Superlative Conspiracy No.2

SOLVAT TE N CLEA NING WAT ER CH ANGING LIVE S

S K R IL L EX TH E R EA L DEA L

No.2 S P R IN G 2012

FR I E N D S W I T H YO U WA N T M O R E FR I E N D S

M O NT RÉ AL C R E AT I VE CAP I TAL O F C AN AD A

SUPERLATIVE CONSPIRACY RZA SHOT BY G I OVANN I RE DA

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WORDS FROM ABOVE

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People are driven by instinct - instinct that make you act and reach to other people, emotions, happenings, thoughts, sounds. It’s a system of emotional, physical and psychological triggers - some of which we’re born with, they’re in our DNA - others that we learn via life and experiences.

Some of them we can control, others we have no other choice than to surrender to. It’s the reaction to it that matters: how the receivers respond, react and may or may not take it further. It is what makes it interesting: the response it triggers.

In this issue of the Superlative Conspiracy, No.2, we meet people who create and make us all react and respond. People with the ideas, strength and creativity to create sources of reaction - may it be music, thoughts, art or inventions that saves lives. What they do - and what we do - is intended as a stimuli and inspiration.

With that, we welcome you to the Superlative Conspiracy - our own little universe where we do things that, hopefully, make you react.

And enjoy.

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CONT RIBUT ORS

V OIC E No . 1 J A U R ETS I S A IZA R B ITOR IA

VO I C E N o. 2 TONY ARCABASCIO

VO I C E N o. 3 E LLI O T A R O N O W

V O I CE N o. 4 J O SH BO RO CK

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SCIEN CE SOLVAT TE N

S K ATE S H ER ATON Y EA R S

MUSIC S K R I LLE X

A RT FR I E N D S W I T H YO U

CO VE R RZ A

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FASHIO N SPRING 2012 DOWNT OWN SUN

FA S H ION DAY A F TER

LI FE S T YLE T R AVE L S M A RT T H E S U P E R LAT I VE J O U R N E Y [ PA RT 1 ]

FA S H I O N A FT E R N O O N D E LI G H T

P HO T O S

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I NSPIRATION L AZAR ID ES GALLE RY

C ITY G U IDE MONTR EA L

LO C AT I O N S CHAMBERS BY RZA LA U N C H E VE N T

CONTRIBUTORS

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JAURETSI SAIZARBITORIA - The word Jauretsi (pronounced /ha-retsee/) means “I Adore You” in Basque. One day, a loving couple named their curious daughter this and raised her by the ocean in Miami Beach exiled from their motherland, Cuba. As a young woman, she ran off to New York to earn her stripes in the publishing industry at Jane, Details, and Paper Magazine while contributing to various independents such as The Last Magazine, Mass Appeal, and Prophecy. By day she was a magazine editor, by night a DJ lugging crates up her 4 story walk-up.

After a decade in the print world, Jauretsi vanished to co-direct her first documentary, East of Havana (Sony/BMG) produced by Charlize Theron which the The New York Times reviewed as “the real deal”. Today she comfortably resides on the internet creating content for The Standard Hotel, Nowness, and multiple brands under her digital banner, Sugar Barons. Currently, she dreams of a day her business card can read New York/Havana.

Jauretsi.com

TONY ARCABASCIO - Both my parents came to NYC from Italy, had me in 1970, and I’ve lived here in NY my whole life. I’ve done everything from working in a pizzeria, to dancing at parties and clubs for cash. In 1995 I started working in the magazine industry, made a couple of great friends, and founded the collective brand ‘ALIFE’ with them in 1999. In 2006 I became a daddy and started a new business, Tony Arcabascio Inc. Basically, I just try to work on cool shit with cool people... My plan for life. tonyarcabascio.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

ELLIOT ARONOW - In my eight years living in New York City, I have made a name for myself as a Creative Director, a TV and radio personality and a culture hustler. I am the Co-Founder and Creative Director of RCRD LBL, the world’s first free and legal curated download site. I currently produce and host a talk/variety TV show called OUR SHOW with ELLIOT ARONOW that has featured James Murphy/LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Das Racist, TV On The Radio, and many more.

In 2008 I was chosen by Billboard Magazine to be a member of their esteemed “30 Under 30” tastemaker list and in 2010 Time Out New York named me one of their “Most Stylish New Yorkers”.

Most recently I published the first issue of my seasonal arts and culture zine also entitled OUR SHOW with Elliot Aronow. It sold out its first edition of 300 hand numbered copies in ten days, and is currently being re-pressed to meet popular demand.

Get at me, I love working. itsourshow.com elliotaronow.com

JOSH BOROCK - Josh Borock makes promos for Comedy Central. Most people don’t know what that is. He also has three kids, an awesome wife and a new deck.

CONTRIBUTORS

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TYLER CHILDS - Born in the small Midwestern enclave of Joplin, Missouri (not Oklahoma like some people claim), Tyler Childs learned early on he had little proclivity for actually creating music. However that didn’t stop him from subjecting a handful of people in the early 00’s to the bad punk rock emanating from his band, Jumpstart Radicals. After matriculating to the University of Kansas, he founded a music magazine and website, Lo-Fidelity Press, where he honed his incredible interviewing skills that you see on display in this issue. More recently, Tyler has spent time with music management companies Front Line Management and McDaniel Entertainment, where he has worked in various management capacities with artists and producers such as Diplo, Major Lazer, Mike Elizondo, Bad Veins, Three 6 Mafia, and many more. He is currently a manager at Constant Artists in Los Angeles and oversees the music career of RZA. He has a strong affinity for single malt Scotch and chocolate chip cookies. @TheRTC

PETRA WADSTRÖM - Artist, designer and inventor. Creator of Solvatten. www.solvatten.se

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CONTRIBUTORS

IDA SUNDQUVIST - I was a calm yet sometimes very lively child who grew up in a small village in the north of Sweden amongst ghost houses, forests, beautiful old farms and with too much imagination and longing.

I see life in pictures, hear it in tones, see it in details that all lead to new thoughts, ideas and dreams at night that give me memories to realize.

Certain things and events in life made me discover my love to create through photography and it has become one of my biggest interests and ways of expression. As self-taught within photography, my appreciation and love for natural light, carefully selected environments and street cast characters has grown each time I’ve had a new vision and idea and gone with that emotion. wetcircus.tumblr.com

MARTIN KARLSSON, JENS ANDERSSON, & MARTIN ANDER - The photo book Sheraton Years follows the skateboarders of Stockholm on their journey through the 90’s. The rickety ride goes down into the parking garages, over the Atlantic, into cheap beer joints and eventually up to the light at the end of the century. It’s a spontaneous portrayal of people who found so many different things in the semi-extinct skateboard culture. Some found fellowship never felt before, for some it was the perfect hideaway from the dangers of adulthood, others found the wide road out of society and for a few the obscure existence would turn into a future of wealth and fame.

Sheraton Years – Stockholm Skateboarding 1990-1999 was produced

by Freelance writer Martin Karlsson, Photographer Jens Andersson and Graphic Designer Martin Ander. www.thejens.com www.bellowsskateboards.com www.mander.nu Sheraton Years is distributed worldwide by Dokument Press www.dokument.org

JAURETSI

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THE NEW CUBA PHOTO BY JAURETSI

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hat is the New Cuba? For starters, the phrase is unusual, an oxymoron. It denotes some some sort of futurism within a place frozen in the past. Part of the charm of Cuba is the rustic bottling of time. After all, it seems the world has gone from 45 to 200 mph with internet, instagram, and cloud computing -- all foreign concepts in Cuba today. Somehow, somewhere on this wacky fast train of life, we still have that one last remnant... a beacon of hope somewhere in the caribbean to remind us that life can be... well...slow. A few of us Americans have even escaped our hectic lives to travel to the forbidden island. We photograph revolutionary slogans, well artdirected propaganda, and purchase $15 Che Guevara T-shirts. After a week of snapping pictures we go back home, and feel elevated and enlightened.

