Nike to commemorate this year's chinese year. The Year of the OX.
Nike have launched 2 exclusive models , BLAZER MID and the Nike AIR MAX. These special editions have leather uppers with multi-textile detailling and have a distinctive plasticised heel tab with an embossed image of an Ox. The tongues have embroidered chinese characters which, translated into english, have meanings of 'endurance', 'toil' and 'resistance' - continuing the Year of the Ox theme. If you don't know....now you know!
Happy New Year, wishing everyone a prosperous year, we're all in the struggle.
Was able to drop by last night and on the way felt a bit of the holiday spirit on the way to Niketown's event Playmakers which was kicking off the season with Nike's holiday collection of sportswear at the 5th floor.
Wermser opened the set and DJ Just Blaze was on the 1's & 2's to finish the night off.
Checked out the scene nearby with Cgod on our way and got stopped by some Japanese Reporter on what the meaning of the snowflake means to me, which I felt was to lift the spirits of New Yorkers for the holidays that are coming and also to encourage the spirit of shopping for tourists but I did some research and found out that the snowflake actually has a much deeper meaning.
It is actually the UNICEF Snowflake There are actually two of them one in New York City and one on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills,CA
The snowflake actually symbolizes the world's most vulnerable children. It is a reminder of UNICEF’s commitment to reach a day when zero children die from preventable causes.
The crystals in the snowflake represent an inspired community who will forever take care of the world's children.
Louis Vuitton store had quite cosmetic look for this season.
Stopped by the Fifth floor and checked out 3 private collections
Not sure what this shoe was but I believe its the new Nike Dunk High. Does anyone have any feedback for this shoe?
Once again this year we have FMF will be hosting another sneakerbattle at the NJ Expo Center in Edison NJ.
This year we have a whole line up of big name DJs and artists that plan on coming back. This year's host will be the irrepressible Suraj Kaufman of Sneaker Room in Jersey City.
Feel free to contact Roberto Jordan if you have any questions or would like to participate. Email: rjordan@teambaurtwell.com Jayden Inc(Funkmaster Flex) 914-479-1600phone 914-479-1690 fax
I haven't been following the sneaker game in quite a while but recently I was just surfing sneakerfreaker.com and saw the collaboration by NB and Atmos.
The reason these caught my eye is because there's a feature where there's a color-changing affect on the upper shoe which changes into a turquoise, black and hot pink combination with a variety of colors relative to heat. Remember Generra hyper colors back in the late 80's when it was the hottest thing?
These are supposed to release in July at the Atmos NYC store so if you're in NY, you may want to take a up north trip to Harlem world.
I recently came across this advertisement in Sneaker Freaker which is a dope online magazine that puts out annually Sneaker Freaker book.
The advertisement I thought was pretty hilarious since the past few years Texas Hold'em Poker has drawn nationally and overseas. Thought this was a different approach of going "all in" on the hottest and flyest kicks you own. Imagine if there were folks that actually did that.
The folks over in New Zealand and Australia have been holding it down in the boutique world and have been growing dramatically and increasing presence to other countries. If you want to find out any information on sneakers this is a place to start. As you know fakes have entered the world for ebay and other shoe websites and they cover how to spot fakes.
Well there's this new website that recently launched called Loaded that recently launched and if you want to get the inside scoop, this is another portal to check out. They are 2 shops for the folks - Loaded Wellington and Loaded Auckland and if you can't go out to New Zealand, they will eventually have an online store. Here's a shot of the shop if you do happen to stop on through to visit the Kiwis.
Looks like Mr. Raf Simons is up to no good this spring. I've always enjoyed the work from designers who've crossed over from other industries. In Mr. Simons' case, it would be from industrial design over to menswear design. Another famous designer that's crossed over from another industry. Yup. Tinker Hatfield.
Do you guys remember this image? Well the image now has changed to the new logo due to Nike claiming that MIKE 23 label was copying Nike and Converse's trademarks in connection to all of you know Michael Jordan.
Scott Nelson is the owner of MIKE 23 and I ran into him in Feb.'05 out in MAGIC briefly and if you visit his site all he wantd to do was to pay tribute to the man who we brought the game to a higher level - Michael Jeffrey Jordan aka "Air Jordan".
