YES IT WAS.
They try to skirt around this by saying "They weren't giving each other fashion advice like these hipster fakkits of today." That's true, but that's not the point.
You didn't get friendly fashion advice on how to look rugged when I was growing up. It was more like you tried your fukking HARDEST NOT TO LOOK SOFT OR LIKE A CLOWN. They would be cracking on you harshly for wearing tight jeans, highwaters, bootleg sneakers (ahahahaha), wearing your du-rag all wrong (remember that?), when the barber fukked your shyt up, etc. Also, don't confuse ruggedness with being a bum. It wasn't cool to have some dirty ass sneakers, ashy hands and chapped lips. They'd make fun of you for that back then just as they would now.
Even when we wore uniforms way back in middle school, everybody made sure to buy their pants and shirts extra baggy.
They weren't like "Well, you need to sag your pants your a little, put that cap on backwards, and wrap your du-rag like *this*. That's it! Looking great!"
It wasn't like that.
It was more like negative reinforcement, people learned what not to do when the group of popular kids would surround you and start a fukking comedy session. They'd call you out in front of EVERYBODY like: "YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT THIS nikka! HIS JEANS IS MAD TIGHT, SON! *Class erupts in laughter* Why you got on those extra tight jeans, nikka? Can you even walk in those shyts? Damn, your nuts can't even breathe in those jeans, you ain't never gon' have kids! Yo, what kinda sneakers is you wearing, son? You can't afford some Jordans, or some Air Forces at least, nikka? You mad bummy!"
It was brutal and hilarious back then.