Why Does Tyrus Have One Pant Leg Rolled Up? Here Are the Deets on the Fashion Statement

The Gist:

• NWA fans have noticed seeing Tyrus walking around with one of his pant legs rolled up.
• Fans started to wonder if there was any significance behind this fashion statement.
• The look originated from bike messengers. However, it also became a purported sign of gang affiliations.

Former NWA professional wrestler Tyrus is probably best known for his in-ring exploits as the former Worlds Heavyweight Champion title holder for the promotion. He's gone on to forge a career as an actor and TV personality and is regularly featured on Fox News as a contributor/commentator on the talk show Gutfeld!

In many of his appearances, there's been a recurring physical characteristic. In addition to his massive stature and mutton chops, Tyrus sometimes has one pant leg rolled up. Why does he do that?

If you've seen Tyrus walking around with one of his pant legs rolled up, you may wonder just why in the heck he decided to adopt this particular fashion statement. For some folks, it's mainly just that: a fashion statement, but where does it originate? Depending on who you ask on the internet, a rolled-up pant leg means different things when you're in different neighborhoods.

According to the New York Times, the look was popularized in the '70s and '80s in New York City when there were more bicycle messengers than there are today zipping around the streets. To avoid getting oil from the chain on their vehicles on their clothes, they lifted one of their pant legs.

The look persisted, however, and people began wearing their pants with the legs rolled up just because they liked the way it looked. A Reddit post dedicated to this fashion trend pointed to a picture of rapper LL Cool J walking a red carpet event with his jeans sporting a leg rolled up on the left side.

It turns out some folks said that they heard in some neighborhoods a right leg rolled up meant someone was selling drugs, while a left leg meant that they were interested in buying. Again, this is all just hearsay, however.

The bike explanation also persists on Urban Dictionary, which describes the rolled-up pants as "ghetto leg." As the online resource describes it, "This fashion trend originated many years ago in the poorer neighborhoods, where most could not afford cars, or public transit to get to work, so they rode their bicycles instead. The pant leg on the right side was rolled up to keep it clean and prevent it from touching the chain of the bike or getting stuck between the chain and the front sprocket."

The Answer Bag forum also indicated that if someone was walking around with a pant leg rolled up it meant that they were affiliated with some type of gang. As one user wrote: "Actually, one pant leg rolled up is a sign that they are a formal gang. Yes, like Crips and Bloods, or MS13. Gang members favor a 'side' as identity. Gangs that favor a 'left' side will have their 'lids' or ballcaps turned to the left, with left pant leg rolled up, and bandanna in left back pocket. Gangs that favor the 'right' side, will do the opposite. It could be these kids are imitating images they've seen in rap/hip-hop videos and not know its significance. Either way, its recommended they stop, lest they run into 'rivals' that mean business."

The notion that rolled-up pant legs have to do with potential gang affiliations was echoed in the Kenyalogue blog as well which wrote that "rolling one pant leg can signify that one is part of a gang."

Tyrus could be rolling up a pant leg to complete that look as part of a professional wrestling persona. The man works in a physically demanding space as a sports entertainer and is a large, imposing figure at 6'7" and 375 lbs. who is covered in tattoos and body slams people in a ring for a living.

So it's safe to assume that he's rolling up his pant leg more to indicate that he's tough and less to signal that he enjoys delivering documents to someone cross-town while riding a fixed-gear bicycle like Joseph Gordon Levitt from Premium Rush.