The New Black Cowboy Renaissance: Where Rodeo Meets Urban Culture
Perhaps what was most iconic of the cowboy was his strength, perseverance and freedom. While history has long recognized this about images of The cowboy, it is the Black hand that has deeply shaped rodeo and Western at large. These days, their history is riding a wave of new media interest thanks in part to glitzy bull riding, cowboy fashion and culture icons like Beyoncé too.
Black cowboys have been there all along, as essential to the rodeo as falling off your horse or getting bloodied up, yet whose contributions are only now beginning to be recognized. Bull riding, which is known as the most dangerous 8 seconds in sports… through people like pioneers such as Bill Pickett to today’s bull-riding stars Black athletes have brought innovation and artistry to the sport.
Ezekiel Mitchell is a rising Professional Bull Riders (PBR) star who exemplifies this new era. He is the polar opposite bull riding in an incredibly cowboy way and mixes cowboy wit with the mentality of streetwear, he is a figurehead for a generation that’s relabeling what being a cowboy in the 21st century means. Mashing gator-skins with Air Jordans can keep vibes that what some Black cowboys are doing, erasing the old school.
The cowboy aesthetic has breakdanced from its rural origins into contemporary urban wear. The crossover with culture is evident in Pharrell’s western-inspired Louis Vuitton lines and projects from brands such as Wrangler or PacSun. Black cowboy wear icons keep apace with this mix of tradition and modernity—like Mitchell who is making a name for your style with juxtaposing western-looking belt buckles & sneakers.
It is not just style, it is storytelling. Added meaning is in every element of cowboy apparel, hat to belt buckle. Black cowboys are using clothing, from wearing hats to embracing belt buckles to their forefathers’ way of life.