UK Riots

As the wave of riots have spread from the capital to a national scale it annoys me how no-one has even considered this to be a government problem that has been in production for decades. By no way am I in support of the past few days acts of violence but it's disheartening to see so many people bowled over by the media's perception of these riots and not realising the state of youth culture in Britain.

The people rioting are nothing more than products of their environments, people (mainly juveniles) are being used as pawns to express the anger that has been building up lower class communities for years. Government planning created sub-ghetto's in the UK post World War II to support immigration into the UK - places like Handsworth, Hackney and Croyden. Which meant lower standards of living and lesser hopes of better job prospects. Combining this with the recent economic down turn it's no wonder why these people are ruining our streets.

With the materialistic mind frame of society today is it really a surprise that these thugs are targeting retail stores for goods? and burning down shops? Young people are facing the hardest times in recent decades at the current moment and tools such as social media is spreading this message.

The truth is the same people that are burning down cars and breaking windows in shops will be the future of Britain in years to come and the government has failed to recognise the importance of youth prospects in the UK, and now they don't know how to react to this uprising and they are the victim after they created this problem.

Things need to change.

SHAOLIN JAZZ - Album Cover Design Contest

Okay this is something special right here. Firstly I want to set the record straight and say I don't advertise for people/peoples on my blog unless I am thoroughly impressed by the ideology of the project - and hope no offence is taken to those I have turned down - to those, no qualms.


With this being my mindset, I was bowled over by the Shaolin Jazz project. Personally recieving an e-mail from Gerald Watson who has collaborated with DJ 2-Tone to create 'Shaolin Jazz - the 37th Chamber' mixtape. In this creative and unique musical offspring they have combined the vocals of Wu-Tang Clan and combined them with Jazz instrumentals. The outcome is fire. (DL is at the end of post).


Adding to the buzz of the project the combination of Gerald and 2-Tone have created an album cover design contest for aspiring deisgners...

The SHAOLIN JAZZ - Album Cover Design Contest is a month long competition (Wednesday July 6th - Monday August 8th), whereby participants can submit designs or "graphic remixes" of the album cover with the winner receiving footwear courtesy of VANS OTW and apparel courtesy of Staple Design.  The winner will be announced Wednesday August 10th.

Rules/Guidelines:

1. Designers can submit up to two (2) album cover designs only
2. A design collective can only participate as one (1) designer - submitting only two (2) designs
3. Size specs: 8.3 x 8.3, 72dpi
4. Acceptable file formats: jpg, png, pdf not to exceed 2mb
5. Deadline for submitting work - Monday August 8th
6. Submit work to art_vs_commerce@yahoo.com
7. To see the album cover click here
8. Watch background video about SHAOLIN JAZZ (above)

Entries will be judged on the following criteria: originality and creativity, usage of typography, and connectivity to the theme of SHAOLIN JAZZ.

Eligibility: the competition is open to everyone worldwide

Prize: the winner will receive footwear courtesy of VANS OTW and apparel courtesy of Staple Design

Questions: art_vs_commerce@yahoo.com

DOWNLOAD LINK: Here

Shia LaBeouf/CuDi

Okay so why am I writing about Shia LaBeouf? Well, recently he has been trying his hand at directing and like his acting he is super skilled.

I remember Shia from Even Stevens which was a kids show (lol), then he began acting in films and thankfully his stardom lead him to being friends with the Rapper Cage who collaborated with Kid Cudi on MOTM2 (guessing that's how they met). Following this circle Shia has directed one music video and another short film to two Cudder songs - in which he seems to capture the ego of Kid Cudi effectively.





Other news is that he's creating a documentary for Marilyn Manson's eight upcoming album?!

"There are no lights in the room. And there are these big metal doors and he opens the door and he's in a kimono, a big pink kimono. Its sort of like a lair: No lights, so you have to use your cell phone to guide you around."


Sounds dark to say the least, but if he can successfully capture the emotion of Cud in a 4 minute video it will be fascinating to imagine how he can project MM into a visual form for us. Good to see Shia doing something different other than Megan Fox and being a Hollywood playboy - exciting talent.

Must Cop! 4 - Crooks & Castles Eyewear 2011

Crooks & Castles have slowly started to strategically claw their way through to the top list of urban brands in America - and 2011 is set to be a big year for them. It's taken them a couple of years to step their game up and start branching out.

Back when I got my first C&C tee at the start of '10 I wasn't overly impressed with the quality of the garments or the loose fittings - IMO. However I am willing to give C&C another chance with their new summer range of eyewear due to working with the much respected Mosley Tribes and choosing Drake to be the face of their latest project which shows a real urgency to make a name for themselves. I also saw C&C in Selfridges in Birmingham recently?! Heavily over-priced (Shipping and Shelving costs) and some of their worst garments were available, but still I admired the way they are trying to expand.

I think C&C have been clever and noticed that no other urban brand has rubber-stamped an eyewear collection as of yet - or not that I know of. In all honesty they look sleek and sophisticated I would without doubt have a pair of these if it wasn't for shipping costs. Would like to see an independent C&C store in the UK.

Must Cop! rating - 7/10

Pharrell Joins Karmaloop TV

Relatively old news now, but if you don't know already Pharrell Williams has been announced as the creative director of Karmaloop TV.

I've always admired Pharrell for creatively giving back his success for people like us who like innovative projects - asides from being a sick producer at the same time. Recently he built a resource centre - "conducive to learning and serve as a place to “inspire and educate.” The center’s centre's (English blog) programs will seek to change the world of the underserved kids, one kid at a time, by giving them resources/tools to meet their unique potential."

What a guy! I'll give it a year or so until Karmaloop goes from an internet movement to a global phenomenon for youth culture... He's come along way from his N*E*R*D days, Watch this space...

Hopefully this will see the introduction of Bathing Ape and BBC to Karmaloop too as Nigo has announced a new marketing approach for BAPE :P (More info on a future post). Leave you with a bit of Pharrell magic!

Pharrell feat. Jay-Z - Frontin'

http://www.karmaloop.com/

Osama is dead.

TIME magazine cover to be released: This is seen as a major victory for the US and you can see why, the 'red X' over Osama's head is similar to an assassin's hit list - powerful cover.

So after almost 10 years of being the most wanted man in the world, Osama Bin Laden has been killed...

Is it big news? Of course it is, he is the representative of most of the Islamic extremist groups and the head of Al Qaeda, which is apparently 1 out of 20 Islamic extremist groups known to the US. So on a national scale they are debating whether to release pictures of his shot up body which was dumped within 24 hours in the sea as the US followed the burial rituals of Islam, which is quite nice considering he had no mercy for all of the innocent victims of 9/11. Personally, I would have stuck his head on a pole outside the White House.

But us real people don't have to worry about what there talking about in the news, we would have to worry about any possible reaction from the Islamic extremist minorities -  IMO this is the perfect time for these groups to plan another wide scale attack. It saddens me to see humanity not being able to co-exist peacefully...

Last laugh is with the US as they have captured hard drive's worth of data from Osama's house so we know where there all hiding in the mountains and there planning on beginning a new assault on Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations - UNLUCKY.