Giftin' #4: Obey x Haring clothing collection 2012

I'm a sucker for dope old skool reduxes. For my #4 Christmas shopping list post here's my latest obsession. Keith Haring resurrected by Obey. Now it's really, an old addiction renewed as I first discovered Haring when I was a teen in Bristol in the '80s. My fandom reached its height when I got to first visit the Pop Shop in New York's Soho just before he passed away.

I still have a couple of Haring Swatches in my collection and a dope, but bright aqua-colored jacket with a Haring snake embroidered on the back. For Christmas 2012 I have a couple of these Obey pieces on my list. A great, retrospective interpretation of Keith Haring's art.

Here's a selection of items available at Obey Clothing.

Giftin' #3: New and Improved graffiti - "Children of the Can 2.0"

This past weekend, Bristol's Tangent Books turned up the heat on Bristol graffiti with the second edition of Felix "FLX" Braun's 2008 book, "Children of the Can: Bristol Graffiti and Street Art." This is officially Stevio's Christmas gift list item #3!

The original book Braun laid out Bristol's rich graffiti history and gave props to the old skool heroes, the celebrities (3D, Banksy) and the various hangouts. Click here to read my 2011 interview with Felix about the book project and how it came about.

There's not much information on Amazon.com, but Alibris (pronounced “uh-LEE-briss”), the leading independent bookselling website, even has first edition copies - which are no longer in print and have sold out - available for a reasonable price!

"Author Felix Braun has completed a monumental research project to unravel the thread that leads to the beginnings of Bristol's world renowned street art scene. Only somebody on the inside would be able to track down the leading figures from the early 80s and Felix was at the very heart of the movement which revolved around youth worker John Nation at the Barton Hill youth project. This book contains more than 40 interviews and traces the Bristol street art story from early protagonists such as 3D from Massive Attack to the new crop of young artists operating in the city." Alibris

The second edition of "Children of the Can..." adds an extra 70 pages, 30 new artists and 100s of new pictures as Bristol has become a destination for artists from around the country and even from abroad. Banksy's notoriety has put the city on the map, but also community efforts like the People's Republic of Stokes Croft, or PRSC for short, has become a safe haven for artists. Even, Bristol's municipal authorities have embraced the energy of the graffiti and street art movement by supporting several ground breaking events, including Banksy's takeover of the Bristol Museum and the recent multi-day "See No Evil" graffiti festival organized by Felix "FLX" Braun's long-time friend, Inkie.


The launch event on Saturday December 1st  featured some of Bristol’s finest graffiti and street artists painting in near freezing weather conditions in the ‘Children of the JAM’ in the People's Republic of Stokes Croft area which has become a hub for legal graffiti and street art.

Children of the Can: Bristol Graffiti and Street Art 352-page hard back book that "traces the roots of the city's graffiti and street art culture back to the 80s when 3D and the Z-Boys were the first to bring the street style of New York to Bristol. Felix profiles writers such as Cheo, Jody and Inkie from the early days at John Nation's Barton Hill Youth Club through to Banksy, Lokey and the Bad Appelz Crew and the current crop of Bristol wriiters."

Tangent Books Read more about the publisher of "Children of the Can" and the other graffiti books, including a great one on Banksy's work, on its blog.

Giftin' #2: Dizizzit! x DMC King of Rock garms

This is #2 of my Christmas gift list. It's the best of old skool hip hop stuff...

Some of these Dizzizit! gems are easy to cop, the others may be out-of-stock. All are sweet garms for your closet!

What would make Daryll McDaniels, better known as rapper DMC, come to the West coast? A clothing collaboration with Slick's Dizzizit! clothing label. Taking the recognizable red stripes and block lettering of RUN DMC's logo, Dizizit created a remix: DZT DMC. But not just a t-shirt, but a vest, baseball cap, a couple of hoodies and the freshest letterman jacket.

This Dizzizit! x DMC music video was a promo for the Bombs Drop mixtape drop from Phoreyz. Check the stream below.

Giftin' #1: Rappers spit lyrics, then pen a book

As Christmas approaches, hip hop fans can add a book by their favorite rapper to the Santa gift list. This is the #1 gift list post for all (old skool) hip hop fans.

Jay-Z...Prodigy...Common...Ice-T...50 Cent...The RZA...

An article I read in n+1 magazine explains why your favorite rappers were motivated to write a coffee table book. In summary, supply and demand: Rap legends are hitting their forties and are nostalgic for their prime years. Writing a book about their lives fulfills this need and creates the supply; and fans are lining up to buy these books as they themselves reminisce about their twenties too!

