adidas Originals Collectors Project #adidasoriginals

adidas has developed so many sub-brands: NEO, Y-3, SLVR, Stella McCartney, Porsche Design, etc., it's hard to remember what adidas means to me?! But, the one adidas brand that keeps me engaged is its adidas Originals collections.

You have to get past the adidas Originals' stale, 2-D, flat website and its uninspiring online apparel catalog (thumbnail pictures with no flavor!) Because, once you do you cannot ignore some of the hotness that adidas has produced in the name of Originals!

On the huuuge scale, the Superstar 35th anniversary with its 35 pairs of collaboration Superstars was a major attention grabber! Big up adidas! On the smaller scale, the Bedroom Rockers book in collaboration with XLR8R Magazine made an impression on me.

adidas Superstar 35th Anniversary Series

adidas x XLR8R Magazine photograph 97 DJs' studios 

The latest creative endeavors is the "Originals Collectors Project." This time, adidas has gone international again and chosen five adidas sneaker collectors and given them access to the adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany. The task? To design their signature version of their favorite sneaker. WOW!

"adidas Collectors Project brought five of the world's most dedicated and knowledgeable three stripe collectors together at adidas global HQ . 

They were also each given the opportunity to rework their favourite archive model for an extremely limited release." adidas Originals' website

The Chosen Few  The collectors came from the UK (Robert Brooks,) Germany (Julia Schoierer, aka Sneakerqueen,) Finland (Ralk Tittaannen,) and Japan (Mr. Magara.) Out of the five, Operator Emz from New York, gets my vote. His Superstar obsession narrowly beat out Sneakerqueen's Rivalry festish. Both these shoes are my favorite adidas sneakers...black with white stripes, white with black stripes...hi-top, low-top, the list goes on!




Check it, check it out!   Do peep another adidas Originals collaboration. The interactive video concept is kinda unique. The "Unite All Originals" campaign has taken longtime adidas brand ambassadors and rap legends, RUN DMC, and combined them with a contemporary DJ hero, A-Trak. That's kinda interesting. The output is a music recording, some interview footage and a really smart advert video. You type in words to trigger actions in the video! Play with it here. Is it a game? Is it a film? You decide! (If you're lazy, just watch the video below.)

adidas Originals - Unite All Originals from Glow on Vimeo.

adidas Originals - Coming soon with Run DMC and A-Trak - Unite All Originals from ruben beddeleem on Vimeo.

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.

Cold Crush Brothers...32nd anniversary (My hip hop summer pt.2)

The Cold Crush Brothers' 32nd anniversary event held at the Hip Hop Culture Center in Harlem* happened the other weekend. This was the second event of my "hip hop summer holiday!" (The first being the Crotona Park Tools of War True School jam.)

Cold Crush 32nd Anniversary show

JDL, Easy AD and Grandmaster Caz, left to right (DJ Tony Tone out of shot)

This media of this event was tightly controlled to protect the Cold Crush's copyrights. As Caz says, "We do this for a living!" So I respected that and didn't film the main show. But I did take some pictures and put together a stop-motion video of DJ Jazzy Jay below.

For a taste of the Cold Crush stage show during its 80s heyday check out this TV clip from BBC's "Beat This: Hip Hop History."

Nuff respect The Cold Crush were influential to rap stars like Doug e Fresh, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane and others. Tonight, DMC (aka Daryl McDaniels of Run DMC) strolled in wearing white on white adidas shelltoes without an entourage. When he heard Bambaataa was in the house DMC told a story of listening to tapes of the parties when he was a kid in Queens and freaking out over the echo chamber sounds effects - "Deeeeee Jaaaaaay Afrikaa...kaaa Bambaataa...aataa..." Look at him now. Rap grand pupa!

As they warmed up the crowd the Cold Crush told stories about their history and how they concocted their routines. Little did I know the U.K.'s David Essex had a role to play in this!

DMC of Run DMC

Big Daddy Kane still looked dapper in his Cazals as he shouted out Cold Crush and rocked three of his biggest joints (Set It Off, RAW, Smooth Operator) much to the crowd's approval. D-Nice from BDP (Boogie Down Productions) stood in the wings as Kane talked about going to a cocktail party that afternoon with D-Nice...even the Big Daddy thought that was partying too hard...cocktails at 5pm!

Big Daddy Kane settles in

I went to snap pics of Bambaataa, Universal Zulu Nation founder and leader. As I got a dope pose of Bam' in his sci-fi shades, Ice T rolled in. I let my shutter go wild getting photos of Ice T and Afrika Bambaata conversing. Weessssside!

Ice T (left) and Afrika Bambaataa (center,) Universal Zulu Nation

Other hip hop founding fathers in the house were DJs Jazzy Jay, Grand Wizzard Theodore (inventor of scratching) and I even saw one of the Fearless Four in full on branded t-shirt. From the 80s DJ Red Alert (98.7 Kiss FM) was in the house and from the 90s was DJ Scratch (EPMD.)

DJ Red Alert and DJ Jazzy Jay

DJ Scratch and DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore

This was a not-to-be missed event, although it has to be said, sometimes the documenting of this historic event kept the paying fans from getting the best view. For me, there hasn't been a place where so many hip hop heroes have congregated since the New Music Seminar events in the late 80s.

Big shout to Dr. Shaka Zulu of the Zulu Nation, Mrs. Grandmaster Caz, of the Hip Hop and "Mr. Afroman" who showed me love.
* Not to be confused with the National Museum of Hip Hop!