For some, the idea of Cuba joining todays speed is a shock to the system. I’ve heard it spoken at many cocktail parties in New York.

“After Fidel Castro goes, it’s all over” my American friends postulate. “Once America arrives, all the beauty will die” (as if Cuba was a pure virginal country that has never experienced the fangs of globalization). The statement makes me laugh. It’s almost one of ethnocentricity.

The fact is one of Cuba’s top revenue sources is tourism. Sometimes, we tend to forget that America is the only country in the entire world that has an embargo against Cuba. That means there are another 195 countries that freely travel to Cuba. Don’t get me wrong, when the American gates open into Cuba, it will only add to the vapid club med culture, but make no mistake, Cubans are no strangers to cheesy tourists taking over their country. Cuba is ultimately a 2 tier economy with 2 forms of money -- one is the convertible peso that tourists use, and the other are local pesos. Resident doctors,

lawyers, and professors get paid in local pesos while the finest goods are sold at convertible peso stores. Cubans, therefore, are shut out of the Cuban dream, and the best products, food, and clothes are sold to tourists with convertible pesos. Surely, a Cuban resident would never spend one months salary ($15-20 US Dollars) on a Che Guevara shirt. A young Cuban once admitted to me, “we can’t afford a Che Guevara T-shirt in our own country”. Irony is a bitch.

This is the same Generation Y that watches us Americans photograph those vintage billboards and listen to you fantasize about a world “with no advertisements”. To them, each billboard is simply an advertisement for the Revolution.

They too, take a deep sigh and wish you well as you fly back home and fill up your passport with stamps while they remain locked on an island that forbids travel without government approval. Just like Americans, their problems are real. I believe Americans and Cubans suffer from a “grass is greener” epidemic. The Cuban fantasizing about how much money and freedom a Capitalist can earn while the American fantasizes of a simpler life with less worries. Together we are a misunderstood pair, leading me back to my original statement-- it’s time for change. The entire American debate on how to handle Cuba is broken into two camps -- isolation versus engagement. Those who choose the first, favor the Embargo, a 50 year law which has proven a miserable failure. Those who choose the latter, opt to travel to Cuba and build people to people relations, exchanging ideas, books, and stories. It seems a healthy exchange between both nations can only diminish misconceptions and mirages, so that we can all truly sit down and get to work.

2012 will be the year of the new entrepreneur in Cuba. Early in 2011, Raul Castro issued at least 200,000 business licenses spawning a fury of new small businesses. This November

2011, the Cuban government announced that residents can now own property -- a starting gun for the new self-empowerment. In October 2011, Barack Obama opened up direct flights from Miami, Key West, and New Orleans fostering more people to people exchanges in Cuba for licensed travelers. The tango of reconciliation is afoot. In Cuba, advertisements are being created in the form of flyers on car windows for small businesses. The days of safeguarding Cuba from the big bad outside world are over.

For better or worse, they are learning to manage their own lives, and soon (cross fingers) how to vote. Let us not forget, their Generation Y is also armed with a stellar education and one of the highest literacy rates in the carribean.

So I respectfully disagree with all those that feel Cuba is over when Fidel dies. In a post-Castro society, Cuba will face one of its biggest challenges yet -- how to be truly sovereign, but sovereign in a modern society. Let them join the 21st century. Let them join the online revolution.

My hands tremble as I type this imagining the “Golden Arches” on the Malecon. I pray local government is empowered to reject temptation when corporations knock on their door.

The benefits? Hopefully the same day we have to endure a Starbucks logo on the Malecon, there will also be a Cuban youth walking into an Apple store purchasing a laptop with Protools to make their own music, put it online, and create their own destiny. Change is traumatic and there will be some scraped knees along the way. The New Cuba will be a complicated day --- full of globalization and all the conundrums that come with it. Somewhere in the streets of Havana, I can hear frustrated youth chanting “bring it on”. The sheltered nation is going to be ok.

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VOICE No.1

Rebuilding at Paseo del Prado, Havana March 2011

TONY ARCABASCIO

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KNOWING TOO MUCH PHOTO BY ANTONIO ERNESTO ARCABASCIO

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hen does knowing too much start to hurt you? I never really gave it much thought until a few years ago, to tell you the truth. I’ve just always assumed that the more people I meet, and the more books, magazines, and TV I ingest (whether for research or for fun), the more information I’d retain, therefore the better decisions I’d be able to make in life. Makes sense, right? I still think this is true but sometimes I have my moments in situations where I wish I knew no better. Where I wish I didn’t have facts, opinions, or hearsay, so easily accessible and hitting me from every angle.

People with certain creative positions can have it pretty bad. It’s some people’s job to always be on to the next cool thing. To be ahead and always think out of the box. To do this, they need to be informed of everything happening in the world. They need to know about people, products, and international trends. They need to know about current affairs, celebrity sightings, the new hot shit in the music scene, and so on and so forth. When you spend that much time at work being a certain way, it’s almost impossible not to take it all home with you. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying it’s a bad thing to know a lot of shit and be worldly and all, but it does make life a lot more of a challenge.

Simple, everyday decisions become a bigger deal. Like buying a pair of kicks. If you know in Japan there’s another color way you prefer in the same style sneaker, you’re not gonna settle for what they have in your neighborhood.

Instead of just walking around the corner, you may spend hours (or days) searching for them, pulling favors, and paying for shipping. Or how about trying to figure out where to go on vacation? The more you’ve traveled, and the more people you’ve met when you’ve traveled, the harder it is to decide where to go when you have time off. When it’s for work and you don’t

have a choice, it’s one thing, but when it’s up to you, you usually want to try somewhere new, exciting, and different. Which usually means you’re gonna ask everyone you know and look on every travel website, until you find the perfect place, with perfect climate for that time of year, and birds chirping by your fucken window when you wake up in the morning. In most cases, you’re gonna treat everything as if it’s the last time you’re gonna acquire something or go somewhere. You’re never going to settle for number 2. You never get to relax, because you’re on a never ending quest for the smartest and best of everything you do or buy, which can be a shitty way to live. Fuck, there are people out there that can’t even wipe their ass without researching the coolest way to do so.

Not everyone may relate to a lifestyle like that. Some of you reading this may not give a fuck about the little details and are a lot more carefree with your decision making, like a lot of people I roll with. But the reason I decided to write this column arose from a situation i had a few years ago that i’m sure everyone can identify with...

Imagine having the chance to meet one of your idols, like a favorite actor or musician. Someone that you grew up watching and listening to, reading about in mags, and seeing in the theater or on TV. This person has somehow changed your life without even knowing it. Let’s assume, for this column’s sake, it’s a guy and he’s a musician...

Now this guy has made music that you’ve not only loved since you where in high school (over 20 years ago), but has been through almost everything with you. Good times. Bad times.

Every car you’ve blasted your radio in. Every relationship you’ve had. Every trip you’ve taken.

Every party you threw... you get the point. He and his music have been there through pretty

much every milestone and memory you’ve had.

This is also a guy whose lyrics you can recite in your sleep and whose words have affected what you have named shit, like a project for work, or even your dog. And to even start to think of all the people you also turned on.

Everyone you recruited and made listen to his music. Music ‘they’ loved so much, he ended up becoming a big part of their lives as well.

Even though it sounds fucken cheesy, what he created was pretty much the soundtrack to you and your friends’ lives. Now imagine having the chance to actually hang with him. The guy that you’ve admired from afar for more than half your life. What would you say to him?

When you’re in the public eye, people are always talking. And since this guy is, people are saying shit. As a fan, you don’t like to believe what you don’t want to hear. Like if you read or hear he’s not the friendliest guy, or stand-offish to people that aren’t in his clique, or that he has an attitude. You’re still gonna think, ‘Fuck that.

