I admit it, I am a hat addict. In fact, I have a large collection of over 60 hats at my house, many of which I wear on a regular basis. Like most teenagers, I prefer officially licensed New Era 59fifty hats with authentic Major League Baseball logos. However, my taste in hats is a result of my affinity for baseball; unfortunately, for many inner-city teens, these hats hold a meaning that has its roots in gangs.

Gangbangers use these same New Era hats to identify their affiliations with their sets. For example, this red Washington Nationals cap has an interlocking "DC," which reportedly stands for "Death to Crips." On the flip side, this Colorado Rockies hat has been a widely known symbol of crip allegiance since the Rockies were established in 1993. Other teams with well-known "gang affiliations" include the Pittsburgh Pirates (the P stands for "P.I.R.U," another name for Bloods), the Los Angeles Dodgers (a well known Crip hat), the North Carolina Tar Heels (the "NC" stands for "neighborhood crip"), and the San Francisco 49ers (a widely used Norteno symbol).

In fact, the logos of the 49ers and the San Francisco Giants were recently banned from a Sonoma County (Calif.) middle school after school officials caught onto the hidden meanings behind the clothing. The interlocking SF that both teams use, which normally stands for San Francisco, is a Norteno symbol for "scrap free" or "Sureno free." However, most people are unaware of the hidden meaning behind these hats.

More after the jump

I was once one of the people ignorant to the dark side of the fitted hat. That all changed when I walked around my school in a brand new hat two months ago. I didn’t think the hat, which is a blue Seattle Mariners hat with a teal bill, would cause any trouble (aside from angering my friends who root for the A’s), but I was mistaken. During the passing periods, I saw something that I never noticed before: people that I never associated with were nodding with approval towards me, giving me looks of contempt, and just acting strange in my presence. I knew that some of these people were, to put it politely, not my type of crowd, and I wondered why these people who I would never hang with in my life, were suddenly recognizing me. I asked my streetwise friend what was up, and he said, “you gotta watch what you wear on your head, man.”

Wait, my hat? I’ve been collecting hats my entire life and using them to set off my outfits, now here comes my friend saying I could get killed for it. I looked it up when I got home and to my amazement/shock, I saw that many of my hats were gang symbols. My Mariners hat is a crip symbol which stands for “Murder All Roo Idiots Now, Eliminate Red Slobs” and a Sureno symbol (their colors are blue and they make use of the S). Hats with the Oakland A’s logo are used for many Oakland gangs; I have three hats with the A’s logo on it. My Toronto Blue Jays hat, like my Mariners cap, is used by Surenos and Crips; it didn’t help that I emblazoned that hat with my name and personal symbol, either.

It’s true, gang life will never die. It’s also true that they know how to fashion themselves to get their point across. These same fashions have spread to priviledged teens, the suburbs, and to young people trying to find their way, like me. However, if you know the street code, your chances of ending up as a random victim will decrease. Even though I know the dirty side of the New Era hat, I still prefer to rock them. The difference now is that I truly know what I’m wearing, and it’s a difference that has significantly raised my awareness.