Bamboo Earrings (at least two pair)

Dorigen,

Your SWV post brought me back. Please explain a bamboo earring.

Emily

Emily,

I am officially lost in late-80s/early-90s nostalgia. Or as Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam would say, I am lost in emotion.

Bamboo earrings are chunky gold earrings shaped like bamboo that were favored by “around the way girls” in the 80s. I have no idea who came up with the concept or how they became so ubiquitous, but Lisa, Angela, Pamela and Renee all wore them. And, seriously, how awesome was this song and video?

I certainly had my own pair of bamboo earrings. I also had a pair of mustard colored denim overalls that I wore with one strap down. And my best friend Loraine had a pair of bright blue overalls that she wore with the opposite strap down and we wore them at under-18 hip hop nights where we would do the dance routines we had worked on all week after school. Because we thought we were Sidney and Sharane from House Party.

I wonder if they still have those nights. They were sponsored by Milwaukee’s R&B & Hip Hop radio station (Fresh 107 or something like that) and were held in low-rent hotel ballrooms and named after a hit song of the day. Jackin’ For Beats had a long run. There was a Jackin’ for Beats night part 13, if I recall correctly. A lot of people wore Skidz.