MEET THE TEAM Konrad Ziemlewski @vsmagazineuk versusmagazine@hotmail.com Editor/Designer Jonathon Bartlett @rawjb Jb@thedailystreet.co.uk Columnist
Justin Prince @Jprince83 Prince26@marshall.edu Columnist
Social Links Like Us fb.me/versusmagazineuk Follow Us @VRSMAG
Summer 2012
ISSUE #2
After a hefty hiatus we are finally back with our Summer 2012 issue. A lot has changed when looking back at our initial venture with Versus, for the better. We have picked up Justin Prince, adding to our team of avid music enthusiasts. We are also now in process of coding our website, which will be released in the next few weeks, to coincide with the magazine.
This issue we decided to really spoil you with not one, not two but three interviews across music and design, including J3 Concepts, Derek Stenning and The Dean’s List. We will be looking at the importance of a design degree and how to go about charging your client the right price, as well as introducing our massive new feature, ‘Versus’, where we put two musicians/collectives against one another. You can also expect a number of returning features such as our ‘Technology’ and and ‘Introduces’ series, among others. Enjoy this issue while we start coming up with ideas to blow your mind in the next issue! Konrad Ziemlewski Editor
Features 2
The extremely talented JThreeConcepts tells us what its like being at the top of the game.
16 An illustrator, whom is slightly too fascinated with guys and funky headgear, tell us where it all started and where its all heading.
24 The Deans List trio let us in on their amazing journey so far and what they have in store for us in the future.
10 Designers, from a wide range of disciplines make their case, to why we should keep an eye out for them.
22 Tupac’s hologram made a statement... but can we now expect more?
31 We pit together the eccentric Maybach Music with the lyricists of Rhymesayers. Who comes out on top?
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versus interviews : j3Concepts Jared Nickerson has been around since forever, working for a number of high end clients such as nike and activision and running his own community ‘Blood sweat vector’. He lets us in on his success and his passed time as a musician. By Konrad Ziemlewski
So, Jared, how about we start off with a little introduction, by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do? I’m a professional digital illustrator originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. With various moves westward across North America I’m now based in Seattle, WA. I co-founded renowned vector community Blood Sweat Vector, (BSV for short). From early 2008 until late 2010 I was Art Director for Berlin-based clothing label, laFraise. My main focus is character, logo, videogame, editorial, and textile design. I also specialize in art direction, branding and consulting. My client list includes Nike, Adidas, Cocacola, Activision, to name a few. JThree Concepts. What’s the story behind the name? It was one of my dreams/goals, when I was young, to start my own design studio when I grew up and always fantasized about what it’s name would be. My name starts with a J and my favourite number was 3. I used it as my videogame handle when I was a kid/teen and stuck with it all these years, haven’t been able to shake it, so decided to use it as my alias and now studio name. When did you first become interested in graphic design & illustration?
I was always into art and my dad made sure we always had a computer in the house while I was growing up. It was a natural transition after playing with MSPaint and Corel Draw all those years. I don’t think there was a specific time I became interested, it just developed over time. I had been working for an online broadcasting company in Vancouver, BC and found myself with a chunk of extra time while traveling for them and decided to pick up a copy of Adobe Illustrator, and the rest developed from there.
Your art has a very distinct and imaginative style, what fuels it?
Anything these days can be an inspiration, but I always try and cut my own path with my work. Even though my personal work has been a lot less numerous over these past few years, when I do get a chance to visit personal ideas I always find classic cartoons and vintage color palettes to be my main source of inspiration.
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Could you tell us what your typical work-day looks like? Really depends on what sort of client work I am juggling both that day and the night before. Since I deal with clients anywhere from Germany to China to the US, I find my schedule is constantly in a state of flux. When I first get up I normally do the regular email checks, social media checks etc. and during the coffee and oatmeal phase I start up a video game to ease into things... I don’t suggest this process to anyone, and it could explain why things are always left to last minute. You can’t force inspiration I guess, you have to work with it when it comes, whether that be 4am or 4pm. Designers get inspired by different things and in different ways. How do you get inspired?
I take most of my inspiration from every day life and music. I notice advertising campaigns more than the company/product advertised. I find myself looking at logos/packaging of products all the time. I take photos with my iPhone constantly to remind me of things that inspire me. I’m always taking voice notes with my phone whether it be design ideas or lyrics/vocals for a song I’m working on, external influences can be found everywhere in anything, it’s all about being prepared. What does your studio set up look like?
Monitor is 30” Apple cinema display and computer is Intel core I7-960, 3.2GHz, 12g ram, Windows 7 64bit, Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 video card. Primary software Adobe Illustrator CS5. The atmosphere is cozy, my 2 dogs sleeping under my desk, and usually some sort of food product, collectable toy, and any other distraction I can find in front of me. For exmaple I am sitting here face to face with 2 King Tut Lego figures and a collectable toy I made for Adidas’s clothing line “NEO”.
“i dont think there was a specific time i became interested ”
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What would you say is your best piece of work, and what piece would you want to go back and redo? My latest patern, ‘I fear you girl’, is one of my favourites because of the time I spent on it and the intense amount of detail in each element. ‘Go to Sleep Citizen’ to me is timeless. While I had so much fun working on ‘The Last Vampire Astronaut the Quest for the...’ that I invited other artists to create their own versions.
One of the few designs I really ever went back and re-did was ‘The Perfect Ending’. It’s a portrait of my wife, so I really wanted it to be perfect. Other than that, I don’t usually re-do older designs, I like moving forward and doing new things. With that said though, their is always room for minor adjustments along the way. What characteristics make the perfect designer? I find a “perfect designer” and a “perfect freelancer” are two very different things. To be a designer though, you should be flexible, adhere to feedback and critique, but know how to hold your own when you believe in an idea. In the end you are hired for your knowledge and experience (I’d hope) so don’t be afraid to make decisions or to express your opinion. You shouldn’t just be a tool for the client, you should be a trusted service provider and source of knowledge. Being a perfect freelancer though, that’s a whole other story... Blood Sweat Vector is a company you co-founded in 2008. Could you tell us a bit about it and how fellow designers can make use of it? It really was a place we could let artists we respected in the industry showcase their work. A who’s-who of vector design, you could say. It’s invite only, and we wanted to keep the quality of work featured, the best out there. We have many artists from around the world who showcase their work on a regular basis and I believe it can serve as a great source of inspiration to fellow designers/artists. There are a lot of talented designers & illustrators all over the web. How did you transition from just being a talented individual to working with brands such as Nike and Activision? 6 years ago, I was still pretty new and fresh into design, but I was asked to do 13 promotional wallpapers for Suicide Girls. This transitioned into doing all the editorial illustrations for their second magazine. At that time, they had one of the bigger budgets that had come my way, so it paved the way for me to get my head into working with larger clients, gave me experience in working with print, and also helped me develop one of my various styles. After that, I started to be contacted by larger companies on a more regular basis.
