ATHENS Athens New Rennassaince Premier Issue Premier Issue
New Renaissance New Renaissance
Kendall Scott: Consuming the Random canvas
DIY: Add some change to your normal pocket
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Dear Reader, I want you to go through this magazine and pick up the greatest hint of detail. Each page’s content was created from a young artist that has yet to set a strong grasp in their career. Each page-from the type of clothing to the typographywas chosen and designed by someone just like you. The creators and contributors to Athens: New Renaissance Magazine face daily obstacles and joys dealing with creating their dream and keeping them planted. I want to show you people that go through the same thing you do; peers that experience the same struggles as you.
Letter From the Editor
Athens: New Renaissance Magazine focuses on you. I created this magazine because I was tired of being told “No,” because of my age. Each time I think about myself creating a magazine, there’s something in my head that goes “Naw, you’re not doing this for real. Stop this.” I have yet to stop. I want to prove and set the example that you can do whatever you put your mind to. I want to show you what so many of our young people have to offer. So, whether you have your niche or not, keep pushing. I’m here to support 100% of the way. Keep positive, keep progressive, and keep humble. Bria
ATHENS
Issue No. 1
New Renaissance
Editorial Bria Brown- Editor in Chief
Special Thanks
Editorial Design
Kigan Joseph
Travis Vargas
Nikiy Salazar Tonya Brown
Journalists Christopher St. Armand
Alisa Tiburzi
Anthony Thomas
Chris Alley
Julien Boudet
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Subcultra.com Cap 21 studios
Models Siobhan Devaughn
Mai-Elka Gil
Taquana Harris
Shaquasia Monee
Rocky
Vincent Molina
Alsatia Ragusa
Kitty
Myrna Williams
Photography
Morgan Sistrunk
Jasani Jacobs- Director of Photography
Adam Rashad Glenn
Mostafa Douban
Rebecca Darius “Black”
Zak Mohammed
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06 14 Kendall Scott
The Random Creator on Random Consumer. Bria sits down and gets deeper into him and his artwork.
Taty Lopez
Designers La Vita Bella by Nekya Holmes Facebook.com/LVBFashion
Thinking Proccess by Ezechi Chilaka and Herby DariusFacebook.com/thinkingproccess
Zachary’s Smile Zacharyssmile.com
Dearkin by HeatherEtsy.com/shop/dearkin
Make-up Nayo Thomas
Fashion Stylist Kanedra Jackson bklynQueens by Kiera Chatman shopbklynqueens.com @bklynqns AthensNewRen.tumblr.com AthensNewRen@Gmail.com
Printed in China
Facebook.com/AthensNewRen
Censored by Scott Cameron Facebook.com/censorednyc
Common Perception wix.com/hezy32/tcp
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08 Drunk off Moon Hooch
Get yourself Drunk off Moon HoochThe trio that just got off tour across the U.S. Crazy skronk noise and all.
DIY
Add your own flavor with these pocket tee’s by Chris. St. Armand.
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Artists by Artists
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Through out your day music Let us play the soundtrack to your life.
Nene La Shiro by Nathaniel White Facebook.com/nenelashiro
TV by Travis Vargas Behance.net/TravisV
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Drop Dead Gorgeous Why Andrea is Drop Dead Gorgeous.
Brooklyn Queens x La Vita Bella x Censored x Nene La Shiro. Young minds master fashion.
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Kre8or Taking on the music world as an artist in dubstep.
Beauty for A Cause
““These women have no guidance, live across the streets from the projects and receive negative attention from boys. They are definitely overlooked.””
