Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marcus Gray. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marcus, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission of hiphop Diaperbag is to create a spiritual philosophical and cultural space for hip-hop to perceive itself and grow into as it emerges into maturity. When I began thinking about how much hip-hop culture has grown over the last 50 years, and began to reflect on how much the culture is still perceived as an adolescent, Immature, rebellious, emotional, belligerent I began to look for signs of its maturity in pop culture. The truth is this is not only how hip-hop culture is perceived in pop culture and by pop culture but in large, this is how hip-hop culture perceives itself. In many ways, this is a part of its strength, it’s courage and genius. To articulate societies underbelly, trauma and shadow. But, it is only part of what this culture has become. All cultures evolve, all belief systems must evolve, but if there is no space held for this belief system, or culture to evolve then its references remain in the past. Inspiring it to cycle through the same patterns. I wanted to create a physical symbol and reference for hip-hop cultures maturing into adulthood, into parenthood, into maturity even enlightenment. Creating a space in the psyche, where the whole culture can point to and recognize its evolution.
Another part of my mission is to use this symbol to celebrate, fatherhood in disenfranchise communities around the world. The dead beat dad narrative is no longer serving our communities. Communities where fathers have typically been removed from the family unit for various reasons. Whether it’s through incarceration, the welfare system designed to keep men out of the home, or the pattern of these men acting out of generational trauma. causing men to think it’s normal to not be present in the children’s lives. Whatever the cost may be, there are a strong majority of men who do take very active roles in their children’s lives. Those men of all races, economic, and class backgrounds with an affinity for street wear and hiphops aesthetic and spirit must be celebrated. I wanted to celebrate those fathers specifically with this bag, the bag being a symbol of modern fatherhood of modern family.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

HipHop Dad bag or hiphop diaper bags came about because of my interest in creating a space for hip hops consciousness to mature into parenthood. It’s a physical symbol of hip hops evolution into adulthood. It’s evidence that the culture is raising the next generation.

It began almost 20 years ago with an epiphany that revealed to me the true potential of the hiphop culture. The potential the culture has as a tool for self initiation into adult hood. For boys especially, there is a need for a rites of passage into adulthood. In many indigenous cultures around the world boys must be torn away from their mothers and put through an ordeal of some sort before being being honored with the responsibilities and label of manhood. Without this cultural rite of passage boys naturally test themselves in an area where their courage and confidence to contribute to the community can be validated by their peers and elders. Hip Hop intuitively provides that exact environment. Although this process is not yet recognized or acknowledged.

With this thought I began to write a manifesto of sorts I called The Physics of Hip Hop, which is the current name of my umbrella corporation and a book soon to come. In the paper I detailed my perspective on hip hops spirit and potential to raise children into adulthood. I write about hip hops shamanistic characteristics and compare it to other religions. From there I began a life long quest to produce art and products from this space of externalizing my understanding of what HipHop truly can be. My second effort was the making of hiphop chocolates as a way to commune with the spirit of hip hop.

These were chocolates in the shape of iconic symbols of the Hiphop culture such as the turntable, shell-toe shoe, boombox and many more. It was my version of the catholic communion. It invites partakers to have a deliberate spiritual experience by putting hiphop culture directly into their bodies as a symbol, via chocolate. Giving them the oppurtunity to reflect on their personal output and contribution to the culture. It was an artistic commentary on the truth that what we consume physically or vibrationally absolutely influences what we output into the world. I drew the parallel with the output of art within the culture and the seeming diet of chaos and or beauty that inspired it. It was received well, but after some years working on the business side it became impossible to sustain without a massive influx of capitol. I had to shut it down.

3 years later I began to meditate on the fact that hiphop culture and its community is not only getting older and wiser but is raising families within the culture. It was fascinating to me to go to a bboy battle in Los angeles and see all of the infants wearing colorful earmuffs being carried around by their parents. The next thought was, look at all of the amazing fathers hiphop has nurtured! Bboys becoming Bmen! All of the black, brown and asian fathers who may not have had fathers of their own but are stepping up to the challenge of being a father. Something I could attribute to the self initiation process of hiphop.