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“being art director for the team at lafraise was a great experience... i had the best of both worlds” You were the art director of laFraise for a short period of time. Did you prefer working as part of an organisation, or being your own boss? Being Art Director for the team at laFraise was a great experience. My background is in management, so it was a comfortable role for me. I was able to do freelance on the side, so I had the best of both worlds.
When it comes to design work, I prefer working for myself. I like being able to deal with clients directly. I like having final say on my work and not being influenced by a whole team and their opinions. It’s tough when dealing with a middle man, who can’t help but get his personal tastes involved and therefore lose site of what’s best for the client or brand. In the end, freelancing is my preference. What do you do when you’re not designing? Mostly, I work on music with my band, Dead Astronauts. We are getting ready to release our first single in the next month or so and then an EP 1-2 months following that. I also play video games...a lot! When I’m not doing any of that, I play with my two pugs, go to the movies, and hang out with my wife. What are you listening to right now? Mostly my own band’s work right now, developing our style and sound, besides that though some of my favourite bands include Metronomy, Unkle, Depeche Mode, Junior Boys, Cut Copy, Eli Escobar, Brian Ferry, Two Door Cinema Club, etc...
What would be your ideal collaboration with a musician? That is a very very tough question. Unfortunately no one in hip hop anymore. It’s changed so much since I used to DJ, it’s really not what I’m into anymore. Maybe it’s more that my tastes have changed, but I think for sure hip hop has changed a drastic amount, even in the last few years. Back to the question, I’d love to work with Morgan Geist, Eli Escobar, Richard Norris, and Ewan Pearson to name a few. Random, I know. Do you have any advice for upcoming artists that are trying to make it in this overpopulated industry? TAKE BUSINESS COURSES!!! I can’t stress it enough. You need to know how to market yourself, how to deal with clients, how to run a business. Like I mentioned before as well about being flexible, try not to limit yourself to one sort of style, and learn how to take criticism, that and practice are the only way you’ll improve yourself.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? “Make art for yourself and, in time, everyone else will follow.”
jthreeConcepts Website : jthreeconcepts.com twitter : @j3concepts facebook : fb.me/jthreeconcepts email : info@jthreeconcepts.com
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Versus : Technology
a500 by Alegre Industrial
Tambour Table
Tivoli silenz headphones
Highlighter Fountain Pen
The TNK A500 is an executive chair designed to give the user more, while being environmentally friendly. This top quality chair has been created using high-tech materials, brand new design ideas and the an eye for detail. With the result being an extremely elagant chair, were hoping the upcoming pricing still makes it affordable.
You know those desks that have the rolling tambour doors that slide open and closed to expose or hide the desk? Brooklyn based industrial designer Michael Bambino took that idea and flipped it on its head with his Tambour Table. On the surface it looks like a typical desk, but hiding beneath each corner is a essentially a drawer. Price and release TBA.
It used to be that if you wanted wooden phones, you couldnt get noise cancellation. Sporting solid wood ear cups, 40mm high performance drivers and inline control that can disable the noise cancellation, these Tivoli headphones are about to change all that. They also feature a folding design and a choice of finishes, though unfortunately no price set for these beauties yet
We designers always tend to carry a hell of a lot of stuff in our bags, especially during our student days; the Cote & Ciel is the bag we have been waiting for. The extremely clever design of this backpack, puts everything in order, meaning we dont have to spend an despicable amount of time finding that one thing were looking for. Though Coming in at around £180 it’s quite pricey unfortunately.
Tanner Goods Notebook
samsung galaxy s3
Sensu Brush
AViqq ready clips
Everyone changed their clothes on a regular basis, different colours, styles and shades... so why not your notebook? Handmade in Portland, Oregon, they come with 48 page’s and a set of random information, such as animal tracks etc. Costing only $15 and coming in a range of colours, its a cheap and cheerful way to stay classy.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 made the Android platform insanely popular and the S3 is about to make it even more so. The Galaxy S3 is the Korean powerhouse’s latest flagship phone, packing a 4.8 inch AMOLED screen, 1GB Ram, 8MP camera and Samsung’s own take on Siri. This phone is being touted as the one that will dethrone the iPhone and we think it has every chance of doing just that.
There are plenty of amazing, intuitive painting apps for the iPad, but without the right equipment, its nothing more but finger painting. That is unless you have the Sensu Brush. A devilishly clever tool, that combines a stylus with a paintbrush, in a sleek, steel casing, giving you the feel of a real brush in a digital environment. Available from $30.
Now this bit of tech will come in handy for all of us. All those times we have taken out our headphones, chargers or what not and spent the next 10 minutes trying to untangle them, here on out are over. For around $20 you get a set of stylish clips, that straighten out your cables and also provide a USB at one end and a choice between the mini USB, micro USB or Apple 30 pin connector on the other end.
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10steps
To charge your client
the right price By Konrad Ziemlewski
1. The time frame The amount of time you spend on a particular job is quite possibly the most important factor when it comes to pricing out a job. No matter what your profession, the amount you charge for your services will be based on the current market rates relevant to your skills set and the time it takes to complete the job. You can quite easily work out the price for an entire job using a few simple formulae or use one of many apps and websites that provide this service; such as the salary calculator, which will do everything for you.
2. how deep is your pocket? How much your client can spend is extremely important, theirs no point charging them £1000 when they can only afford £100. Different companies will have different budgets, meaning you need to alter the cost of your surface dependent on if it’s a massive company, compared to a start-up. There is also a balance to be had between rejecting a company’s offer (especially relevant to start-ups) and simply negotiating a respectable price, so you and the company don’t lose out.
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3. location and use Designing for the sake of design, doesn’t cut it in the commercial sector. The work you create is essentially a tradable commodity, which is valued on its capacity to generate capitol for the company. You have to consider if the work your creating will be used for a short print run, or for an international advertising campaign, and then price accordingly.
4. The numbers game It’s very much the same thing when it comes to volume. If you have created an illustration and granted its use 5,000 times, than its going to be less expensive than 50,000, this being the same when it comes to websites etc. Questions such as; how many visits will the website receive? How big is the user base? Are all questions you should ask yourself before charging a client.
5. Due Date Knowing the amount of time you have to complete a brief is extremely important, not only for your pocket but so you can get yourself organised. A lot of variables can affect the quote you hand to your client and urgency is definitely one of them. If the deadline is short, generally speaking their will be a reason for this, since no one wants work rushed – the reason usually stemming from the higher ranking people at the relevant companies. Shorter deadlines mean the pressure is on you, so charge accordingly.
6. Ownership of work If you’re signing over all ownership of the design your creating, factor this in. The intellectual property is yours unless you explicitly sign it over, so make sure you read and digest any documents you are given to sign. If you have the chance to work on a massive job, let’s say for ‘Ferrari’, it might be a good idea to have a lawyer look over the documentation, so you don’t get swindled out of ownership.
