txt_Shawn Lawrence James//ph_Rahan Cotterel

Ever-aspiring to new heights whether through words or what’s he’s wearing, Will is towering over the clichés of his small town beginnings and adopting his views on the world in high definition.

Name: Will S. aka Bump aka WordSmith aka ill Will aka Prince S.
Age: I’m 23

Born: Bear, Delaware
Based: Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Occupation: I’m a former pro-athlete turned stylist, an actor, writer and model citizen.

Favorite brands: G-Star makes the best jeans for me (36X36). Vans Gucci chucks and Nike for footwear. I used to love Rocawear because it was urban chic to an extent, but now I am an American Apparel fiend. I think it should be noted that Frida is doing one hell of a job creating her own lane/line after the legendary and iconic Tom Ford.

Talk about the gumbo of influence that’s birthed the style you possess today.
My style is collectively eclectic. I am the product of growing up in a small state between Philly and Baltimore where I stuck out like a 6′8 sore thumb. I went to Villanova where I dabbled in the country club lifestyle and partied it up like the rockstar baller. I was in college. Then I lives just outside of Milan while playing pro Italia ball. And now, I live in Bed-Stuy — do or die!

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Tuesday, June 10, 7:00pm
Housing Works Used Bookstore & Café (126 Crosby St, South of Houston)
Uwem Akpan & Anderson Tepper

Uwem Akpan will read from and discuss his upcoming story collection, Say You’re One of Them, and his life as a Jesuit priest with Vanity Fair’s Anderson Tepper in the first installment of Two residents of PEN World Voices’ year-round programming. Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in souther Nigeria and teaches at a Jesuit seminary in Zimbabwe. “My Parents’ Bedroom,” a story in the book, was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Wednesday, June 11, 7:00pm
Housing Works Used Bookstore & Café (126 Crosby St, South of Houston)Horacio Castellanos Moya, Senselessness

Horacio Castellanos Moya is one of El Salvador’s most acclaimed writers, and the author of eight books and many newspaper and magazine articles. Senselessness is his first work to be published in English. He’ll be reading from it Wednesday at Housing Works.

Thursday, June 12, 7:30pm
Solas Bar (232 E. 9th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
St. Mark’s Bookshop presents Tao Lin & Dynasty Handbag

The writer (Eeeee eee eeee) Tao Lin will read from his newest work, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Dynasty Handbag, the “the solo music/video/voiceover/comitragic performance vehicle created and executed by Jibz Cameron” will perform at this edition of the St. Mark’s reading series.

Chamecki/Lerner, Flying Lesson.

Been naughty lately? Haven’t had the opportunity to get your dose of creative energy? Well, we have the solution you need! TRACE Magazine, GANG UP! and Monkeytown present an evening of short films, videos, performances, and music to benefit top-notch NYC choreographers — Will Rawls, Milka Djordevich, and Nohemi Contreras — who have received a scholarship by DanceWEB Europe to participate in this summer’s ImPulsTanz festival in Vienna. The three get a 2/3 scholarship to cover tuition for dance workshops, tutorials and housing for the five-week festival but lack the funds for such things as, say, a plane ticket over there. (Money for food would also be nice.) So, simple as that: Help some of the best dancers in NYC get their wings and snag a free ticket to heaven (or a Get Out of Jail Free card, your call).

The event will take place Tuesday, June 10th at Monkeytown. There are two programs jam-packed with performances and multi-media presentations, all donated by the generosity of the NYC artistic community.

The first program, GANG UP: A Creative Congress, features short films and videos from Chamecki/Lerner, Rachel Johnson, Jeff Larson, Dance Gang. Choreographers Andrea Lerner and Rosane Chamecki present their first foray into film, “Flying Lesson,” which won the 2008 Jury Award at Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera festival in January. Rachel Johnson, an award-winning animator, will show her Oscar-nominated short film “The Toll Collector.” Also appearing, “A Store of Sucking Stones,” the Beckett-based video farce, starring film and stage designer, Jeff Larson. Guerilla public performance company, Dance Gang, will also screen its video, “Shadow Dance.”

