LOUD
A MAGAZINE FOR THE YOUNG BLACK ROYALS
ISSUE NO. 4 THE SELF ISSUE
JAZZELLE on being UGLY
A LOVE LETTER FROM US TO YOU. WE ARE A COMMUNITY. WE ARE FAMILY. WE ARE INDIVIDUALS, YET WE ARE ONE. WE ARE THOUSANDS OF MILES APART, BUT WE COME TOGETHER IN ONE CITY, AT ONE MOMENT, AT ANY TIME. WE MARCH. WE YELL. WE CRY. WE FIGHT. WE FIGHT BECAUSE WITHOUT FIGHTING WE DON’T EXIST. WE FIGHT BECAUSE WITHOUT FIGHTING WE LAY DOWN, HANDS UP, ACCEPTING THAT WE DESERVE TO DIE. WE FIGHT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ROBBED FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, OUR COMMUNITY, OUR STREETS. WE ARE NOT THE THIEVES. WE ARE NOT THE ANIMALS. WE ARE NOT THE THUGS. WE ARE NOT THE GANG. WE ARE BLACK. WE ARE BLACK PEOPLE WITH BLACK SOULS, BLACK MINDS, BLACK HEARTS, AND BLACK VOICES; BLACK VOICES THAT EXCLAIM THAT OUR BLACK LOVE MATTERS – OUR BLACK LIFE MATTERS. WE MATTER. WE ARE STRONG. WE STAND TOGETHER. WE ARE NOT AFRAID.
IN THE LIME LIGHT
@DONTE.COLLEY DontĂŠ Colley shoots and edits most of his ultra-popular dance videos at his home in Scarborough, Ont. What started as a way to express his true personality has now won the attention of bigname celebrities.
3 Instagram accounts you NEED to follow...Like now!
@CELMATIQUE Celeste believes by sharing her vision, values and lifestyle it will inspire others to be themselves.
@RICKEYTHOMPSON Rickey has become known for his flamboyant dance moves, hypnotic rants, and relentless positivity.
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NEW HERE? DON'T WORRY, WE'LL CATCH YOU UP TO SPEED
A DIGITAL LOVE STORY ISSUE 01
ISSUE 04 | 4
MASCULINITY ISSUE 02
SKY IS THE LIMIT ISSUE 03
GET READY TO BATTLE Welcome to issue 4. This issue of Loud called “self” resonates deeply with us. Because we are a creative family that believe in who we are, our craft, and how we own our own corner. We are unapologetically ourselves, we do not compromise. When we started this magazine a friend in the fashion industry asked us who are you making this magazine for? Our answer came freely - for people like us. Nothing has changed, in fact that aphorism is more true than ever. Loud is for
AUGUST 25TH BROOKLYN
people like us who are, in turn, most likely people like you. To coin another maxim which has reverberated within our ethos since we started; rules are – no rules and we follow this belief in our business which requires free thinking and an ability to act quickly with a constant
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
eye to the future. Yet there is no future without a past and we strongly believe that the essence of a positive future includes a broad understanding of the past. With love,
Lexi Marion Editor in Chief
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jazzelle: the model who changed the game Jazzelle is more than a model. She’s a movement. She’s a rule-breaker. She’s a fashion game-changer. Loud meets the break-every-rule alternative beauty icon. BY ANDRE-NAQUIAN WHEELER
Jazzelle Zanaughtti’s Instagram handle perfectly captures how our generation has learned to embrace – maybe even flaunt – our insecurities. The 22-year-old model goes by @uglyworldwide, a name inharmonious with her mesmerising, androgynous look. But the misnomer fits into the unique approach to vulnerability we’ve developed. We post tongue-in-cheek memes that poke fun at our shortcomings and turn platforms like Instagram and Twitter into safe spaces to discuss mental illness. Jazzelle has been a big player in this movement, championing weirdness through and through. She constantly shares selfies of her unconventional beauty looks (which consist of objects glued onto her face, neon-colored showgirl wigs, and shaved eyebrows) to her 400K followers. Her gender-freeing, rule-breaking style feels like a dismissal of conventional beauty standards. Because even though Jazzelle has been a muse of renowned photographer
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Nick Knight, become a millennial icon and walked for brands like Gypsy Sport and Ashish, she still thinks she sticks out “like a sore thumb”.“I didn’t really know if I was going to fit into this modeling shit,” Jazzelle says, looking at home in her baggy, oversized hoodie with a pair of super small, very on trend Matrix-esque sunglasses hooked on the collar. “I ended up being dropped from my first agency because of the performance art I was doing.” The Detroit-raised model is found in the Flatiron District office of her agency, New York Models, during the tail end of New York Fashion Week, right before she jets off to London for her next round of shows. When asked who she’s due to walk for, she gives a playful roll of her eyes. “You know what, gurl? I couldn’t even tell you. I didn’t even know I was going to London until two days ago.” Jazzelle has a unique brand of keeping it real, being just as vulnerable IRL as she is online. She quickly opens up, talking about how her life hit “rock bottom” right before she moved from Chicago to New York. Nothing seemed to be going right: she was working three jobs, knee-deep in a relationship with “an abusive older man” and struggling to pay bills and help her mother out at the same time. “I was really going through it – partying all the time to numb the pain,” Jazzelle says, looking down at the table, mentally revisiting the tough period. “I didn’t have anyone looking out for me. I had my boyfriend and a lot of other people telling me no one was ever going to get me. That I was never going to get anywhere in life if they were not in my life.” Jazzelle was searching for a sense of control and found it by cutting off all her hair. “I woke up one day and said, ‘Fuck it. I’m sick of people telling me how to be and how to act. I’m done.’” She went from long curls to her now-signature blonde buzzcut. “It ended up being a larger metaphor after the fact,” Jazzelle says, jokingly calling it her Britney 2007 moment. “I was just over it, gurl. I was ready to move on and start a new life.” Little did Jazzelle know, the haircut would help her do just that.