When young bboys enter the cypher either to dance, freestyle rhyme or express themselves in front of their peers magic occurs. They transform into more grounded, confident and coherent men more able to respond to their expanding enviroment. This makes them more willing and capable as partners and fathers. But where are the specific tools for hiphop parents? How are we as a culture celebrating this space where parenthood and hiphop meet? How are we acknowledging the evolution of the idea of fatherhood in disenfranchised communities? Finally how are we holding space for hip hops parents who may feel as if they are aging out of this timeless culture? Hiphop diaper bag is my answer.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

What has helped me build a reputation within the Diaper bag market has been catering to a very powerful and unique niche made up of fathers within the hiphop community. Not only are fathers in general overlooked when it comes to being represented in the baby accessories sectors but fathers in communities which are typically disenfranchised and influenced by hiphop Culture are all but neglected when it comes to most anything related to family.

By creating a bag that resonates with a Hiphop, streetwear, cultural and aligns with a more masculine aesthetic, I have built a reputation amongst mothers and girlfriends of these boyfriends and fathers who would like to see their men carry this bag. It’s usually the woman who buys it for the man.

I’ve been told by fathers many times that it has become a tool that helps them to embrace fatherhood with pride, while still maintaining their style and sense of personal identity. Being able to give parents this reconnection to their youth and individual style is definitely something I’m proud of.

I feel like my bag has shocked the market as i have run into many gate keepers at large chain stores who dont seem thrilled about my offering. Ive actually been told it is too urban by some shop owners.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The main theme of my journey into entrepreneurship has been resilience and personal evolution. As I am sure many entrepreneurs would say. It seems as though, there comes a time on this journey when what your making isn’t as important as what you must become to live in the world. My journey began with a fascination with belief systems and the idea of initiation for boys into manhood. As well as a study of the hip-hop culture from an anthropological perspective. As I began to study the culture of hip-hop, it became obvious to me that hip-hop culture was indeed a belief system that contains many tools, shamanistic tools for achieving flow states, gnosis, trance states that access the subconscious mind and tribal opportunities to initiate young men and women into a community of adults and maturity. With this revelation, I began to write a manifesto, called The Physics of HipHop.
From this manifesto many ideas for business’s were born. The first being a chocolate business called hiphop Chocolates.

The intention of this chocolate venture was to create a sacred communion for the hip-hop culture by re-creating symbols that represent different aspects of the culture with bit sized chocolate sculptures. A chocolate turntable would give a DJ the opportunity to meditate on their own input into their body and into the culture. Also forcing a sublime meditation on how that input influences their output into the culture and the world at large. What is your diet and how does it guide or inhibit you? This gift was a sacrament of sorts. This sacrement slowly evolved from a piece of thoughtful art into a small business. Little did I know, developing it into a business would be very difficult, especially when dealing with food. The FDA is not an easy or cheap entity to work with.

After coming very close to being excepted into major chains like Urban Outfitters, I was stopped short because I could not raise enough money to satisfy insurance and FDA certifications. Eventually I had to completely stop making the chocolates for fear of being sued. That did not stop me from moving forward with the inspiration that hip-hop culture was rich with encrypted wisdom. After a short break from entrepreneurship, I started to develop the diaper bags you see today. This venture being a physical manifestation of my reflection on Hiphop‘s evolution into maturity and parenthood.

I believe that if you have a vision that brings you life, that gives you energy and gets you excited, that gives life to the vision which produces something that resembles resilience. The vision takes on a life of its own. Nothing will stop you from giving birth to a message, especially when you feel solely responsible for bringing it forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: hiphopdiaperbag.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hiphopdiaperbag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hiphopdiaperbag
• Other: https://physicsofhiphop.com/