FUTURE PAST: Just Blaze x John Mayer

In 2006, just after I had left my post at MTV, I was invited by JEST to help co-produce and chronicle the first Alife Sessions featuring John Mayer and Just Blaze. I remember when JEST told me who was slated to perform; needless to say, I was totally flattered to be [...]

OBAMA: Peril to Progress

Barack Obama’s strategy to communicate with both domestic and international audiences is in full force; his “Weekly Address” from 1.24.09 (below) adequately communicated his short-term aims to domestic ears, and his interview with with the Arabic-language station Al-Arabiya  certainly shouted  to  skeptical ears  beyond. And that new White House website, thank you, thank you. In [...]

MOVEMENTS: Marc Jacobs on Stephen Sprouse + Takashi Murakami

Marc Jacobs is an indomitable force in creative culture. I was bouncing around YouTube over the weekend trying to find some videos of Jacobs talking about his recent work with Louis Vuitton and Stephen Sprouse. In doing so, I came across Loic Prigent’s documentary titled Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

And [...]

CORTNI TUCK

Cortni Tuck is without question one of the most inspirational, intelligent, and beautiful people that I’ve ever known. Wow, this is hard. Her vibrancy touched so many; her positivity was so infectious. When I was around Cortni, I felt that change was on the horizon, that there was someone out there whose capacity for [...]

MOVEMENTS: Banksy on eBay

My longtime friend from Jamaica, Peter Dean Rickards (I first spoke to Peter in 2004 for an interview published on Freshnessmag.com), is, well, at it again (read: good news). Peter has always been an outspoken voice and lens from Jamaica as one of the country’s premier photojournalists. Most recently,  both his words, and his actions, [...]

REAL TALK: My President is Black

My president is black, in fact he’s half white
So even in a racist mind he’s half right
If you got a racist mind it’s alright
My president is black, but his house is all white
Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk
Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run
Barack Obama ran so all [...]

INSPIRATION: Va$htie and Jadakiss

I honestly have to say that I am very often, and very thankfully, humbled and amazed by the moves that my friends make. And it’s great when very special things happen to the good ones… My friend Vashtie just directed the video for Jadakiss’ song “Letter to B.I.G” off of the Notorious soundtrack. Wow. Honestly, [...]

REAL TALK: Shepard Fairey on Obama

“I believe that without hope, people are de-motivated. But with optimism, they’ll act.” – Shepard Fairey
Fairey on his portrait of Obama, via the LA Times:

Congrats on the induction into the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, Shepard.

MOVEMENTS: Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth is one of America’s greatest artists, and certainly one of my favorites. His portraits of rustic American living are simply stunning. When I think of Wyeth’s work, I think of amazing pastoral landscapes and wood-sided homes, tinged with a haunting undercurrent of darkness (Hitchcock as a painter…Edward Hopper meets Kubrick). Wyeth passed away [...]

MOVEMENTS: Eugene Tong

My good friend Eugene Tong is an amazing fashion stylist; he’s also the current the Market Editor for Details Magazine. Eugene’s knowledge of contemporary menswear is second to none (he also owes me a BR 01-92 Phantom aka why you frontin’ on the kid?).  Eugene’s blog on Selectism is also pretty on point; his neighboring [...]

REAL TALK: Lil Wayne for GQ

Devin Friedman’s extended interview with Lil Wayne is now available on GQ.com. Here’s an excerpt from the middle of the Q+A’s transcript. And yes, Terry Richardson is on the flicks. Oh yes indeed.

INSPIRATION: Making Monocle

This post is a link (read: low-grade shrine / humble thank you) to one of the most inspiring articles that I came across in 2008. I originally came across the post via Khoi Vinh’s blog, Subtraction (side note: Khoi is a super nice fellow, The Design Director for the NY Times, and the Author of [...]

INSPIRATION: “On Biting” (bitten from…)

From Piers Fawkes via 12ozPROPHET via Jim Jarmusch via…

THE NEW GUARD: 13thWitness

My friend and super-talented photographer Timothy McGurr aka 13thWitness just relaunched his website, loaded with new back country snowboarding shots from Vermont and British Columbia. As always, Timothy’s shots are incredible; the one above is but a mere glimpse into his recent photo style. Included in his most recent gallery are flicks of another [...]

REAL TALK: Mr. Misunderestimated

Later gator. The dishes are done.

JET LAG: Certified Roc Familia

So as many of you know my main man (read: friend + client) DJ Neil Armstrong toured as Jay-Z’s DJ for all of 2008…and will be with Jay Peso in Washington D.C. next week for a little event called Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration. And here’s the two of them, Jay and Neil, on stage at [...]

REAL TALK: Bombs Over Burials

I was reading the NY Times this morning about Osama Bin Laden’s unilateral support of Hamas and their efforts in the Gaza. Not a shock at all. I guess I was more interested in seeing if and how the Bush administration would react to Bin Laden’s remarks. While reading the article, a particular passage really [...]

INSPIRATION: City of God’s Son

My big brother Hyun Kim hipped me to this amazing experimental project by artist Kenzo Hakuta aka Kenzo Digital.
Watch the above video, read the brief description from the HuffPo below, and download the audio file on the project’s site here.
From Ben Aron at the HuffPo:
COGS is quite unique. It can [...]

THE NEW GUARD: Eric Elms

Nike Sportswear has recently dropped a rather hilarious video with, ok I’ll say it, my favorite contemporary artist, Eric Elms. There is just something about Eric’s identity work and, most especially, his recent foray into sculpture that really speaks to my visual language (read: whatever that means). The Nike video has very little to do [...]

REAL TALK: Utada

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of listening to this single at an impromptu listening session with a few kind folks including Jeff  Staple and my good friend, Riko Sakurai. Riko is pretty much one of the most on point women I’ve met in NY. Beyond her former helm as President of Def [...]

MOVEMENTS: Advertising Atheism

I came across this rather interesting article in the NY Times today about a range of advertising in England for Atheism. Yes, the capital A. And, to my amazement, like many pundits in British government (excluding the Queen, but including Tony Blair…), I too question the “capital R” from time to time.
That a tremendous amount [...]

INSPIRATION: Haring | The Ten Commandments

This installation is certainly worth the “trek” to L.I.C. The scale and color of this project is simply amazing. Pair it with a stop at the Noguchi Museum too…
But before you head out, please read this Haring interview by Sylvie Couderc from 1985 about “The Ten Commandments.” Jungian psychological theory anyone?
An excerpt from Haring:
“I could [...]

REAL TALK: Letter to B.I.G

I heard this track on the radio for the first time on “Friday Night Live” the way I should have (too bad the video that I posted originally was removed).
And yes you can find the full track online, but I think hearing how “Letter to B.I.G” was leaked on the FM [...]