Bobby Jones, director of Alloy Access, the urban and multicultural division of Alloy Media and Marketing, which creates marketing solutions for consumer brands such as Nike, Akademiks and Timberland, said the Rocawear brand has moved in a direction that connects with the culture and also continues to make a positive impact.

"A lot of hip-hop has been viewed as very commercial, but the underlying spirit of hip-hop is to transcend where you came from and make a positive impact on the world," Jones said. "Whether it's by capturing money, fame or respect, the driving desire of this culture is to make its mark. The new Rocawear campaign does a great job of expressing that."

But, while Carter and LaFontant hope the new ads inspire consumers, they agreed that, in the end, product is king.

"There has been a shift in the marketplace and I think that some other brands are not giving the customer enough credit," LaFontant said. "They are very politically and socially aware, and that's why we chose to make this campaign about more than just the apparel. But our business is still about the product, so I think we have really evolved with the market and have a very trend-conscious customer, which is reflected in our clothing."

Carter said he has learned a lot since he took the driver's seat at Rocawear. In September 2005, he bought co-founder Damon Dash's 25 percent stake in the company for $30 million. Carter said he used to be against the idea of having a fashion show or opening Rocawear stores, but since he has been solely running the company, his ideas have changed. While there are no immediate plans to open freestanding stores — despite Cole's bullishness — Carter said he would consider it if the right spaces opened up, both nationally and internationally.

"I learned not to rule anything out, our pop-up shop that we had last September did really well," he said. "I thought it was just going to be a marketing idea that lost money, when in the end, it brought in more money than we expected. So really, I'm open to anything and want to keep pushing the envelope."