Next Generation: Why You Need To Pay Attention To “Kreemo” – Wiz Khalifa & Lil Wayne Are Already On It
With the economy in shambles, many Americans are everyday becoming discouraged to continue chasing their dream. Kreemo, the Atlanta-based lifestyle clothing brand, “begs to differ.” Know this. It’s not a fad. Known mostly for their Kreemo “Dropout” Tee, an homage to Kanye West’s College Dropout bear, this 21-year-old trio (who, by the way, are college students), has attracted both the likes of Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne. In 2008 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, cousins Lavan Wright, Brian Wright, and friend, Desmond Attmore, became partners and put their minds together to create a brand they believed could be better than the clothes they were already buying: “We used to always go downtown to SoHo and just run around. We really loved the culture, and were like 16, but we would always spend our money on Bape, BBC, Supreme, a whole bunch of stuff, and we just really loved it,” said Brian Wright, CEO of Kreemo. “Until one day, I was like, ‘Man, I definitely could come up with something that’s hotter than that!’ I went home and called my cousin Lavan, and he was down with it.” In 2009, the Brooklyn-bred entrepreneurs scaled back to age-old advertising techniques and filled the Atlanta college scene with buttons, finely equipped with their ghost-like logo – a simple, yet strategic effort that yielded notoriety. Not too long after, upon receiving a personal call from Wiz Khalifa, the group was charged with producing the rapper’s merchandise for his debut album, Rolling Papers. And that, they did. In our interview with CEO and brainchild behind the creation, Brian Wright, he admits, there’s no fret in Kreemo becoming a fad, revealing, “The reason why it won’t be a fad is because, it’s a lifestyle. “It only becomes a fad when people are trying to super capitalize off it, and it’s a certain way that I want to do things. Yes, we’re going to make money off of it, but yes, we’re going to do it our way. Yes, the entertainment people are liking it, it’s becoming popular, but this is really for the world,” he added. Kreemo, a name derived from Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, a psychiatric hospital in Queens, New York, stands for “innovation in its youth,” representing more than just clothes, but a way of living, with Brian adding: “When I was little, my grandmother would say ,“Y’all better stop acting up before I send y’all to the ‘Creemo house.’ I took that term and found out what “Creemo” really was, and made a whole concept of when you do something that’s really innovative at first, it’s always considered being a nuisance to society. Or when you’re trying to show somebody a new blueprint, they never really get it. You’re always the crazy one. “The first person that invented the television, I’m pretty sure that when he showed the first couple of people the blueprints, they were like, ‘Aww, man, this is never really about to go down, a box where you can watch people?’ I feel like everybody can relate to that. Everybody has a story where they’re grinding, or they have this idea, and people said it couldn’t be done. The logo is a ghost, because traditionally, when you tell people that you’ve seen a ghost, they tell you you’re crazy, because they don’t see it.” With the explosion of cool kids on Tumblr and Pinterest, these innovative entrepreneurs have amassed a huge influential following across the nation, and even overseas in countries, including Japan. Most recently, Kreemo is planning a huge campaign, which includes working with popular Atlanta DJ Don Cannon and Hip-Hop producer Mike Will Made It. Not ones to rest on their laurels, Kreemo Tele, their video faction, are the lens behind Tank and T.I.’s official behind-the-scenes video, “Compliments,” and Curren$y and 2 Chainz’, “Capitol”. Join the movement at Kreemo.com.
