HE'S NOT JOLLY, BUT IS HE SINISTER OR BENIGN?

THE snowman began appearing on T-shirts in the midst of soggy summer
weather that would have melted the real thing in seconds.

The scowling snow figure was borrowed liberally from a gangsta rapper
named Young Jeezy, who inspired the character, a menacing version of Frosty.

A shirt with the image of an almost expressionless snowman is among a
vendor's wares.

Some people see the T-shirts as wearable billboards for traders in
another powdery white substance sometimes called snow: cocaine.

But that meaning has been lost on many who are lining up to buy the
snowman shirts from street vendors.

Webb Woods, 27, a Police Department traffic enforcement agent from
Jamaica, Queens, who ran from a double-parked car to buy a gray
camouflage version for his nephew, can be counted among the clueless.

"He's icy," Mr. Woods said of the snowman. "He's got a lot of
diamonds. He rock a lot of ice."

In other stalls along Canal Street and Broadway and in Harlem, gold
snowmen on red T-shirts are sold next to rubbery Louis Vuitton
knockoffs. Some of the snowmen are featured with images of 8-balls,
Arm & Hammer baking-soda labels, flashy wheel rims, dice or other
drug references. "Hustle hustle always in all ways," some read.
Another has the wording "I got that snow ... man" across the back in
icicle caps.

Though the symbolism isn't exactly subtle, vendors claim ignorance.

"Everybody likes the snowman," said Jemma Jawra, 40, from Gambia, who
sells a white snowman on a black T-shirt for $10 from his stall on
Canal Street and Broadway.

Mr. Jawra's brother, Bubacarr Drammeh, 34, wears the snowman shirt.
"It's just like with Bob Marley," he said. "It don't mean I smoke or drink."

Some rap fans know better. The angry figure is associated with Young
Jeezy, an Atlanta-based rapper who calls himself "Da Snowman," who
used it to promote the July release of his CD, "Let's Get It: Thug
Motivation 101." The rapper's lyrics touch on dealing drugs.

"He got snow, cocaine," explained Alex Tunick, 14, of Stamford,
Conn., who was perusing the T-shirts on Canal Street. "He does it, he
sells it," he said, referring to the rapper's cartoon daemon and wearer.

Gene Garner, a vendor on Canal, admitted he did not love Jeezy's
voice, but was into the snowman: "He is going to be bigger than Barney."