Forever striving to explain the history behind retrograde and obscure celebrity fashion, Complex turns its attention to the long, proud history of the black mullet, or, as they correctly rephrase it, the shag. This rarely seen and reclusive hairstyle made a splash on Obamaguration night when rocked by self-appointed boundary-pusher and fashion internship-seeker Kanye West (pictured at right).

Though Complex’s historical listicle (”historisticle”?) mostly deals in famous iterations of the shag, it’s worth noting the distinctions between this predominently African-American hairstyle and its deceptively similar working-class rural white cousin, the mullet. The former actually enjoyed a long period of acceptability and even, yes, fashionable popularity up until the late 80s when the fade took hold of the cool kids.

The mullet, however, has never gained such widespread acceptance and is always worn with a knowing degree of irony. In essence, the shag is the mullet’s hipper, more popular (more recently washed) big city cousin. To better familiarize yourself with the shag, check out Complex’s listicle of The 14 Ancestors of Kanye’s Mullet.