By Logan Rowell
I used the term O.G. in a conversation with my father (67 yrs young) the other day and realized the acronym, which was a commonplace term for my generation, did not exist in his vocabulary. So let’s start there:
Before Ice-T was a household name for being a bad actor on Law and Order SVU, he was a rapper, and in 1991, he had a song named ‘O.G. Original Gangster.’ Rap culture was being appropriated by white kids around the world (myself especially included) and soon enough, the term O.G. was being used in elementary school lunch conversations to define anyone and everything that was authentic, classic, or “old-school.” Being an O.G. was, and still is, one of the ultimate terms of endearment.
Rewind another 20 years to the 1970’s and two very different things were happening on opposite sides of the country at the same time: The term O.G. was first being used by the Crips gang in Los Angeles, and simultaneously a young couple was launching their sailboat for a multi-year cruising journey in North Carolina.
I can only imagine the looks on both parties’ faces had you told them that 50 years later, some fool would be writing an article with a title that brought them into the same context. So in an attempt to not overuse the word ‘legends’ and to properly bridge the generational gaps, we honor Skip and Kit Fry today as “O.G.” Young Cruisers who came before us and helped pave the way.
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