You may be familiar with the above music video / song “Buffalo Stance”, which features samples from early breakdance hip hop pioneers Rock Steady Crew, but, chances are you're not quite sure what the title means.
It's actually a reference to a short lived subculture / art scene known as “Buffalo”, which was a cultural mix of new wave/punk, hip hop and also included influences from the Skinhead subculture such as bomber jackets and combat boots in street fashion as well as an embracing of marijuana subculture as being “street” and a general rejection of cocaine culture, which was considered “uppity” or “posh” and associated with plastic, rich, fake people.
The Buffalo look was typically Urban fashion meets militant / utilitarian with some postmodern gender-bending androgynous elements thrown in occasionally.
Here are some examples of iconic Buffalo fashion photos:
The Buffalo look was codified by several fashion photographers of the time, but the most credit is given to photographer Ray Petri.
Some Buffalo fashion shoots and history regarding the fashion/visual side of Buffalo can be seen at the following links:
https://www.vogue.fr/vogue-hommes/fashion/diaporama/buffalo-style-ray-petri-jamie-morgan-80s-fashion/42791
https://www.unravelpodcast.com/review/2017/3/19/buffalo-style
https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/26041/1/new-film-on-iconic-80s-buffalo-subculture-jamie-morgan-barry-kamen
The sound of the Buffalo scene was typically electronic drum beats that were a combination of new wave and early hip Hop sounds and often turntabilism which at the time was known as “scratching”.
Neneh Cherry is said to have been influenced by the 1982 Malcolm McLaren song “Buffalo Gals”, a much lesser known tune. Watch the video, which also features Rock Steady Crew, below.
To clarify, this has nothing to do with the traditional American song which was sometimes known as “Buffalo Gals” or “Atlantic City Gals” or had other US cities filled in. (See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Gals#:~:text=5%20External%20links-,Origination,freighter%20crewmen%20received%20their%20wages )
A buffalo stance is, Cherry told The New York Times, "an attitude you have to have in order to get by. It's not about fashion but about survival in inner cities and elsewhere." Sounds a bit like Skinhead, doesn't it?
A lesser known single in the Buffalo style was “Buffalo Bill” by the group Indeep who previously charted with disco tracks, featured below.
Later, in 1998, Malcolm McLaren released a follow-up to the “Buffalo Gals” single called “Buffalo Gals Back to Skool”. Check it out below.
It's difficult to do research nowadays about the Buffalo scene because search engines automatically populate with music results from the City of Buffalo, New York, but this scene primarily has to do with NYC and London UK.
However, some of us remember it from before the internet.
Enjoy going down the Buffalo rabbit hole.