7. Money out of your pocket You have been commissioned by Nike to create an advertising campaign for their latest Air Jordans. Are you going to have to buy specialized equipment? A collection of fonts? A camera, models and rent a set? These are all expenses you should factor in when giving a quote. Than things such as travel cost, accommodation and even lunch become important, all of which will influences your profit margins.
10. Do you want the job? A lot of the time when finding work you have to ask yourself, do you need this job? Is it a brief that excites you or are you just in it for the money? If you are looking to build up your portfolio, and believe this brief is the one that can make it that bit better, work for it. On the other hand if it’s just a passing interest, you could go in quoting high and if you get lucky, you could cop a nice pay check, if not than theirs always the next brief…
8.reputation and it’s value Spreading lies in this business is not a good idea, due to the many variants of interaction available. Always be honest, not arrogant, if your in demand – charge for it. As a designer your abilities might be perfectly suited to a certain client, or as a motion artist, your particular style would come hand in hand with another company. Such abilities and features come at a premium; clients will be willing to pay that little bit extra for them.
9. Are you competitive? The chance is when you go for a project, the party hiring has been quoted by a number of studios and designers – knowing this information is extremely valuable. Finding out that your competitors have already shown their offer doesn’t necessarily mean undercutting them – if they are up comers, less reputable etc it will count against them, allowing you to charge more than them, if you are in a better position.
versus showcase : H.Madan
Who is Harriet Madan? What does she do and why should we be interested?
Who would you say has influenced your ongoing developing style?
I’m a budding designer and illustrator - recently landed in sunny Cambridge and looking to make my mark on the world. I think that my strong visual style and ability to express movement and fluidity within my work allows a perfect symbiosis between the narrative and the visual. Always happy to collaborate on anything and I love to talk design. Also a big hot sauce fan, determined to find the hottest known to man and send my cooking nuclear.
I feel that my influences are constantly changing yet are always linked by my voracious interest in each. I’ve always adored the concept work and illustration of Tadahiro Uesugi - he’s a visual maverick and his ability to capture atmosphere within his work is (I feel) unparalleled. The comic book styling of Bill Sienkiewicz have always provided a great source of inspiration, he shares Uesugi’s visual nostalgia for the 50’s and 60’s and his bold traditional approach is awe-inspiring to all who see it.
harriet madan Website : cargocollective.com/harrimadan twitter : @harriet_madan email : madan.harriet@gmail.com
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What would you like to accomplish in your artistic career?
I would love to break into the world of Computer Game concept art and character creation, painting and designing visual explorable worlds for people to explore. I feel interactivity is the ‘final frontier’ when it comes to visual direction and computer games have always tapped into the wondrous imaginative side of my brain. I’m thrilled at the thought of players really being able to ‘take in’ my designs and traverse them however they see fit.
versus showcase : H.copeman First of all go ahead and introduce yourself and tell uswhat got you into design? Im a 15 year old freelance designer from Hull, England. I began designign late 2010 after being exposed to a range of different design mediums. I began experimenting with mainly Photoshop and Cinema 4D, which went well, gave me confidence and got me more interested in design it self. Furthermore through the discovery of behance, I was open to a load of different designers that I could talk to and get help from which was incredibly humbling. Who influences your work, what designer would you like to eclipse?
I take a large chunk of my inspiration from two profesionals, Justin Maller and J3 Concepts. These both have really unique, different styles and I have recently been in touch with them asking questions such as career advice and feedback. I love the idea that they have both worked for massive, worldwide clients such as Apple and Nike and I would love that oppurtunity later in life. However I feel it is really important not to box yourself in and use other peoples ideas and styles, you should always try to give your self a distinctive style and by doing this you will stand out from the crowd. As for eclipsing someone, I dont want to be somebody else, I plan to grow and develop as an artist on my own, with my own unique style.
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What are your goals for the future? I usually set myself some really high standards, and I have big hopes for the future, the first of them been that I want to move to California, around the Los Angeles area. I visited the place when I was 12 and was amazed by it, and as soon as I leave University I plan to fly out there and persue my career as a freelance artist. Talking to the likes of J3 Concepts, they say that been a freelancer is hard work, but I’m always up for a challenge and I couldnt think of any thing better than been my own boss. I would love to wake up by the beach under the sun knowing that I have a day of design ahead of me, and I won’t have a boss wanting to rip my head off. For now though I’m going to continue designing and sharing my work on websites such as behance along with working on my website ‘harrycopeman.com’ and hopefully that will allow me to break out into the profesional world.
harry copeman Website : harrycopeman.com twitter : @harry copeman behance : be.net/harrycopeman email : harry.copeman@gmail.com
versus showcase : Yellowdog
Could you begin with telling us a little bit about yourself, and your design background? The yellowdog team consists of 3 brothers; Chris, Alex and Dom. We’ve always had a passion for anything design orientated so when we all decided to collaborate together and form yellowdog we literally couldn’t wait to start. With regards to having an actual design background none of us have had any formal training using design programmes or camera equipment so everything you see has come about with a lot of trial and error. Could you tell us what yellowdog is and how it came about?
Yellowdog is a brotherly run clothing company that strives to produce screen printed clothing of the highest calibre by focussing on the concept of simplicity using bold shapes and clean lines. That was pretty much our initial brief but evolving and moving in pasture new isn’t something we would shy away from. The name yellowdog itself comes from us always saying “ello dog” whenever we saw each other and also a bit of research and development into the different styles and ways companies would name themselves. Your apparel designs have a very clean; some would say ‘swiss’ style, who has inspired your design development?
Being likened to anything Swiss is definitely a compliment; we are massive fans of the Swiss Roll (preferably Jam), Toblerone and who doesn’t love a good solid army knife. Our main aim was to keep things simple, block colours and strong designs.
Simplicity really was the key for all of us so we didn’t want to go down the route of getting lost in a barrage of complicated, over the top designs that you would associate with metal bands of the 80s. Whilst we can appreciate the design and skill that’s gone into creating art work like that we just didn’t want it on our clothing. There are numerous elements which have inspired our designs but to narrow things down it would have to be Nordic housing, Art Deco lines and constructivism. We are constantly working on new designs that should reflect what is capturing our imagination at that time. What would both yourself and yellowdog like to achieve in the future? To take this brand full time and to walk down the beach in say Barbados and see people wearing us.
yellowdog Website : theyellowdoghouse.com twitter : @tweetyellowdog blog : blog.theyellowdoghouse.com facebook : fb.me/theyellowdoghouse
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Is design school really worth it? To be perfectly blunt, no one cares that you have a ‘creative’ degree; it’s not mandatory to make it in the industry. In the end it doesn’t matter how you get there, the only thing that matters is you have the talent. That’s it.
So why go to all the trouble of forking out thousands, when a degree isn’t really necessary? Why should you even bother? When going to University, please, please, please, don’t waste your time learning the basics of software packages. You can learn Photoshop, Illustrator etc. in your own time, on the weekends, with the myriad of sources available to you online and in print. Instead focus on the things a ‘tutorial’ wont each you, such as; colour theory, editing, typography, design rules, composition. Having talent is one thing, but what a creative degree will teach you is how to begin applying this into practice.