If I had a chance to hang with him, we’d be BFF. I’m exactly like this cat. We’d get along, no problem...,’ right? But what if you didn’t? What if he really is a dick? What if you meet him and he doesn’t want to hang and smoke a joint with you and come over for dinner and play a song on the guitar you bought because of him? What then? Are you not gonna like him and his music anymore? After all you’ve been through together? Everything you put into the relationship would have been worth shit. Your bond would have been all a fucken illusion. Just because you had the chance to meet him, everything is fucken ruined. Do you risk it (trying to talk and hang with him)? Or is it too much?

When do we know enough?

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VOICE No.2

BOOKS, ZINES, CDS, DVDS ALL AT ARMS REACH STUDIO 239 CENTRE NYC

ELLIOT ARONOW

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HISTORICAL MATERIALS PHOTO BY ELLIOT ARONOW

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half decade’s worth of annual perspectives on clothes and records from my post teen-pre dude years...

1996 - Reasonable Shoes.

In the skate video Goldfish by Girl, Mike Carroll, who is skating to Gangstarr, rocks these all white Van Half Cabs with khakis. I used to love the simplicity of the look. It was really crisp and clean, a stark departure from the dirtbag, chain wallet skater shtick that had crept to the Jersey suburbs. I always hated the bum rap us skaters received for how grimy we dressed. I wanted to challenge that and be really put together. The fact that it made it easier to get away with smoking pot at skate spots when you looked clean also appealed to me. Nothing to see here, you know?

Somehow I connected the white shoes from the video with looking fly and it clicked. Girls from my high school still didn’t really like me but dudes from all over the Tri-State area were always really impressed with the kicks.

1997 - Stolen Vinyl.

In the spring of ’97 my friend Ivan let me borrow his marble colored vinyl Swing Kids 10” and I never gave it back. It was a split with the band Spanakorzo, the Swing Kids side being the only one I ever listened to. The music was repetitive, artfully violent like a DeKooning and to my ears (proto A & R man style), really catchy. I was listening to basic mall punk bands like Bad Religion only a year before so this record hit me really hard with its creativity and power. It was incredible to me that kids who I could actually meet played in bands like this.

1998 - Cheap Shirts.

Being a broke mod hipster in college, I used to wear a lot of black collared shirts, usually undersized to the point of being slightly unflattering. It was all about dressing like you were in

the Make Up. TIght black shirts and white belts, FTW. This is back when underground kids, prelifestyle marketing, looked really crazy but always (always) had a few wrong things with their outfit. Off-brand dress shoes, ugly sweaters, misplaced junk (this was before they started marketing skinny jeans to straight young men so you had to buy girls jeans, stuff your unit where it could fit and hope for the best.)

The music was tight tho, girls liked it. The “higher the hair, the closer to god” and loads of 45s” about pills and Situationism. This would be the last historical moment during which four button suits could be an acceptable look.

1999 - Vintage Vinyl (under market value).

After working for a bitchy Jewish lady at a health food store, I got a job at the Princeton Record Exchange at a pay increase of two dollars per hour. My friend Mike who runs the label Captured Tracks got me the gig and would later steal my college girlfriend. I think I got the better end of the deal.

On my very first day on the job, some grizzly dude who was getting divorced or something sold his entire punk collection to the store.

Staff got first dibs on new arrivals so I copped the Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. LP for 3 bucks. I didn’t really understand how dark and for real the material was at the time but I played “Chinese Rocks” over and over for weeks after I got it. It is the only song I know how to play in its entirety on the guitar.

2000 - Big Boi Clothes, Expensive (to me).

I was pretty out of it for most of the year and remember looking straight up rough at some points (my moms cried once) but towards the end of it I fell into a hard mod/lightweight skinhead look and got my act together. Black Fred Perry polos, cuffed dark blue jeans and

a Barracuda jacket with pins on the lapel.

Having broke my edge years ago (shout out to Spacemen 3), I was done with wimpy PC Hardcore and wanted to be a bit more street as I stomped around New Brunswick.

When we could hit the city, I used to blow three paychecks at 99x (the original home of legendary downtown label 99 Records) on all that gear. My homies and I used to have to drive back home to New Jersey on 1/9 instead of the NJ Turnpike because we spent all of our money on clothes and one time we got pinched for running a toll booth after my friend yelled some dumb shit at cop who was parked alongside the exit. I’ve pretty much kept the same sartorial priorities since.

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VOICE No.3

TV SCREEN SHOT FROM A ‘ROBERT EVANS’ BIOGRAPHY

JOSH BOROCK

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DADDING OUT PHOTO BY JOSH BOROCK

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hen people find out I have three kids (all boys which is another annoying subject) they usually have the same reaction. “Really?” Really. I take this as a compliment. I also find it totally demeaning. I think I know why they’re surprised but do they have to take such joy in the response? Is it because I look 14? Because you were friends with me 10 years ago and never thought I’d live this long?

Is it because it makes you realize you don’t have any children and you’re like, “oh shit, I totally spaced on that.” Is it because I don’t have dad butt? I think it’s all of them. I sort of like that it freaks people out. Not that I kept having children because the more you have the stronger the reaction is. That would be weird and my wife would be pissed. It’s just that some people are in awe and some are in wha?.

Like this one time I’m having lunch with my son at this diner in Park Slope because I’ve decided he’s going to make a crafty Birthday card for his mom (he didn’t contribute one felt letter) and the only craft store around is in Park Slope.

We’ve taken the day off because he’s sort of sick and I get to take care of him. Which is fine, because he doesn’t seem all that sick minus the hot forehead and occasional “Vampire” cough [1]. We’re eating lunch when these two guys come in and sit down behind me. One is older and is either a cop, a foreman or in the mob. Or both. Or all three. He’s pretty animated and he’s got a thick LI or Brooklyn accent.

He likes the spice on the burger. “What is the SPICE on this? I mean I love it. Just neva had a burger like this.” I’m assuming the guy with him is his partner.

I’ve been chatting with my boy throughout lunch about this/that and it’s time to get the check. Certainly nothing out of the norm. Occasionally, I space out and consider grabbing

the NY Post sitting on the counter like any other normal dad. But that would be rude so we chat.

About the Mets. About Jose Reyes. About Mr. Met. He really likes the Mets.

Eventually, I give the waiter my card and Izzy asks why. Which is normal because he asks “why” about 25 times a day (much less than his 2.5 year old brother who asks why about 100 times that). But this isn’t one of those “why did those fireman die in 9/11?” [2] or “why are there rainbows?” [3] type “why” questions. It’s a pretty straightforward one. It’s a credit card and it’s how I pay for things I don’t need. Pretty simple really. He takes it so they can charge me for the 1/4 of the burger you ate. I guess this Dorothy Parkensian conversation finally got to the big guy behind us, because he goes, “Dat your kid?” and I’m like “Uh, yeah” (mind racing with clever responses I’ll think of later).

“Because, it’s not often you hear a dad talk to his kid like that.”

He’s being nice but it’s totally offensive. Then he introduces me to the guy sitting with him as HIS 24 year old son. And he says it gets better.

The older they get the less you have to deal with them. And I’m thinking Jesus, I can’t imagine how little attention you must’ve paid to your son to make you think that a father sporadically talking to his son was a potential kidnapping in progress.

So we pay up. I’m putting Izzy’s jacket on and I wipe his ketchup face, I mean he’s still five and sort of sick, I’m helping out, Christ. Then #1 Dad asks me if I’m a SINGLE DAD. And I tell him, “I am now. His mother/my wife and his younger sister were killed in a car crash six weeks ago, and this was the first time we’ve gone out.”

I didn’t, but I should have. I couldn’t tell if he

was trying to compliment me or emasculate me. Is paying attention to your child on a oneon-one lunch this out of the ordinary? Certainly not in Park Slope. He’s lucky I wasn’t breastfeeding him.

