NaVon Smith TamikaMariaPrice Andrea Alexander
SUMMER 2013
Contributors:
77three Magazine Issue Number Three: Summer 2013 -June 77three.com
Jakina ado Photography Jakina Hill: Founder/Editor
Jakina is a proud Chicago born and raised, Southern Illinois University Alum, photographer, designer, writer and storyteller with dreams of quitting her day job. She considers herself to be just your average Chicago hood chick. Twitter:@ JakinaAdo
Senyo Twilight: Writer
Senyo Twilight is a contributor hailing from the suburbs of Chicago via Ghana, West Africa. He spends the bulk of his free time challenging himself with zany science projects and writing poetry. Most of all he considers himself a servant, volunteering his time to several “go green” initiatives and teaching elementary school. Of all his work, he takes the most pride in grooming his son for impending greatness. Twitter: @Senyo_ Twilight
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jakinaado.tumblr.com
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T
he rap game should consider itself warned, NaVon Smith, 34, is not your run-of-the-mill emcee. I can see the looks on your faces as you’re reading this. Please twist your mouths back into neutral, unroll your eyes and drop your collective brows, NaVon is the real thing.
A blue collar emcee on the DMV’s scene, NaVon Smith is making noise with his brand of hip hop as one that will strike familiar chords while but providing much needed nuance to the game. Like the opening stories of hip-hop legends before him, Smith started out the hard way. With a mother struggling with addiction and a father unknown, Smith was raised hard in the rough parts of Washington D.C. area often having to fend for himself. He hustled his music on the corners eventually peddling himself out of his circumstance, managing to move 10,000 units by himself. Not impressed yet? Well it appears the industry is.
Von For Vendetta
Story by Senyo Ador Photo by Ashley Kolodner
Smith’s new video ‘Fear’ dropped on MTV’s artist website a few months ago. With a flow alive with the kind of angst that hip-hop legend Canibus built in listeners in the early 90s, the man spits like he’s got a chip on his shoulder. The difference here is that we don’t necessarily have to crack open an Oxford Dictionary to break down the messages, but it doesn’t make his music any less conscious. When asked about his approach Smith said this, “I don’t care how conscious you say you are, we all come from rough environments or similar. We are all familiar with struggle. It’s [his music] always gonna be something you can relate to, no matter what.” Never shy of tackling touchy topics. His tracks can be shit starters at times. He engages the audience without compromise and his head-on approach to societal hot topics are what is getting the streets talking. On his song “Black Girl Lost” Smith is certain to find himself in more heated debates in his handling of a topic that seems to be a hot button item in popular culture today, the look and perception of the black woman. Nonetheless, Smith is prepared to ask the questions that some won’t… “What’s going on/ Every time I perform/ There’s another black girl that has dyed her hair blonde/ I ain’t saying its wrong/ and I’m not saying it’s right/ but if you ain’t trying to be white/ what you trying to be like?” It is the artist’s duty to keep the dialogue of the day on the table. A matter that Smith doesn’t take lightly, executing at a masterful level. Smith’s ‘Son of Mars’ mixtape is penciled for June 30th and his ‘Reach for the Stars’ album is due out in the latter part of 2013. NaVonSmith.com SA
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Style Guide Tamika Maria Price Interview and Photo by Jakina Hill
A simple Google search for Tamika Maria Price, 29, and you’re first directed to a link for her book ‘Standout Style: The shopping and style guide for real women.’ Next is the site for her services, there are a few pictures and social media connections but none of this offers a link to the person she truly is, a wife, mother, stylists, philanthropist and lover of life.
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How did the Dangerous Curves Ahead Fashion Show start, did you know when you started styling that you wanted to do fashion shows? I had no idea that I wanted to do fashion shows. Really I had just started styling and really wanted something to help me put my name out there a little bit more, so it was like okay, just do a fashion show and I really believe that’s just something God told me to do and I was just like ok, I’ll do it, and I just didn’t fight it. The A-line Foundation, that’s the charity the profits go to, that’s your foundation? Yes And you started that when? I started that last year. So before we were giving proceeds to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, The Primo Center, Second Chance Chicago, you know different organizations that had some component in regards to helping women in transition. So again, HE told me hey you need to get your own non-profit because that way you can have more control over where these funds are going and do more. The desire with helping people, that stems from being homeless or you think you would want to do that regardless? I think everything I experienced has something to do with who I am today. I understand exactly what you mean with that question. I think it does because it’s a little bit of therapy in what I do because when women are in the fitting room and they finally found that look that they love because of my help its like their posture gets better, they stand with so much more confidence, so its definitely an empowering portion to A-line and its an empowering portion to Dangerous Curves ahead to. Can you tell me how that came about, with most people you see someone who is homeless and your like how did they get there? How did that happen? Well a lot of people are one paycheck away like something happens, the car breaks down, whatever it may be and before you know it you’re getting evicted. So what happened with our family is, its really a long story, it has to do with divorce, it has to do with a little bit of, spite, we got evicted, I had no idea we were getting evicted, I knew I saw some notices on the door. How old were you at the time? I was like eleven, but we had dealt with it for a couple years on and off. My mom was just like ‘Oh girl, don’t worry about that’ and I was just like okay [she says laughing] you see the 5 and the 10 day notice but then I came home from school and everything was on the ground outside. They weren’t playing those games, they brought big black garbage bags and just started dumping cause my mom didn’t want to move, but she also didn’t want to pay rent so I think, I know after that we moved in with like family in Chicago and then they were like ‘ya’ll got to go, its to many of ya’ll’ then
