“Remember that time you were wasted and thought it would be a good idea to get a tattoo on your leg of Maury Povich shaking hands with Sasquatch, but your friends talked you out of it at the last second? Well, some people don’t have friends.”
– No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever

Traditionally, people use tattoos as a means of self-expression. Most times, this self-expression comes off as artistic and thoughtful. However, others just get way out of hand and come across strange as hell. Aviva Yael & P.M. Chen went on a year long crusade scoping out tattoo conventions and studios throughout the country in order to find the most random, comical, strange, terrifying, and downright out of this world tattoos.

What they found helped to create the gem that is No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever. The book contains countless images of all sorts of tattoos accompanied by hilarious captions. Each page makes for a laugh out loud moment, and solidifies itself as a must read.

Check it out here.

In one of those incredible, posthumus collaborations that not only transcends life, but geographies, generations and artistic geniuses, DJ Spooky will be performing an original score alongside Senegalese director and inspiration Ousmane Sembène’s film Borom Sarret next Tuesday, May 27th at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York.

Hosted by Sembène’s close friend, Dr. Mamadou Diouf — director of Columbia University’s Institute for African Studies — this intimate evening of homage and celebration is the perfect close to the French Institute Alliance Française’s revolutionary month devoted to World Nomads, which included an impromptu dance party with Nigerian-German-Roma-French soul queen Ayo; dance by Reggie Wilson and Andréya Ouamba; a tour of contemporary African cinema influenced by Sembène’s groundbreaking films; and a lively discussion of Transculuralism with TRACE founder and Editor-in-Chief, Claude Grunitzky.

TRACE has been proud to be a media partner for this series.

Homage to Ousmane Sembène with DJ Spooky
$10 FIAF members/$15 non-members
Tuesday, May 27th, 7:00 pm
The French Institute Alliance Française
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues
New York, NY

For two days in New York every year, Tokion magazine pulls its global strings to pack the Cooper Union Art and Science college with some of the top creative talent from the world over. For anyone who keeps up with the current masterminds of culture and the Who’s Who of art, design, curating, architecture and film, this year’s roster of presenters will cause no less salivation that previous years. Check out the partial list below:

Harmony Korine (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy, Mister Lonely, Kids); Kathy Grayson (Deitch Projects); Klaus Biesenbach (MoMA/P.S.1); Shamim M. Momin (Whitney Museum of American Art); Thomas Duncan (Gagosian Gallery); Massimiliano Gioni (New Museum of Contemporary Art); José Friere (Owner of New York’s Team Gallery); Lizzi Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance; Nate Lowman; Gardar Eide Einarsson; Hanna Liden; Gary Panter; C.F.; and Lucky Dragons.

Salivate a bit more while thumbing through the rest of the line up and grabbing a ticket here — the event sells out every year, so grab soon!

Somewhere between the pop love-fest of Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Puffy’s dancing in shiny suits to shake off pre-millennial tension, hip-hop had a message.

One of the earliest political rap songs, Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines” track about cocaine use and addiction in the early 80s, was followed by a succession of other messages as people in urban communities across the U.S. and around the world struggled to express what was going on in their hoods and the importance of getting the word out NOW.

In Somebody Scream: Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power (Faber and Faber; released today), journalist and author Marcus Reeves explores the dynamic between the music and the politics that gave shape to the lyrics and the genre in the 80s and 90s. Placing hip-hop in a 30-year context of urban political movements, Reeves hopes, will keep us from focusing on a few bad headlines (of which there are plenty — you know what I’m talking about).

Erika Parkins: Hip-Hop seems less political now than it did in the 80’s or even the late 90’s with the rise of “conscious” rappers such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common and Dead Prez; why do you think that is?

Marcus Reeves: Well, the tone [of hip-hop] has been changing for awhile. Rap can be divided into two periods, before “The Chronic” and after “The Chronic”. “Chronic” came out of the L.A. riots [of 1992] and you had rappers speaking about aggression, white supremacy, police brutality, and the government’s hand in what was going on in the community.

After the LA riots, the Time Warner rap controversy, the rise of police brutality, and the rap brouhaha between Clinton and Sistah Souljah, there was prevalent and accessible material for rappers to talk about.

