Lo Lifes was a Brooklyn-based movement and street gang founded by rapper Rack-Lo (George Billips), devoted to the shoplifting and wearing of Polo Ralph Lauren apparel and other fashion brands.
[2] The Lo Lifes were founded in 1988 from two different groups of shoplifters in Brooklyn: Polo U.S.A. (from Brownsville) and Ralphie's Kids (from Crown Heights).
[5] Early on, much of the group's designer attire was "boosted", or shoplifted, using tactics such as "million-man rushes" to procure garments from department stores.
[6] In a 2015 interview, Rack-Lo estimated that seventy-five percent of early Lo Lifes participated in shoplifting while the remainder could afford the clothing from their more regular jobs.
In 1994, inspired by Lo Life culture, Raekwon wore a Ralph Lauren windbreaker with the words "SNOW BEACH" on the front in the Wu Tang Clan video for "Can It All Be So Simple".
The windbreaker became an iconic part of hip hop culture; notably, Chris Brown wore a version in tribute on The Today Show in 2012.
[6] Writing for The New York Times, critic Jon Caramanica credited Lo Lifes with cementing the broader relationship between hip hop and fashion, saying "[t]oday, the genre’s stars collaborate with high-fashion houses or create their own clothing lines.