Hi-top fade

[4] In the hip hop community throughout the mid-1980s, young African Americans leaned towards Jheri curls or simple haircuts without tapers or fades of any sort.

Blackmon had a hairstyle in the mid 1980s that was the forerunner to the hi-top Fade, with the tall square flat top but with slightly longer sides and back.

More music videos released from the fall of 1987 to the spring of 1988, such as "I Don't Care" by Audio Two (1988),"2 Hype" by Kid 'N Play (1988), "Move the Crowd" by Eric B.

& Rakim (1987) (a few extras could be seen wearing one), "Paper Thin" by MC Lyte (1988), "Rising to the Top" by Doug E. Fresh (1988), "Do This My Way" by Kid 'N Play (1988), and "Ain't No Half Steppin'" by Big Daddy Kane (1988), show examples of early trends of the more developed hi-top fade.

Many of the teenage cast members on the films Lean On Me (1989) with Morgan Freeman and Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing (1989) could be seen wearing these Gumby-shaped hairstyles.

The video "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, which was shot in April 1989, shows how much the trend set across the world and was highly symbolic of urban style at the time.

Rapper and actor Will Smith sported a hi-top fade during the production of the popular sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, even referencing the hairstyle in a first season episode of the show.

The conventional hi-top began to fall out of fashion in the early 1990s and was changed by revolutionary R&B groups like Jodeci, who added slits and unique designs that are still imitated to this day.

Golden age MCs like Def Jef and the hip hop group De La Soul are known for their braided hi-top fade styles in 1989 and 1990.