Da Bomb-ardiers

The worlds of music, fashion and sports converged at the hip-hop music awards at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre on Wednesday night to make for a wild red carpet ride. These powerful cats were stylin’, showing how hip-hop has made street fashion chic.

Even those who are not fans of rappers Busta Rhymes, Master P and Nas would have been impressed by the steady stream of stretch SUVs and Hummers, platinum necklaces and diamond bracelets--owned, not borrowed, folks.

The mix of clothes was the ordinary with the extraordinary: Designer furs and leather with athletic team jerseys, Nike sneakers, diamond bracelets and mall brands like Guess and Fubu.

Unlike at other Hollywood awards shows, guests at The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, the first in hip-hop to be televised, came in all shapes and sizes. Some even had (horrors!) braces on their teeth. These real people--albeit very rich real people--have grabbed the fashion world by the horns and made it their own. Some even have their own lines of clothing. The awards will be broadcast tonight at 8 p.m. on the UPN television network.

Many guests simply wore their own fashion labels: Los Angeles Laker Shaquille O’Neal sported a T-shirt from his line, Twism; Rhymes and his posse were decked in candy-colored jackets from his Bushi Sport.

“Bushi means warrior in Japanese,” explained Rhymes, striking warrior-like poses for photographers.

Clothing execs Daymond John, J. Alexander Martin, Carl Brown and Keith Perrin from Fubu (which stands for the first letters of “for us, by us”) took the opportunity to model designs from their spring 2000 collection, including a polyurethane short-sleeve V-neck jersey made to look like black leather.

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Hanging close to the Fubu crew was fledgling fashion designer Myke-D, who wore a jacket and cargo pants of white terry cloth.

Unfortunate “moos” were uttered by onlookers as hip-hop group Made Men strolled down the carpet looking a tad embarrassed in head-to-toe spotted cowhide suits by Tony Ansaldi. “Got milk?”

The guest list included so many basketball players--Chicago Bull Elton Brand, Boston Celtic Antoine Walker, ex-NBA star John Salley and Seattle Supersonic Gary Payton, to name a few--that one onlooker remarked, “This could be the NBA awards.”

Although most of the athletes wore suits, some music people wore athletic garb. Musician-mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs looked comfortable in his New York Yankees jersey and Dodgers hat, mugging for the cameras with son Justin.

Other men went for a more dressy look.

Wearing a simple gray suit with a silk print vest, Don King got a rousing reception. But who looks at his clothes anyway--it’s the hair, right?

Model Tyson Beckford was sexy in cream linen.

“It’s a Ralph Lauren purple label suit straight from London. The ghetto do-rag, it’s straight from 144th Street,” he said. With him was singer Cha-Cha, whose debut album will be released this fall.

Jaleel White, who played the nasal-voiced Urkel on TV show “Family Matters,” has gone from geek to chic. The actor was a standout in a superbly tailored pinstripe suit by Paul Smith with exposed seams and buttery suede panels inside the jacket sleeves.

Despite the 90-degree heat, most women went glam in high-fashion leather and fur.

Singer-actress Brandy was an exception in darling Daryl K jeans with oversized cuffs and pink stitching, matching pink-glitter tank top, platform sandals and eye shadow. One felt as if she should have had a disco ball hanging over her head as she hosted her red carpet preshow for UPN.

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Actress Elise Neal’s (“The Hughleys,” “Rosewood”) boxy black leather jacket and leather tube top were designed by L.A.’s Jenisa Washington, recently recognized as CaliforniaMart’s best emerging designer for her line, Sold.

Playing the part of Pocahontas, TLC’s Lisa Lopes (who hosted the show along with LL Cool J) could just as easily have arrived on horseback as in a limo. Her exotic skirt lined in fox fur and carmel suede halter top were designed by Kyle Young. The two will debut their own line of clothing next spring.

Pam Grier (“Jackie Brown”) was smoldering in shiny leather pants and shirt by Calvin Klein. For a purse, she carried a whimsical lunch box labeled “Radioactive.”

Also in designer duds, R&B; singer Faith Evans was positively curvaceous in Gucci black lace pants and a black tunic top belted with a leather cord. The widow of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. looked more real than any of the super-skinny Gucci girls modeling the same pants on billboards around L.A.

Rapper Mia X wore a camouflage print tunic and pants. The outfit was form-fitting, but she wore it well--a model for all large women.

On the other end of the scale, Janet Jackson looked lithe but a bit sculpted in a Dries Van Noten corset worn over a Vivienne Westwood dress.

In Guess denim jeans and jacket with red stitching, DaBrat was almost a carbon copy of record producer Dr. Dre, who wore a similar outfit by Karl Kani. DaBrat added fabulous red leather boots--very Wonder Woman.

But it was L’il Kim who won the head-turner award for the night, hopping down the carpet in what could have been mistaken for a bunny suit. The get-up was actually a transparent unitard with no more than a rhinestone G-string and mink fur patches to cover the important parts. Her clutch purse, wrist cuffs and shoes were also mink.

Stylist Misa Hill was responsible for the creation. Kim beamed, “She’s the bomb!”

Booth Moore can be reached by e-mail at booth.moore@latimes.com.