyant person in Europe. So, we were being almost harassed by some of our friends like, ‘Yo, [I] see y’all doing that clothing s**t. Yo, y’all alright?’ And so we came up by ourselves because nobody wanted to talk to us.”

He proceeded, “Imagine you out there, one of our boys is moving kilos, the DMX of Belly, and we up there talking ‘bout, ‘Yo, I’m about to go make this strawberry pattern, son. You gotta see this hoodie it’s gonna make.’ We came up realizing nobody wanted to mess with us for a while until they started to hear we were doing $350 [million] a year.”

When the trio talked about the origin point of the FUBU moniker, they declined the speculation that it was exclusive to Black people. “For Us, By Us was more of a cultural thing... for the Hip Hop community, by the Hip Hop community,” Brown said. “It was Black-owned but never Black only.”

John chimed in and added, “And we created it because we felt that Timberland at the time said that about us. ‘You can’t buy our s**t.’ That was the energy… So, we would become the same thing we were fighting against if we decided to become that ignorant.”

In 1997, LL Cool J starred in a GAP commercial where he famously donned a FUBU hat and rapped about the rising clothing brand. Here, the brand founders reminisced on what it was like to witness the platinum-selling rapper give them such a big look while advertising for another company. “He changed the game with that one,” Perrin said.

John explained how LL Cool J was able to get away with such a feat: “There [was] no social media at the time. The GAP runs an ad; they spend $30 million on every network. He’s in there a capella ‘For us, by us on the low.’ It’s running. They don’t have anybody culturally relevant at the company -- Black, white, I don’t care, yellow -- who said, ‘Yo, you know…’”

And lastly, Brown revealed what might’ve influenced the Hip Hop legend to do such a thing in the first place, revealing, “LL had [a] vested interest in our company. So, we worked that situation with him where he was incentivized to go the extra mile.”

John broke down how FUBU is still highly supported to this day. He started with the brand’s current association with the music industry. “You’ll see a lot of the young artists, they have a silent message. I know Drake supports it a lot. SZA supports it all the time. [Lil] Yachty. So, a lot of artists today are doing their LL Cool J,” the businessman noted.

He further explained, “So, when it’s older, it’s people who know what it is, and they have a choice of anything and everything, and they chose that. And the younger artists who are trying to do the subliminal. And then a lot of times, it’s the younger kids who are saying, ‘This is mine. I’m gonna reset this thing off because I’m creating an identity that you don’t know about.’ They’re very pro-conscious. We’ve always tried to appeal to those [people].”

A lot of success came about in three decades of working in the fashion industry and beyond, but when asked by N.O.R.E., each person at the table revealed some regrets they had along the way. If Perrin could go back and do it all over, he would’ve accepted the job to co-host “106 & Park.” “It was supposed to be me and Free,” he said. “I wish I could’ve did that because then I would’ve played it [to] our advantage.”

Brown explained, “I would’ve acted earlier when it came to real estate, when it came to acquiring other companies, [and] used those resources sooner.” John agreed with his counterpart and went on to discuss his lack of financial intelligence at the time. In regard to capital gains, something he learned down the line, he said, “If I would’ve learned that earlier when we had FUBU, we could’ve been LVMH… We were just so busy trying to buy cars when we were kids that we didn’t know any better.”

The FUBU brand has impacted a lot of people around the world, including some of the most notable Black figures of all time. The group talked about meeting and being supported by the late Nelson Mandela, which led to them discussing a few other legendary link-ups.

“We were the last brand to work with, and license and partner with Muhammad Ali before he died. And the most autographed man in the world, in history, who was never seen in a brand at all, was seen in FUBU three times. That was Michael Jackson I’m talking about,” John stated. “We were the only brand with any label on it in history that Michael Jackson ever wore, and we have the three pictures and you’ll see that.”

To no one’s surprise, it came up that John is a longstanding investor on ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank.” Though the reality show stands as a separate entity, it still impacts FUBU, according to Perrin. “He went to 'Shark Tank' and did his thing on 'Shark Tank.' And that opened the doors for everybody looking at FUBU again. Because now, once again, we’re on a national platform with the CEO of FUBU, which he’s always gonna be remembered [for] first,” Perrin explained.

John jumped in and added that being on the show changed people’s perception of him and his business partners, stating, “America started to say, ‘It’s not just for a segment... [It’s not] ignorance.’” He continued, “Every one of us are held in a box. And they used to think when we came in a room, we were gonna have gold teeth, breakdancing, baggy jeans. No, no, this is business, man.”

When asked about what’s next for the company, Brown talked about their plans. “We got FUBU Radio; For Us, By Us Network; and we got FUBU Village coming, so it’s really just brand expansion and trying to make this a situation where it’s here long after we’re gone,” he stated. Expounding more on the network idea, he said that it’ll include housing, manufacturing, sports, entertainment and retail.

Perrin discussed some of his upcoming endeavors as well. He noted, “With FUBU Radio, I’m building, like I said earlier with my partners, down in Roswell, Georgia, an 18-stage creative space studio with [a] 500-car parking lot, 300-seat theater, restaurants… And I'm also working on -- you’re probably gonna love this -- the Tommy Mickens story. Trying to work, develop and get that done.”

In the process of trying to get established, John gave a detailed recount of how the brand’s journey panned out early on. “[In] ‘89, we failed the first time. Started again in ‘90. Failed again in ‘91. Failed again in ‘92. Then we all just come together, we live off of s**t beans and whatever the case is. Mortgage rent the house... [We were living off] 40 ounces, Red Lobster… They’re all laughing at us, not talking to us. In ‘95, we start to get some form of traction. ‘96, we start to get a deal. Millions of dollars in the bank by ‘97, ‘98, and we’re globally recognized at that time. And that’s how the story goes,” he said. And the rest was history.

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