Angelo Baque Explains How a Kid from Queens Found Himself at the Epicenter of Streetwear

Angelo Baque has been busy. Since vacating his position as Supreme’s long-time brand director, Baque has ventured out solo, starting his own eponymous creative agency and turning out new product under his own line, Awake NY. On this week’s episode of HYPEBEAST Radio, we caught up with Baque at his boutique’s headquarters on Canal Street to talk about how a kid from Queens found his way into fashion. Baque reminisces on his days as an enlightened revolutionary type wearing Che Guevara tees at the Nuyorican Café in ‘94. Angelo also breaks down how a job offer from James Jebbia felt like a call-up to the major leagues: “I always compare that to getting like a phone call from George Steinbrenner. Y’know, like ‘That’s cool what you’re doing down there, but you wanna come play in the big show, come fuck with me.’” After ten years with the streetwear brand, Baque notes that “It was probably around the Paris store opening that I realized I’m coming on 10 years of working for this brand, I had an amazing run here. I think it’s time for me to start creating my own thing.” He then goes on to talk about Baque Creative’s inaugural project, which included panels, installations, and workshops for Virgil Abloh’s Off-White™ x Nike “The Ten” collection. Baque also speaks on his first brand, Absurd: “I liked that my brand never really blew up, y’know? This is around the time when The Hundreds became a big deal and 10.DEEP became a big deal. That first streetwear bubble was like, BOOM!” Awa