By Anthony Thomas
On a quite humid Saturday afternoon, I sat down with Andrea Nicole Rivers, the CEO of “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” “Drop Dead Gorgeous” is an organization that lives by its mission: To instill leadership skills and self-confidence for all girls at risk ages in
underprivileged communities here and developing countries abroad. Fairly intimidated by her beauty and self-confidence, I wanted to discover more about Andrea and her organization. Raised in a two-parent household, Andrea found a strong support system in her father, who mentors youth through the medium of sports. After observing the adversity the young women of her former dance class and fellow youth U.N delegates faced each day, she decided to initiate a change “these women have no guidance, live across the streets from the projects and receive negative attention from boys. They are definitely overlooked.” Shortly after “Drop Dead Gorgeous” would create the positivity and resources for the young women of today would need. As a self-titled “overachiever”, Andrea manages to run “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” while maintaining academic study. When asked how she manages the time to do so she replied, “I don’t feel like one (academia) will overweigh the other. I will still do what I want to do with Law and
expanding “Drop Dead Gorgeous”. Andrea has a strong sense of humility and confidence. The future plans of the organization include a make-up drive titled “Break Up To Make Up: cosmetic donation to women shelter sites, targeting victims of domestic abuse. Two other events include “Gorgeous Faces: a partnership between the Madison Boys and Girls Club and Bloomingdales, and Care Kits. The first to decrease, as Andrea says “the truly devastating affects of domestic violence” and the latter, the preparation of cosmetic kits to send to young women in Tanzania Africa, who are subjected to prostitution and sexual abuse. When asked if there will ever be a “Drop Dead Gorgeous” for guys? Andrea replied: “I definitely need volunteers, guys can come out all the time” just a nice way to say: GIRLS ONLY. A
Clothing by Zachary Smile Zacharyssmile.com
Athens New Rennassaince Premier Issue
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By Bria Brown
RE8OR RE8OR
“23 years old. Buffalo native with a Brooklyn soul. Kre8or breaks the ice when it comes to staying in your creative circle.”
Kre8or -employee at Dubspot, a music tors to benefit his personal production. production and DJ school in the lower Beginning in early 2011, his tracks have area of Manhattan-definitely has his changed from a dubstep sound to what he hands on schooling the music crowd. calls “base music.” He eventually hopes Producing his own tunes, he’s been into to have live drums in his music. While he looks towards growth outside making music since the age of fifteen so he’s definitely got some knowledge. I’ve of the computer, Kre8or doesn’t knock heard many artists say they don’t observe the artist who solely knows it to create their peer’s work but Kre8or rebuts this their music. “It’s a means of expression. It’s a mean ideal. “We listen to what else people are of making sound. A lot of people hate on doing right now….What’s coming out? it, because they don’t really know…more of what I’m doing is writWhat’s [like] our competition? Who’s doing what? “I’m just like a ing music and then I’m Who’s really pushing one man band just composing and putboundaries? ….Where are if that could ting it all together with a computer as a tool. Think people getting new music be what it of like almost like almost from? What are the big would be.” like a singer/songwriter blogs? These are all questions were asking and like searching for.” kind of a person. But instead of a guitar While it’s quite an arguable statement, and my voice, I’m using bass noises and a some could call it being worried about whole production as my voice…..I’m just the competition, clearer eyes say it’s at- like a one man band if that could be what tempting to grow from your peer’s ac- it would be.” Kre8or started performing in early tions. Kre8or takes these insights along with works from his musician ances- January of 2012. A Listen to Kre8or at Soundcloud.com/kre8or-1 Tee by Thinking Proccess Facebook.com/thinkingproccess
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Athens New Rennassaince Premier Issue
Contort Yourself – Getting Drunk on
Moon Hooch
By Chris Alley