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The new look put her androgynous features into sharp
her tears. “That was the best moment of my life,” she says,
relief, and caught the eye of someone special: Nick Knight.
followed by two short sobs. “Yes, I had a life before that
The photographer DM’d Jazzelle after he saw photos of her
shoot – but it was a really shitty one.”
new look on Instagram. “He said he’d love to do a shoot
Two years later and Jazzelle is one of the most buzzed-
with me in London,” Jazzelle recalls, still getting excited
about models in the industry. Long gone are the days when
from the memory of it all. “I was like, ‘I would love to come,
she felt like no one believed in her. She has a dedicated fol-
but I’m dirt poor. So… if you guys can get me there?’” For
lowing from across the world who send her art and ask her
once, things ended up working out (despite being detained
questions about everything from self-esteem to makeup.
by UK customs for a few hours). She was photographed
It’s easy to see why so many people connect with Jazzelle:
by Nick wearing exquisite sculptural Comme Des Garçons.
she shows the world it’s okay not to fit in. She turns her
When she looks at photos from that life-changing shoot,
Instagram captions into lengthy emotional letters, one
Jazzelle says she sees “peace and serenity” in her eyes.
standout sees the model elaborate on the bullying she
She starts crying, using the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe
experienced growing up. “Eventually I stepped my pussy
“I didn’t really know if I was going to fit into this modeling shit,”
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game up and they left me the fuck alone for the most part,” she writes. Her life advice is Oprah-meets-Cardi B. This colorful honesty is how Jazzelle lets the world know some scars can’t be fixed by photoshoots or runway shows. Despite all the inspiration she delivers, Jazzelle is quick to say her Instagram is more for her than anyone else. “I kind of treat Instagram like my diary,” she says. “Any advice you see on my page, it’s not me speaking to anybody. It’s for me to go back and look at it and say, ‘Okay, on this day I said this and I need to get back to that positive state.’” Jazzelle is hesitant to accept being a role model because she is simply sharing what she knows. “I am a queer person and I have been harassed for it for so long,” she says. “So when these kind of things started becoming a conversation, it was just something I already knew.” Jazzelle reflects on the LGBTQ friends she made in Chicago – going thrift shopping with them and creating sky-high platforms made out of glued-together flip-flops. “None of us had money,” she laughs, “but it was such a creative atmosphere and everybody made do with what they had.” As our time comes to a close, conversation turns to the idea of advice. Rather than suggesting any books to read or videos to watch or organizations to join, she delivers a simple guiding philosophy: “You should be living in the world, the world shouldn’t be living around you.” It quickly dawns – that’s exactly how Jazzelle has been living life since her 2007 Britney Spears moment.
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BY MICHELLE KIM
Rico Nasty HA ISN'T
RDCO
RE
Rico Nasty assures me she isn’t a “punk rocker,” but her idol is Joan Jett, the so-called godmother of punk. The 21-year-old Maryland rapper recalls hearing “Bad Reputation” for the first time as a preteen, during a scene in Shrek, and being hooked instantly. “I used to play Joan Jett all the time. Then, the movie The Runaways came out,” she explains, her voice speeding up with excitement. “It was a wrap from there. I was a rebellious little bitch ever since.” Maybe Rico isn’t technically punk, but she broke out in 2016 with cartoon-inspired SoundCloud rap anchored by pop-punk melodies, akin to the stylings of Lil Uzi Vert. On her recent full-length Nasty, she leans into a persona she likes to calls “Trap Lavigne.” She spits out words with contempt and edges into the most hoarse areas of her voice, setting these verses against hard-hitting beats and occasional distorted guitar. In her video for “Rage,” she unleashes all of her unruly energy in a cathartic performance, head-banging and screaming with demonic fervor. She doesn’t hold back in the lyrics, either: “You a fuckin’ donkey, I’mma let this choppa pin your tail,” she shouts. She thinks a lot about her young female fans while making music. “I didn’t have me growing up. I didn’t have no artist that was talking about this shit,” she says, lamenting the fact that Cardi B wasn’t around when she was younger. Rico considers censoring her songs now that she sees her fans getting younger and younger. But she also wants to let girls know that it’s OK to express anger and to take charge. “I might hide one verse that’s inappropriate, but I try to say rowdy, reckless shit because girls need that,” she says. “All these fucking emotions, we need someone who is like, ‘I feel like smacking a bitch today.’ You need someone who’s going to be like, ‘I’m a popping-ass bitch. Get over that shit. And get your fucking money.’”
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LOUD
A MAGAZINE FOR THE YOUNG BLACK ROYALS
LOUD IS A PORTLAND BASED PUBLICATION