As with any other job, deadlines are a major part of being a creative. You can be given months on a job or a number of hours, all too which you have to react accordingly. A degree gives you hard deadlines to work with. A project due on Monday will mean you spend your entire weekend trying to produce great work, so you can really show to the world, how great you are. These briefs will keep you up all night and that’s exactly when the magic happens. One of the biggest benefits of a degree is the opportunity to be mentored by someone that has experienced the industry and has a vast amount of knowledge. Once you find someone you just ‘click’ with, stick with them, shake all that knowledge out of them and have them critique your work as much as possible, getting you ready for post degree life. Not only do
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mentors provide you with great guidance but also are a good start for getting your industry contacts. Being a talented designer is great, but without the right contacts it’s going to be hard to break out. Whenever there is a guest speaker at your University, go see them, have a quick word, even if you’re not a major fan of theirs, keeping in touch with them may be one of the best things you ever do. Finally, a degree gives you the time to experiment, to have fun and to learn. Don’t spend the length of your degree playing it safe, try things out that you would normally say no to, test out software packages that you always ignored because you thought you wouldn’t be able to handle them. Don’t be discouraged if the first few pieces of work you make look terrible, try to improve piece by piece, even trying out concepts such as ‘a project a day’ will help you develop your skills while trying out something different so you don’t get bored. A degree gives you the time to make mistakes, without the pressure of needing a job and that’s something you have to make use of.
So should you spend your money on a piece of paper nobody needs? It very much depends on you. In the end you get out what you put in. It’s all the other stuff you gain as part of your degree that you pay for. You could quite easily skip University and forget about a degree, many talented people have; True North co-founder Ady Bibby even says “It has to be talent over qualifications every time.” I’m currently going into the third year of my degree and have been through the good times and the bad, but don’t regret my decision one bit. If you’re thinking about getting a degree, you probably should.
by konrad ziemlewski
Versus Interviews : Derek Stenning A designer with an instantly recognisable style is hard to come by, one whom blends design with philosophy and meaing. Thats exactly what derek stenning provides. By Konrad Ziemlewski
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Derek how about we start off with you telling us a little bit about yourself and what you get up to? A little bit about myself...well I’m an artist currently living in Victoria BC, Canada. I’ve been working as an artist in the game industry for the last 10 years or so, and I’m currently working as a concept artist at Microsoft Studios here in Victoria. My wife and I are raising two kids, so I spend as much time as possible hanging out with them, and being with the family. When there is down time from those two things, I find time to work on freelance concept and illustration projects, or I create my own personal work, which at the moment is centred around creating pieces featuring characters in extra large headgear!
When did design first come to your attention? It started when I was kid. I’ve always been compelled to draw and create art, it is how I express myself, and I have to do it. Commercial forms of art have always been the most interesting and the most influential on me. Comic book art, animation, and poster/book illustrations really struck me, and the art that I created was always in that vein. These forms of art often have a graphic quality, or a graphic component. This not only informed my style, which has a graphic sensibility, but also sparked my interest in graphic design.
You grew up in Vancouver, Canada, which in my eyes is quite the artistic city. Did growing up there shape the way you look at the world and design now? I lived in Vancouver for the majority of the last 15 years, but I actually grew up in Victoria, which is southwest, across the Strait of Georgia from Vancouver on Vancouver Island. Victoria is similar to Vancouver, in that it is an artistic city and has beautiful natural surroundings, but it is much smaller and the pace is slower. The art scene in Victoria also tends to lean more to traditional and fine art as it lacks all the commercial industries, and commercial art educational institutions that you find in Vancouver. I just moved back to Victoria a few months ago, and it is interesting seeing it with fresh eyes.
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Your work has a very distinct, peculiar and imaginative style, where do you get the inspiration from?
Do you believe there is such a thing as the “perfect designer”?
I’m a visual person and when I’m thinking about or envisioning a piece I can see it in my head. The visual that I see has a particular style that I then translate into a piece. This style can vary a bit from project to project, but I think there are some common elements. As for what fuels this particular style, I’m not entirely sure. I have a bit of a photographic memory, so maybe it is fuelled by all the visual stimuli that gets filed up there in my head. I also find a lot of inspiration from non visual sources such as music and things I read that spark images in my mind. These images are guided by my own aesthetic preferences. As I mentioned I have a graphic sensibility, so that always informs the style (I don’t have the patience or the desire to render every hair on a head, or every pore on a piece of skin). Also, while digital media is my preferred medium, I learned using traditional media, so I think that informs my style as well. I don’t go in for a lot of the flashy stuff. My colours also tend to be muted as I feel they have more presence and more substance than heavily saturated colours. But I let it come out of me, let the visuals guide me, then feel it out as I translate it into a piece. I hope that answers the question.
I don’t know...I don’t think there is a “perfect designer”. Different designers with different strengths will succeed on different types of projects. For me I’ve been successful when I approach design with the mind of solving a problem, defining the problem and asking a lot of questions to build a criteria to measure and inform my design decisions. Also finding that element within a project that you are interested in, or that inspires you, that you can sink your teeth into, can really help keep you motivated
Where do you find your inspiration from? My influences are many and varied. I read a fair bit, history and mystical subjects are my favourite, and ideas for pieces can often come from material that I’m reading. The emotional state I happen to be in can colour and shape the images that I’m seeing in my head, or how I’m envisioning a piece. Random visuals, real or photos, can often spark an idea as well. For various reasons I seem to have a hard time keeping up with the current design/illustration scene, so for art influences it is still a lot of the stuff that inspired me when I was younger: Frank Frazetta, Massimiliano Frezzato, Alphose Mucha, HR Giger, Katsuhiro Otomo, Hayao Miyazaki. What, in your opinion is your best piece of work and is there a piece you would like to go back and change? I don’t know if I can narrow it down to one best or favourite piece, but there are pieces that I feel turned out better than others. Pieces like ‘Drifting’, ‘The Bridge’, ‘Insolent Mockery of the Divine Under Centrist Rule’ and ‘Dsytopi’ captured the visual and the emotion I was going for.
If I could go back and redo a piece I think it would be one called ‘The Ideal: Cretin and Whore’. The title of this piece and the inspiration came from one of the deriding slogans painted on the walls at the first Entartete Kunst exhibit in Munich in 1938. With a powerful statement like that you need a powerful image, and I think it fell short. I still like the idea and the composition of the piece, as well as the colour scheme and the graphic elements. But I think the posing could be stronger and more contrast is needed to pop the characters off the background. Overall it needs a little more polish. I can remember running out of steam on that one.....