that’s when we went into one of those like the roach motel kind of places and it was, I remember everything about the situation. I feel like it made me who I am today in terms of being driven and like I can’t let this happen to me or my family, I just want to put myself in the position for success. So at this point in your career do you feel at the top of your game? To be honest my main goal in life is to be happy and to feel like matter what I’m doing, that its fun. You know, cause once its starts to feel like uugggh, what the heck am I doing it for now? Like I’m an entrepreneur, (I don’t have to) my husband has said ‘baby you don’t have to work, you don’t have to do anything’ and I’m like thanks but I still want to do this because I love doing it and its fun. I’ve seen how things have become bigger than me, like this show, it’s bigger than me and I’m totally cool with that. I love that its bigger than me, women want to come to this show not because of me and thats when you know you have something big. It’s not just my family and my friends there. So what are some more memorable moments to you your career that are like okay, I’m here? The memorable moments were like, I’m getting there. I don’t feel like I’m at the top of my game, but I’m definitely pushing through doors and walls that I never thought that I could. We all are learning something new everyday, and everyday is a new opportunity. A second memorable moment was when the Rachel Ray show called me and asked me could I style the makeovers, I dang near fell out my bed. That was memorable. Just like the times when public speaking doesn’t freak me out, like that’s a big deal to me cause people are more afraid of public speaking than death. What about some more stressful times? Wooo Honey, almost everyday. I would say stress comes from when you give yourself a big goal and you are off of your game in terms of time management the best you can get in terms of balance. Because I’m starting to believe there’s no such thing as balance, it just depends on what you decide to shift most of your attention on. Did you go to college? I have my bachelor’s degree in corporate communications. I started at IADT to do fashion design, and the sewing class broke me. And they said, this is the class that will make or break the designers and I was like ok. But I had never seen or touched a sewing machine before that class. After I got that thread in the machine I was like okay I’m done. Like this is too much, threading the machine took like 15 minutes, I couldn’t. What would you say is the most important part of what you do? I would say relationships. I tell everybody that. If you don’t have strong relationships, nobody’s going to let you pull wardrobe, nobody’s going to hire you to speak, I mean you don’t have a business if you don’t have strong relationships. JH Spring 2013 7
Untraveled: Andrea A. The Beginning: Chicago to Louisiana to Spain.
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started this journey leaving from Louisiana. I was so ready to quit my summer waitressing job at Waffle House and leave the country. I had my bags packed (soooo much stuff!) and was ready to roll. I said goodbye to my father as he dropped me off at the airport in New Orleans and boarded a plane to Chicago (my layover city, random as I am was born and raised on the South Side of the city). Two of my friends met me at the airport and chilled with me for my two hour layover, one of them brought me some fried fish too, lol. This was my first transcontinental journey, a 7 hour flight, ORD to MAD (Madrid Barajas (bah-rah-hahs) T4 airport. And lol at me for asking to be upgraded to first-class and the lady told me it would be about $2000 more, ummmmm no thank you but she sat me behind first class so I got to see behind the curtains! I landed in one of the most stylish airports I’ve ever been in. Local time was about 7:30am as Spain is 7 hours ahead of CST. I was exhausted getting off of the flight because I didn’t get much sleep on the plane. But I couldn’t think about sleep because I was ready to meet people at orientation, for my new job as an English teaching assistant (with North American Language and Cultural Assistants) and travel around Madrid. I was staying in a hotel room with three other girls in my program, a Mexican-American and two French girls.
at all, didn’t have an apartment nor a clue as to where I would stay while apartment hunting. Luckily, I was on the bus with a group of people in my program and one girl from Belgium, who was sitting behind me, introduced herself to me and she told me I could stay with her until I find an apartment. She was renting a room in a four-bedroom apartment and the other rooms were empty. So there were about four Americans and an Australian guy crashing in this apartment while we were taking care of business (opening bank accounts, apartment hunting, and getting our residence card). We all saw a few rooms that we didn’t like so four of us, myself, the girl from Belgium, a guy from North Carolina and a girl from Colorado, decided to rent another apartment together. It was really nice, four bedrooms, two terraces, two bathrooms and 2 fridges in the kitchen. It was about 560 € or $720 more or less, plus electricity and internet, divided between the four of us. I was so excited at how some of the things here are cheaper than in the US, for example, food and drinks. Because, of course, we went out for tapas and wine like everyday when we first arrived. A glass of wine would be about 1€ and tapas would be about 1.50€. My first week was epic. The only fear I remember having was not being able to communicate and get my point across how I wanted to. But that later changed. Two years later, I’ve traveled all over Spain and other areas of Europe, like Portugal, Italy, London, as well and Northern Africa (Marrakech, Morocco) to name a few. Andrea Alexander 25, is a teaching assistant with the North American Language and Cultural Assistants in Spain. Her travel column will appear regularly on 77three. tumblr.com. All featured photos were taken by friends of Andrea. You can reach her on Instagram and Twitter @Tattsluvme
Two days of straight fun and I was off to my future city, Logroño (low-grown-yo), La Rioja. I was on this 4-hour bus ride with no plan
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summer Sizzle
Top: lilu (msrp 9.00) Skirt: Hazelhazelhaze (msrp 98.00) Shoes: Calvin Klein (msrp 80.00)
Photography and Styling: by Jakina Ado Makeup: Keisha Michelle Model: Jessi Fulton
Top:French Connection (msrp 198.00) Shorts: 7even For All Mankind (msrp 80.00) All jewelry/accessories models own.
Top: BodyGlove msrp (30.00) Jeans: Rich&Skinny (mrsp 145.00) 10 Spring 2013
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Issue three june 12, 2013 77three.com