Then comes an album like “Doggystyle”, out of Dre’s camp, by his protégé and homeboy Snoop, who represented the next wave.
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In Sunday’s Washington Post, hip hop artist and poet Bomani Armah wrote a satirical op-ed piece about Barack Obama’s blackness. “It’s official,” he jokes, “Barack Obama is black enough.” Now, he suggested, it’s time for him to start showing how white he is.

It does not need to be said that it is an interesting time for race in the United States. With a political campaign encouraging everyone to talk extensively about blackness in America, magazine and fashion folks demanding proportional multi-cultural representation in the industry and on the runways, and a blog that satires whiteness getting millions of hits, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, and Dead Prez are getting a bit of a break.

Read Armah’s tongue-in-cheek Washington Post piece here and hear him interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation here.

I would try to explain this, but I think it’s better to leave well enough alone.

Unrelated to the transcultural body-snatching above, the bonus featurette below is one of many episodes of a popular ’90s exercise show that doubled as real-world English lessons.

For Boogie and his camera, the journey from Belgrade to Brooklyn wasn’t actually that far. Growing up amid the violent transition out of socialism, Boogie’s lens cut its teeth during Serbia’s civil war in the ’90s. In 1998, a U.S. green card won in the national lottery moved the photographer out of Belgrade, but Boogie’s fascination with human margins and marathon desperation has followed him to Brooklyn.

Whether snapping neo-Nazi youth, gangsters, or binging crack addicts, it’s not just danger and the usual moralizing that happens in Boogie’s frames. There’s an easy familiarity in his black and white frames — a discomforting, not-quite-sweet edge that makes his harsh portraits unflinchingly human.

Celebrating the release of Boogie’s eponymous limited edition book, the powerHouse Area is throwing an opening tonight in Brooklyn hosted by Dante Ross and 10Deep.

Parallel to the Brooklyn show, which runs through March 30th, the Galerie Olivier Robert in Paris also has an exhibition up through April 12th.

Boogie in Brooklyn here and Paris here

Breathless. That’s how I imagine Black Thought must have felt after his 75 bar workout on Black’s Reconstruction. The South Philly MC refuses to let a pause for air come in between him and the neck-breaking track, as he abuses it non-stop for 3 minutes and 17 seconds, and has it gasping for air when Questlove holds the drums and lets him go acapella for a couple lines - forcing you to pay close attention to the MC at work. (Pause for breath.) Rick Cordero’s also putting in some work as he matched The Roots frenetic single with a mini-movie, where an unlucky bastard is dragged around, has gasoline poured on his bloody cuts, and is about to be burnt alive a la Reservoir Dogs. My ramblings don’t do it justice though - check it out for yourself and remember to circle April 29^th on your calendar: Rising Down will be on shelves nationwide.

Just as we’d virtually outgrown the teething stages of internet downloads, TRACE’s own electric lady, Santogold, gives us another morsel to sink our teeth into. After much anticipation, Santogold’s debut video for “L.E.S. Artistes” has hit the web, and the cyber-world is abuzz. Directed by London’s own Nima Nourizadeh, the video references Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (1973), a cult film classic marked by psychadelic visuals and allegoric undertones. Santogold takes the opportunity to experiment with her artistry and draw from her bottomless cauldron of creative influences. Both in her music and now with this video, Santogold shows great scope and creative depth of field. All of those expecting an M.I.A. reproduction can kill the noise now (we still love you Maya). Santi has created her own lane. And to all the self-righteous hipsters who think Santi’s laughing with you, just try to keep dancing when you realize she’s laughing at you!

When French electro “semi-god” duo Justice comes out with a new video, you can expect an exciting series of multi-hued images that will satisfy your eyes’ deepest fantasy. The video for “DVNO” from the “†,” album was directed by none other that Mr So Me. In this 3 minute video, the graphic designer bombards us with a multitude of words in a range of amazing fonts and colors, confirming his compulsive obsession for the art of lettering. Will “DVNO” know the same fate as its predecessor, the now classic “D.A.N.C.E”? I’ll let you judge for yourself…