Back story The Cold Crush story is a classic tale of recognized, but unrewarded, heroes of hip hop. In the early days Cold Crush were courted by record labels, but fought hard to avoid shady record label people (Tribe Called Quest's rule #4080.) Big shout out to Sylvia Robinson of Sugar Hill Records.

Other more respectable deals from Def Jam and others came knocking, but the commercials weren't quite right. In the meantime, ever-evolving rap was changing. Sampling was beginning to be frowned upon by the Cold Crush's record label which seems to be the death nail in Cold Crush's ambitions to benefit from the rap phenomenon they helped create.

Hip hop history If you don't know the Cold Crush you should check out some of their tunes. They were pioneers of showmanship, some of which was captured in the classic film, Wild Style, and the BBC documentary video above.

My favorite tune in my collection is "Fresh, Wild, Fly and Bold" on Profile Records. The beats, the horns and cabasa percussion!

How much would you pay for Tupac's crown ring?

I'm late to this! As I was doing a bit of spring cleaning for Chinese new year I finally read a 2008 WSJ article called "The Bling Thing" in the first issue of "WSJ.", a quarterly luxury lifestyle magazine edited by Tina Gaudoin (ex-editor of Tatler.)

"Since hip-hop’s birth in the South Bronx, thick gold chains have been synonymous with turntable scratching, shell-top Adidas, and the lavish dispensation of spray paint. But it’s only now that the jewelry’s influence, and sometimes its magnificence, is getting its due. Rapper Tupac Shakur’s crown ring, studded with more than 10 carats of cabochon rubies and pavé diamonds, is one of the most spectacular lots in Phillips de Pury New York’s October 1st auction of “bling” jewelry (which will also include pieces worn by Notorious B.I.G, Missy Elliot and Kanye West). The sale, in part a benefit for the Smithsonian’s fledgling hip-hop archive, is the first of its kind."

Worth its weight? If you melted down 10 carats of cabochon rubies and pavé diamonds (whatever those are) would it really be worth the estimated $10-20,000. May be not...whoever buys this piece of hip hop history will be making an investment knowing it was designed and worn by Tupac Shakur! That's priceless!

The item was given to the auction by Yaasmyn Fula, a family friend of Shakur’s. The less than modest ring has the inscription “Pac & Dada 1996,” inscribed on it referring to his girlfriend, Quincy Jones’s daughter Kidada. Fula says, the ring “was self-coronation—Tupac acknowledg­ing he had survived a tumultuous year.” Who knew Tupac would only have the chance to wear it a few months before his murder in Las Vegas. Read more at here in The Guardian newspaper.


Bling Ting If you want to see more rappers' bling, then may be grab yourself a copy of Hot 97's Minya Oh's book simply entitled, "Bling Bling, Hip-Hop's Crown Jewels." Critics say it's a coffee table book good for its pics, but it doesn't discuss the ugly side of diamond or gold trading, so don't expect much commentary than this quote from Reverend Run of Run-DMC: "God wants you to have everything you want to have," when asked about his love of bling. Now can we stop using the B-word?!

RIP Mr. Magic - WBLS 107.5FM

The legendary rap DJ Mr Magic passed away this week. The stacks of cassette tapes I have in Bristol that bear his name and the WBLS radio station that he rocked along with DJ Marley Marl are the history of modern hip hop.

Even I didn't know the full history until I listened to DJ Bee's show which shares the knowledge about the man Mr. Magic, his crew and the rivalries that made up New York City radio in the mid-80s. Check out the downloads and hear the clips, interviews and stories that show you how influential Mr. Magic was.

Run DMC...Roll & Rock Hall of Fame!!!

This month I heard on the radio that Run DMC has made it! Huh?

Yep, it's taken 25 years for the rap pioneers to get recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Did you know Run DMC isn't the first hip hop act to be honored? Nope...Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five planted that flag back in 2007 when the band was awarded the RIAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award!

First in da game But no rap act has won these medals...First rap Top 10 album, first rap Grammy Award nomination, first rappers on MTV and Saturday Night Live and first Rolling Stone cover! Run DMC went against the grain by replacing the funk and RnB grooves and rhythms with something harder...and whiter to get their message across. They popularized rock breakbeats like Billy Squier's "Big Beat" and took the hard rock guitar attitude and sound and crossed over to the rockers as well as open up new avenues for rap.

Love or hate? If you were an Aerosmith fan you might have thought Run DMC's cover of "Walk This Way" was blasphemous back in 1985! That was the only time I ever paid attention to Steve Tyler...well, there was Liv too ;)

RIP Jam Master Jay, 2002

Glen E. Friedman retrospective

He might not be a household name like Annie Leibovitz or Steven Meisel , but his long-time photographer, Glen E. Friedman, has captured many historic cultural moments.

I'd mainly seen his work as a teenager because of his Run-DMC and Def Jam days and more recently as part of a group show retrospective of Run-DMC photos at Bill Alder's Eyejammie Gallery in New York.

What about the west coast? This weekend at Shepard Fairey's Subliminal Projects gallery in Silverlake will be showing Friedman's Idealist Propaganda. Surprisingly I hear it's his first major retrospective and will include some never-before-seen photos. If you don't know Friedman's work you will recognize his photos of skate (Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Z-Boys), punk (Dead Kennedys, The Misfits) and hip-hop (Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy) subcultures, as well as his political statements from his "Fuck You All" collection and "Fuck You Heroes" and "Fuck You Too" series. OMG?!


Friedman will be attending the opening reception, so I'm planning on going to see the show and maybe get a signed copy of one of his books produced by his publishing company, Burning Flags Press.

Side note Obey has collaborated with Friedman on a collection of prints, t-shirts, hats and clothing celebrating one of the most prolific and icon rap bands in history, Public Enemy. I love this project.