Of course I wimp out and I laugh when he asks me if I’m a single dad and we joke that I’m not and I’m not normally this nice to the kid. But I am really nice to this kid. And his two insane brothers. Having all these kids is the best thing to happen to me up until Tony asked me to write this article. When you’re a dad you rarely reflect on anything because life is too spastic.

But when you’re forced to write it down and glance back, it makes it all worth it. I’ll be 40 in a few months, which bums a lot of dudes out.

Not me, dude.

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Footnotes_ [1] The “Vampire” cough falls just below the word “playdate” and slightly above all the water kids drink now, on my list of things I don’t understand about parenthood.

[2] Because four guys flew two planes into the World Trade Center and it caught on fire and collapsed. Always a fun one to answer. That’s the abridged version.

[3] I have absolutely no idea.

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VOICE No.4

HOGS PILING

CHANGE LIVES... SOLVATTEN®

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WORDS BY DANIELLE KRASSE PHOTOS FROM SOLVATTEN ARCHIVE

Water, clean water, is seemingly uncomplicated, at least it is to some of us - we take it, and the access to it, for granted. We’re the lucky ones.

Then there are the people who don’t have this luxury. Not until now.

We would hereby like to introduce Petra Wadström, the inventor and originator of Solvatten - meaning “Sunwater” - a life changing invention that enables people all over the world to get clean water. It sounds too good to believe: a straightforward product that doesn’t only change lives but also has a positive effect on the planet.

DANIELLE KRASSE: Hi Petra, how are you doing?

PETRA WADSTRÖM: Very good, thank you! Feel excited about this interview!

Could you please tell us about Solvatten; what is the product and how does it function?

SOLVATTEN® is a combined solar water purifier/heater that produces safe and hot water by using solar energy. Expose Solvatten to sunshine and in 2-6 hours the water is free from all micro-biological contaminations. The synergetic effect of UV and heat works extremely well together and kills the bacteria. An indicator turns green when the water is safe to drink. The design of the unit and the weight of 11 liters of water makes it is easy to carry, its a tool mainly for people living off grid or where large infrastructure investments is not possible. No batteries, chemicals or spare parts required. A very important aspect of Solvatten is that its built to last for a long time, so quality is very important. Solvatten is made of durable FDA approved materials and has a lifespan of 5-10 years or more. One Solvatten is built to meet the needs of a family.

How did the idea to create Solvatten come about?

I developed SOLVATTEN® Solar Safe Water System after seeing the problems caused by the lack of safe drinking water when I was in Indonesia. It took many years and prototypes but eventually the idea was realized. My mission is to provide Solvatten to people where Solvatten has the strongest impact. We believe that we can get Solvatten to the people at ”the base of the pyramid” where Solvatten has the power to really transform people’s lives. I strongly believe in self-help so it is important both that we together make Solvatten affordable and that the users invest in it, so they value Solvatten and take good care of it.

What is your background - professionally and educationally and how did you decide to go ahead with Solvatten?

I was working with microbiology when I was younger, then turning my focus to art. Being an artist has helped me hugely to think outside the box, combining the elements of research and creativity. My passion for smart solutions that really change things to the better I believe has to do with having a practical mind.

When presenting Solvatten to the people who actually use it - what was their reaction and response? It means a change in life and living standards to them to say the least.

Safe drinking water is a basic need, yet so many live without it. We have met and introduced Solvatten to people in 16 countries now, all of them so desperate for change. When starting a project we want to develop it with a holistic approach because Solvatten means more than safe drinking water; it means time, freedom and it really changes life. In a recent study we just learned that before Solvatten was acquired, 67 percent of the children in the families had irregular attendance at school as a result of being sick, often by waterborne diseases. After purchasing Solvatten they had an increased attendance with an average of 87 percent! That is such an amazing feedback and that surly creates a demand for more Solvatten in the communities.

Solvatten is what we would call a ‘kind’ company, with the aim to provide people with clean water - something many of us take for granted. When first introducing the product to the market, what was the response? It’s easy to imagine a lot of surprised faces, as in “why has no one thought of this before”.

Solvatten is groundbreaking in many ways and to be a pioneer takes a lot of determination, time and resources.

Time have to be spent on localizing funds for organizations how want to do Solvatten but do not have the resources. One way to solve this is to invite companies to use Solvatten in their environmental initiatives. Solvatten helps to reduce carbon emissions and this creates a win win win situation. Better health and economy with environmental benefits.

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Not only does it provide necessary water but also reduces pollution as previous ways of heating/boiling water to achieve the cleaning of it doesn’t have to used. So apart from the obvious usage (clean water) it also prevents pollution. This is big. Thoughts?

Absolutly, this is big! One Solvatten can produce around around 30,000 litres of clean and warm water during its expected lifespan (at least 5 years). Using Solvatten will also save approximately 40-80 middle-sized trees used for fuel wood which equals 10 tons of CO2. We are a part of a large initiative just about to launch in Haiti where Solvatten is a part of a kit that includes tree plantation. The Green Haiti Project will last for 5 years and we are looking forward to see the forest grow while bringing the good life back to Haiti.

The presentation of Solvatten states that “The potential reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 has been estimated to be 26 million tons a year.”. Meaning we can hold you responsible for a part in saving the planet. Feels good right?

When the WWF gave us the recognition Climate Solver stating this HUGE number we felt so proud and at the same time a slight pressure to deliver..

Could the technology of Solvatten be used in other matters as well?

Some amazing stories of using Solvatten has come to our attention, a farmer in Kenya uses the hot water from Solvatten to pluck the feathers of the chicken, another women the hot water to sell coffee and tea, a third woman washes the udders of the cow before milking to keep it safe from bacteria. Some men have suggested that the safe water should be used for brewing beer. The craziest thing we heard about so far is a Solvatten aquarium...

To enable Solvatten to spread, aid and develop; what can we do? With “we” we’re referring to the people who don’t work for big corporations with large funds to support and invest - but those of us who have normal jobs and live in societies where access to clean water isn’t an issue.

Spread the word! Visit our site to connect to ongoing campaigns, right now we raise funds for Solvatten going to Uganda in partnership with the NGO AMREF. Our even better, get together with a few friends and by a case of Solvatten when you travel to places were there is a need for it!

Stay tuned and like Solvatten Supporters on facebook for more initiatives.

How do you see the future and development of Solvatten: the ways of usage, the implementation of it in different areas and the dream scenario for it?

Bringing the Solvatten concept closer to the open market would be fantastic. However the reality is that the people living on less than 2 dollars a day will always have a hard time buying Solvatten to full price. So sustainable transactions of funds between the rich and the poor should be in place. Calculating and compensating our carbon footprint is something we all can do now. I believe its time we bring in water footprint as an important way to measure the way we live, because everything starts with safe water.

The people in the Superlative Conspiracy likes to help. Tell us what to do and we’ll try to make it happen. Shoot.

Being truly sustainable and going green has to be done by encouraging savings and wise investments at many levels, including business.

Why not sponsor the farmers supplying cotton to your clothes with some Solvatten?

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INTO THE COLD

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WORDS BY MARTIN KARLSSON PHOTO BY JENS ANDERSSON

The place that would become the very center of our lives was called Sheraton. The Klara area in downtown Stockholm has always been known as the city’s gloomiest part and as an inverted nightlight it has constantly attracted life forms that thrive in darkness. That the skateboarders of Stockholm would end up here at this time is therefore perfectly logical. In a semi-sheltered entrance to a loading area we found our sanctuary and it was the social abyss which divided, the place from the nearby hotel Sheraton which made the ironic naming a foregone conclusion. When we first found Sher, as we soon shortened the name to, it was a territory already claimed by the casual labourers of the underworld. And we were looking for the same things as the prostitutes, tricks and drug dealers, which meant a place that no one cared for and which wouldn’t be visited even by the most curious tourist eyes. But the sound of skateboarding is most penetrating and to the aggravation of the “natives” we would draw unwanted attention to the place. Hence our earliest time in Sheraton became an anxious one and it took us a while before we dared to go into the deepest parts of the dungeons. But soon we had made Sheraton our living room where we spent most of our free time in silent understanding with the other villains.

