No groupie, but as always, Pharrell is too fresh. He has a 6 page feature in French Vogue with some pretty incredible photography by Steven Klein. Too bad I can’t read French. But yeah, good photography…look at those fronts!!? Like him or not he is doing his thing and he truly is a trend setter and the Neptune’s production keeps getting better, it’s honestly almost mind boggling. Can you imagine what kind of numbers they are pulling in? Whoa. Check the link below, I pulled it from the Star Trak site. And check for Pharrell’s solo album dropping this fall…I have to wonder what that’s going to sound like. ‘…glamorous jewels with the chandelier hues…’
I just had some hot wings and Diet Coke; it’s just how I get down. Actually, this isn’t super ground breaking news, the concept of this car has been covered quite a bit, but this is the ‘official unveiling’ of the production model. I certainly like this silver rather than that weird-ass blue they kept showing. It’s really a beautiful vehicle. Certainly has some Aston Martin qualities in it…if I’m not mistaken the same designer for the Vanquish had a large role in the design of this new XK, not sure though. Either way, beautiful Jag lines, 300hp, tip-tronic transmission, aluminum frame, etc, etc. None of that really matters when you pull up to valet, you’ll just be ‘that dude’ with the ‘that new Jag.’ That was kind of corny. Still no price yet…I’d have to think it will be under $80k, because why would you have a Jag when you could get that new Aston V8 for a couple stacks more? Cool car, and no, I won’t be buying it…ha.
Dustin Amery Hostetler, aka UPSO, is one of my favorite fellow artists. I’ve been in touch with him for quite a while now, have shared magazine pages with him, and met him when his band Stylex came through Chicago. He’s a cool all around dude with some of the most accurate and compositionally impressive vector illustrations I’ve ever seen. You absolutely have got to go to his site and check out the ‘18 HipHop Power Hustlas’ illustration for Rap-Up Magazine. Unreal how crisp and clean they all are. Every single illustration, especially the Missy Elliot, Lil’ Jon, and T.I., is perfect with the exception of the albino looking Damon Dash. Haha. Sorry Dustin. Anyways, his client list and technical graphics are impressive too…just check the site out already. Dustin also runs Faesthetic Magazine. On another note, I have an air duster can on my desk that is only shooting out that super cold frost chemical stuff, even when held upright. Sucks.
You have to ride clean…at least I feel like I have to. I’m talking the wheels, tires, wheel-wells, trim, interior trim, floor mats, cup holders, dashes, windows, mirrors, carpets, floor mats, leather (keep it supple), etc…I love riding clean. But have you ever noticed when you’re in the ‘cleaner isle’ at AutoZone/Pep Boys, or whatever, that all the products have the same color schemes? Like red, black and chrome with some corny shiny car/flame graphics. I mean, I know it’s the auto industry, but I still like good packaging! Vroom Brand is doing this quite well. They sell pretty much everything you could possibly need to keep your car fresh and the packaging is fresh! Good stuff, good prices. Check for them at Target. ‘…girl thats Juvenile, you don’t know he on fire, 17 inch Momo’s, black magic on his tires…’ And Chuck, you need to work on that brake dust issue you have, come on, the Kiss on 159th does it right!
I love the aNYthing t-shirts. Classic. A-ron is at it again with new fall line…all those classic references. 2 for $5, crack is back, and more. As well as some interesting collaborations with Ryan McGinley. I’m still thinking about the border-crossing one. And those news print bandanas are fresh as well…I have the news print t-shirt, please believe I wear it! Ha. I do though. Check the PDF at the link below. Big shout to aNYthing and the Retail Mafia all doing their thing at Magic in Vegas. Also - check out our latest interview with A-Ron of aNYthing! See it here!!! ***Sorry folks…had to take the link down to the fall preview. It’ll be back up soon with some changes. My bad.
