And now, let us cast our minds back to 1990. ‘Twas an exciting time in R&B and hip-hop, as both genres were making serious pop chart inroads, as well as doing some serious genre-mating. Two great songs from the Great R&B/Hip-Hop Merger of the Early 90’s are LL Cool J’s “Around The Way Girl,” and Salt-N-Pepa’s “Expression.”

“Around The Way…” was the romantic single from LL’s monstrous Mama Said Knock You Out album. Despite LL’s lip-licking and bedroom eyes, it was ultimately a totally wholesome jam with sweet message of loyalty and fidelity to a gal who had held him down through thick and thin.

Salt-N-Pepa’s “Expression,” taken from their Black’s Magic, was a dope female-empowerment anthem that celebrated individuality over a killer New Jack Swing beat.

But I’m not here to talk about hip-hop and R&B crossovers. I’m here to talk about big top hats.

Below is the video for “Expression” and a clip of LL performing “Around The Way Girl” at Yo! MTV Raps! in a very Spring Break-y looking location. And, for whatever reason, these two 1990 clips find both sets of artists rocking absurdly over-sized top hats.

I really can’t explain why this happening. Were people really feeling the look of the Monopoly man? Was there a Mad Hatter renaissance going on that I was unaware of? Even the homeless lady at :23 of the Salt-N-Pepa video is rocking one! A leopard-print joint, no less!

Fashion historians, hip-hop anthropologists and just good guessers; I implore you to take to the comments section and solve the mystery of the big top hat trend of 1990! And we see you, T-Pain.