The Lo Life Crew

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - The year was 1988. They were a crew of misfit street kids from Brownsville, Brooklyn, caught up the rush of youth and hip hop, and in the process they put Ralph Lauren on the map.

Marcus Garvey Village is about as far from yachting as it gets. The Lo Lifes, as they became known, stood out in a neighborhood steeped in poverty.

Categorizing them as a crew, clique or gang is tough. To them it was family despite their by-any-means approach to staying fly and brushes with the law. Their new book, "Bury Me with the Lo On," is a nod to the ones who became casualties to the street, but it also reflects history.

Tom Gould, a photographer and documentary filmmaker, has been working on the book for five years with Lo Life founder Thirstin Howell III.

Yes, their fashion traveled the globe. The photos are Polaroids snap shots stuck in time. Fresh to death, many in Time Square. The girls, cash and clothes. What a moment.