You, like many other talented designers started out from the bottom of the barrel. How did you transition from just being a talented individual to working with brands such as Nintendo and Marvel? I was one of the lead concept artists at Next Level Games when I worked with those brands. So it was more of a situation that I was a lead artist at a company that had contracts with Nintendo and Marvel, not that I was hand picked to work for them. That being said by the time we were working on those titles I had been in the game industry for a number of years, and I had done a fair bit of concept art, as well as some art direction and I was ready to work for big brands and to work with big intellectual properties. There were still challenging times, and I learned a lot, especially on the Marvel titles that we did. It was a great experience, the projects were a lot of fun, and the clients were very happy with the results. In all of your astronaut pieces there is one recurring item, the star, is there a reason/idea behind this? The hexagram/Star of David is used on these Soviet inspired helmets in place of the Bolshevik red star as a symbol of the concept of Judeo-Bolshivism. Judeo-Bolshivism is an idea that the Jews were the driving force behind Russian Communism. For the Nazis and others, the social decay that they saw being expressed in modern forms of art was largely the result of a corruptive Judeo-Bolshevist influence on society. The Nazis used the term Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art), to label art and artists that they felt were “un-German” or JudeoBolshevist in nature. I don’t adhere to these ideas, but I’ve adopted the term Entartete Kunst for this series because for me this work is about shedding my own discriminating ideas about art and to break out of my own preconceived notions of what my art should be. The characters in this series wear this mark of discrimination, but for them it is more of a badge of honour, as they represent freedom, openness, the throwing off of convention, and the throwing off of establishment ideas. Another of my favourite Canadian designers is James White, whom runs Signalnoise. Have you ever had the chance to work with him? Who would you love to work with, in the design world? I haven’t worked with James White, and I actually hadn’t heard of him until you mentioned him. Thanks for introducing him to me, his work is great. He has some cool styles going on there and I really like his composition and his use of colour. Maybe I should work with James White!
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What do you do when you’re not designing? Right now I’m all about spending time with my family. The children grow up so fast, change so quickly, and once they have moved on from a particular stage, that time is gone. So I like being with them and really being present with them and absorbing who they are at that particular stage in their lives. So we fill our days with them, playing, playing sports (my son can’t get enough soccer or hockey), going for bike rides, swimming, creating crafts and art, checking out events in the city, visiting friends etc., etc.. When I’m not with them I like to read, listen to music, go for walks. I’m also a bit of beer snob, and I’m always interested in find and tasting new beers. If you could collaborate with one musician, who would it be? Maybe it would be a toss up between Loscil or Mark Spybey. Loscil is great ambient music created by Vancouver based artist Scott Morgan. His work is full of great drawn out drones and repeating patterns that I think would fit well with my work. Mark Spybey’s work is similar in some ways, but his ambiance often achieves more randomness and noise that can add an extra layer of interest. Either one would be a pleasure. The design industry is one of the most crowded around. Do you have any advice for upcoming designers that are trying to breakthrough? The main piece of advice I can give is to follow your own path, and your own instincts and interests. Don’t get caught up in reproducing popular trends. When you are starting out it is a little different, as a young inexperienced artist you have to start somewhere. But I think you will be much better served by looking within yourself, and having the courage to follow
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and present your own ideas. The results of your work will be more rewarding and you’ll fine it easier to develop your own style and identity which will help you stand out in this overpopulated industry. Any last words? This year I’ll wrap up the first Entartete Kunst series and I’ll be putting a book together with all the pieces as well as some additional odd and ends, This summer the first model kits based on my work, and put together by Industria Mechanika will be coming out and I’m involved in a group show at the ARTISHOX Gallery in Hasselt, Belgium. In late summer/early fall a new line of snowboards I did for Endeavor Snowboards will be released and I’ll also be starting a new project later in the year so stay tuned.
derek stenning Website : borninconcrete.com blog : borninconcrete.blogspot.co.uk email : derek@borninconcrete.com
Tupac, Coachella
Holograms& tupac’s amazing appearance from the dead at coachella suprised everybody. the ever changing landscape of technology has always had an effect on the music industry but is having the ability to bring back your favourite artist good? By Justin Prince Technology is constantly changing and affecting our daily lives in about every way imaginable. Music isn’t immune to the ever-changing landscape that is the world today in such a technologically advancing era. Album sales have declined due to the ease of online downloading, and who can forget the summer of auto-tune where every song released sounded like the Jetson’s robot maid was featured on the track. But, not all technological advances have been bad for the music industry. Better technology has lead to crisper, cleaner sounding music, and the iPod picked up where the Walkman left off making music easier than ever to take with us wherever we may go.
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All of this brings me to a new technology that could make a bigger impact on the musical world than anything we’ve seen before. Of course, I’m talking about the Tupac hologram that was unveiled in April during the Coachella Music Festival. Before the eyes of thousands of concert goers, the late MC materialized on stage along side former label mates Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. From his sagging jeans and swinging chain, down to his recognizable tattoos, the spectral rapper paced the stage as he got into a chilling, beyond the grave rendition of Hail Mary. I can only imagine that conspiracy theorists and those under the influence of mind-altering drugs alike were fully tripped out and ready to believe that Makaveli had finally returned like a hip-hop messiah. But, as quick as he appeared, the ghostly artist vanished and immediately went viral. Now thanks to another technological advancement of the last 30 years, the Tupac hologram was now been seen by millions worldwide which has raised many questions. The first being the same question people have been asking since his death in 1996. Is Tupac Shakur really dead? I won’t answer that, I’ll let the believers have their fun. The second question, how will this affect music? That question I will attempt to answer for you. The obvious effect that the Hologram will have on the music industry is the doors that have been opened for a number of deceased artists to now be reincarnated on stage. In fact, a hologram of former Queen front man Freddie Mercury is in the
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works right now as you read this. As a fan of music, it’s exciting to think I may be able to see Nirvana perform again with Kurt Cobain, or Easy E on stage reunited with Dre and Cube. But as a rationale person, I can’t help but have reservations for how this may all play out. First and foremost the music industry is about making money, putting out quality music is a secondary bonus for label executives. If it were about the art form, Souljia Boy wouldn’t have a career. The hologram of Pac, which was created and designed to perform for the few short minutes at Coachella cost over $100,000 and for a longer show could cost upwards of $400,000. That’s a lot of bread for a record company to dish out on a dead artist, so they are going to want to make sure the show is as profitable as it can be to justify its cost.
“the spectral rapper paced the stage as he got into a chilling... grave rendition of hail mary”
Something I haven’t seen anyone else talking about in regards to the hologram and how it could affect the music industry is the little dime a dozen sideshow concerts at popular tourist destinations across the world. For example, there is a theater/ eatery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina called the Rock n’ Roll Café. The café specializes in fine dining combined with a “tribute” show of the world’s all-time greatest rock bands. These are look-a-likes on stage lip-syncing their way through Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. This is just one place; dinner-show theaters like this are at every tourist destination especially up and down the Las-Vegas strip where Elvis impersonators have been making a living for decades. Now with the debut of the Tupac holograms its very likely that places like this will be looking into developing holograms for their shows. The problem is, these types of businesses can’t afford to pay what Dre shelled out for Pac’s or what record companies could pay to have their artists immortalized. This could lead to holograms not as well done as the one at Coachella, and to me seeing a haphazard Jimi Hendrix hologram would be an insult to the Purple Haze hit maker.
