I walked by a young black male on 82nd and Broadway while doing some back to school shopping with my kids a few minutes ago. This kid was asking for money for his basketball team. They needed money to get back to Florida (yeah ok…whatever).

I walked by but had to come back to engage him after I saw his T-shirt.

I walked back and asked him what the logo on his shirt said. He said it says “fly as FUCK!” I asked him where he got the t-shirt from. He said he just picked up the first thing he saw in his drawer.

I pulled him aside and told him:

1) He is on the upper west side. The people walking by might not think his shirt is dope.

2) His appearance MATTERS! Think about what his shirt actually says and the image it is projecting.

I said think about this because people might be more receptive to your message and what you are selling if you have a certain appearance and presentation.

My kids and I took care of business and I told my daughter about what I said to him. When we walked back past him on our way back to our car, my daughter noticed that he turned his shirt inside out.

Dave Chapelle couldn’t have explained it any better: