META MINI Issue 02: CMMND by META

TABLE OF CONTENTS

META MINI ISSUE 02 SPECIAL COLLABORATION WITH CMMND 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LETTER FROM THE CO-FOUNDERS JOY CHEN + TIFFANY HUE

PAGE 06 - 07

LETTER FROM CMMND CMMND

PAGE 08 - 09

WHO IS CMMND? CMMND

PAGE 10 - 17

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND JOY CHEN + TIFFANY HUE

PAGE 18 - 27

BAMIDELE ALESHE: FYBRO ii BAMIDELE ALESHE

PAGE 28 - 31

SLEEPYBOYBRYAN: TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO FLY SLEEPYBOYBRYAN

PAGE 32 - 35

OKAY COLEMAN!: SLOW DOWN OKAY COLEMAN!

PAGE 36 - 39

KP KARL PERKINS

PAGE 40 - 43

SYDNEY CATTOUSE SYDNEY CATTOUSE

PAGE 44 - 47

SEIJIFUJI SEIJI ODA THANK YOU CMMND + JOY CHEN + TIFFANY HUE

PAGE 48 - 51 PAGE 52 - 53

LETTER FROM THE CO-FOUNDERS

LETTER FRO EDITOR-IN-C & CREATIVE

LETTER FROM CO-FOUNDERS

OM THE CHIEF DIRECTOR What makes people creative is what sets us apart from the world, and for both META and CMMND, that is the ethos of our work. In Issue 02: Creative Decompression of our MINI series, CMMND explores what it means to find your creative identity and voice in a world where some may feel like a fish out of water. And sometimes, that’s exactly what motivates you to create. Our individuality is what helped both META and CMMND rise in our fields, and it is our individuality that continues to inspire our creations. At META, we resonate completely with the idea of using creativity as an outlet for our thoughts, but more importantly, we understand creative decompression as a universal tactic used by many. Everyone harbors creativity in their hearts, and it takes inspiration to unlock it. The goal of this issue is not only to showcase the badass creations of a collective like CMMND, but it also invites readers to probe what makes us creative in our lives, and how our right lobe may be the key to figuring out who we really are. So, read on to find yourself with CMMND.

LETTER FROM hi, we are 6 creatives based in la, in a multi-disciplinary collective. we believe that everyone is a creative, whether you sketch during class or put together the biggest collection there is, there’s some form of creativity to take part in everyday. we hope to inspire others to recognize and believe in that, no matter how big or small. our theme is “creative decompression” because the way we all relieve the pressures of daily life plays a role in our creative process. a different side of our artistry, a more personal one. we wanted to highlight something that keeps us grounded, so our MINI is something that represents our individual versions of that. we know especially in the last two years, there are many things that caused stress in our lives and we want to take a moment to highlight how we express and deal with ours. this magazine is something that represents our individual versions of that. hopefully this gives insight to our minds and inspire you to take that journey with us. we hope you can take from our approaches when you are most stressed and remember everybody will always be a creative. love, cmmnd 9

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES

WHO IS CMMND?

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES: BAMIDELE ALESHE

BAMIDELE ALESHE

Inspired by the visual appeal of scientific data and imaging. Designing with a balance between organic curves and inorganic color and writing stories through material. Bamidele “Bami” Aleshe is an LA-based technical designer and product developer.

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES: SLEEPYBOYBRYAN Sleepyboybryan is a recording artist that floats along different areas of hip hop, while maintaining his west coast sound. His passion for rapping is threaded together by his love for art, lifestyle, and story-telling, reflecting in the game-heavy, conversational-toned, and nonchalant-poetic presence that Bryan embodies in his music. Along with this, Bryan is also a graphic designer, heavily influenced by graffiti and Photoshop culture, as he works between hand drawn and digital. Bryan’s upbringing in the Philippines and the east Bay Area has exposed him to different strings of life, in return, shaping his artistic identity between the worlds of music, design, and fashion.

SLEEPY BOYBRYAN 13

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES CMMND MEMBER PROFILES: OKAY COLEMAN!

OKAY COLEMAN!

okay coleman! is a rising star from Pasadena, CA. A vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist with clever bars and soothing vocals, whose identity extends beyond “artist” as he also produces the vast majority of his music. The eclectic influences of hip hop, jazz, R&B, and heavy drums are immediately noticeable in his creations. There isn’t a realm that is okay coleman! can’t touch, and even more, dominate. He is the epitome of range. His creations feel like a dream, simultaneously familiar and like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. After all, most of his creations are based on his own dreams. Overall, he’s just an interesting mf and you will constantly crave to know more about him. What’s different about okay coleman!? He’s raw talent -- no gimmick, youfeelme.

CMMND CMMNDMEMBER MEMBERPROFILES: PROFILESKP

KP: a creative director from Oakland California that resides in LA. He has an Interest involving the integration of multiple artist mediums to create a cohesive message. KP focuses predominantly on building that message through visual arts.

KARL PERKINS 15

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES: SEIJI ODA

SEIJI

ODA

Oakland native Seiji Oda’s identity is rooted in his Japanese heritage and Bay Area upbringing. By melding R&B harmonies, lo-fi production and his hyphy roots, Seiji has created a one-of-a-kind soundscape earning him a core of devoted fans. Originally rising to internet stardom with the track “Trapanese” , Seiji and his brother Lil Ricefield quickly amassed over 35M+ streams and a loyal following. From there, seiji staked his claim as an innovator who slides effortlessly across genres and interfaces with his fans daily, a true product of the Soundcloud era. With the end of the pandemic, Seiji found himself walking in New York Fashion Week, opening up on Guapdad 4000’s California tour and playing to devoted audiences in Los Angeles. With collaborators like Jordan Ward, P-Lo, Jay Anthony, JEELEL! and the creative collective CMMND (which seiji is a founding member of), seiji has delivered a steady stream of releases, exclusive merch drops and music videos through 2021.

CMMND MEMBER PROFILES: SYDNEY CATTOUSE Hailing from Pasadena, CA, Sydney “yvngcatt” Cattouse is a LA based photographer, creative director, and senior at UCLA. Sydney has been shooting since he 15 and is heavily influenced by capturing memories of those around him. Despite shooting sports, event, landscape and commercial photography, Sydney truly enjoys portraits and looks forward to growing the way he tells stories in 2022.

SYDNEY CATTOUSE 17

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

AN INTERVIEW

WITH CMMND 18

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

Q1:

The origin of CMMND is really interesting. Despite being defined as a collective, you each specialize in different mediums. How did all six of you come together and create CMMND? KP: We all started in different places. When I came to college, I was finding an outlet to grow into and express myself in, and then I stumbled into creating photo and video work. I felt like I consumed a lot of culture when we first started. And I think that’s true for all of CMMND. It’s a space where we came together and were like, yeah, we need a platform that represents different levels of people in their journey and being creative and expressive in that way. Bami: A common denominator between all of us was that we were all students. I think with that came some sort of a lived experience among the six of us, as artists and students. That was the baseline, that was where we resonated with each other. When it came to our thought processes and how we perceived our crafts and how we were never fully accepted in the traditional art spaces as students. So we created that space for ourselves. KP: We came about when Bryan was cutting my hair and I was like, “Dude, we gotta do something that reflects our interests and our passions. Right?” We all know people that make music. We all want to learn how to design clothes and I wanted to make a space where we could do that. So I just sat down with everyone in random dining halls and was like, “Yo, wanna join CMMND?”

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

Q2:

CMMND recently had an apparel collaboration with UCLA, which was one of the first of its kind. What would your next dream collaboration be? Bami: I don’t think having a dream collaborator is really a thing. When the right opportunity comes, you’ll know it. UCLA was an example of that, where nothing was forced. Nothing was plotted out years in advance. It happened within a short amount of time from idea to reality and I think those kinds of collaborations––those relationships––they’re right when they’re right. We want to work with people that want to work with us and are just as passionate about the project as we are. UCLA was a good example of that because they put a lot of time and effort into the collection on their end. For us, that’s very important, we want to feel a collaboration is a collaboration. Seiji: I think that it’s hard to single out just one person or one artist or even because we’re such a collective. I think that everything we do is already collaborative with each other and with the many other people that we work with. For us, the dream isn’t necessarily a person but wanting to create this collaborative space where we can bring all the people that we like to work with into our projects. We want to bring creative people that we respect and will be new to CMMND’s audience. KP: It’s a reflection of the timing and where we’re at in our lives. A lot of what we work on is a reflection of the time in our lives, the steps that we’re at in the process of building our own individual careers as well. It’s very fluid, it’s a choice to collaborate and a choice of the projects that we choose to work on.

