Where’s Brooklyn At?!
The BK Style Foundation is excited to debut it’s Fifth Season of the BK Fashion Week{end}, bringin’ “Brooklyn Underground Fashion Rocks!” to Williamsburg. This three-day soiree promises to catch the attention of savvy fashion nuts from across the boroughs, while providing a platform for emerging Brooklyn Designers to rock the runway with collections for Fall 2008.
Tonight the jump off begins at 5pm, with music by The Rozz Nash Band and the “International Designers Night” with collections of Denis Michel’s French-inspired designs; bold looks by Ghana-native Nana Boateng and Romania’s Catalin Botezatu.
Saturday and Sunday night’s line-up will be sure to show an innovative and eclectic variety including street designs by Riddim Driven, sexy denim by the lovely Joan Vaccianna, transformational pieces by (one of my favorite duo’s) Miss Bruno and many more.
Get a eyeful of what is developing in Brooklyn fashion here
Buraka Som Sistema
Buraka Som Sistema are a freshly wrapped parcel straight out of Lisbon, Portugal that will be headlining tonight at FabricLive in London. A sound that will stimulate your daily audio in-take, Buraka Som Sistema (BSS) brings us a melodic mix of grime, hip-hop, house, and most prominently, Kudro.
The heart beat of BSS’s sound, Kudro — meaning “hard ass” for those of you who don’t already know – originates from Angola, and has been huge in the clubs of Lisbon since the early nineties, mostly enjoyed by the migrant Angolan communities in Portugal.
Buraka Som Sistema have folded an exciting and genius musical blend of Angolan beats with contemporary electro, and the result is a unique, explosive sound; which arguably in the current climate of copy and paste artists is hard to come by!! Over a million views of their Yah video, BSS have been championed by M.I.A., Santogold, Diplo, Sinden, Switch & many more.Complimented by an amazing African dance troupe BSS are one of the most exciting live acts you’ll see are in London. Do not miss!
Tickets for the Fabric show here.
Check out this new video, “Sound of Kuduro,” shot in Angola and featuring M.I.A.
L’Ovematic
Ove a.k.a. Oveous Maximus’ life as a poet began with a tragedy of the worst kinds. When his only brother and a talented MC himself, Carlos “Ziiinc Blue” Salcedo decided to end his own life in 2003, Oveous found healing and inspiration in continuing where his brother left off.
Starting at the weekly open mic sessions of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York, in a matter of just a few years he had become the accomplished spoken word poet/MC his brother had always wanted to be, eventually starring as one of the four spoken word poets in the documentary, SPIT and collaborating with soulful house masters like Louie Vega, Osunlade, Boddhi Sattva, and Bradford James, his co-founding partner at S.E.E.D records.
Oveous has recently re-released his Oveous Maximus LIVE! 2.0 Album and has teamed up with his long-time friend “Al Be Back” (from Kanye West’s Graduation album) to work on a hip-hop project that aims to “challenge the status quo of what is expected from rappers and lyricist”, according to Ove.
“A lot of rappers that sell units can’t write. We’re trying to sell units too, but we ain’t trying to sacrifice the level of writing and creativity.”
This Saturday at Club Love in New York, check out Ove debuting his first single “I Apologize” (out on Yoruba Records in May) at the second year anniversary of the “One L’Ove Concert”.
Read more
N.E.R.D Love
As more and more people are finding out, the boys of N.E.R.D have been back in the studio. They’re not set on conquering the world, which is why it wasn’t put out in every public avenue — as of yet I don’t believe that there has even been a press release. In a nutshell, N.E.R.D are about the music and they have always been.
As soon as you as you so much mention N.E.R.D, most like to think they know all about the Neptunes and the beats they make etc etc. But my heart sinks a tiny bit at this because it means that N.E.R.D and their generating of real, good music is sometimes overshadowed by and because of the Neptunes phenomenon and what work they may have produced for others.
So get to know N.E.R.D! Most folks are finding them unrecognisably stimulating, raw, intoxicating, and energetic: quite simply a badass rock, funk, hip-hop band that can’t be boxed in.
With a succession of recent live shows, they’ve been performing edgy slants on some of their (and our) classics like Lapdance and introducing crowds to some of their newer creations, like Everybody Nose. Austin, Texas was the latest to experience NERD live at SXSW in the only way appropriate according to Pharrell: with N.E.R.D themselves.
And note to Pharrell: Girls also know how to get down in the mosh pits.
Mad Decent Heart’s Comix
The annual South By Southwest Music Conference (SXSW) is known for some amazing acts, labels that come from the world over, and parties that go down in history. And heartache, because trying to capture the tectonic scale of SXSW with mere words has made more than one music journalist cry.