In Sheraton you could always meet one of your own kind and on weekdays we often stayed until the last departing commuter train. On weekends skateboarders from all over Sweden would visit the infamous oasis and even if they got disappointed over what you could actually skate there, the steel edged curbs and smooth concrete islands had become our pride and joy.

We began skating Sheraton even in the summertime and our feelings for the place grew so strong that we celebrated one New Years Eve there and a couple of people even spent a whole night in the thick garage dust just to show their devotion. Sheraton was ours and the Klara criminality’s luxury hotel, providing us with the greatest of comforts; full seclusion and the possibility to be rejected together. And while our friends from school spent the nights in front of the TV learning which sit-com jokes to repeat on tomorrow’s lunch break we took evening classes in pressureflip theory and real life science.

Our life at home and in school grew more and more different from our skateboarding life and when the student’s caps were tossed we were many who yearned to leave our oblivious childhood surroundings behind.

Many moved in together in collective households and needless to say the first time without someone cooking and cleaning for us became rowdy and troublesome. No one worked, some pretended to study and the bills were paid with social welfare, unemployment benefits and study loans. But we had cut the last line to the ordinary world and were flying free in our own universe. With neither school nor work to bother us we could focus entirely on our skateboarding but the freedom also gave us the opportunity to fulfill the myth of the skateboarder’s desire to party.

But the eager, partying wasn’t the only change in our life at this time. In 1993, skateboarding’s wildest days of super complicated trickery, crazy equipment and weird clothing had come to an end and it seemed as if the whole of skateboarding got some kind of direction as soon as the wheels got big enough to actually roll. Skateboarding’s new level of maturity felt comforting for us who’s ID cards showed that we soon would be adult people and we were very proud to have been part of this progression. We laughed hard at the piles of stupid tricks and ugly clothes that we had fought so hard to acquire but which we now suddenly had thrown in the trash. But something that made this pride swell over into pure cockiness was when we noticed that the world which until now at best had treated our appearance with a snort, now seemed genuinely interested in our style. Sagging pants were still considered as something folkloristic but the new kind of cute-puffy skateboard shoes were now spotted on the feet of an escalating amount of civilians, and we immediately began to moan with ill hidden satisfaction about always being so far ahead of this slow old world.

But skateboarding seemed willing to become house-broken faster than ourselves and even if we now, dressed according to the new tidy skate fashion it was a facade none thicker than our plain white T-shirts. Most of us were still voluntarily unemployed, supported by social welfare and those who had sponsors, sold clothing and hardware on the side. And through some kind of economic improbability drive, many managed to add new habits like annual trips to California and everyday hash smoking to their already relaxed lifestyles.

The pilgrimage to California had been predestined since the day we started calling ourselves skateboarders and these trips would prove educational in more ways than expected. Because it didn’t take long to notice that California wasn’t the skateboarding paradise that we had learnt about. The skate scene and the business weren’t as thriving as we’d thought and the famous spots which we’d studied so hard on video weren’t easy to skate at all and cut our capacity in half rather than doubled it.

The smoking of mind expanding herbs was a habit directly copied from the hottest skateboarding stars of the time and the new and provocative skate magazines did everything to make the connection between modern skateboarding and the habitual use of light drugs inevitable. It’s possible that the hash smoking made many focus even harder on their skateboarding but it seemed to be on the expense of a total eradication of the last interest in life’s less stimulating endeavours.

In 1994 the next big change took place in our lives, when YMCA decided to tear down the old tent on the dock and let the skateboarders in to the warmth. A distinguished ramp builder in pink sweat pants was flown in from America and on the fourth floor of the youth center Fryshuset he erected Sweden’s first, modern skatepark, including a street course which actually resembled real city environment. Design-wise the park had everything we could ask for but the best thing was that there were hardly any skateboarders in Stockholm at all which made the park our own private club for a while. And we felt so much at ease in the park that we almost gave up skating outdoors and our old home in Sheraton completely, but this was a most shameful truth which we did our best to ignore.

Then something unexpected happened. New faces started to sneak through the park’s narrow entrance, faces that showed obvious respect for our older crew. In turn we looked down on the pimply and nonbearded and pretended only to see their failures while we silently felt our worries grow as fast as their skills did.

From living deeply isolated in our little cosmos we had discretely escaped most of the dangers of the world around us. So when the first threat now appeared, it came as naturally as unexpected from our own territory.

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SKRILLEX IS THE REAL DEAL

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WORDS BY DANIELLE KRASSE PHOTOS BY ROBIN ÅHLGREN

Skrillex, real name Sonny Moore, is a genius. Genius - a term we never really use and to be honest, it should only be used in moderation. We’re impressed. A musical wonderboy whose productions, bass and beats have set hearts and bodies on fire and made them move like maniacs for the past two years. WeSC likes and encourages creativity and individualism - when people go their own way and do things from their hearts, not really giving a damn about what the norm is and this is what is happening here. It’s something that most people in the Superlative Conspiracy do and agree with - perhaps the only difference is that Skrillex has a couple hundred million online views and one of the worlds most active fan bases. His music renders you unable to stand still. And standing still is not something we’re fond of.

WeSC sat down with Skrillex and asked him all the things we want/need to know: the music, the inspiration, the way it works.

DANIELLE KRASSE: You’ve been making music and been active on the music scene for a long time, but it’s not that long ago that you started making music as Skrillex.

SKRILLEX: I used to play in a post-hardcore band - counting my whole music career it’s about eight years of touring and making music. I’ve always done electronic music at the same time, but more as a thing I did for fun you know - then I left the band because I just wanted to do electronic music. Even if Skrillex never was big, it was never my intention for it to be big, it was just for fun. And especially back in the US - when I was doing Dubstep it wasn’t popular at all so it was more that we’d have these Dubstep patios once a month at Cinespace, the smoking patio, that’s where it was, or where 12th Planet was throwing smaller events…

A big night would be 200 people going to a Dubstep party, something we did just for fun. This was around 2007 - when did Archangel come out? well, sometimes around then.

Where does the name Skrillex come from? Does it mean anything specific?

It means nothing, it’s just Skrillex. And my friends called me that for years. So when I started uploading stuff to Soundcloud or Myspace Music it’s always been from Skrillex - it has always my screen name for everything from the start.

So how did the release of the first Skrillex tracks come about?

I started giving out free stuff online: my first “My Name Is Skrillex” EP which came out almost two years ago - that was just something I gave out for free (a six song EP) - and then Deadmau5 heard it and wanted to release music for me. The next release was the Scary Monsters EP on his label last year in October and then it became more serious - I started touring more. Even before that, even before the Scary Monsters, I was touring, came over to Europe, I toured around here a little bit, did a lot of stuff in Mexico, some in the US… Well, yes, that’s kind of how it started.

Do you have a label or how do you do with that? You do have a pretty unusual and different approach to how you distribute and push your music.

We’re still pushing very organically - everything that’s happening: we’ve never spent a dime on marketing or ad campaigns. It’s always been “make music - release it”… I mean, every EP I’ve done, when I did the More Monsters and Sprites with Equinox and Ruff Neck and all that stuff - literally, I fixed a track on Friday and was out on Beatport on Monday.

Just put it out. Put it on my Facebook. That’s how it’s built the whole time and I don’t want to change it. I never want to use other mediums for the sake of using other mediums to promote myself unless it’s something that I’m truly backing or support, like WeSC or something like that.

As far as media goes it’s usually - we can just keep it to stuff like this. A

bit more selective because I don’t want to just do something for money. I don’t really care. I just want to make good music and you know, if there’s a medium through something that’s artistic or forward thinking I can use those to collaborate and do something cool or whatever.