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

Q3:

How do you all maintain your individual careers while ensuring the collective progression of CMMND? KP: It’s still a learning process. Working in a group or working with people that have different points of views on their individual careers is a growing process. I’m not going to act like we’re perfect and we have it all figured out. I don’t think any group of people do or any entity does. There are points in time where we have our individual lives and individual careers. We do our best to respect each other’s time, space, and goals. That’s what CMMND is all about. When the time is right and the energy is right, the right project will come around. Bryan: Something that we do that helps everybody is we talk. If there’s a CMMND project and someone’s personal project at the same time, we talk about what ways we can do to make that easier for us and them. We all have our own things to focus on, but we all equally want to make CMMND pop and make sure that we’re all hands in on whatever project we’re working on. Coleman: I think that’s something that’s been a little bit more relevant lately, especially thinking about the trajectory of CMMND, since it’s a collective. We have to bring something to the table for it to work and I think we’re reaching a point now where we’re realizing in order for our trajectory to really go up like that, there are a few things we have to do with ourselves. What are our personal goals in terms of these creative industries? What are our own goals? And how do our goals align with the group’s? It’s a difficult thing to figure out, but I think we’re realizing now it’s a give and take where you have periods where CMMND is going to be a lot bigger than us individually or vice versa. I think our foundation, like the way that we came to CMMND, was based on appreciating our own individual art. We let each other explore our own art and when we bring our ideas to the collective space, everything is really encouraged.

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

Q4:

What experiences or emotions do you want to make their audience have when seeing your art? KP: I think it’s curiosity. The first time I started being creative, I wondered how someone did a certain thing. I wanted to drive this inner child, where you learn and inquire about how something is done or why it’s done that way. Coleman: For me, I need you to cry. I need you to get up and say, “I just made this piece after I listened to your song,” or “After I saw what CMMND just dropped, I immediately went back home and cooked this up.” We’re trying to help encourage people and inspire people, get creative and confident in themselves to know they have talent as well. That’s the big goal here. I want people to be very verklempt when they hear our stuff while also being aware of my personal touch. I always want people to feel our music is familiar like a dream or déjà vu feeling. Bryan: I want people to feel what I’m feeling at the moment that I’m making it. I want my emotions to translate that into the music and in turn, make the listener feel what I was feeling at that moment. Sydney: If people get the feeling of wanting to create after seeing our projects, then I think that is something that’s definitely a plus. I hope that people can look at our creativity and acknowledge that it’s dope, while also feeling a non pressured way to be in a creative space or try and create something with others or by themselves.

AN INTERVIEW WITH CMMND

Q5:

If you could be a different member for a day, who would it be and why? KP: No one, because I ain’t trying to be any of these motherf-ckers. [laughs] Coleman: Just for that, I need to be KP. I need to understand what’s going on in his head when he sends text messages to us. I need to understand why he does certain things because it makes no sense. A lot of them don’t make no sense. Second to that would be Seiji, because that’s another person where it’s like, “What is going on in there,” in that cranium. Bami: I would be Syd. I feel like Syd moves on vibes. [laughs] KP: I’ll be Syd for a day. Coleman: Syd be stressed. I don’t need that. Sydney: Yo, I’d probably be Bami or Bryan. I’m hella interested in fashion and I don’t dress like Bami, but I do like the way he dresses. I want to see how he perceives the world. He’s probably walking around in Tabi boots. [laughs] He can pull off fits. But I would also do Bryan. You know when you think of the word ‘cool’? Bryan is the definition of a cool guy, he is the definition of a swaggy motherf-cker. He knows what’s up. KP? Nah, stressed. Coleman? Nah, stressed. Seiji? Seiji, ya bro, I think I’d be Seiji. Coleman: Bami be walking around and looking at people’s hoodies and go, “Mmh, eight ounce, mmh, cotton.” [laughs] Bryan: I’d be interested to hear what Seiji hears in his head. I feel like he’s making beats and sounds. He might hear a spoon drop and go, ‘oh, that’s a hard snare right there.’ Seiji: I would be Syd, I feel like he has a really unique way of looking at the world. It comes through in his photography but I would want to be able to see it first person from his perspective for a day. Bami: We all have very unique ways of looking at life and I would want to know how they think since we all think very differently from one another.