Festivities this year are going to be as big as ever, but the recent legends lined up for today’s Austin Blowout 2008 make the event unmissable. Iheartcomix and Mad Decent are joining forces to go all the way with 12 hours of live performances and they’ve collected two pools, vids, and free booze to boot.
The 4 stages with be laced with almost 50 bands and DJ’s — Diplo, Santogold, and Flosstradamus are all up — and a mouthful of other gems on the rise, like Heartsrevolution, who spin some mad mix of hipster head-banging electronica and high school angst-rock lyrics.
Dancing kicks up as the first record spins at 2 pm and won’t stop till 2 am. Right in time for the after parties, naturally.
Here are the mainstage time slots: Diplo/Switch/Drop The Lime 12am-2am // Amanda BlankMatt & Kim 11-11:30 // Simian Mobile Disco 10-11 // Cut Copy 8-8:30 // The Toxic Avenger 6:30-7:30 // Santogold 6-6:30 // Flosstradamus 5-6 // Heartsrevolution 4-4:30 // Har Mar SuperstarWalter Meego 2pm-2:30pm
NY’S FINEST
2008 is going to be a year full of treats for those of us who love classic East Coast hip-hop. The Roots are going to release their highly- anticipated record Rising Down in April, Q-Tip’s next solo album The Renaissance drops in June, and Talib Kweli has just released a free (!) new mixtape entitled MCEO. But the album I’ve been waiting on since I heard about it from the man himself last year is Pete Rock’s new album, NY’s Finest.
One of my favorite producers of all time, the legendary Soul Brother # 1 is known for his completely unique, immediately recognizable sound that arguably pioneered NYC hip-hop in the ’90s. His legacy is enormous. Ask Kanye West, Pharrel, Just Blaze, or Timbaland; they’re all indebted to the man for inspiration.
So four years after his last album, Soul Survivor II, we can finally get to taste the fruit of Pete Rock’s undying labor: a joint venture between Soul Survivor Records and NYC indie label Nature Sounds. The record features an intimidating line-up of hip-hop Wu Tang’s Raekwon and Masta Killa, Redman, D-Block, Dipset’s Jim Jones, Max B, Styles P, and Sheek Louch, among others. Satisfaction guaranteed.
For more free stuff, grabbing NY’s Finest at FYE stores for a little while also nets you a DVD of Kanye West, Pharrell, Timberland, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, ?uestlove and more. Don’t sleep on it.
Banking On Banksy
Just thought I’d post this ‘lil blog and keep everyone updated on some of the latest ‘going ons’ in London town: this latest piece of Banksy’s mind (created last week) is def in sync with the rest of Britain. Supermarket giant Tesco is trying to take over the food shopping game whilst leaving very little market for the small corner shop guy (they can afford to sell at cheaper prices), so much so that they’re leaving the small corner shop guy for dead. For anyone who doesn’t live in Britain, or the part of Japan where they’ve opened their first store, the iconic Tesco bag is what is blowing like a flag in the breeze, tied to the top of the lamppost. The children saluting it may become a reality, as Tesco’s are literally popping up EVERYWHERE.
Where: North London, Islington, Essex Road N1.
I Heart TYPOS
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…
Soul-Brother Shines
I wonder how many accomplished R&B or jazz singers are also able to sing opera in seven languages. A member of the illustrious Soulquarians posse along with Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Q-Tip, and D’Angelo, Bilal has got skills to impress both opera fans and soul aficionados alike. With his incredible debut 1st Born Second (2001), the Philly-bred neo-soul singer has firmly established himself as one of the foremost R&B, neo-soul artists working in the industry today. While his highly anticipated, and much-delayed sophomore album, Love For Sale, has been forced into hibernation, Bilal kept himself busy lending his vocals to several neo-soul and hip hop artists’ projects, including Jay-Z, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and The Roots. He’s also appeared on Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Vol. 3: Street Soul, several of Common’s tracks (U, Black Maybe, The Sixth Sense, and the 2008 remake of The Light,) and has co-produced Erykah Badu’s acclaimed Mama’s Gun.
Now is the chance to get a taste of Bilal’s latest work at an exclusive performance at the Highline Ballroom on Saturday, March 8. Gracing the opening stage, sultry-voiced Seattle-based chanteuse, Choklate will bring the feminine vibe to this special event. Check here for details and ticket info. Hurry up, as tickets may sell out in advance!
He Is Legend
This Sunday March 9th, the Blastmaster MC himself KRS One will be blessing Montreal’s Le Nationale with a quintessential Hip Hop show. He’ll spit some of his classic songs along with his more recent material. A ferocious lyricist whose conscious words have punctuated the world of Hip Hop for the past 20 years, Lawrence Krisna Parker aka The Teacha aka KRS One, is promoting his newest release Adventures in Emceein, on which he’s collaborated with Nas, Rakim , Chuck and MC Lyte, just to name a few. A one of a kind of event not to be missed! Get your tickets here.