I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to begin, discuss, or end this post, because I’m too busy thinking about how much I just genuinely love this album. We are special, so we have had a chance to listen to the whole new album, and let me just say that when it drops on the 30th, you need to get to the store in the morning and get it. Get home and just set it on repeat, all day. Kanye stepped up the collaborations on this one, as expected, and the entire album is just a massive maturity and musical step up from the last album, even though the last one was great. If we had a rating scale of $ to $$$$$ I give this a $$$$$$. No, really. It’s that good. “Drive Slow” with Paul Wall is such a smooth track…“Crack Music” with The Game is fresh, “Addiction” is a really dark track but nice beats. “Gold Digger” and “Diamonds”, the first two singles are of course perfect as well. I also really like “Heard ‘Em Say”, with Adam Levine from Maroon 5. I wasn’t sure how that would work but it did - this song is probably the closest to anything on Kanye’s first album. But anyways, the highlight of the album, in my opinion, is “We Major” with Nas. Wow. It is an incredibly ‘lush’ sounding song. So much going on, very classic hip-hop sound to it. Anyways, Ben probably has a few things he’d like to add about Late Registration, so you’ll probably see us talking this album up a bit more in the coming weeks. Check out the track listing here. Either way, one of the albums of the year, hands down. But please, do not email us asking for the album. We will not send it to you. You need to go buy it on the 30th, just like we’re going to do, and everyone should do. Much respect to Kanye, who hopefully checks THE BRILLIANCE religiously on a daily basis. I’m sure he does. I mean, come on. It’s a celebration bitches!!! ***And please check this video clip out - BENJAMIN
This will be a new weekly thing from me. Its something I do on Sundays, so I’m sharing it with you…don’t you feel just a little bit closer to me? Ha, whoa, just playing… So here is the deal. I will show 3 listings I’m feeling from nytimes.com’s real estate section. And like a little comment along with them. There is no particular rhyme or reason to these, I just like them. ONE – It’s on Mercer street…I could stop right there. 4500 sq ft, perfectly white, the columns are sick, and so is the $5,737 you owe every month in just taxes and CC fees. TWO – Almost has a 70s vibe, but in a very good way. Bathroom is nuts, glass balcony ‘rail’ is nuts, the whole place, perfect. THREE – A relative steal at $1.5m compared to the others…needs some work, but all just cosmetic. I really like this one, I could see some massive commissioned NOPATTERN piece on the wall. But yeah, I would put bamboo floors in and 100% white-out everything else. …So yeah, the first edition of ‘OMG NEW NYC Real Estate!’ And I’m out!
I just had a slammin’ hot chocolate from Starbucks! This was a really good read actually. Interviews with both Mr. Carter and Kanye. The interview with Jay-Z was filled with questions that have been asked too many million times (too many million, ha). But the little forwards they did for each interview are perfect. Especially the one they did with Kanye…a little day-in-the-life type thing. Kanye is something else. …I be there in 5 mintues, 5 hours later, I be there in 5 mintues… And the Terry Richardson photography is good…again. Check the first picture of Kanye and then check the cover of the last Complex Magazine..?! So go buy this cause BENJAMIN from THE BRILLIANCE said so. It’s like 10 bucks too…so? …I’m not a role-model. A bad influence, got the world drinking gold bottles… I’m doing song quotes tonight.
Magic is the big tradeshow in Vegas for all you n00b$ out there. There are tons of parties/after-parties, but this one should be one of the better ones to attend should you decide to go to Magic. BPM, Vapors, Swindle, The Royal, SVSV, and OBEY will be hosting the party at Teatro @ MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Tuesday August 30, 2005 from 10pm-2am. Carlos D of Interpol, Andy Caldwell, Shep Fairey, and Franki Chan will all be DJing. Check the link below for the flyer and print it out if you’re going. It is the VIP invitation. Bring it and show it at the door. If you go, make sure to find Dave touch his beard for good luck.
KAWS is always at it with something new. This time it’s his spin on The Simpsons (aka Kimpsons…) and The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers album. I put a little comparison together if you want to check this out - Kaws/Beatles/Simpsons side-by-side. First saw a glimpse of this on Peter Sutherland’s site in the ‘Artists’ section, he’s got some photos of this KAWS painting in the works. The finished piece is on LAMJC’s news which is linked below. Anyways, I just think this piece is really refreshing to see. Apparently in a BAPE Cafe somewhere as far as I can tell. I’d love to see some Kimpsons figures made. You know those would sell out crazy fast…like…A Mr. Burns or maybe Kearny?! That would be pretty nice. In other news, I just got a new healthcare plan, have lost a good bit of money playing poker in the last few weeks, played Scrabble tonight and won (as usual, try me), and am currently looking at a picture of a pug that I really want. Great.
