stop me

Here is a break from my string of Hip Hop videos. This Smith's Youtube gem features some Bike riding and timeless style. Enjoy!

Artist :: The Smiths
Album :: Strangeways, Here We Come
Year :: 1987 (London/Sire)
Track :: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

night life

Congrats to Mark "The Cobrasnake" Hunter on his Paper Magazine award for best Nightlife Photographer.

Paper Mag

Cobrasnake

happy time ending

After finding out that Jopen Stein is in the Vans Sky Gallery show, I had to scan this pencil drawing he did in my book during the Regal Row show at Art Prostitute. Notice the Hieroglyphics shirt on the little guy, Jophen said he put that there because we were jamming Del's first album during the installation...Good reason.

Jophen Stein

LA Trippin'

This Thursay I am off to LA... above is a flier for the main reason I am taking this trip. I am Djing the Vans Sky Gallery opening with the homie Tate. Below is more info on the show and a list of arstist involved. I will be in LA Nov. 1st - 7th and I will be steady posting while I'm out...check up on it.

Vans Sky Gallery Exibition

November 2nd // 7pm-10pm
@ New Image Art Gallery
7908 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90046
323.654.2192

Marco Zamora // Sage Vaughn // Kelsey Brookes // Cole Gerst // Derek Albeck // Jophen Stein

newimageartgallery.com
vanskygallery.com

grim reaper

Here is a little number from the Gravediggaz crew, to get you in the Halloween mood. Horrorcore rap at it's finest!

Artist :: Gravediggaz
Album :: 6 Feet Deep
Year :: 1994
Track :: 1-800-Suicide

i think

Aceyalone has always been sick with the wordplay. Check out this video from his classic '95 album All Balls Don't Bounce. Enjoy!

My name's the reverend deacon minister maximillion speaking to you
About the laws of the land and flaws of man
See the walls can't stand higher than we can put 'em now can they
Anybody need to be saved today
Got a 2 for 1 special w/a shave today
Now how 'bout I wave the tray and I pave the way
To the front of the church I don't really wanna hurt ya
But what I really wanted to say was that uh
There's something special inside of my mental cargo vessel
And it runs on lethal ethyl methane profane
Kinda like a flux capacitor
But it ain't no passengers
It's more like a capsule that snaps so quick
Or the rap's so sick or the absolutely
Put together each and every link and get me cosmically in sync
I think

Artist :: Aceyalone
Album :: All Balls Don't Bounce (Capitol Records)
Year :: 1995
Track :: I Think

Sample used

Johnny Hammond :: Wild Horses

big tex

The Texas State Fair ends today. If you missed out, there is always next year. Above are some Polaroids I took at the Fair last Wednesday.

Big Tex's History

In the free-wheeling years after the war, merchants in Kerens, Texas, had a problem. Residents of the tiny town were driving to nearby Corsicana or even 75 miles north to Dallas for pre-Christmas shopping sprees. Looking for a gimmick that might encourage people to spend money at local stores, the Kerens Chamber of Commerce built what they claimed was the world's largest Santa Claus, a 49-foot-tall figure constructed from iron-pipe drill casing and papier mache with 7-foot lengths of unraveled rope for a beard.

The promotion was a big success during the 1949 holidays, but the novelty wore off the following year, and community support waned. In 1951, State Fair president R. L. Thornton purchased Santa's components for $750 and hired Dallas artist Jack Bridges to create a giant cowboy out of the material.

Big Tex made his debut at the 1952 State Fair of Texas. Wearing size 70 boots and a 75-gallon hat, Tex towered 52' above wide-eyed visitors. His denim jeans and plaid shirt were donated by the H. D. Lee Company of Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Cosmetic surgery the following year straightened his nose, corrected a lascivious wink and allowed him to talk.

lo lifes

I randomly thought about this song today and it took me a minute to find the video...I had to dig up my record to find the correct spelling. Peep their steez in the video, mad early 90's POLO gear, these dudes came correct! The track is as slammin' as Zhigge's wardrobe.

Artist :: Zhigge
Album :: Zhigge (Polygram Records)
Year :: 1992
Track :: Toss It Up

Samples used

All the People :: Cramp Your Style
Isaac Hayes :: Ike's Mood Pt. 1
J.B.'S :: Given Up Food For Funk
J.B.'S :: You Can Have Watergate
Syl Johnson :: Different strokes

bust one

This is the sketch Dave Kinsey drew up for one of his installation paintings at the Art Prostitute opening show last year. It now hangs in my kitchen.

For more Kinsey...

Pick up :: Art Prostitute #3 (if there are any left)

Kinsey Visual

BLK MRKT

Art Prostitute



More Kinsey sketchbook action to come!

the darjeeling limited

If you are a Wes Anderson fan, you have to go see his new film, The Darjeeling Limited. This film has so much style from beginning to end, the colors, the art direction, everything about the movie is visually pleasing.

What are you waiting for?

Go.

whutcha want?

I rememer when this video came out, Nine rolling around NY, rapping out of the passenger side, classic Cj-7 Jeep style. This was soo dope for it's time! The rugged NY look matches dude's voice perfectly. If you look close, when Nine rolls up in the the park (around 2:07 in the video) you can see Big L in the background rocking a blue fitted and a light grey sweatshirt.

