Trends That Need To Die, No. 1 Sagging

As I drive down the street, go to the grocery store, sometimes even in church, I see young men and some older cats that truly should know better, participating in a trend that really needs to die. I’m talking about sagging. Sagging is the practice of wearing your pants well below your waist down across the middle of your butt.  Not only does it look silly, but it shows the world that either you’ve done time, about to catch a case or you’re ready for some “deep impact.” Sagging is not fashionable and those who perpetrate by perpetuating this trend are nothing more than mindless lemmings being led to certain death, metaphorically and in some cases quite literally. Think about it. If you’re on the block supposedly handling your “business” and something goes down, how quickly can you respond if you have to pull up your pants before you break out? You can’t.

Sagging is a control technique originating in the criminal justice system. Most prisons don’t allow belts or anything else that can be used as a potential weapon or as a noose. It’s a way to keep prisoners in line and prevents them from harming themselves or other inmates. Sagging pants also keeps those that are fleet of foot from running away. Why do you think most wear orange jumpsuits or scrubs and slip-on sneakers? I’ve also read that it’s the way for openly gay convicts to advertise their preference. If your pants are already half down, it won’t take much to serve up the rest.  I guess that’s being locked down and on the down low.

When I see young brothas tugging at their pants, trying to keep them from falling to the ground, it reminds me of women trying to keep the back of their skirts from flapping up while they walk. Better yet, a toddler running to mommy with their pull-ups lingering about the ankles. Either way it’s just plain silly and if you knew how ridiculous you looked you’d pull up your pants. I’m not alone in this reflection; there are cause groups on Facebook urging members to sign a petition against the practice telling “saggers” to just pull up your pants. I know trends come and go, but this is one that never should have happened and it’s been around far too long.

When you have to constantly pull your pants up to keep them from falling down or grip your jock to hold them up in the front, why bother? If you think so much of your draws, just wear them and nothing else. Hold up, strike that. There are already too many women walking around in nasty pajama bottoms and tap pants in public, I don’t want to encourage men to do the same. I mean, have our youth gotten so lazy that they can’t even bother getting fully dressed? Is it too much trouble to pull up your pants, put on a shirt all the way and buy a belt? I remember my father telling me to make sure I had a belt on no matter what. He’d say, “You don’t want your slacks falling down, do you?” I didn’t and I acted accordingly. Nowadays it seems like looking as if you’ve spent time in “California” (street slang for someone who has been in Chicago's 26th and California Cook County jail) or about to take an extended stay there is on point.

And it is. The point is at the top of that fitted dunce cap you should be sporting with your sagging jeans, white tee, flip-flops with knee socks and checkered scarf when it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Just remember to rock it to the side.


I finally decided to write about this topic because I’m just sick and tired of seeing it wherever I go and when I got a text message that can best be summed up like this. If you take the slang term “saggin” and flip it backwards what do you get?

Still think it’s cool? Ok, see ya when you get back from "Cali" in about five to ten.

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