Nelson is supposedly forced to disable any of his products that portray any logo/mark/design that infringes NIKE & Converse rights, which means he has to withdrawl all of those "infringing" products from the market and to disable MIKE23 immediately or at least take down any pages that refrence these logos/designs in reference to MJ.
Nelson is in no shape of trying to fight this giant but hope that there will be a resolution to all of this. He hopes that the corporate giant will reconsider since he has not damaged the company's brand, in fact has helped it indirectly but when it comes down to intellectual property there is a very fine line...and it comes down to the consumer if they can seperate his product vs. knockoffs that are being sold on the shelves.
I feel that this situation is similar to what happened to DJ Drama & Cannon last year down in Atlanta, GA when R.I.A.A. went after them. Here's the NY Times article.
Lets just hope that Scott and the folks at NIKE come down with some sort of resolution. More on the article here.
This "street culture" brought up by artists has always tried to connect to the consumer by re-interpreting pop culture and iconic logos/designs....(i.e. Andy Warhol to KAWS) Warhol has been doing this back in the 60's with Campbell's Soup Co. and Coke.
Re-appropriation of images for their subculture has gone on and on and will continue to draw controversy and debate about originality and legality whether its in music, art, or fashion.
I close this blog with one of my favorite quotes which summarizes Warhol's revolution in "pop art" which shows an ambiguity of perspective that cuts across nearly all of the artist's statements about their own work.
What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (From A to B and Back Again), 1975, ISBN 0-15-671720-4
What a great way to release your stress and afterwards catch some winks for some rest!
The pillow fight is happening again this year in Union Sq.
A massive pillow fight in New York City! Feathers fly and teddies soar as we gather for a massive urban pillow fight! Swing and whack as you evade pillow-wielding assailants. Bring a pillow to Union Square and wait for the signal. Pillow fight!
Costumes and funky pillows encouraged.
Based on popular opinion, it has been moved to the first Saturday of Spring for maximum comfort
There will also be pillow fights happening on this date in London, Paris, Shanghai, Vancouver and many more!
Cost: FREE! Time: 3 pm shart ( be prepared to get fluffed up!)
You can not deny that this man has not touched you regardless if you like him or hate him - He's a man of clarity and conviction. This speech will go down in the history books for our kids and reflect in an era where CHANGE really is happening right before our eyes for a better country as a whole. He's a modern day fundamentalist where he can lead the path by which America can work together to pursue a better future. After hearing him speak today, he has opened America's eyes to the rest of the world to think beyond race and to give this country hope again.
So why not BOTH the hope and faith for the future of our country having Obama's energy with Clinton's expertise....it may seem too early to see this chemistry but I think it may be only in another lifetime.
But just so everyone knows, we do have a choice in this country so take advantage and get involved, because it comes down to "We the people..."
Been out of the loop with mixtapes recently and haven't really heard a good once since Style's P Phantom mixtape. I grew up listening to DJ Paul Nice, Premier, Cash Money, Kid Capri, Clue, and Stretch and Bobbito, but now its a whole new generation or game as the industry would say.
One of my home boys passed me this mixtape of this artist named Drake and after listening it straight through I was kind of blown away by this artist from Toronto, CA. I had never heard anything about him and after seeing who he got on the album I gotta say I was impressed with the lineup from Robin Thicke to Lil Weezy, kind of a diverse list of cameos on the mixtape. The Robin Thicke collab is hat hat hat....and I know the ladies would be feeling that tune.
I must say as a rapper, he seems more commercial than a lyricist. but still. For him to act, sing, and rap as well as he does, he still gets my vote for a talented artist for '08. Thats just my opinion folks but would like to hear some feedback of others that have been slept on.
Check him out if you ever get a chance, I give him props for holding it down in Toronto.
What was the last really good mixtape you listened to where you didn't have to hit skip?
Remember these days? This pic was taken when Table50 was poppin' in NYC. The highlight of that night: Bobbito walking around in his bball shorts and white tee, while everyone else was galavanting in their "dress to impress" gear. Sorry, couldn't see the kicks cause it was too crowded.
