90s Rap Tees: Wu-Tang, Biggie, Tupac and the Hip-Hop Shirts That Lasted

Rock bands made the tour shirt famous, but 90s rap made it bold. Between the Wu-Tang Clan's Staten Island takeover, the Biggie and Tupac years and the stadium-sized tours that closed out the decade, hip-hop produced some of the most recognizable T-shirt designs ever printed. This guide walks through the eras, the classic designs each one left behind, and how to wear a rap tee today.

Why rap tees hit different

Early hip-hop merch was mostly bootleg and homemade: airbrushed portraits, hand-lettered crew names and photo prints sold outside shows and on street corners. As the major labels caught on in the 90s, the shirts got bigger and louder, with oversized fronts, giant logos and full-color album art. That mix of street-level energy and big-budget graphics is exactly why rap tees still look great today. They were made to be seen from across the room.

Wu-Tang Clan and the Staten Island takeover

The Wu-Tang Clan came out of Staten Island, New York, in the early 90s, led by producer and de facto leader RZA. Their 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), mixed kung-fu movie samples with grimy beats and nine very different voices, and it changed East Coast rap. The single "C.R.E.A.M.," short for "Cash Rules Everything Around Me," became one of the most quoted lines in hip-hop.

Wu-Tang also understood branding early. The "W" logo is about as simple as a band mark gets, and it works on everything. Our Wu-Tang Clan C.R.E.A.M. Reaper tee pairs that famous line with dark, heavy art that fits right next to your metal shirts.

The solo albums that followed kept the run going. Raekwon's 1995 album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., often called "the purple tape" after its cassette, is a fan favorite with Ghostface Killah all over it. The Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx tee is a deep-cut pick for anyone who knows the catalog past the hits.

When rap and rock shared a stage

By 1997 the lines between rap and rock were blurring. Rage Against the Machine took the Wu-Tang Clan out as co-headliners that summer, putting a political rap-metal band and a Staten Island rap crew in front of the same arena crowds. Wu-Tang left the tour partway through, which only makes the shirts from that run more of a conversation piece. The Rage Against the Machine x Wu-Tang Clan Tour 1997 tee has the classic city-list back that rock fans love.

Biggie, Tupac and the memorial shirt

No two names define 90s rap more than The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Biggie's 1994 debut Ready to Die put Brooklyn on top, while Tupac's run on the West Coast, including the double album All Eyez on Me in 1996, made him one of the best-selling rappers of his time. Their friendship turned into a bitter East Coast versus West Coast feud, and both were killed within six months of each other: Tupac in September 1996 and Biggie in March 1997.

Their deaths gave rise to one of rap's most important shirt styles, the memorial tee. Airbrushed and photo-printed tribute shirts showed up in every city, often pairing the two rappers side by side with a message of peace. Shirts like the Biggie and Tupac Please Stop the Violence tee and the Biggie and Makaveli In Memory Of tee carry that tradition. Makaveli was the name Tupac used on The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, released just after his death.

Up in Smoke and the turn of the century

As the decade ended, rap was the biggest music in the country, and the tours got huge. Dr. Dre's 1999 album 2001 brought him back to the top, and in summer 2000 he headlined the Up in Smoke Tour with Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Eminem. It was a West Coast victory lap that packed amphitheaters across North America. The Up in Smoke Tour 2000 tee puts that whole lineup on one shirt.

Eminem, the Detroit rapper Dre had signed, was the breakout of the moment. The Marshall Mathers LP came out in May 2000 and sold at a record pace, and his backwards-E logo became instantly recognizable. The Marshall Mathers LP tee is a clean way to wear it.

How to wear a rap tee

• Size up. 90s rap shirts were worn big. Go one or two sizes up for a relaxed, boxy fit.
• Baggy denim or cargos. Wide-leg jeans, carpenter pants or cargos match the era better than skinny fits.
• Keep the rest simple. A loud photo print or tribute tee is the whole outfit. Let it lead with plain pants and clean sneakers or work boots.
• Layer for cold weather. An open flannel, a varsity jacket or a puffer over a black rap tee is a classic 90s look.

Shop new vintage rap and hip-hop tees

Every shirt at 5MV is a new vintage tee: new cotton, printed and finished to look and feel broken in from day one, so you get the classic rap-shirt look without hunting flea markets or worrying about a fragile 30-year-old shirt. Browse the full rap and hip-hop tee collection for Wu-Tang, Biggie, Tupac, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and more.

Questions about sizing or a specific design? Email us at eve@5mv.com.