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Then you have to question, are the deceased artists and their families being exploited? Its been reported that Afeni Shakur was “ecstatic” with the idea of seeing her son on stage again. But, Pac’s close friends Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were also the ones recreating her son’s likeness, so she could feel comfortable that it was going to be done in a respectful manner. This can’t always be the case and Queen drummer Roger Taylor has gone on record to voice his opinion on his friend and band mate’s chances of being reanimated via hologram. “I don’t think I want to be on stage with a hologram, for me it’s really my friend out there or nothing,” Taylor said. However, he did state that if someone else wanted to create one of Freddie he wouldn’t oppose it, but he wouldn’t perform with it. So obviously, Taylor has some reservations, and they could just simply be that it’s too painful to see his friend on stage beside him with out it really being his friend. Jamaican Youth Ambassador for Entertainment, Graham Rowe has made it known in the press that he would like to see reggae Icon Bob Marley perform again but not at the expense of the Rastafarian’s legacy. “Some things get played out easily, and you don’t want to play out one of Jamaica’s biggest legends. There is a concept in that scarcity increases value so its Pac’s resurrection at Coachella was a memorable night in music and perhaps its only fitting that Pac was the first musician to receive the hologram treatment, as he was such a polarizing figure in life. But, is it a revolutionary act that will be the future of musical concerts for years to come? Or is it a Pandora’s box that could lead to a flood of brash and rushed holograms of some of music’s biggest stars tainting the musical legacy of those that we have lost?
“then you have to question, are the deceased artists and their families being exploited?”
versus interviews the deans list The hit making trio of sonny shotz, mendoza and mik beatz, who make up the deans list, are straight out of university and ready to make waves across the us and europe. they talk past, present and their plans for world domination. By Konrad Ziemlewski So I guess first things first. Introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about what you do?
What can you tell us about your recent release ‘Generation X’?
We are The Dean’s List and we make music. The group consists of Mendoza, Sonny Shotz and Mik Beltran.
There are songs for everyone on the album but it is definitely a mix of genres. There is a lot more development from “The Drive-In” and a better, more mature sound that everyone can vibe to.
How did you three come together, and fall into your respective roles; DJ, producer and emcee? It’s really more producer/engineer, producer/business manager and MC/Songwriter. We all kind of found our niche and what we’re good at and it sunk it. We’ve found a good balance. We all play our parts, it was very natural.
How did you manage to balance the school workload while working on your music careers? It was definitely very difficult at first and got even harder as things started to take off for us. It got to the point where we really had to choose and we took a few steps back and said “Ok this is what our degrees will get us, how will that get us to do something we love?” We looked at the opportunities and finances and made the decision to drop out before The DriveIn dropped. Making the album and keeping up with school was very difficult so we made due until it was past the point. Where do you guys find your inspiration – is there anything that influences your work that we might not expect?
A lot of it comes from listening to a lot of eclectic music. Things we’re going through, experiences on tour. Doing music on the road affects the sound of your music and it’s been a very cool experience. It’s more open than being in a studio and more relaxing. Our inspiration comes from where we are and what we listen to.
I’ve got to ask you about ‘Hollywood’ ever since I heard it, it’s been on constant rotation on my ipod – what’s the story behind it? “Hollywood” is actually a really old beat that was made maybe 8 months or so after “The Drive-In” release. It was one of the beats that Mik & Mendoza worked on and when we came across it again we thought it fit what we wanted with the project. It’s also an incredible live track.
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I know you guys have been doing live shows for a while now, how are those going? Mostly good, or have there been some bad ones? Every show is great in its own way. There are definitely ones that aren’t as crowded and then ones that are overwhelmingly crowded. Either way we get to connect with the fans that show up so regardless it’s always a great experience. It’s about the fans.
“ok this is what our degrees will get us, how will that get us to do something we love?”
What’s the most amusing interaction you’ve had with a fan, online or off? We’ve seen a bunch of tattoos of our lyrics or songs. Nothing too obvious but subtle lyrics or something along those lines, which is very cool to see. Online there is a lot of artwork people do, which we love because it ties into the creative side of our group. Also, a while back people started clamouring for merch from the shows and then people started buying it which was a great feeling. What’s your take on ‘frat rappers’ / ‘blog rappers’ do you see this movement helping out upcoming artists? Frat Rap is getting very cheesy and is overplayed. Everyone is trying to hit up a friend who has a friend who has a blog. It gets tiring to see and listen to. Asher Roth started it and now it’s a bunch of rappers following what they think is the right thing to put out. We don’t think it will be around too long. The new album is a big statement for us, disassociating with that type of label and establishing ourselves. You have to have your own sound to differentiate.
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How do you go about the more ‘artistic’ side of your process in terms of your music videos, album covers etc? We go through FTS Creative for 95% of our videos. We definitely take a good amount of time on the creative process of our visuals, making every video very important. It’s a big component of today’s music scene, a lot of times first week sales may not be great for an artist but 3 or 4 very cool music videos later you see a difference. You also don’t need to spend 100s of thousands of dollars to be creative. With Versus being based in the UK, are there any artists that catch your eye from our end? Rita Ora, she’s really cool. There are a lot of overseas artists in general that we like. A lot of these indie groups and rappers are either from there or pull from there. G.O.O.D Music VS YMCMB ?
We’d probably side with G.O.O.D. because we love Kanye. Not necessarily comparing each artist on there though.
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If someone was new to ‘The Deans List’ (like many of our readers may be), what would you personally give to them as an introduction? Generation X from start to finish. Don’t judge each track individually but really listen to it as an album.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? Download Generation and we hope to be in the UK really soon!
the deans list Website : itsthedeanslist.com twitter : @followdeanslist facebook : fb.me/itsthedeanslist Email : mendoza@itsthedeanslist.com
Versus Introduces: Danny Brown Hiphop’s answer to 90’s sartorial flare, Danny Brown, has been recently causing a stir in the world of hip-hop. After drifting on the side-lines of music for a number of years, he’s finally broken out and been able to wax gangster on beats, garnering himself a lot of attention.
There are utopian stories about Danny’s first words being in rhyme, due to the fact that his mother used to read him Dr Seuss stories as an infant. However unlikely this is, it gives the broken-toothed, leather tracksuit wearing lyrical tyrant his only cute feature. In a recent Noisey interview alongside A$AP Rocky, Brown let us into more than a few home truths, most notably having sexual acts performed on him at the age of 16 by a toothless crack addict, he isn’t exactly a perfect replacement for the Jonas Brothers - his debauchery knows no ends. It would be a sin to not mention Danny’s wardrobe, perhaps the defining quality as to why he’s being described as one of the most exciting things to happen to hiphop since Theophilus London popped up over a year ago. He turned down a record deal with G-Unit after collaborating with Tony Yayo in 2010 solely due to the fact they’d want him to change up his personal style. There’s a definite tip of the snapback to the rock star style that defined musical superiors during the 70s and 80s; wearing garments that would make the average joe look like Boris Johnson in a Kappa tracksuit.