Stretch & Bobbito Jumpoff!?!?!?!?!
I have been trying to kontact Stretch the past few months but homeboy has been too busy traveling and doing his thing but supposedly him and Bobbito may have a reunion of what went down in KCR back in the 80's - 90's where I was up at night with my tape decks and recording their shows and then popping them in my tape player and walking to the bus to class.
So Stretch is trying to get a lineup of artists that YOU would like to see involved for this reunion.
Check out the list so far and it will change, but you gotta check out his blog to see the update.
Drum roll please....
Artifacts 20 (Jerzey representing!!) Organized Konfusion 13 A Tribe Called Quest 12 Kurious 12 Natural Elements 8 Pete Rock & CL Smooth 8 Company Flow 8 Kool Keith 8 Godfather Don 7 KRS-One 6 Gang Starr 6 Large Professor 6 DITC 6 Souls of Mischief 6 Nas 6 Natural Resource 5 MF Doom 5 Beatnuts 5 RA The Rugged Man 5 Black Moon 5 Arsonists 5 Main Source 5 Craig G 4 OC 4 Supernatural 4 Lord Finesse 4 Siah and Yeshua 4 Redman 3 Pharcyde 3 Talib Kweli 3 Cenobites 3 De La Soul 2 Wu-Tang Clan 3 Tony Bones 2 Jeru The Damaja 2 Ak Skills 2 Al-Tariq 2 Boot Camp 2 Mr. Live 2 Cage 2 Necro 2 3rd Bass 2 Del Tha Funkee Homosapien 2 Brand Nubian 2 Royal Flush 2 Kool G Rap 2 Akinyele 2 Percee-P 2 Mos Def 2 DJ Riz 2 Hit Squad 2
Being that the lineup has not been finalized, Stretch would liketo know what artists YOU would love to see. He's not only interested in involving artists that were integral to the show, so those that were already established before 1990 don't count, and artists that didn't emerge 'til after 1998 don't either. Feel free to comment on his blog.
I couldn't believe this, you gotsta be kidding me!
When I saw this on Jeff Staple's blog, I feel that there has been a total loss of originality and folks just can't create but only re-create something and throw their label on there.
It just shows that you can't stop the sharks out there because theres to much meat out there and someone always wants more and they could of just asked but decided to do it themselves.
I don't see how this could actually attract the mainstream, but what do I know.
Jeff, as you said you gotta keep re-inventing your self and be the trend-setters vs. the followers.
So recently I was at a car show to see the new models that were being showcased by most of the car companies except Porsche, Ferrari, Lexus, and the higher end models and I wasn't so impressed when I got there.
I brought Jackson because he's obsessed with Pixar's CARS and thought he would be blown away by taking him to a car show, but he just ended up running down the aisles like he was training for Football camp.
This then lead to me to start reflecting on a global level. It seems like the world has not come to understand that it is time to move forward on innovation and start thinking about cars that protect the environment and save us money, I mean we have the technology and information to make it happen, how come none of these car makers are budging?
If you look at the statistics, there are 4 huge reasons to move toward a fuel efficient world:
1. Saves us $$$ (dollars and cents) 2. Strengthens National Security & reduce our dependence on foreign oil 3. Protects our environment 4. Conserves resources
Pretty good reasons but again you gotta put yourself in these corporations and our government's shoes. You can't be forcing folks to buy more efficient cars. Especially in this day and age, its just not how business works by ordering car companies to make them is like forcing people to lose weight by banning McDonald's & Burger King from selling Whoppers and Big Macs.
The reason the automakers make them is because they want that big pickup trucks, SUVs, and V-8 engines.
So then my colleague at work Dorian told me about this this article written by Jacob Gordon and I was kind of blown away by this new innovative "diesel" automobile. This could be a great idea for us and move forward but this goes back to what I mentioned before, you need a HUGE significant amount of fuel tazing to get people to change - maybe we need to rethink and use the revenue to add mass transit and repair the infrastructure. Anything else is just delaying the inevitable. The tri-state seems to be moving that direction....we will wait and see.
