Has Akademiks co-founder Emmett Harrell given up on hip hop. As a business man I understand the need to reinvent yourself to stay relevant. Sometimes you even need to make the tough decision to abandon your current clientle, head for the hills and try and cultivate a whole new marketplace. We speculated on such change with Akademiks last month with their curious partnership with Perez Hilton. In a recent interview with Format magazine, Harrell seems to cop pleas a little, claiming Akademiks was never intended to compete in the urban/ hip hop gear genre. Peep:

How much did co-signs from the hip-hop community impact the growth of the brand?
Unfortunately, we don’t have too much of the hip-hop thing. I’m not like Jay-Z or Puffy with Rocawear and Sean John. That’s not what me and my brother have. We just have true talent and a good product and it seems to be accepted by everyone whether it’s a suburban kid or an industry executive or a crossover BMX biker. We seem to be accepted all over the place because we make a great product.

I have a lot to respect for Emmett Harrell. He and his brother Donwan Harrell had the balls enough to step to the New York based urban retailer, Dr. Jays and its owner Elliot Betesh with the idea of starting a joint colabo urbanwear brand and pump it in their stores. The brand of course blew up and became a household name.

Where I loose him is in his claims that he never intended to be “Hip Hop.” First of all, none of us intend to be “Hip Hop”…it is who we are. Those who try to fit the mold are faking it. Akademiks’ roots are so profoundly cemented in Hip Hop that its undeniable. Even Dr. Jays rest on the shoulders of Hip Hop for that matter. For him to come out NOW and say I can’t compete with Puffy and Jay, that’s NOT what we are is a cop out. Its admitting defeat. There’s nothing wrong with shifting focus…I expect that from the a forward-thinking chief exec but to deny your past and where you came from, that’s a risky and loosing proposition. Bad form Smee…Bad Form.