Others, like the figures of youths dressed in hip-hop clothing, one with a boombox and the other with a pit bull, portray the city's street life.

That includes white suburban adolescents - the same group that was swift to embrace the exaggerated style of hip-hop clothing.

Ragga-Muffin, a popular hip-hop clothing and shoe store on Flatbush Avenue, installed a steel door on its roof after being robbed twice in the last six months.

Even the scare crow is dressed in hip-hop clothing.

Retailers consistently sold out of the line of hip-hop clothing - baggy jeans, brightly colored T-shirts, jackets and caps: apparel with a black urban attitude.

Filipino youngsters, easily making friends in their polyglot communities, are dressing in hip-hop clothing and shedding Tagalog, the leading language in the Philippines.

Once freed, Mr. Atkins returned to his boyhood home and began selling hip-hop clothing to passers-by.

Carl Williams, the designer who uses the name Karl Kani, is quickly moving to leverage his popularity in hip-hop clothing into a multifaceted fashion company.

"Just saying you're hip-hop clothing, you're cutting yourself off from a whole other area of the business," Mr. Kanai said.

Cross Colours, which makes a line of hip-hop clothing that mainstream merchants are clamoring for, has been honored.