We have to talk a bit about social media and the internet - it’s one thing that always comes up when you’re mentioned and how you have this huge following. Which was your first online account?

Music account or first online account ever?

We meant music but let’s go for your first online account ever.

Makeoutclub.com! It was my first one - before anything else - it’s like the first hipster online social network and I was 15. You’d go on, see hipsters and this kind of subculture or whatever. You had one photo, and it was funny because it wasn’t even like you’d click a profile but only one page and you’d scroll through pages: one photo and you could only have a certain amount of characters for your bio and then you put your AIM screen name and your email - and that’s all. So you kind of lurked people and then just chatted on the AIM with the person, being like “Hey you look cool, you have good taste in music, what’s going on?”. And you’d meet kids and people in your scene that way. Especially in that posthardcore, electro clash scene - everything from scream bands to Peaches, that whole thing. It was small parties, clubs and shows and stuff.

Social networking through the internet is so big now that any sort of community like that today would have to be very niche - back then it was it’s own little community, it’s own thing.

It sounds like Makeoutclub was pretty awesome. So, how about your first music account?

That would have have to been, besides my band stuff, Myspace.

On your website there’s a quote from you, about how you make your music, saying “It’s more instinct than influence”.

I move quickly. Like that’s how I go... I don’t think about it it’s more like “that part is done” “that melody is fine, I like it” then move on to the next one. I move really quick. Some of my best tracks are made in one day - there’s no science to really make a good song as far as how you do it, how you approach it because people create good songs in every way - some people create good songs when they’re feeling happy or sad or some other people may say “I don’t really care about this song but it’s a great song”. For me it’s always been…” - and here Skrillex puts his hands together in a short, explanatory clap and a snap - “Done”. “What would I do here after this sound was made, you know?”. I mean, when I say instinct over influence it’s - instinctively you’re influenced by things that are almost, what’s the word, subconscious. So it’s instinct. You’re

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not looking for it. Even though I listen to all types of music - new and old - that comes out naturally.

Your shows are like nothing we’ve ever seen before: the energy and the way the audience respond to your music and the bass - the crowd and audience is crazy and they certainly seem to act on instinct - in the best possible way.

When I see the crowd, they look like this whole, throbbing, heartbeat almost - everything moves together and that’s a good show or a party!

That’s why we did it on Dubstep patios - it was fun and we were one with everything we did. It’s the same thing now, just these bigger venues. I’m proud of it!

And the way they respond to the bass.

It’s crazy because it’s visceral, it’s like a physical feeling, especially when you have a good sound system. You can feel it man. Every once in a while I’ll mess up: I’ll drop a song and I’ll have like a filter, the bass will be filtered out accidentally and you’ll see people kind of moving - and then I’ll crank it on and people are like “oh” - this is the lower end part even though everything else is as loud. You can actually feel something about it. It’s crazy because it’s rhythmic and it’s also something you can feel outside of your eardrums - it’s moving in a weird way, physically.

459 108. 2319618. 45 367 452. 183 228 428. These are just some of Skrillex numbers - Twitter, Facebook, one Youtube video and channels views on Youtube - for someone who has been in this game for about two years, these kinds of numbers are incredible and they are constantly increasing at an almost ridiculous speed. Skrillex, you seem to master this whole social media thing pretty well.

I don’t know. I’m not doing anything except just using them. Not to sound too modest but I don’t know, to me I’m just putting out the music. A big part of it though is that I’ve always kept my social media a 100% me, and a 100%… You know all these advertising protocols: “Buy this album now, here for $10.99”, that kind of thing - I’ve never done that. I’m always speaking for myself. Every release I do is a write up about an artist and what I love about it. You know what I mean? It’s not like an assembly line stamp. Maybe that’s the reason? I have no idea. Word of mouth - if you see something you like you just tell people and that’s more valuable than anything else. Before, media outlets were limited to TV and you couldn’t control TV but now the media outlets aren’t just that - anyone can upload a video, not everybody can go on TV. I give away free tunes all the time and still it’s like it’s a direct.. You know what, I don’t even want to give it terms or call it one thing cause then it feels like a system and it really isn’t.

Spotify, Soundcloud and those services are getting increasingly popular and definitely contribute to changing the music industry. What do you think about that?

I love Spotify, I think it’s brilliant, and I think it [the music industry] will condense more and more to stuff like that musically - and even movies or whatever. A thing you can kill is a record but one thing you can’t kill is a live show. You can’t pirate a live show, you have to go to one. And live shows are still doing very well, especially in the States despite the economy. For example, it was 200 000 people in Vegas over the weekend for EDC - all electronic music too! Maybe two people in the lineup, like Guetta and Afro Jack, have radio singles - everybody else are underground artists in a sense.

It’s funny: if you consider Youtube mainstream then call it mainstream but if you consider the fact that I’m not played in the States, not on main-

stream radio - I have rotation on MTV with one of my videos, just recently though - but even prior to that, doing all these big shows - there’s not the same publicity as there is for Gaga or Kanye with billboards, radio advertising and that thing - there’s nothing like that. But with all these different artists, it’s an experience in its own - kids feel like they discovered it themselves and the minute you kill that completely then I think the culture sort of becomes diluted. That’s why I want to keep it that way myself that’s how I like things: to find them myself and I still prefer when things aren’t in my face, when no one is forcing me to like them. When you find it, something you connect with - it’s really cool.

Going back to the whole thing about how artists like that can sell more tickets together than the people who sell millions of records: when there’s no major push or anything like that - that’s insane. This whole thing in general, it’s just exploding. That’s the most fascinating part about it, that it’s not controlled and it’s not dictated by anyone else but us at this point. I won’t change my operating bases even if I go the other way and become super commercialized. I’ll keep it my way no matter what.

That is something we definitely agree with. So what’s next, what’s the plan?

We’re releasing a lot of stuff - just released the Scream single two weeks ago, we have some more releases coming up and then next year it’s more music and then we’re doing some really really special out of the box live experiences that we’re creating and curating right now. Anything from train tours to multiple nights - five nights in NYC and five in LA - from the smallest to the biggest venues - any crazy out of the box things you can think of! From a rooftop to the smallest indie club like the ones we grew up and played music in. That’s how we are doing it.

Thank you for a great conversation Skrillex. Anything else you want to add before you go on stage?

I got my first tattoo here in Stockholm last night.

And with that we left Skrillex to go do his thing: play a gig for a packed venue where the crowd reacted on instinct, moving to the music like a unit and seemed unable to stop, unable to control themselves. And we’re talking thousands upon thousands of people. This is why we refer to Skrillex as a genius: because he does what he loves, in the way he has chosen to do it and with the humble personality that can’t make you do anything but love the guy. It’s about instinct and it’s in the bass.

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http://www.skrillex.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOfficialSkrillex http://www.myspace.com/skrillex https://www.facebook.com/skrillex twitter.com/skrillex

WE WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU WORDS BY DANIELLE KRASSE PHOTOS FROM FWY ARCHIVE

Entering the world of FriendsWithYou is an other worldly experience - it’s its own universe where life as we know it doesn’t seem to exist; where seemingly fictional characters inhabit spaces and places as vivid and colorful and imaginary as we could previously have only dreamed of. It’s a world we want to live in. We want to be your friend, FriendsWithYou.

DANIELLE KRASSE: Who are FriendsWithYou? FWY: Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III and our amazing crew!

You have created a universe of your own. Describe it.

Its a place free of any roadblocks, pure magic, anything can happen, kind of place.

Your creations seem kind. Who are they?

They are everything we are and everything that came before us.

You are inspiring - but what inspires you?

Everything.

What is the master plan for FWY? Join the Rainbow World together in happiness and Love! Spreading this through Magic, Luck and Friendship. We are focusing on creating cultural experiences, creating public art installations and even using entertainment like animations to help share our Rainbow Magic worldwide. With each piece we hope to be contributing towards a positive future.