“BAMIDELE I M A B a *ak ” ALESHE

the beauty in emptiness. the room for new ideas. creating the space for ideas to grow; to develop; to evolve. some may immediately be intimidated by the idea of a blank canvas. for me, creative decompression is when you allow the blank space in life to become the subject. 28

allocating the time to be able to see, hear and listen has been pivotal to my ideation as of late. the absorption of new material and experience has proven to inform the creation of new concepts and the progression of old. fybro was a concept that I originally presented in 2021. after a successful launch in fall, I rushed into developing new styles. I spent a month settling for what was comfortable and available while not giving myself adequate opportunity to see, hear, listen and most importantly, learn. recognizing this led to me reproaching the concept as an opportunity to experiment.

these selected scans are a reflection of the true experimentation that has been conducted the past two months as of january 2022. as this fybro series develops, I hope this research continues to serve as a decompressive element in my life as I learn more about new fabrication, construction and techniques; letting the unknown take center stage.

SLEEPYBOYBRYAN

“WHEN I WAS A KID, MY UNCLE TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE THE PLANE. I DAMN NEAR MAKE THIS EVERYTIME IM USING PAPER. VERY SATISFYING.” 32

CUT THIS PAPER OUT. 33

“SLOW DOWN”

OKAY COLEMAN!

I SPENT MY DAYS IN THE SUN WITH MY SHIRT OFF I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE DIRT IN THE SAND BOX

I spent my days in the sun with my shirt off I fell in love with the dirt in the sand box There stood some skinny black boys with some skateboards Riding with my homies though Seen the world before us go Einie meanie meinie mo Police picked em off the road Which ones is they lettin go Pick and choosin who achieve they purpose, who won’t make it home The fear in my family weighs on my soul But the essence of peace liеs in what they don’t know Yea, yea, just sеnd me to bed, school in the mornin and did it again, yea But I wasn’t there, I was still present but not in the head, yea I wanted escape, I ask the Lord for it he said be careful what you pray for, uh World so cold feel like I can’t feel my face no more Sun shine down on me take me back to Jericho I need to re up on my “calmity” for heavens sake I really need to take time to sit and meditate She told me mindfulness will come to me if I slow down

“SLOW DOWN” BY OKAY COLEMAN! 37

“KARL

PERKINS” *aka KP

I just make art that reflects most of the chaos that is in my head; kinda muddle and all over the place. I hope these images shows that. 40

SYDNE CATTO

EY OUSE

AKA “YVNGCATT”

SEIJIFUJI// MUSICIAN // ARTIST // PHOTOGRAPHER

i still hold my breath under a tunnel even though my brother isn’t there to compete with me. after staring at the sun for too long, i see that purpleorange imprint everywhere i look. after i read a word over and over again, it eventually begins to lose its meaning. blinders on i burrow ahead one track minded, staring at track stacks and instrument busses for hours on end.

when i sleep i see the faders rising and falling on the back of my eyelids. focused, but lost in the right way. never thought i would need a new outlet, but squinting through that tiny viewfinder frame i found a fully new perspective. everything is raw and new, like a kid on the first day of school. wading in shallow water //

thank you for allowing us to express ourselves, interpreting our art, and being part of the creative process.

thank you for taking the time to look through our META MINI and making it through to the end. we hope you can take something away from each or any of us that inspires you in some way, shape, or form

THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU ! ! Thank you for reading our second installation of the META MINI. Our second edition is in collaboration with CMMND, a collective that truly understands that creativity knows no bounds. We want to thank them for their time, dedication, and voice.

At META, we want to thank everyone who has helped us share our creative vision and aspirations. To those who contributed to this issue with tireless nights designing to midnight runs for spray paint, we would like to honor the creativity and spirit of our team: Allyza Quiambao, Caitlin Chen, Charles Tran, Elizabeth Walton, Gracy Watts, Hannah Nguyen, Lillie Yazdi, Megha Gupta, Maya Gee-Lim, Sey Yang, and Vivian Nguyen. From us to you, thank you. Love, Joy and Tiffany