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His most recent release, the free album XXX received critical acclaim, being listed in Pitchfork’s top 20 albums of the year. The album itself is split in two, the first half being a jovial swathe of party music, the second half something a little deeper, with a notable lack of punch lines and entendres, highlighting the serious side to the Detroit artist.
He was one of three artists in the XXL Freshmen List who actually deserve credibility in the scene, along with Macklemore and Hopsin, though not a particularly impressive feat (given that A$AP turned down the ‘honour’ of gracing the list), it shows that his music is finally reaching the masses - which in turn means that since then he’s been able to make music as a full time job, how else would he be able to afford all those bunts and all that molly?
Teaming up with Childish Gambino on tour for part of 2012, it’s clear that other popular fringe artists respect what he’s doing, even if their styles don’t particularly suit each other. I’m glad there’s some new refreshing talent in the game this year; it’s been too long.
by jonathon bartlett
rhymesayers Rhymesayers unlike MMG have been around since 1995 as a label/collective, housing some of the best underground names in hip-hop. Founded by Sean Daley and Anthony Davis (Slug and Ant of Atmosphere) and two others (Musab Saad, Bren Sayers), it is now the biggest label in Minnesota and one of the most respected names around. Not being content in just being a label, Rhymesayers have diverged into clothing, with their own store called ‘Fifth Element’ and an Annual Hip-Hop festival, known as Soundset, spreading the Rhymesayers brand throughout the US and the world. Currently the biggest name creating buzz out of Rhymesayers is the colourful character, Grieves. A cross between ‘Atmosphere’ due to the tone of his music and a skater, because of his dress sense he’s been causing a stir ever since he released his critically acclaimed label debut album ‘Together/Apart’. Due to the very autobiographical nature of the album, it opened up a brand new fan base to Grieves, as well as cementing his ability to switch from his trademark vocal crooning to his poetic nature of emceeing. Having recently sold out his tour in the UK, supported by the labels go to mastermind of a producer Budo and label veteran Brother Ali, it is finally visible that his message and music is transcending the Atlantic. Moving on we have the enigmatic, wordsmith Aesop Rock. Not to be confused with A$AP Rocky (not that the two look or sound like each other), Aesop’s music is something you have to keep revisiting to understand the multilayered, inception like meanings in his music. A clear example of this cryptic lyricism is found in the song ‘Battery’, where Aesop spit’s “There’s smoke in my iris, but I painted a sunny day on the insides of my eyelids”, something that on first listen might not make any sense at all, but then the realisation hits at what Aesop’s getting at, he only finds happiness in his mind. Unlike Grieves whom tries to blend the boundaries between pop/hip-hop, Aesop Rock is very much for the hardcore rap lovers, not willing to water down his music just to make it more accessible (something that can be said about the label as a whole).
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what is versus? In Versus we pit together two artists/crews against each other and put forward our case for our chosen crew, to find the best out there.
Brother Ali is a very autobiographical character, believing his music should very much be along the lines of a ‘day in the life of’ listen, “If you follow my tapes then you know what I’m about” he says. A veteran of the crew, having already released 4 album’s with the label; a 5th, ‘Morning in America’ is coming up, with release August 13th, spanning over a decade, we see that not only has he the ability to keep on reinventing himself, but also that his sincere approach has struck a chord.
Finally we arrive at the godfathers of the label, the best known/ respected of the Rhymesayers crew, Atmosphere. Atmosphere comprises of emcee ‘Slug’ and producer ‘Ant’ whom have been going strong in one form or another since 1989, eventually evolving into Rhymesayers. Critically acclaimed and known as one of the best/ if not the best hip-hop artists about, ‘Complex Magazine’ naming 7 of their songs in their ‘Top 25 of the best Rhymesayers songs’, with ‘Always coming back to you’ topping the list. That track is quite possibly the best representation of the group, a poetic interwoven story, featuring a number of scenarios and perspectives, retrospectively looking at hip-hop and its nuances. Ant provides a very subtle beat, on which Slug is allowed to flow, with the beat merely supporting his witty lyricism rather than it overshadowing it (like many lesser skilled emcees allow). Rhymesayers are the sort of crew that you would put your money on winning a rap battle, a crew driven by its lyricists, rather than being renowned for its beats (or lack of in this case). Although I have only mentioned some of the strongest artists in the label, it doesn’t mean emcees such as ‘MF Doom’ and ‘Freeway’ are any worse. Although the crew is not as well known as the Maybach movement, the fans they have are dedicated and hardcore, willing to put their neck on the line to support in their opinion, some of the best emcees around.
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maybach music group Maybach Music Group are a relatively young collective, after being created in 2009 by Rick Ross, they’ve slowly but surely built up a repertoire of artists worthy of competing on the world (chiefly American) stage. The kings of trap music, and perhaps the sole lifeline for Lex Luger’s beat making career, have been growing, earlier this year picking up the former R’n’B superstar Omarion, though I can’t see him being anything more than a hook on any future MMG tracks, remember Mr Hudson guys? Meek Mill is flying the flag for the team in terms of buzz, being potentially the hottest new artist about right now. His mixtape Dream Chars 2 hosted by DJ Drama racked up 2.5 million views on legendary mixtape site Datpiff in just 24 hours; as well as crashing the site due to the mass anticipation of his fans. This kind of popularity for an EP/mixtape is unprecedented in the modern day, we as consumers are inundated with so much free music it’s truly a rarity for something to cause so much commotion, especially from a relatively new artist.
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Though not often a purveyor of thought provoking word play and clever puns, Meek Mill accompanies the Teflon Don as one of the best to make trap music, the music that (should you have a Cadalac) you put the roof up and drive amongst the dilapidated buildings and drug addicts and blue sky about your potential, how you could be that one who breaks the mould and becomes successful; people say Trap music isn’t intellectually engaging enough, but when that’s what the connotations boil down to, I think it’s the critics who need to wise up, not the artists. He’s getting recognition stateside from almost everyone, with co-signs from all of your favourite artists, huge tracks like ‘Ima Boss’ and ‘House Party’ still on the rotation of your favourite DJ’s decks as well as earning himself number 4 on Complex’s Best Rappers Under 25.