Search YouTube for “Moon Hooch.” What’ll you get? A long list of clips, each sharing the same elements; a drummer accompanied by two horn players, hypnotizing straphangers on subway platforms and NYC’s infamous Union Square. The locale and scenarios are typical; a well-known public space, crowds of onlookers in an arc struggling to see what the fuss is all about, and a performer in the center of it all. Yet even a cursory glance at any of these videos show that Moon Hooch aren’t typical NYC buskers. A clip from the fall of 2010 shows two of the three members of the band grooving on some of the most agile skronk you’ve ever heard, entrancing passengers to the point that several miss their trains just to continue watching. Another clip shows an impromptu dance party on the Bedford L train platform, a group of at least 40 people dancing freely, only stop-
Public contortions with Brooklyn’s finest brass. ping when it came time to board their train. These images speak volumes. New York is a lot of things; vibrant, dirty, artsy, weird, but the glut of musicians in our overcrowded city has made us, most of all, jaded. The “New York HeadNod” is infamous, our own spin on the blasé, “seen-it-all” metro crowd reaction. For many performers, especially public space/L-line residents like Moon Hooch, it’s the best you could hope for, a blessed upgrade from the “excuse me as I turn my Beats by Dre phones up”, blank apathy, or thin disguised looks of disdain. The band’s name is even synonymous with “dance party” when autocompleted by Google. The band inspiring actual movement is a wonder for another reason: they’re an instrumental act with no string players. No stoic bassist, no
preening charismatic singer, no flashy guitarist, just a pair of tenor saxes (Wenzl McGowen and Mike Wilbur) and a drummer (James Muschler) putting on a clinic on the art of dynamics. They’re a hip, urban jam band, minus the tuneless noodling and Trustafarian baggage that the term is still marred by. The saxes wraparound counterpoint, take turns embellishing and accenting riffs and interweave harmonies over drumming that’s as technical as it is tasteful; a lyricless band that still remains lyrical in approach. Though the Bushwick-based trio are eclectic in their influences, citing a clear debt to jazz and various forms of dance music, they prefer to avoid genre tags (and further mislabeling as “ska”) and dub what they play “cave music.” They take the driving four-on-the-floor pulse of house music and expanding upon it (hence “cave” instead of “house.”) “Wider is better” after all, no?. Still, Moon Hooch’s sound is one all their own, exemplified by their ability to recently sell
out the Knitting Factory and build a dedicated fan base within the city. For a band with such a New York sound and presence, that fan base is key, a fact not lost on a band who’s self-proclaimed aim is to “make people dance and be happy.” The NYC crowd holds so much weight that they are the only audience that Wenzl claims to feel even nervous playing in front of. You wouldn’t know it, with footage of the band showing Moon Hooch winning over hipsters and other slightly-less-hip NY residents with ease, twin tenors playing off each other, inching back and forth as they switch from lithe and playful to a buzz saw pulse. Though the trio have been together for only a year, their steady building suggests big things in the near future. For now, if you find yourself near a park and see a bevy of dewy frames contorting to a brass bacchanal, you’ll know it’s just that Moon Hooch in the water. A Listen to Moon Hooch at Moonhooch.bandcamp.com
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Through out your Day We play the soundtrack to your life. By Alisa Tiburzi
8:00 AM Drown out those noisy commuters and that big dude crowding the seat next to you on your daily commute. Turn up “Stealth Mode” by Terror Danjah 8:15 AM A train held in the station and an anticipated bitching boss? Blow off some steam. “Jaguar”- Cities Aviv Noon! Your life. Get out of bed, go to work, wake up. Roll down 5th Ave and bump “Audio Dope II” Curren$y. 4:00 PM Headed home from work. “What you know” - Lil Wayne plays. You’re a bad ass. Let it bump. 5:00 PM Done with your day, in time to make it to the gym. Get your work out on while listening to. “All I do is Win” by DJ Khaled 6:00 PM You need some downtime after that work out. “Hold On”- SBTRKT 7:00 PM After enough relaxation to get you stoked for the rest of the night, you’re up and ready to go. Boom! “Strange Clouds” Remix Kre8or and DATEABASS
To listen to these tracks, Scan here!
DIY: POCKET square TEE
Athens New Rennassaince Premier Issue
By Chris St. Armand
With the graphic tees and the deep cut Vneck shirts, the pocket square tee has been the new addition to this tee- shirt trend. In a step by step process I will properly break down how to create your own pocket square t-shirt.
