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Hip-Hop Fashion Meets Venice Beach Culture.
By: Anthony Mero & Oscar “Joey” Ramirez

Walking on the Venice boardwalk many local residents and tourist encounter several vendors selling their art. Whether it’s hand-made jewelry, paintings, photography and/or something involving government conspiracy. One vendor caught our attention one afternoon while walking down the Venice boardwalk. This vendor had a display consisting of original caps and t-shirts while sitting down working on a customer’s order. The artist by the name of Dop Vigor (né Kareem Janey) is best known for creating unique hats that intertwine graffiti art with 80’s pop culture fusion. Based on our first encounter with Janey’s caps we got inspired to write an article to further go in depth with Janey’s perception of his artwork and how he views the world through his art and his inspirational views on Venice Beach. While selling t-shirts out of the trunk of his car on the east coast, Janey began a life changing mission: to create a company that's primary goal was to give something back to society and to help change the negative perception of the inner-city culture. Kareem coined the name “Hood Luv™”, while on tour in Atlanta in 2004. It was there that the support he received for his new company opened his eyes to the “unity around the world that is often overlooked.”

We met up with Janey several days’ later right outside a coffee shop, on Washington Boulevard in Venice Beach. Sitting outside a well lit Monday evening we see Janey wearing a white pin striped shirt with distressed denim jeans greeting us with a smile.

O.J.R: Could you give us a brief history about yourself?
Dop Vigor: I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I am the youngest of five siblings in my family. I grew up in Boston and was exposed to art at an early age by my mother, who was an art school teacher; she opened up my eyes to appreciate the arts and I grasped what I could as a child. At age 19, my mother passed away and it was a major lost for me. In 2001 I moved to New York City with my older brother to start an independent record label, “Hol-la Records, LLC”, that’s where I learned the business aspect of self-promoting by making personal connections with our clientele and establishing a sense of understanding for what our customers needed. During that time period with the record label I went down to Atlanta, on a business trip and started designing shirts that said "What's Hood?" making a social commentary on what being "Hood" really meant. On the back I put responses like "Family First" and Loyalty&Respect, promoting positive aspects of the inner-city culture I gew up in. Eventually they became popular amongst my peers, and I saw the potential for a following. My transition to Venice Beach began in 2007, when my aunt heard about my success with the t-shirt designs I created back east. Shortly thereafter I received a phone call from her and she happened to be participating in a winter boutique fashion show in Downtown L.A. She invited me to attend the event and I traveled to L.A. to display my work at the fashion show and it was well received by the public. Afterward I decided to stay a few extra days to see what L.A. had to offer; being that it was my first time in the city, I explored the likings of Silver Lake, Fairfax District, Mid-City and ultimately I ended up in Venice Beach and saw the perfect opportunity to start my own business on the west coast and the rest is history in the making.

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