We admire anyone who has a look, and whose approach to fashion is as obsessive as ours. In this new column we ask OC friends and family to let us rifle through their collections and celebrate their hoarding situations.
Jah Jah Brown is the singer for NYC band Ninja Sonik. But long before gigs with friends like M.I.A. and Rye Rye, came his hat collection. Jah Jah has kept every cap he's owned since grade school; stacked bill-to-back they cover the floor of his entire bedroom. And those are only the hats he has on current rotation. Back home in the Bronx where he grew up, he has over a thousand more stowed away.
Brayden and I went to Jah Jah's Bed-Stuy apartment last week and unpacked duffel bags full of carefully folded caps. Ranging from custom-made snapbacks gifted by friends to rare, never-produced samples, the collection could keep you kitted out with a different piece of headwear every day for over three years. Jah Jah showed us his all-time favorites and introduced us to his other obsession and alter ego: Bart Simpson.
All photos by Brayden Olson
Caps are the flyest thing to me.
I own over 1,200.
I also collect: Bart Simpson gear and toys.
At the moment, I'm wearing: an Animal Bikes hat, which isn't out yet.
Onstage, I like to wear: the last cap I found, or anything Bart.
My favorite piece is: a printed HUF hat. It's rad because it's a sample and even the dude who designed it doesn't have the one I have. It's pretty cool to know that friends understand my hat fetish.
The first piece in my collection was: a brown hat that I got in the third grade. I still have it—in mint condition.
The weirdest place I ever found a hat was: in a dollar store.
In a fire, I would save my pet gerbils Itchy and Scratchy first.
When I die, I will leave my collection to: my best friends.
I own countless numbers of Barts.
I love Bart Simpson because: he's a bad boy but still respectful.
My IRL Milhouse is: my boy Dwayne. He's cool (not nerdy) and a good friend to my Bart Simpson.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
"This was a gift from a friend who makes hats. He knows about my Bart obsession and made it for my birthday."
![]()
"Only ten of these woven Aztec caps by Only Ny were made."
![]()
Jah Jah Brown is the singer for NYC band Ninja Sonik. But long before gigs with friends like M.I.A. and Rye Rye, came his hat collection. Jah Jah has kept every cap he's owned since grade school; stacked bill-to-back they cover the floor of his entire bedroom. And those are only the hats he has on current rotation. Back home in the Bronx where he grew up, he has over a thousand more stowed away.
Brayden and I went to Jah Jah's Bed-Stuy apartment last week and unpacked duffel bags full of carefully folded caps. Ranging from custom-made snapbacks gifted by friends to rare, never-produced samples, the collection could keep you kitted out with a different piece of headwear every day for over three years. Jah Jah showed us his all-time favorites and introduced us to his other obsession and alter ego: Bart Simpson.
All photos by Brayden Olson
Caps are the flyest thing to me.
I own over 1,200.
I also collect: Bart Simpson gear and toys.
At the moment, I'm wearing: an Animal Bikes hat, which isn't out yet.
Onstage, I like to wear: the last cap I found, or anything Bart.
My favorite piece is: a printed HUF hat. It's rad because it's a sample and even the dude who designed it doesn't have the one I have. It's pretty cool to know that friends understand my hat fetish.
The first piece in my collection was: a brown hat that I got in the third grade. I still have it—in mint condition.
The weirdest place I ever found a hat was: in a dollar store.
In a fire, I would save my pet gerbils Itchy and Scratchy first.
When I die, I will leave my collection to: my best friends.
I own countless numbers of Barts.
I love Bart Simpson because: he's a bad boy but still respectful.
My IRL Milhouse is: my boy Dwayne. He's cool (not nerdy) and a good friend to my Bart Simpson.
"This was a gift from a friend who makes hats. He knows about my Bart obsession and made it for my birthday."
"Only ten of these woven Aztec caps by Only Ny were made."