The first program also includes live performances by pop-obsessed Neal Medlyn, composer Karinne Keithley, experimental musician Jon Monlaci, dancer/choreographer Felicia Ballos, and the all-woman artband, JERK.

The second program of the evening, The Green Beat Box, will feature live sets from beatbox extraordinaire Adam Matta and avant-garde guitarist Eyal Moaz, as well as director of New Amsterdam Records, composer of critically acclaimed Now Ensemble and DJ, Judd Greenstein. Accompanying visuals will be from Dance Gang’s public video project, “Last in a Series,” a kinetic portrait of New York City.

Will Rawls is a site-specific performer, curator and installation artist who toured and performed nationally and internationally with Shen Wei Dance Arts in Venice, Israel and New York. He has also appeared with Tiffany Mills Company, with collaborator Katie Workum/Workum Dance League. Milka Djordevich is a performer/choreographer/co-curator of Movement Research Festival 2008 who studied at UCLA and at PARTS in Brussels. Nohemi Contreras is a performer/choreographer/curator who obtained a Masters from Tisch in Performance Studies.

First program begins at 7:30; the second at 10. Entrance fee for the first program is $40 or $60 with three-course dinner. Second program is $15, with a $10 minimum. All proceeds from the door will go to the three artists’ tuition.

Dearly Beloved,

We are gathering tonight and tomorrow night to get through this show called Shockadelica: Celebrating 50 years of his Royal Badness. The sirens from Brown Girls Burlesque are at it again bringing power to the purple people and that indescribable feminine mystique that could make Prince, himself, blush.

If you live in Erotic City, ever made a plea about how things would be if you were his Girlfriend, sang the Ballad of Dorothy Parker, or been concerned by the Sign O the Times, there is no other place you need to be tonight and tomorrow night.

Audience come quick! Audience come in a hurry. Tickets will sell out. $25 for general admission. $40 for the Royal Court.

The show starts at 11pm at the Zipper Factory, 336 west 37th street (in between 8th and 9th avenues).

And while you wait to cleanse yourself in the waters of the Brown Girls Burlesque, czech out our TRACE Insider video of BGB in action at their last nyc performance “Itches Brew…Sheroes Unleashed.”

Something has the canucks excited. Across the blogosphere they are getting hot and bothered and they want more of this all-natural brew of sundry flavor. That brew is Zaki Ibrahim.

Born in Vancouver to a South African father and a Scottish/English mother, Ibrahim lived alternately in Vancouver and Cape Town before landing in Toronto in 2001. Since then the transnational songstress has developed a sound that melds the bits and pieces that make up her life into the smooth composite for her current EP, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple).

Ibrahim’s vocals can be lush and Sade-esque, light and smooth like Ladysmith Black Mambazo or float over electronic arias like Beth Gibbons. Although she stays far from the internet, Canadian press and bloggers have been showing much love for her music which is steeped just right in eclectic creativity.

Currently promoting the Eclectica EP and preparing for a set of UK tour dates, Ibrahim chat briefly with me about the album, her influences and the frustrations she has with technology.

For more info on Zaki Ibrahim and two free downloads off Eclectica, click here and stay tuned for her full-length album debut later this year.

Trace: You have a wide range of musical styles on Eclectica — what influenced you to go in the directions that you did?
Zaki Ibrahim: There isn’t one specific influence — I definitely just try to keep it open. I don’t like to think too hard about it. I started off thinking how am I going to bring it all together and how to fit one song with the next or the next. Then I just said forget it.

I got a lot of questions like “what is this?” and “where are you going?” It’s just everything though, old soul, R&B, folk and influences like Edith Piaf, Roberta Flack, Fela Kuti…I just went digging.

T: Your music defies labels, how do you feel then about being called a neo-soul star?
ZI: Neo-Soul is a fairly new title, created out of not being able to describe what that music is. My album is somewhere between urban, folk, something eclectic. You could call it whatever if it fits I suppose. If it fits there, it fits there.