There is a quote saying “Live what you love”. Do you?

Yeah. We want to spread love and empowerment of all people and that is what we chose to do daily.

Finally, the project of your dreams?

Making FriendsWithYou! And enjoying every opportunity as it keeps growing.

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RAINBOW CITY ART BASEL MIAMI 2010

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skywalkers art basel MIAMI 2006

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[OPPOSITE] FUN HOUSE SCOPE MIAMI 2009

[from top row] RAINBOW VALLEY AVENTURA MALL MIAMI 2008 CLOUD CITY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART MIAMI 2005 DREAM MAKER INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART 2008 SAMUEL BORKSON & ARTURO SANDOVAL III WITH FRIENDS

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RAINBOW CITY ART BASEL MIAMI 2010

RZA

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WORDS BY TYLER CHILDS PHOTOS BY GIOVANNI REDA

Even though it was nearly four years ago, the first conversation I ever had with Robert Diggs feels like it was just a week ago. We were in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire, sitting across from each other at mid-day on a Saturday, discussing life, philosophy, and music… really everything except business. Which, considering the fact that we had convened to discuss his music career, was what we were supposed to be discussing. But that disregard for “supposed to” is what RZA has built a wildly successful career from. Not only the greatest producer of my lifetime (hiphop or not), RZA has reinvented himself as a world-class actor, author, and, now, director. He’s dynamic, thoughtful, intelligent, and quite funny. He has a natural gift for storytelling, and, as you’ll see, is always open and honest with his thoughts and opinions.

Our conversations haven’t changed much since that first chat in the hotel lobby, and I think that’s a good thing.

TYLER CHILDS: So they have me interviewing you for the WeSC Magazine called “Superlative Conspiracy”.

RZA: I don’t want to talk to you buddy. [Laughs] [Laughs] In grammar, the superlative is a form of an adjective or adverb that indicates that the person or thing has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than a anything else. Who do you think the strongest person you’ve ever known is?

Wow. The strongest person I’ve ever known? Personally? The strongest person I’ve ever known is my uncle Hollace - Dr. Hollace Porter from North Carolina. He had a young life but he’s a man of great strength. First of all, he’s a doctor in the 70’s - when blacks weren’t… they were still marching, you know what I mean? He came from humble beginnings to become a doctor and is to become a wealthy man and a land owner, 600 acres of land, farms and when my family was at its most tragic moment, he came to our aid and basically adopted four children, whom he’d never

met, into his household and really helped fashion them into people you see as today.

He was a good man. He’s a real good man so I say he’s the strongest man I’ve ever known.

That’s a great answer. When where you at your weakest?

Me at my weakest? Hopefully that’s in the past. But one of my weakest points of my life as far as internally feeling weak was right before my freedom and that was 1997. In ‘97, even though I was on top of the world in sense of I had the #1 album in the country, I was considered the #1 producer, I was a millionaire, (but) my household was in shambles, my personal life was fucked up, and I was personally weak. And I hid it, from everybody, you know what I mean? But I could say that - that was my weakest point, I was not who I had fashioned myself to be. And fortunately it only lasted for a few months, and when I came out of it I became

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the man you see today. A man that’s free, for real, freedom, my dome is free. And that led me being able to be not just The Abbot of Wu Tang, I’ve been The Abbot, I’ve already had all those titles, but being able to - okay, I’m being interviewed by Tyler Childs and you know me personally - so the man you see today was born September 7th 1997 - and that was after an extreme point of weakness.

And that was the rebirth?

Yeah, that was the year that that God was born in me. For real, not just for words.

“WHO HAS THE MOST IMMACULATE VOICE IN HIP HOP, PAST AND FUTURE, SO FAR: THAT’S BIGGIE. HIS VOICE WAS MADE FOR RHYMING... HE HAS A VOICE THAT CUTS THROUGH MUSIC LIKE NO OTHER...”

Well ‘97 was interesting in your life obviously personally and professionally. In the world of hip hop it’s the year we lost the Notorious B.I.G. I wanted to ask you about your relationship with him. What was that like, how did you guys interact, and how did you know each other?

People always say they knew somebody, right? And I’ve met him, I’ve seen him quite a few times and I saw him from back, from (when) his first single (came out.) I bumped into him in a club on his way up, and then when WuTang became big we played shows with him, we did gigs together. I go out a lot, so I’d always run into him. And the good thing about him was he was a good dude. When I went over to my scene he’d always have this respect about himself and maybe a respect towards me - I don’t know why, we never really discussed it, when Biggie would see me he’d come over, give me a pound, send me a bottle of champagne - he was always a classy man, when he asked, when they commissioned me to do a song on his album - that was after the so called negative energy that was built up between Rae, Ghost and you know, the so called beef that was on then. Even after all that, you know he reached out and still commissioned me, so obviously he had a lot of respect for me and I had a lot of respect for him. I say to this day, people consider somebody to be the best rapper - I don’t think anyone’s the best rapper, it’s like boxing: you got the belt, you can loose the belt, alright, but you can’t become that champion, but still - who has the most immaculate voice in hip hop, past and future, so far: that’s Biggie. His voice is made for rhyming. Some of us, we rhyme because we want to rhyme, he has a voice that cuts through music like no other - the most immaculate voice.

Do you feel that what he did with the track that you guys did together Long Kiss Goodnight - that it was different, and he took it in a different direction than any other MC would have done?

I don’t know if I would say that - cause you know, I come from a stable of great MC’s but if anybody ever got on one of my tracks and ripped that shit - like how my bothers rip it - it was Biggie. He ripped the shit out of that track, he fucked that motherfucker up. I’ll never forget, when Puff played it for me, my man Power I think was in the car, and Puff played that shit and we were like “Yo that nigga ripped that shit, he ripped it” that’s all we knew, that he ripped it.

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So let’s talk about someone else who’s ripped some of your tracks recently: Kanye West. Early last year you and I took a trip to Hawaii, a secret trip, couldn’t tell anybody, to meet Mr. West and you worked on his record. What was your favorite experience from that trip?

My favorite experience from it was really the breakfasts. Having breakfast with him in the morning and his crew and his team and everybody talking about, you know, to goal of his record, the goal of his campaign, and then also we’re just talking life. You know what I mean? We just talked.

And then after that we’d just go and work out.

That’s true. Play hoops.

Play hoops, hit the gym, that shit. But yeah, that was my favorite experience. But one other thing that’s my second favorite experience is really watching Kanye play his album, play his music to people. The excitement he had for what he did, the excitement he had for himself, the confidence

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and belief in himself. And the excitement of it, it was more like - it’s like when a kid comes home with an A+ - you know what I mean? He has that thing about him with his music and it was good for me to see that cause I haven’t seen that in MC’s or artists since the 90’s.

I feel the same way. And you know what - one of my favorite experiences was the night that - everybody had gone home, and it was you and me and Tre and ‘Ye and you had played a track that we can’t talk about right now, but a track that will be out on his next record, and we all sat down and he flipped through that book, with you, the “Glow in the Dark” tour book, and he went through every page with you because he wanted to show you. He was like that kid with an A+ and he wanted to show you his art project. What do you feel like makes your relationship with him so special?

Well, that’s a question I can’t answer. I don’t know what it is. We have

COVER

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a common denominator, you know what i mean, and that denominator remains to be itself. But I can say this to you: he did go through that book with me and he gave me a copy, an autographed copy, but the good thing is that I took that book home and my daughter is into art, and I opened that book up and I went through every page with her. So that’s the beauty of it. It continues. It didn’t stop there, it didn’t stop at somebody’s “showing me” or whatever that was between me and him - it spread to another person that wants to be an artist, that’s art.

