Categories: BLOG

random: “DON’T FRONT, YOU KNOW I GOTCHA OPEN” – A LOVE STORY ABOUT FRONTS

my obsession with FRONTS (or GRILLS) stems from a childhood of watching magical characters from the late 80’s to early 90’s.

be it the drug dealers on my block, the old west indian men my pops hung out with or even MADONNA on MTV with the single capped tooth. my inkling for golden enamel started as a spark and became a huge flame in no time.

in my younger and broker days i dabbled in caps, but those never lasted. by 2003, i could afford my own FRONTS. OSCAR, PETE and i took the train to THE COLISEUM in QUEENS to be fitted by an eastern-european jeweler. we stood in the middle of a mall as he stuck putty in a tray, which he eventually roughly placed into our mouths. at that moment neither one of us was concerned about the cleanliness of his tools, more ecstatic on how we would look with the finished product.

i wanted them to be simple and symmetrical, while OSCAR went for a set that would be off set. since our first time together, i’ve managed to collect a couple other sets that are on the more elaborate side.

haven’t worn them in years, maybe i should give them a good go again.

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vashtie

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  • Lol it amazes me how someone from the burbs (even though Albany has been over run with hustlers from NYC since the 80's )could move to NYC and totally assimilate into to the culture. My cousins who move to NY, in their mid to late teens from the islands, usually don't fit in for years. An even then there become stuck in that Flatbush 1st generation world. You know the people who go to "boat-rides" but never party in Manhattan lol. Anyway you were about 3yrs late on the fronts trend. But as usual you took something, made it your own, and did it better then we did lol.
    P.s the 4th pic is my favorite. Jail pose! Wow you got really slim after you moved to NYC. I'm assuming those were your work, school, and smoke weed everyday years. An you never remembered to eat till 2 in the morning. All real New Yorkers have had a year or two, or 5 like those lol.

  • wow, some of these comments are like extra rude. vashtie, you look great and the title of this entry is really funny/clever.

  • smh. real rude but also uninformed. 1. she aint from the burbs, 2. she never smmoked weed and 3. she don't look much different now than she does from the photos.

  • in the words of M.I.A. - URAQT. Always shining.
    We used to take the gold wrappers from Rolos to fake fronts at out of town parties. Probably looked ridiculous.

  • not just these pics but she used to be slimmer yo! some people just lose care I guess but she still cute

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