Nike Cortez - Happy 40th birthday!

Who would've guessed that GQ were such big fans of the LA gangbanger kicks-of-choice, the Nike Cortez?! Although, the magazine claims otherwise, I'm not sure I believe that GQ single-handedly rejuvenated the fortunes of the Cortez! ;)

For the 40th anniversary of the Cortez Nike did nothing except release a splash of new colorways but in 2009 there was a redesign - see the video below. For 2012, we have suede and nylon uppers to make you drool. I might dust off my Cortez in leather from back in the late 1980s (remember the black on black, red on red only available at Foot Locker?)

"We've been aggressively lobbying for Nike to properly revitalize one of our favorite OG sneakers, the Cortez, for years, and now—to pay homage to the shoe's fortieth anniversary—they've finally done it. (You're welcome, world.) The Cortez was once the most advanced running shoe on the market; now it's a perfectly nostalgic sneaker for the street. We think the freshest way to wear a pair is with a suit that can use a kick of color." GQ Magazine

The official Nike video



The unofficial street version

Zef to Def: Die Antwood x FIFTY24SF

For one night only - Weds 22nd February - Cape Town's Die Antwoord are at Upper Playground's FIFTY24SF gallery.

Die Antwoord

If you're lucky enough to be in San Francisco then you'll experience a special art installation to promote their new album,TEN$ION, as they kick off their Cali tour dates. If you're a fan you'll also wanna be collecting their collector’s vinyl toy called Evil Boy.

Who is Evil Boy? Is it Ninja's prison-inspired tattoo of a baby with a huge weiner? Yes. And is it the name of the Diplo produced tune? Yes, again! (I hear a few of these toys will be individually customized by Ninja himself.) See below for an excerpt of an interview in GQ (yes, Die Antwoord are mainstream now!?)

GQ: They were really cute—you had a giraffe, a little bat, a panda...and now you're making this toy you call Evil Boy, who has really huge dong. What happened? Ninja: [laughs] All that stuff we did before Die Antwoord was experimental. It was cool, but you're a human and then you make this art, and people have a relationship with the art. And all the other stuff I did before was like, Oh that's cool, and then I'd get bored of it in two seconds, and then I didn't have a connection with anything. I think that's why we called it Die Antwoord—The Answer—because this is the hottest thing; we want to do this forever, I love this. And that's the difference. Everything else kind of died away. So Evil boy's our first mascot. He our first toy, and I'm proud of it. It's from a prison tattoo that I saw on someone, drawn a little more retarded than this.
Yo-landi: It was drawn like shit.
Ninja: It was drawn like fucking shit. This toy's really fucking cute. It took a long time to get it like this [picks up toy and waves its penis around] Like, "Hey, what's up!" It's friendly. We're really working with this fine-tuned, Japanese company called Good Smile. They make toys that take two years to come out, because they're so psycho... They're really good sculptors. Evil Boy's our mascot forever. 

GQ: What makes Evil Boy evil?
Ninja: I don't know, he's got a secret... This one [points to a white prototype of the toy] glows in the dark. When you switch off the light at night, he looks after you while you go to sleep to have a nice dream. 

GQ: What got you interested in toys in the first place? Yo-landi: 'Cuz they're cool!
Ninja: We were into toys full-force. Funnily enough, I think Ninja and Yo-landi almost came out as toys in our mind. We wanted to make super versions of ourselves. This guy Dave Choe, he connected us with the toy company, and he was like, "Yeah, they're going to fucking love you guys. You look like toys anyway." 

GQ: Right, previously you've said you thought of Ninja and Yo-landi as manga characters who have all these imaginary adventures. Ninja: It's not really imagined, it's just our lives. South Africa's all there, like a gold mine in a funny way—all the stuff I'm telling you is totally normal. [South Africa's] just badly presented. America's got amazing presentation, especially New York—the most potent, strongest, concentrated, amazing presentation. The gangster culture in South Africa—Sexy Boys, Playboys, Fancy Boys, Nice Time Kids, and one of the biggest is called the Americans—base their style on American gangster movies, like, full-on, because the presentation's so juicy. So with us, we've been very influenced by American presentation, but we've got a fucking gold mine of fucking tweaked-out, freak-mode shit that occurred. I feel we're really good at the presentation of our lives. There's no imagined adventures we need to have. These fucking real life things are more of a kick." GQ Magazine

Die Antwoord is no stranger to artistic collaborations. Fashion designer, Alexander Wang, is continuing his guerrilla-style marketing to promote his 2012 T-shirt , but it's not your usual fashion video. See for yourself below.

