Below I created a list of 5 things I learned from gangster rap. Obviously from the comfort of my mothers tidy home in suburban America. This isn’t a top 5 by any means, simply a list. I’ll save the top 5 for a day when people actually care about what I have to say. Learn yourself some after the jump.
Sometimes wearing your faux Supreme shirt with your general release Jordan’s isn’t enough. It is important that you accent your outfit with trinkets. This means that the outfit must flow from top to bottom, using accessories to connect the whole image. But of course, there are offenders who abuse this right by adding corny pieces of flair to their ensemble and try to pass it along as “swag.” Hit the jump, as I dissect these three accessories: designer belts, fox tails, and coin pouches. Continue reading
-@SessionsWithJP
If you aren’t familiar with Bunk Sandwiches here in Portland, then you might think it’s a little weird that I ate a total of 4 of their breakfast sandwiches this weekend. Those of you who are familiar, probably still think it’s a little weird. 4 is a lot, but starting your day off with 2 incredible breakfasts is, as you can imagine, better than starting it off with just 1. When I walked into Bunk on Saturday to order my breakfasts, the place was a buzz with whispers. Apparently, there was another dude named Colin there, Colin Farrell. I dunno who this guy is, but as I looked across the small sandwich shop, I spotted a guy who I’ve seen in a shit load of movies. “Oh, that dude.” I thought to myself.
Hit the jump. Continue reading
- Landforce
Hi. My name is PropaneLV, I’m a white rapper, and these are my thoughts. I’ll be blogging here on Dirty Laces every Thursday. Don’t tell my mom, cuz I might say a few things that she doesn’t need to hear me say. Anyway….
Before we go any further in diagnosing this comparison we must first take a moment to be honest with ourselves. The black NFL quarterback has always been under appreciated and overly scrutinized. James Harris was the first African-American (meaning black) quarterback to start in the NFL and consequently only lasted 2 games. Since then, for whatever reason (mostly race) when a “black” quarterback is implemented as the leader of the offense armchair fans find themselves booing quicker. Coaching decisions are scrutinized, jersey sales tank, and overall crime rates in the city increase(this may or may not be true).
Hit the jump!
- LV Out
This is my first installment of my weekly series “Thread The Needle.” I would like to think I have a solid hold on what all the cool kids are wearing today and I feel like I need to correct some of those things. Sadly, few of my friends are not fashion savy and that limits me to rant about which styles bug me. Luckily, this weekly series will give me the opportunity to drop some knowledge and hopefully fix some wardrobes.
Below is my first qualm; snapbacks. Continue reading
-@SessionsWithJP
I’ve been trying to figure out for quite a while what the name of my weekly blog series might be. In typical Colin fashion, I’ve been thinking way to long and hard about this detail and haven’t started writing any blogs because of it. DON’T WORRY! Last weekend when I was at the Apple Store bitching about my graphic cards erratic behavior, the hip Apple Genius asked me what was wrong with it. I told him it was on the fritz. Shapow! It was born. The phrase is nothing revolutionary, but after much ridicule on my use of it, the title of my weekly rants and bullshitting has been realized. I’ve never been more ready to write to my hearts content and pretend that people are actually reading it.
So here it is… On The Fritz w/ Landforce: a weekly blog post about… whatever I feel like writing about, obviously.
To kick it all off… On The Fritz: 4 Types of Twitter Users to Avoid is below.
- Landforce
All Out is a pop duo rising out of Sunderland, Mass. made up of Joe Skutnik and Matt McCormick. They are behind songs such as Lights featuring XV and Too Easy For Me ft. Chanel. Skutnik raps and produces while McCormick provides a nice set chops to the mix singing on the tracks.
All Out wasn’t the duo’s first musical venture, the high school friends were originally part of a rock band, “we’re still friends with all those guys and we hang out but we stopped doing that because people were away at college, you know, it was tough to just have a group in the summer but right at the end of all that Joe showed me a beat and wanted me to sing the hook on it,” explained McCormick.
“I used to make beats to sell to Myspace rappers and things like that, what I originally wanted to do was produce music,” said Skutnik of the early All Out days. After they created their first single, Time Bomb, they decided to continue creating music together as opposed to stopping at one song.
Though they claim that their name had no real significance at first they have come to use it as use their mantra and philosophy in their music, “not that it’s the guiding force of our band or anything but we try to go ‘All Out’ and create music for everyone.”
Right now they credit playing Bamboozle as one of their career highlights thus far, “big festivals like that are so hype, you get people from all over coming to them and singing along to your music, that’s pretty awesome.”
All Out has had the chance to work with the Fantasy Factory team, “Chanel is really cool– really the whole Fantasy Factory crew have kind of been involved in weird different ways.” In the future they would love to work with people such as Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Big Sean and Ke$ha, “we want to work with people that interested in making the same kind of music as us.”
Now that the guys are done with school they can focus full time on their music, “Joe basically makes music, runs, sleeps and eats,” said McCormick.
Skutnik and McCormick are contemplating a move in the near future, possibly out of Massachusetts, but they won’t stray from their roots too much. Their songs already represent the North East pretty proudly with lyrics such as “The only hood I got is straight courtesy of Hanes/and we’re out of New England, so you know we make it rain.”
When asked how they would describe their music Joe replied “I try to avoid doing that, I prefer to just play it for people because we get so many different reactions from people. People immediately compare it to whatever their frame of reference is.” Which is fair, so if you haven’t heard them yet check them out here.
2011 is shaping up to be a big year for the guys, kicking it off with a tour hitting Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.
Dirty Laces was chosen to sit in on a conference call with Big Boi from Outkast. The call not only had Big Boi on the line but major DJ’s from the East Coast such as DJ Money Bags and DJ Nawte. Keep reading to see what we learned about this hip hop legend!