"a ill posse and my name up in lights N-I-N-E"

Nine - Whutcha want? (album)

Nine - Whutcha Want? (instrumental)

Artist :: Nine
Album :: Nine Livez (Profile Records)
Year :: 1995
Track :: Whutcha Want?

old chappy

I have one of these, collecting dust at my parents house. I need to go scoop it and get it up and running. My Yamaha Chappy is a 1977 (good year) and is lemon yellow. In the ad above it states that the scooter gets up to 118 mpg! perfect for rolling around the Neighborhood.

brand spanking new

I just picked up the new Party shirt, designed by the homie Michael Sieben. These were just printed today, so if you want to be the first person on the block with one, hit me up.

will@decadeclothing.com

Michael Sieben

Click photo for a detailed look.

put it on

Harlem rapper Big L is one of the best MC's that ever did it. Put it On is a classic single from his 1995 album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. If this dude was alive today, he would rule the rap game. I attached some Big L history below. Absorb it.

Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999), better known as Big L, was a legendary American rapper. Big L was born, raised, lived, and was fatally shot in the same New York City neighborhood, Harlem, about which he frequently rhymed. He is mostly remembered for his freestyling, storytelling, punchlines, his critically acclaimed debut album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous, and his murder at the age of twenty-four.
Born and raised in Harlem's uptown sector, which he called the "Danger Zone", at 139th Street and Lenox Avenue; Coleman chose rap as a way of getting away from the ghetto. His first appearance on a song came in 1992 on Lord Finesse's "Yes You May" (remix).

In 1993 he signed with Columbia Records and released one vinyl 12", "Devil's Son". This song was quickly banned from radio because of its horrorcore lyrics which stations dubbed too violent or vulgar, such as "I pistol whip the priest every Sunday". In 1995, still with Columbia, he released his debut album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous. The album was hardly promoted and commercially not very popular, but was praised by The Source, a respected rap-music publication, which gave it four mics out of five. The album featured now-popular rappers such as Jay-Z and Cam'ron, but after its lack of success, he was dropped from the label.

His career took-off with a group called Children of the Corn, which he formed with fellow Harlemites Mase (under the name Murda Mase), Cam'ron (as Killa Cam), Cam'ron's cousin Bloodshed, and McGruff. The group recorded numerous songs, enough to make a full length album, compiled later as The Collector's Edition. The group never signed a deal, as Bloodshed was killed in a car accident in Harlem in 1997 and Mase and Cam'ron temporarily quit rapping to pursue professional basketball careers.

During the gap of 1997 and 1999, Big L worked on his second album The Big Picture. It was released worldwide at the summer of 2000 to critical acclaim. Two singles, entitled "Ebonics" and "Flamboyant", both reached number one in the charts. The album featured cameos from Fat Joe, Tupac Shakur, and Big Daddy Kane among other up-and-coming and established rappers. The Big Picture went platinum in 2001.

Jay-Z has said that Big L was set to sign with his Roc-A-Fella label, but died the week before.[1] The two had a mutual respect dating back to a dual freestyle session on the radio and Jay-Z's appearance on Big L's first album.

Big L - Put It On (Main)

Big L - Put It On (Instrumental)

flatland

If you rode BMX bikes at all during the 1980's, you know the name. Woody Itson is a flatland legend.

After my last post on the Cool Kids video, Nature and I got to Reminiscing about our BMX bike days. We were debating over which bike was the "one" to have back in the day. I am still going to have to go with Hutch and I think this add explains it all!

I actually remember the above add from my BMX Plus magazines.



This ladies and gentlemen is Woody Itson's gold plated Hutch Trick Star. That new gold Mac Book has nothing on this.

black mags

This is the brand new video Black Mags from the Cool Kids. Enjoy!

i'ma rhyme acapella

Mos Def and Kanye on the freestyle tip.

cycles

I got a chance to meet graffiti heavyweight Cycle years back at Scribble Jam in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Driving from the hotel to the event on the second day, we noticed everything in sight was killed with Cycle tags and throw ups. This dude puts in major work! When we got to the event he was busy at work on his piece. I caught up with him, chopped it up for for a minute, then he rocked this end to end throw up in my trusty sketchbook. Down to earth guy.

For a dosage of Cycle's design work check out Mass Appeal magazine.

I've got some more flicks and sketches to come.

waybackwhen

After last night's Hip Hop set at the IC reunion, I had to dig up some old photos. These were taken at Nature's old house in Denton circa 1998. This was a little BBQ/ scratch jam, where everyone got down on the tables. Nerd out!

Photo 1 :: Brian (p.e.g.) Nature, Joe, Del

Photo 2 :: Del

flo

Florencio Zavala was one of the first outside artists to do a Decade shirt collaboration. He hooked me up with the Money Shot shirt in LA Lakers colorway back in '03, still a classic. He also did this drawing in my book around the same time. I always like his hand drawn type treatment and letter placement, besides who doesn't like a hot dog man tip toeing around?

Brown Like Me