Items needed: •Pins •Scissors •Sewing needle •Any color thread •5 inch piece of fabric •Any t-shirt you desire
STEP BY STEP PROCESS Cut a piece of fabric in a square shape at about 5x5 inches on each side. Fold in the sides of your fabric for a quarter of an inch and place the pins on each corner to hold down the multiple folds. Cross stitch the corner of the pocket square and begin stitching from the bottom upward until you get to the next corner and repeat this step until all corners are covered. Continue this process until the square is complete. Place your finished pocket square on the chest of the tee. Begin sewing the corner onto the first layer of the shirt and repeat the same pattern but leave a slip open to form the pocket. Use your scissors to snip the loose threads of the square.
Alsatia facebook.com/ CensoredNYC
Shirt by Censored etsey.com/ shop/dearkin
Necklace by Dearkin facebook.com/ NeneLaShiro
American Flag Harem Pants by Nene La Shiro
ARTIST BY ARTIST Nene x Queens x Bella x Censored
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Left- Alsatia
Kitty
shopbklynQueens.com
Facebook.com/
Teal leather skirt Cropped suede jacket Cheetah print leopard belt (Model’s own)
LVBFashion
La Vita Bella Beige body dress with leather front. wix.com/hezy32/tcp
Right- Rocky
Common Perception Golden Bow Tie
shopbklynQueens.com
‘80s sweater dress w/ embellished shoulders Boots and tights (Model’s own)
Left- Siobhan shopbklynQueens.com
Oversized blazer w/ mixed print Spandex Riderpant jump suit
Right- Alsatia facebook.com/ censoredNYC
Censored Crewneck Dearkin skull necklace facebook.com/ NeneLaShiro
Nene La Shiro army fatigue harem pants Boots (Model’s own)
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Athens New Rennassaince Premier Issue
Consuming the Crowd
more alive d n a d l o s 23 year tt takes o c S l l a d n e K than ever; r world e m u s n o c e on th t a time. one piece a
By Bria Brown
I press the record button. Kendall Scott faces the camera and bursts into a short melodic tune. Quite the animated character, his personality comes with a complexity that influences his artwork. Kendall is the master mind behind Random Consumer, a brand of artwork that he’s created to show his perspective on the world and its tribulations. “A lot of companies are out and they’re producing images that are like really, really cool looking…but nothing with a significant understanding or background behind it. [And] me, myself as an artist, I believe [if] anything should be created, it should be created for a reason.” He gives me his “Big Cheese,” tee from the “Heaven on Hell” collection. I turn it on the back, Mickey Mouse stands with a protruding middle finger, cane, and diamond ring sporting what seems to be
Uncle Sam’s hat. Aside from my initial thought - “Mickey is a pimp” - the “Big Cheese,” represents the way America’s icons profit off the 99%. “We all have our own Heaven’s on Hell…” says Kendall. “I don’t know if anybody else considers this shit Hell, but I do.” Each piece he designs contains a depth that is seen through everything on the canvas. His “Rabbit” piece, presents a renovation of the three kings where the crowns the kings wear all have eyes. “We love our items more than the people that live around us, so I make everything alive.” Kendall takes the common struggles we face and turns them into images relayed through clothing, canvas, and computers. “Other people make shirts and I make art.” The method to spread his art? Free apparel sporting Random Consumer. “I don’t like spend-
ing hundreds of dollars on a company that doesn’t acknowledge me in the first place.” “If you have about 100 people, If I’m selling for $30 with that 100 people, now 50 people would potentially buy my shirt, you know? If I’m selling my shirt for $10 now within that 100 people, seventy people might wanna buy my shirt, but if it’s free, I’m touching base on the entire hundred.” “The whole part about it is touching base on as many people as possible to see something relevant, it’s not about profit.” Kendall has an ability to joke and have fun yet so easily can he point the logic out in anything he thinks of. He makes faces in between interview questions and cooks like he’s Based God. Reaching out should be no difficulty for the young artist, he’s definitely sure to attract any random consumer. A Follow Kendall Scott at Facebook.com/KendallScottRC
“I don’t know if anybody else considers this shit Hell, but I do.” 15