#Vintage Def Jam jacket for $1500 [#defjam #oldskool #hiphop]

How much would you pay for some hip hop memorabilia?  $1500 or $80 for the same garment?

Of course, I'm talking about eBay! Over the years I've hunted down authentic Double Goose Country leather 3/4 length jackets (and less original versions too,) but my search for a burghandy or black colored Def Jam record label baseball jacket has been tough!

Even though I know how rare these collector's garments are (especially in my size "small,") I can't believe how greedy folks get...an eBayer has the audacity to *try to* charge way over $1000 for his Def Jam varsity jacket. May be he should get the hint...after at least three re-listings it's still not selling.

Best Offer? What would you offer? When I spotted Miranda (also from the U.K.) selling her husband's vintage hip hop collection (omg, don't get me started!!) I advised her to raise her price of her exact same Def Jam jacket after seeing the one above. Despite my advice it stayed at a low price and sold for...wait for it...$80!!

I feel sick for her husband ;) You know he paid a shade more for this jacket back in the 80s

Delicious Vinyl and Digital Gravel bring us some legendary t-shirts

Just in time for the holiday season two Los Angeles' finest, hip hop record label, Delicious Vinyl, and online clothing retailer, Digital Gravel, have come together to bring us some old skool hip hop classics.

Delicious Vinyl hits all get love: Young M.C.'s "Bust a Move," The Pharcyde's "Passin Me By" and Tone Loc's "Wild Thang." A limited run of 50 shirts of each design have been made available in this first run.

It's a shame these shirt designs don't do justice to these legendary Delicious Vinyl rap artists. Nope, lyrics printed on a shirt are barely recognizable except for the most addicted rap head! If you disagree...don't sleep because they may sell out...but I doubt it!

The best thing about hearing about these garms was they made me go out and discover this unreleased Young M.C. electro remix on SoundCloud and The Pharcyde video that I'd never seen before!Check them below.

  Young MC - Bust A Move [Tommie Sunshine 'Class Of '89' Remix] by tommiesunshine 

 

10.Deep opens pop-up store tomorrow @ Hall of Fame, Los Angeles

The 10.DEEP crew have traveled from their Washington D.C. base to open a pop-up store in Los Angeles tomorrow at Hall of Fame (449 North Fairfax Avenue.)

If you're in the area, the store will open at 7pm on Friday, November 12th and showcase "the global premiere" of its Holiday 2010 collection as well as some exclusive garms only Hall of Fame will carry.

10.Deep says it has some other rolling events and exclusive product releases through the end of the year. The one I'm looking forward to is the new mixtape release. Can't wait! Best be free ;)

If you don't know, 10.Deep has released four mixtapes from the likes of Wale, Kid Cudi, DJ Benzi and Donnis.

C-rated collab series: adidas and Def Jam

When I think of Def Jam Records from the late 80s I picture the record sleeves of T. La Rock ("It's Yours"), L.L. Cool J. ("I Need a Beat") and The Beastie Boys ("Paul Revere".) And my adidas kicks and gear of that period were (Patrick) Ewing high-tops, shell toes and Campus sneakers. So what went wrong when these two brands came together this year to celebrate their respective birthdays?!

eBay bound After 60 years of adidas design and 25 years as a pioneering urban record label you'd think we'd be shown a collection to covet for another quarter century! But, no, the actual results are some half-arsed effort to cobble together a collection. Where are the amazing Def Jam leather sleeved baseball jackets? Or some Metro Attitude basketball sneakers with some (fake) snakeskin action? This collaboration misfire will disappear neve to be seen except adidas outlets and eBay!

Ok, I exaggerate as there are some ok pieces worth adding to your collection, but there are also some items that should've never taken up value shelf space! Please adidas get it right this collab should've 100% p-e-r-f-e-c-t!

To understand why I'm a hater on this collaboration scroll down and listen to the banging hip-hop tunes that built the fortunes of these two brands!