Since the ‘90s, Big Boi is able to proclaim himself today as one of the most successful rappers throughout the history of hip-hop. If you don’t think so yourself, then you obviously need to get out from under the rock you’ve been living and start realizing how he has changed the game since he’s been in it. With Outkast, Andre and Big Boi dominated the music industry and won six Grammy Awards as well as selling over 25 million copies of just eight album releases.
When he went solo, Big Boi was featured on tracks such as Trick Daddy – In Da House, Jay-Z – Poppin’ Tags, and Beyonce’ – Hip Hop Star proving that he was still among the best artists in the industry. Even with his success, his new album “Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty” didn’t fall short from all the expectations. Dedicated to his father, who recently passed away at the start of the album, Big Boi gained great acclaim from many critics, claiming that the album contained inventive sound and varied musical style and when asked how he remains to be one of the top hip hop artists even today he claims, “Stay original, keep reinventing yourself, stand out from the crowd, and keep it real, funky, and exciting for the fans.” Big Boi hopes to influence young artists to hopefully reach the level that he’s at today and push people to get out of their comfort zone and stay hungry for success.
Carissa Rossi & Jonny P :)
Meet Steven: a born and bred New Yorker, graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and now proud Google employee. In his spare time he enjoys…rapping?
Steven, probably better known to his fans as Hoodie Allen, is a genre-bending artist and self-described “NY kid.” His catchy songs are infused with indie samples that will easily get stuck in your head.
Hoodie Allen might still be young but making music isn’t new to him, he has been writing his own songs since he was twelve and started recording when he was fourteen.
Growing up in New York has had a strong influence on his music, “I’ve always been fascinated by the city, its the one place I feel everything is alive and clearly it’s the birthplace of hip hop and the current staple of all that is indie rock goodness… So it is fitting to be a NY kid who feels both influences,” he explained.
In addition to drawing inspiration from living in New York Hoodie Allen has also been influenced by the work of A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, Kanye West and Queen to name a few. Given the opportunity he would love to work with Amy Winehouse, Q-Tip Mark Ronson, and Andre 3000 proving that his musical tastes and styles fall all over the map.
The Pep Rally mixtape uses samples from Flight Facilities, Marina & The Diamonds and V.V. Brown under Hoodie’s clever lyrics. Creating what he calls “substantive pop music.” Hoodie tries to avoid labels and prefers to work outside of limiting generalizations, “some call it hip-pop which is fair…I just like making music that sounds unique, speaks to my experiences, yet is round enough that everyone can appreciate it and sing a long” said Hoodie.
When asked what his career highlight thus far is Hoodie answered: “I’ve gotten the opportunity to stand in front and perform and converse with people who I would never think would have given me the light of day so for it to happen so quickly is amazing to me.”
For those long term fans out there that are wondering what happened to the other half of Hoodie Allen the duo amicably split and all of Pep Rally was done under the new solo version of Hoodie Allen. Don’t worry though, “nothing bad happened though no drama, just different musical ambitions and directions,” said Hoodie in an email to Dirty Laces.
“There are three reasons why I believe we got so successful; one is we get lucky, two is we knew the market and were very excited about it, and three is we had the tenacity,” said Selkoe.
From his parent’s basement to a Boston-based empire, CEO and owner of Karmaloop.com, Greg Selkoe has built a home for street-wear brands worldwide. Prior to Karmaloop’s inception, niche shops had found themselves pocketed within their respective brick and mortar outlets. Now, brands like Crooks & Castles, 10 Deep, and Obey have made their way across the world – handily – with Karmaloop serving as their globe-trotting intermediary.
“If you went to Ohio University or University of Minnesota, you had no access to this stuff. Even if you lived in big cities there weren’t a lot of boutiques and most of the time they wouldn’t have your size. During the time when Triple 5 Soul was a big brand and you would see it on DJ’s but no one could buy it anywhere,” said Selkoe.
Then, in 2008, a new project was born – Karmaloop TV. Aiming to transcend the growing divide between under-the-radar and a mishandled mainstream by MTV, Karmaloop TV has progressed as a showcase for both artists, retailers, and “Verge Culture” news.
“The Verge Culture is a cut and paste culture tapping a convergence of tastes and styles gleaned globally through the web, mashing them up and making them their own. They communicate digitally, are socially progressive, and are the most tech savvy people on the planet, their musical tastes and interests are as broad as they wish them to be,” piped Selkoe.
After having set a successful precedent with Karmaloop TV shows ‘The Daily Loop’ and ‘Global Loop’, the giant has recently enveloped Skee TV; a premier content platform hosted by none other than DJ Skee, that boasts 100 million+ views, a KIIS-FM presence, and a Top 50 YouTube channel of all time. A recipe for success would be an underplay.
The two have catalyzed a tentative December 2010 launch for an on-demand cable debut, with a network launch in tow for February of 2011.
Cross-spectrum, cross-culture, and multi-generational, the network will delve into the underserved growing niche of educated, tech-savvy, alpha consumers whom make up ever-changing verge culture contingent.
“We will have the Chip tha Rippers and the Chiddy Bangs of the world on it” hinted Selkoe.
So here’s to a heads up to MTV, and a nod to Complex, Karmaloop has pulled out the stops.
What started in a basement, grew into a gleaming Boston hotspot, and has transgressed into a worldwide brand proselytized by 50,000+ brand evangelists. Selkoe and his brand are truly a personification of verge culture ideal, and serves as a testament and reminder that verge culture is converging – not with the mainstream – but with those whom live the lives, breath the brands, and embrace the culture.
To see more of Karmaloop & Karmaloop TV check out:
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