![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thephiladelphiacitizen.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Bariq_Cobbs_Standing-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCobbs\u2019 mom enrolled Bariq and his brothers in art classes at Fleisher Art Memorial in Bella Vista. \u201cAll my brothers, we all could draw,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to draw all day \u2026 We couldn\u2019t go outside during the week, so I used to be drawing, watching everybody, drawing the whole block outside.\u201d Once he saw the 1984 movie Beat Street, \u201cit was over,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to graffiti books,\u201d including his own graffiti version of Crockett and Tubbs \u2014 a \u201c\u2018Miami Vice\u2019 jawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, his dad loved fashion. \u201cHe was an impeccable dresser,\u201d says Cobbs. \u201cHe always got GQ magazine, and wore a Gucci sweatsuit back in the day with terry cloth socks.\u201d<\/p>\n
After high school, Cobbs, who grew up Muslim, enrolled in the Philadelphia College of Art (the future University of the Arts) and took his first art history class. \u201cIt was all White Christianity. I couldn\u2019t relate to it,\u201d he remembers. That changed when he saw a book on African art and artifacts in the school library and \u201cconnected with it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon, he was drawing characters with African masks wearing hats, sneakers and grills. After someone asked him if he could put one of his sketches on a t-shirt, he started making more, under the labels Tribe Vibe and Funky Roots lines. One day, at the old JL on South Street, he ran into Will Smith. The rest is Fresh Prince of Bel Air history. The first time he saw Smith wearing one of his shirts on the show, \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna front. That was a Grammy moment,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was basically going viral back then \u2014 but not only that, it was the culture from the start.\u201d Two West Philly guys, representing their backgrounds, with style.<\/p>\n