Here's what's Hot

Here's what's Not

Is Hong Kong the 51st State of America?

Can cool resurrect a brand?

Today's Black Friday in the US. It sounds aminous, but it's a retail term for when the P&L turns from red (loss) to black (profit). Yes the sales are on in full force!

Black Friday made me think about all the effort put into creating consumer demand. Look at the craziness in sneakers. Boutique stores now have sway with brands and create their own line of limited edition shoes. One which made me sigh was "legendary American footwear manufacturer" Saucony and Boston's Bodega.

Midtown Remember when you'd see Saucony in the bargain basement in NYC's VIM?! I wouldn't even look at those! So now, suddenly they're all hip from a revamp with "new updated classic crafted with materials including reflective 3M and ballistic nylon contrasted with premium leathers?" Hmmm, I'm listening.

..."retailing for $125 Bodega offers a set of matching apparel (Jacket $85/Cap $35) scheduled to launch Saturday November 8th, 2008 11:00am at Bodega and will be offered as a package for $225 USD while supplies last."

Hhahhahaha. Where's the candid camera?!

It takes a nation of millions...

What happens when art meets music? Well, when the street artist come art icon, Obey, mixes it up with rap legends, Public Enemy it turns into a full blown art and clothing project! And Stevio goes shopping :)

I copped myself one of the dope, military-inspired M-65 jackets created by Obey and PE. This is just like the ones (self-proclaimed) Professor Griff's S1Ws wore for stage with PE back in the 90s. I'm not a FoI (Fruit of Islam), but I'm lovin' the old skool hip-hop, fool!

Who needs a stimulus package? I'm helping the economy. PS...Made in China?!

BAPE, BAPY, APEE...Hmmm

I checked out the BAPE store in Taipei - a large ~4,000 sq ft, 2 storey retail statement. On the ground floor is the regular "A Bathing Ape" gear, although the sales guy distinguished between the black label collection. Yea, whatever ;-)

Upstairs was more interesting to me. There I saw the "BAPY" and "APEE" lines -for women and femal teens, respectively. It made me think of the Portfolio article I read about the struggles Nigo, BAPE's founder, is facing as he and his team try to create a worldwide brand that still has some significance to his peers and fans.

It reminds me the challenge Stussy had in the early 90s. To compare, BAPE has worldwide sales of $59m ($24m more than Stussy)!

On researching, my revelation was that one of Toyko's Major Force record-label founders (and Wild Bunch collaborator), Hiroshi Fujiwara, ventured into clothing and apparel (Goodenough and Head Porter) which are now some of the most revered Japanese streetstyle labels, oft quoted by cool hunters.

Hong Kong receives Sp

I went wandering in the chic part of town yesterday. Think Agnes B, Viv Westwood, but the cool thing was seeing the local boutiques. Of course, I printed out the location of a few stores I want to see, especially as I took an empty suitcase to fill?! ;-) IT is a store within a store - like Fred Segals, but without the kitch. This is industrial store interiors and Comme des Garcon window displays. Inside, I saw Jez Scott's drainpipe colourful pants. "I met him" I said to my sister who wasn't at all impressed. Hah!

I searched for those Nike Dunk x Mita's and found a pair, but in size US9. They were the only pair I saw in HK, but I know eBay has them, so no sweat. My fave store had to be the Giordano Concept store. It's like The Gap x Prada! I walked out with a dope leather jacket, shoes, cardigan...I left a stretch drainpipe pants...I don't care how much they look like Prada ;-)

Donkey Kong The surprise find of the night (the stores stay open till 10-11p on a Sunday. Can u imagine Robertson or Melrose doing that?!) was finding the Donkey Kong T-shirt I saw on a dude at a airport recently. I thought, "I got too many Ts, but if it came in a sweatshirt..."And then I found a sweat - black with Pac-Man on it. OMG. I got both of them anyway!

Love to Hate I didn't reach the Billionaire Boys Club store which recently opened in Hong Kong. I'm a hater, but I did want to check out the architecture and design from Japan's Wonderwall (who is behind stores for "A Bathing Ape" (Japan) and "Colette" (France)). I heard the first two floors are devoted to an ice cream parlor theme while the upper floor builds on the BBC astronaut theme. (Here's BBC/Ice Cream's spot in Harvey Nichols (UK)).