Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rahim Ewan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rahim, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?
The Haters!!!!!! Great question, well the first thing that comes to mind is the great saying “If you don’t have haters you aren’t doing something right”. Hating is just something that I don’t believe in, I’ve been lucky enough to have been raised in a community where we uplifted and supported one another, these principles were engraved in me as a child. When I have these type of conversations with people I always say, “Man I’m from Soup City, we don’t carry ourselves like that”. When I make this comment people always reply yeah but you spent your teenage years in Columbus, Ohio. This is very true, but I was introduced to morals and principles at a very young age by my community, and I’ve held them very near and dear to my heart since childhood. See when you want everyone to win you don’t have time to hate, when you get excited by other individuals victories you don’t find joy in being negative. I believe in celebrating each other and I’m willing to lend my resources to the next man with hope that they would do the same for me. I just never understood “I”, but I have a great comprehension of “we”. So when it comes to the haters I let my work and the love I have for others speak for itself, people speak up for me in rooms that my feet have never entered because I do the same for them and my intentions are pure, hate is a weakness that I don’t condone, an action that my mind and heart don’t entertain. The sad thing about hate is it usually comes from those that you love the most, I like to refer to it as D’EVILS. I recently created a custom lettermen jacket for BIG HIT, a west-coast artist and father of grammy award winner HIT-BOY, the back of the jacket reads “D’EVILS WILL ATTACK YOU THROUGH PEOPLE YOU THOUGHT LOVED YOU”.
See a lot of people have never had to share anything, love, food, finances, strength, pain, knowledge, hope and integrity. “I” haven’t had too many things, but “we’ve” had a lot, do you understand the difference?
It’s not always about me, and I know when and how to play my position, as my brother Beanie Sigel once said “I’m not the captain of the yacht but I’m on the boat”. Don’t let that go over your head.
My circle is made up of distinguished men and women who come from Royalty and have a high respect for Loyalty, hate has no place here.
I’m going to pass down a lot of different attributes to my son, being a sucka won’t be one of them.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
What I do, well I’m currently in the midst of rebranding, funny this is a term that you’ll hear all the time from creators and curators of the culture. But yes I’m rebranding, I’ve had opportunities in the past that were huge but being honest and transparent I can say I wasn’t ready. But now moving forward, I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs, wins and losses and as new opportunities present themselves daily I’m taking my time to look them over and rebrand myself effectively, not to be cocky at all but the deals that I currently have on the table don’t have room for mistakes so it’s time to tighten up.
Fingers crossed, I’m in conversation with some key players that are willing to align and support my vision, and my vision is to make education and knowledge affordable by utilizing fashion as a vessel to disseminate the message to the masses. See, I’m indebted to my people, all people, and if I have an outlet and a platform then I must speak the truth, that’s all I want to do is bring forth light to certain topics. So you might be saying what does this brother mean, let me give you an example. I have a hoodie coming out for females that says “Peace of mind and home cooked meals”, now to someone who isn’t in tune this may mean nothing, but to the young men who are looking for women of value this speaks directly to them, a garment can be an advocate for women by highlighting their qualities and who they are, in comparison to just how they look. Now, someone could say what do you mean, it’s just apparel, and this is true, but the truth is, the music you listen to is an expression of yourself, how you dress is an expression of yourself, why not wear something that creates conversation and sparks the interests of others and demands respect…
Forgive me, I’m starting to talk my age, I’m sorry. I guess this is why my line is backed by more conscious artists and doing well overseas. The lost rather wear a shirt that says “Free such n such” knowing that ‘he/she” may have taken an incident bystanders life, in comparison to wearing a shirt that says “educate the people” but let me stop there….
But what more can we expect when people are clearly just talking it and not living it, the culture promotes death which tells us that they clearly don’t know the pain of losing someone or understand the responsibility of being held accountable for another life. But that’s another discussion…. FOR THE COMMUNITY
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
To be simple, listen to everybody, everybody has a voice, right or wrong you don’t have to agree with them but you can learn from them.
Next, you never know what someone else sees in you so don’t doubt yourself.
Find an ‘easy” way to separate yourself from others.
Be Ready………………Today, not tomorrow……. NOW, right now……… Be ready!!!!
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Great question, brand wise the biggest growth had probably taken place in the last 12 months or so. From Dave Chapelle, to Black Thought from the Roots, to styling J.Rawls and Talib Kweli for the tonight show with Jimmy Fallon to seeing my pieces in Rolling Stone, this year has been a great year especially when I was ready to walk away from it all. I can say within the last 12 months I’ve definitely had a change of heart and some amazing doors have opened and still are opening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fortuneoverfame.com
- Instagram: fortuneoverfameclothing
Image Credits
woodgrainphotography
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