Jay-Z, photographed while performing during MTV’s “MC Battle II: The Takeover in Times Square” battle rap event in New York City on November 22, 2003. The finalists in the battle competed for $25,000 and the chance at a single-deal with Roc-A-Fella Records.

Wreckonize, who is currently signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label, was crowned the champion. He has said that he never had the chance to speak with Jay or Dame Dash after the event—and he never tried to get in contact with them as it would have been a waste of his time.

Hov is wearing a cargo jacket and pant set from Beanie Sigel’s State Property Wear clothing label. Launched in September 2002 as a subsidiary of Rocawear, the brand was given to the rapper to help develop his business acumen. “You don’t know all the shit I do for the homies…”

The majority of the label’s pieces featured hidden pockets and gun holsters, with Beanie explaining the reasoning for this design in a launch interview: “You know how you put your gun in your waistline and you gotta worry about it slipping? With these clothes, you don’t got to

worry about that. It’s already in there.” He also claimed that the clothing would aid those who were getting stopped-and-searched on the street: “You ever been on the block, and you had your pack stashed in a phone booth, or something like that, and you got to go get to it? With these clothes you don’t have to worry about going to the phone booth and all that. Then you can stand there and don’t worry about having to run from the police neither, because State Property can stand the search. [The clothing] has all kinds of hidden pockets, pockets inside of pockets, pocket behind pockets.” But what if the police caught onto the hidden compartments? “It ain’t gonna be like, ‘Its here every time.’ [The pocket locations are] gonna be changed up. It’s not going to be ‘Look, the pockets are right here’ [because] everything is different.That’s my word.”

Jay-Z and Kanye West, photographed while performing during MTV’s “MC Battle II: The Takeover in Times Square” battle rap event in New York City on November 22, 2003. The finalists in the battle competed for $25,000 and the chance at a single-deal with Roc-A-Fella Records. Wreckonize, who is currently signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label, was crowned the champion. He has said that he never had the chance to speak with Jay or Dame Dash after the event—and he never tried to get in contact with them as it would have been a waste of his time.

Hov is wearing a cargo jacket and pant set from Beanie Sigel’s State Property Wear clothing label. Launched in September 2002 as a subsidiary of Rocawear, the brand was given to the rapper to help develop his business acumen. “You don’t know all the shit I do for the homies…”

The majority of the label’s pieces featured hidden pockets and gun holsters, with Beanie explaining the reasoning for this design in a launch interview: “You know how you put your gun in your waistline and you gotta worry about it slipping? With these clothes, you don’t got to worry about that. It’s already in there.” He also claimed that the clothing would aid those who were getting stopped-and-searched on the street: “You ever been on the block, and you had your pack stashed in a phone booth, or something like that, and you got to go get to it? With these clothes you don’t have to worry about going to the phone booth and all that. Then you can stand there and don’t worry about having to run from the police neither, because State Property can stand the search. [The clothing] has all kinds of hidden pockets, pockets inside of pockets, pocket behind pockets.”But what if the police caught onto the hidden compartments? “It ain’t gonna be like, ‘Its here every time.’ [The pocket locations are] gonna be changed up. It’s not going to be ‘Look, the pockets are right here’ [because] everything is different.That’s my word.”

Jay-Z, photographed while performing during MTV’s “MC Battle II: The Takeover in Times Square” battle rap event in New York City on November 22, 2003. The finalists in the battle competed for $25,000 and the chance at a single-deal with Roc-A-Fella Records. Wreckonize, who is currently signed to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label, was crowned the champion. He has said that he never had the chance to speak with Jay or Dame Dash after the event—and he never tried to get in contact with them as it would have been a waste of his time.

Hov is wearing a cargo jacket and pant set from Beanie Sigel’s State Property Wear clothing label. Launched in September 2002 as a subsidiary of Rocawear, the brand was given to the rapper to help develop his business acumen. “You don’t know all the shit I do for the homies…”

The majority of the label’s pieces featured hidden pockets and gun holsters, with Beanie explaining the reasoning for this design in a launch interview: “You know how you put your gun in your waistline and you gotta worry about it slipping? With these clothes, you don’t got to worry about that. It’s already in there.” He also claimed that the clothing would aid those who were getting stopped-and-searched on the street: “You ever been on the block, and you had your pack stashed in a phone booth, or something like that, and you got to go get to it? With these clothes you don’t have to worry about going to the phone booth and all that. Then you can stand there and don’t worry about having to run from the police neither, because State Property can stand the search. [The clothing] has all kinds of hidden pockets, pockets inside of pockets, pocket behind pockets.” But what if the police caught onto the hidden compartments? “It ain’t gonna be like, ‘Its here every time.’ [The pocket locations are] gonna be changed up. It’s not going to be ‘Look, the pockets are right here’ [because] everything is different. That’s my word.”