“managing to straddle the lines of hiphop, rnb and pop which in turn lead to the success of ‘lotus flower bomb” On the opposite side of the coin we have Wale, who unfortunately blew up following collaboration with Lady Gaga. His music aims to make the audience think, while he’s nowhere near as popular as Meek Mill or Rick Ross, the following he has are die hard fans. The only album he’s currently released under MMG, Ambition, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, only bowing down to the teenage-girl-harvesting-machine we know as Justin Bieber. Though receiving mixed views, Ambition had its fair share of diversity, managing to straddle the lines of hiphop, rnb and pop which in turn lead to the success of ‘Lotus Flower Bomb’ featuring Miguel as a single. Don’t let that fool you though, Wale is known for his deeper meanings, ‘Chain Music’ is the perfect example of this. Mixing up the meanings of the track, one interpretation (or perhaps denotation) of the track would lead you to believe it’s all about the jewellery, a hedonistic track focused on consumerism. However, if you take a step back to appreciate the lyricism, it’s also a clever punt at slavery ‘Chain so big, can’t pop my collar’.
Last but not least we have the boss, the Teflon Don, that fat motherfucker, Rick Ross. The iconic figurehead of the MMG brand, when he’s not being arrested, he’s having cardiac arrests, or he’s in London getting brain from that girl that you, the gym going graduate, like the most.
His upcoming album ‘God Forgives, I don’t’ will feature more of this Agamemnon-trumping confidence, judging by the two singles dropped so far which feature both Meek Mill & Usher. Whilst not the most lyrically stimulating group in the game, MMG have a few stars that will feature highly in most peoples top 10s, if Wale is left to do his thing and Meek remains runof-the-Mill then Rozay is set to make a pretty penny from this collective.
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Versus versus::tracks tracksof ofthe thequarter quarter
Slaughterhouse - Hammer eddy b and tim gunter - Ab-Soul Feat Danny Brown hoodie allen Dance tomorrow - Terrorist Threats no interruption Like many people my mood dictates the type of track I want to hear at any given moment, so what may be the best song to me today, isn’t necessarily going to the best song to me tomorrow. With that said, I chose Slaughterhouse’s “Hammer Dance” joint which is the lead off single of their Shady Records debut “Welcome to Our House.” The song is a good first mainstream effort by the rap super group with a mix of the carefree style that is popular on radio and the groups well known witty lyricism. The foursome spit bars over an ominous dark beat combined with a playful chorus. Classic lines especially from Budden like “Like I’m just a real dude cut from my mothers stomach/Ain’t enough cloth for all of us to be cut from it/”. The mix of the catchy hook, an ominous but more polished beat than many other Slaughterhouse tracks, and the lyricism that we’ve came to expect from the HipHop super group should bring in new listeners who only casually listen to mainstream rap without having to sacrifice their die hard base that doesn’t want Slaughter to stray too far from the underground.
Justin Prince Choice
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After mulling over what track to choose as my top pick for this quarter, I kept on going back to ‘Tomorrow’. Sometimes to appreciate how far you’ve come, you have to reflect on how you have got here, thats what this song is all about. This message is displayed throughout, in this new release by the dynamic duo, showing more passion and dedication, than we have seen in the past from these college kids. Driven by Gunter’s pacey piano chords and Eddy B’s rhymes, the song is very much an introspective look at the difficulties of growing up and the importance of a parental figure to keep you on the right track. The ode to deceased and recently reincarnated rapper tupac is a welcome surprise.
Konrad Ziemlewski Choice
Perhaps the most politically charged track of 2012, it immediately grabs you as quasi socialist propaganda, Terrorist Threats practically incites riots with it’s ominous ‘If all the gangs in the world unified/ We’d stand a chance against the military tonight.’ hook. The visuals that accompany the track are equally as brash, with the duo standing in the middle of a busy road as they spit their bars, meanwhile visuals of destruction are plastered across public spaces, most notably the 9/11 attacks. The track itself tackles some difficult topics, the need to hustle on the streets when from uneducated or poor backgrounds, the troubles of growing up as well as the lack of credibility in politicians around the world, chiefly Barack Obama. Featuring two of the hottest tipped artists for 2012/2013, I couldn’t ask more from a single.
jonathon bartlett Choice
Our collective track of the month this edition comes from the American wonder kid Hoodie Allen. Topping the iTunes charts with his recent EP ‘All American’, the lead single ‘No Interruption’ features some of the catchiest chord progression in recent hip-hop memory. In addition to this, we see the progression of Hoodie’s vocals, singing the hook himself, which is a nice change taking into account there isn’t any other white rapper out there doing this currently. The lyrics feature what we’ve come to expect from Hoodie, ‘I’ve got a fake ID and a checklist/ It goes never meet a girl on Craig’s List’, continuing that signature frat party hedonism that’s made him so successful, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Group Choice
Versus Reviews: all american Listening to Allen’s EP All-American, the first word that comes to my mind is “different.” One part Jason Mraz, one part Mac Miller, and two parts fun, the All-American EP is a journey through the attitude of a 20-something American male.
The eight track EP is pushed by Hoodie’s witty punch lines, fun beats, and carefree vibe. What Allen lacks in his ability to tell a compelling narrative, he more than makes up for with his distinct sound and ability to reach his intended demographic. That demographic being people in their early to mid 20s; with visions of life outside of their social class or the 9-5 that they’re working. All-American is, at its core, an escape. It’s something you can throw on to just get away from the stresses of your mundane life, as well as being an ode to Allen’s accomplishments thus far into his musical career. So you may be more likely to hear Hoodie being jammed to at a college frat party than you would to hear his music blasted on the street corners of his native New York City. But that’s exactly why Hoodie’s music works so well, because he knows who he is, and he knows who his audience is and on All-American he stays true to that. The EP is also almost 100% Allen’s as he only uses one feature from Jhameel on the track “No Faith in Brooklyn.” In The music world we live in today, where it’s not uncommon to see an artist use a feature on almost every single track they release, it was refreshing to see Allen take it upon himself to carry his project solely on his own merits.
Album’s Best Song- “No Faith in Brooklyn” One of the more mellow tracks on All-American the song gives us Allen at his best. His flow perfectly accentuates the beat and along with Jhameel’s vocals the song is an easy listen. We also catch some of Hoodie’s best punch lines on this record like this MTV reality show inspired rhyme “Ain’t a prob to tell me how you feel girl, I know the road rules but you need the real world.”
Overall, All-American is a terrific introduction to a wider audience for Hoodie Allen. It’s entertaining, fun, and full of replay value, even if it isn’t particularly thought provoking. Anyone who is tired of the predictable world of music today, especially that of mainstream Hip-Hop, will enjoy Allen’s unique sound and delivery. Even the more traditional Hip-Hop heads should be able to find at the least a few tracks that they can nod their head to. Album Rating- 7.5/10, As I said, All-American is an enjoyable record and coming out right at the start of summer, Allen should find several songs that will develop into summer anthems. However, the EP could easily be bumped up a few notches if Allen had a little less braggadocios bravado and a little more emotional narration. Allen really never lets us in to who he is except for the side of him that is just looking for a good time.
By Justin Prince
VERSUS : 7/10
VS | 37