T: You’ve lived in Cape Town, Vancouver and Toronto. I read that you consider all of these places home. Could you have made this album anywhere?
ZI: Yes and Yes, except for Cape Town. In Cape Town I am surrounded by family and I am dedicated to them when I am there. Toronto now is the best place though — it is where I’ve been able to do my music. I’m looking to spend more time in New York and on the West Coast [of Canada] and London. I have a lot of old friends, like, from teenagerdom in New York now saying come down, Brooklyn is where it’s at so, who knows?

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Known for their work with Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Ice Cube, Slick Rick and many others, the influential production team known as The Bomb Squad will be doing a special performance this Saturday at Low End Theory NYC. The Bomb Squad is known for their distinct production style, use of multiple samples on a single track, and incorporation of harsh un-melodic sounds on songs.

The event goes down this Saturday June 7th with opening sets by L.A. native Nosaj Thing and the newest super duo What’s the Science? There will also be performances by Gaslamp Killer, Nocando, and Eliot Lip. The Bomb Squad has just wrapped up the First Look tour with Public Enemy, and this event looks promising.

For more information on the events location and ticket sales click here. For more information on The Bomb Squad itself, click here.

I have also decided that Solange is my favorite new (again) artist. Czech the first single “I Decided” from her upcoming sophomore disc tentatively due Aug 26 under Geffen titled, SoL-AngeL & the Hadley Street Dreams, named after the block of her childhood home.

And although the crayon colored green screen backdrops, the sweet coquette melody, and glittery costume and coif changes are hard to lose focus of, please don’t sleep on the chronological imagery from the 50s to the future.

Video director, Melina (keep your eyes on that sista), is definitely highlighting images from radical leaders and landmarks who seldom get love besides the latest Urban Outfitter tee. Excuse me, but was that Kathleen Cleaver!? Pump the positivity. Younger sisters of the world untie!!!

Designed by Lanie Alabanza-Barcena, the young Ilocana Filipino who comes at us by way of New Orleans and San Diego, Hellz Bellz is already known for its edgy approach to female youth fashion.

With its latest summer “Heat Wave” collection, the line is emphasizing a woman’s independence and non-conformity within a male dominated society, bringing light to its tradition of “crime for every season”. This summer collection is composed mainly of 80s rock-inspired pieces with flashy designs, acid washed denim, double waist shorts and vibrant colors.

With each new release, the young style star further solidifies her brand and its aim to set itself a part from other women’s collections. For a personal look at this seasons collection click here, to find your local retailer click here.

Last night at New York’s own 205 Club in the Lower East Side, Heatherette celebrated the launch of their new footwear line, showcasing a sampling from the collection. The sneakers were very casual, but as funky and chic like as we’ve come to expect from Heatherette designs.

The label on each shoe read “Rox and Riley” which was supposed to be the name of Rich’s new clothing line when rumors were circulating that the two were going their separate ways back in April. Fortunately, they haven’t called it quits just yet and continue to make enormous strides in the industry. This time while wearing some fresh kicks!

More info here.

Way back in November of last year, we did a post on BombIt!, a rapid-rising documentary that crossed the globe hunting down interviews with those elusive, top graffiti talents like Marka27 and Retna (L.A.); Cope 2, REVS and Taki 183 (NYC); Nishiba (Japan); Boleta and Jorge Tavares (Brasil); Blek le Rat (Paris); and about 40 others from the Netherlands, Mexico, Italy, Sweden, South Africa, Lebanon, Belgium, and Germany, to name a few.

Unprecedented in scope, BombIt! appeared to be the deserving heir to Wild Style’s throne when we saw it last November and now, with the TriBeCa Film Festival under it’s belt, Antidote Films by side and an L.A. Premiere this Friday night, BombIt! is blowing up bigger than ever.

The timing couldn’t be better. The graffiti culture documented by Charlie Ahearn’s classic was, in a sense, local to New York City and has since incubated on a global scale, rearticulated and reimagined on our local streets and neighborhood cultures.

Urban space still excludes folks and voices and as long as it does, graffiti will drop its bombs, but the messages and the means are changing. Hear what glocal graffiti means in the 21st century from the artists who give it voice.

BombIt! L.A. Premiere
Friday, June 6th
Laemmles Sunset 5
8000 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
1:00//3:15//5:30//7:50//10:10pm