The year was 2017, and New Era had just teased what was supposed to be the first of three major releases of officially licensed MLB hats featuring the famous Roc Nation paper plane. The collaboration marked new territory for MLB, and for Roc Nation. The partnership ushered in a fitted hat wave for hypebeast several years before the 59fifty explosion that has been the last two to three years.
As HOV famously said on Empire State of Mind, “Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.”
But what happened to those hats? Do you remember them? Did you get one?
I was contributing for the HuffPost back in 17. And I went nuts for the collaboration. I had to get the story. With the help of HOV’s right-hand man Emory “Vegas” Jones, and the incredible Piper McCoy (at that time with New Era), I got the story, and the hat (Orioles Black and White fitted, to be exact).
Good thing I got the drop when I did. The partnership was short-lived. A lawsuit regarding the licensing of the brand was issued by Iconix Brand Group against Roc Nation. The legal battle went on for two years (it was ultimately settled) and the culture suffered for it. Roc Nation did sneak out just a few red, white, and blue MLB hats for the 4th of July drop, but that was it.
The collab was over Did you cop one of these classics?