"The recent spate of autobiographical activity...just testifies to the fact that a certain generation is getting on. Consider some of the recent rapper-authors: Prodigy was born in 1974, Common in 1972, Jay-Z and the RZA of the Wu-tang Clan in 1969. All were adolescents in the eighties, during the great social transformations wrought by crack, and all went on to contribute to one of hip hop’s most competitive and beloved micro-periods, the mid to late nineties. It’s likely that the books stem partly from an underlying nostalgia for this time, when rap—gangster or conscious, mainstream or independent—seemed less splintered than it is now, more part of a single vibrant conversation. (And also that a group of 30 and 40 year olds, much like their readers, are nostalgic for their twenties.)" James Guida, n+1 

Précis that  If you don't have time to read these autobiographies, Guida gives you the dope in 3,400 words. His article breaks down what each book has to offer. You have the gangster-turned-rapper - we've all heard and loved that story. There's the one about the rapper-turned-actor/celebrity/visitor-to-the-White-House - that one may appeal to you.

In the end, Guida summizes that there isn't one face of hip hop - it's represented in so many difficult ways depending on the artist. And the purpose of writing these autobiographies isn't about gaining kudos and notching up another milestone, but about explaining how success only comes with hard work and overcoming struggles "with fickle industry, family (all had absentee fathers), the barriers of racism and poverty."

Never heard of n+1? It isn't another hip hop culture blog, it's a nearly decade old print publication covering politics, literature, and culture. That's how influential hip hop has become!

Other articles on rap books
Open City Magazine, October 2012
All Hip Hop.com August 2009
Old School Hip Hop.com 2006? 

HO, HO, HO...Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks to Christie Z.

London at Christmas

I arrived in London on Saturday after an 11-hour overnight flight from LAX. I was greeted by a bright, but chilly London morning and after travelling across town to Kentish Town I was ready to reacquaint myself with north London.

Maurice, an old Bristolian, led the way through Kentish Town to Hampstead Heath and on the high street where we rested, drank mulled wine and beer and ate fish and chips. Ahhh...priceless!

Braving the crowds I ventured into central London on the bus and then walked from Covent Garden into the West End and Soho heading towards New Bond Street to see Vanessa. The crowds were horrendous and exhausting, but luckily the Oyster Card allowed easy hop-on, hop-off of the buses and tubes to help rest my poor, cold feet! ;)

Boxing Day is for everyone...even the Yanks this year!

Boxing Day is what the Dutchies call the "second Christmas." To the Brits it's another day off and this year *some* Americans get to experience a civilized two-day Christmas break. It's so disorientating this year, especially as it runs into the weekend. So it's a four-day weekend! Ain't nowt wrong with that?!

Old skool This New York Times article explains how Boxing Day comes from St. Stephen's Day (yes, I'm named after a saint!) and is a day when everyone remembers the poor and is charitable. So says the Christmas carol: on the “feast of Stephen,” that “Good King Wenceslas” looked out and saw the snow, “deep and crisp and even.” Boxing Day refers to the gift boxes from employers to their workers for good service during the year. But get this. Workers also expected (and got) tips from Christmas holiday guests! What?! Brits tipping? Never! Hahhaaa :)

It's sunny, it's quiet, it's LA at Christmas time

Christmas Day in LA is several things. Everyone goes out of town unless you're working in Starbucks or the Chinese restaurant I'm going to with cousin Agnes and Kelvin tonight.

This year, Christmas kinda sucks (as the Yanks say!) and New Year's Day will be no better. Both fall on Tuesdays which means you have to take vacation days to really get a good run for your money. Remember, there is no Boxing Day off in the US! Pah!

But, with nowhere to go (meaning I've just come back from Asia and seen the fam') I'm saving my holiday for a springtime trip to Shanghai to see Sandra. (Oh, and the boss just gave me Monday, Dec 31st off...:) )

Christmas Eve Last night, I cooked my first lamb roast in my apartment for Sue and Sharon (they sound like chararcters from Viz's "Fat Slags", but they're cute Korean ladies). Yes, I roasted spuds and parsnips, and yes I'm having leftovers sometime soon. Sharon brought utensils and ingredients to make this chocolatey-souffley-type-of-dessert that I smothered in chocolate yogurt/ice-cream to make a version of baked Alaska! For some reason the ladies declined my offer to customize their delicate desserts!

Royal Channel Back in the UK, the Queen's speech was broadcast and posted on her own 'Royal Channel' on YouTube so expats like me could tune in...Nice.