That’s great. Since I’m interviewing you for the WeSC Magazine we should probably talk a bit about Chambers by RZA and WeSC, that’s probably not a bad idea. You and Greger, speaking of kindred spirits, when you first met Greger you really felt the spirit of him and that you guys really connected on a personal level. What do you think that is with you and Greger? Cause you come from such different cultures and backgrounds but I fell like there’s a special connection between you two.

I think it’s about subculture. He’s black, wait I mean, I’m black [laughs] from America, Brooklyn, Staten Island - he’s white from Sweden, Stockholm - totally opposite sides of the world. Don’t know how he grew up and how they got their history and we got our history but the subculture: you know he used to be in skateboarding and when the skateboard was out in the early days, people used to think it was stupid. Niggas were crazy, they’re fucking jumping off shit [laughs]. Same thing with hip hop.

People they shunned it - “it’s not gonna last”, it’s kids acting stupid, writing on walls, spinning on their heads, fucking scratching, making noise out of beautiful music. We start scratching a James Brown song and people were like “what the fuck are they doing to the words” - “get on get on get on up” - people thought it sounded ridiculous. I think it’s our subculture that resonates - that kindred spirit, that’s what I think. These days you don’t know - you know what I mean: you love your girl and you might not know why after the night is over, but before then, you saw her and wanted to get at her [laughs] and something was there you know what I mean - she was different than other girls. You can’t put your finger on it but it’s something that exists. So I do think it’s our subculture.

Speaking of WeSC you have a lot of WeSC in you collection now. What’s your favorite WeSC apparel item?

My favorite piece is that one you see on that billboard.

That red varsity jacket?

That varsity sweater, what they call it?

Guess it’s varsity jacket maybe? Cardigan type thing?

But I want people to think it’s that one, not this one. You know the one you saw in the movie.

SHIZZ: [Interjecting] It’s a beautiful red V-neck cardigan - it’s more dapper, it’s not more collegiate. It’s more dapper, like a grown man - you can actually put a bow tie on it.

I want to real quickly touch on Los Angeles. A lot of people ask you about New York, you’re from New York, but you’ve lived in LA for a better part of a decade now. What do you like about LA? I haven’t been here for a decade yet, but I’ve been here for some time so, I don’t know, I just love this city man, I don’t know why people don’t like it - it’s bugging the fuck out to me. Who don’t want to wake up, December 1st and it’s 70 degrees? [Laughs]. December 20th it’s gonna be 75 degrees motherfucker and I got a pool in my backyard. Why wake up, and I like snow but you know, why have to wake up to snow? I rather choose to wake up to snow, I don’t want to be forced to wake up to snow. But

that’s just one thing, this city is a very unique place from my point of view because I live in it in an artistic way - I’m in a business in Hollywood, I’m working on films and music and New York is the mecca of music, you know. But California, Hollywood, is the mecca of film. And film is my new love - it’s been my love since I got out here. And for me I’m achieving that - my dream, my desire, I’m following my goal that I wanted and I’m standing on courts and this place is helping me to do that. Even on a bad day, and maybe it’s because of the sun, because of the wealth of my peers and the people around me, because my house is cool, you know what I mean. But whatever it is - even on a bad day, goodness shows up.

I was growing up on the east coast - a bad day turned into a bad week, and a bad week to a bad month, and a bad month turned into a bad fucking year. You know what I mean? And that’s just how it was out there.

“I JUST LOVE THIS CITY MAN, I DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE DON’T LIKE IT- IT’S BUGGING THE FUCK OUT OF ME. WHO DON’T WANT TO WAKE UP DECEMBER 1ST AND IT’S 70 DEGREES?... WHY HAVE TO WAKE UP TO SNOW?” I think it’s easier too, to an extent. And I think it’s the glamour (of LA).

Yeah it’s the glamour. My father said it to me, my father left me when I was a kid - we’re buddies now, I’ve grown to forgive him, and he’s my buddy and I love him - he don’t care if I love him or not though but I do, but he said something about my mother; he was describing it, how it happened and he’d say, “Your mother was a glamour girl” and he couldn’t keep that up, you know what I mean? A glamour girl in the ghetto and I think my mother, she’s one of those ladies that her living set would have to be the shit, the stereo setup would have to be the shit you couldn’t go in there, our house never was dirty. We had more children than other family members - people would come out to our house and think that we was living rich because she just had a quality about her.

You come to my house you see the same thing. My house is organized, it’s clean, and no maid is there - she come every two weeks. We got rid of the maid - me and my wife do it ourselves, we like to do it, but that glamour that my mother had to her is in me, and here in California I get to live in and experience it.

True. Do you feel like that glamour and what’s she’s instilled in you is translated into the headphones that you’ve done?

Definitely. Clean, stylish, sleek, quality. You know what I mean? And even if, you know, you get the street pair let’s say, for instance - like my mother, if she went to Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn and got some cheap stuff out of there, and she made it look rich. If you can’t afford to get our premium headphones, with the lights and all that on it, you just have to get the street pair of our headphones - it still look rich. It still looks good. It looks great actually. When you compare it to other peoples headphones, and I’ll compare, my shit looks cooler. I know that not just because I’m saying it but because I’ve been told that. By good people.

True. Last question: how did you get so lucky to get such a handsome manager and do you feel like that he outshines you on the red carpet most of the time when you are standing together?

I don’t know what you’re talking about? [Laughing]

*

DOWNTOWN

SUN PHOTOS BY ANTON RENBORG STYLED BY JOANNA DAVID

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FASHION

[ FOR MORE PRODUCT INFO GO TO WWW.WeSC.COM ]

DAY AFTER PHOTOS & STYLING BY IDA SUNDQUVIST

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FASHION

[ FOR MORE PRODUCT INFO GO TO WWW.WeSC.COM ]

TRAVEL SMART WeSC + SMART : THE SUPERLATIVE JOURNEY [PART 1] PHOTOS BY VISUAL COOKS

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LIFESTYLE

[ FOR MORE PRODUCT INFO GO TO WWW.WeSC.COM ]

AFTERNOON

DELIGHT PHOTOS BY ROBIN ÅHLGREN MADE BY MARCY PANE

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FASHION

[ FOR MORE PRODUCT INFO GO TO WWW.WeSC.COM/FOOTWEAR ]

PHOTOS

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ANGELA BOATWRIGHT SKATEBOARDER ‘LIZARD KING’ THOMPSON LES HOTEL NYC / AUGUST 2011

PHOTOS

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CHRIS PIERETTI IT WAS A TOTALLY RANDOM FIND. AN OPEN DOOR ON PRINCE STREET WITH THIS AMAZING WORK BENCH INSIDE, COMPLETELY COVERED IN TOOLS. CAMERA IN HAND I ASKED TO TAKE A PICTURE. “JUST DON’T MOVE ANYTHING,” IT’S OWNER GRUNTED WITH A SMILE, “I GOT EVERYTHING ARRANGED JUST HOW I LIKE IT.”

PHOTOS

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SHANIQWA JARVIS SKY HAS GOT A LOT OF HAIR-NO TRACKS OR EXTENSIONS, SO I MADE HER WHIP IT AROUND ALL DAY.

PHOTOS

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CRAIG COSTELLO HEADING WEST, LOOKING NORTH / JANUARY 2010 NYC

PHOTOS

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DAVID PEREZ I VISITED MINAMI SANRIKU ABOUT 8 MONTHS AFTER THE 3/11 TSUNAMI HIT TO GET A PERSPECTIVE OF WHAT THE DAMAGE AND RECOVERY WAS LIKE. THE FEELING I HAD WAS REMINISCENT OF WALKING DOWN BY GROUND ZERO RIGHT AFTER 9/11.

A FEELING OF EXTREME LOSS. ALMOST HALF OF THE 9500 POPULATION WAS WIPED OUT.

PHOTOS

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NATAS KAUPAS WHEN WE REMODELED OUR HOUSE, ALL WORK STOPPED AFTER A FEW BIG BONES WERE DUG UP- THEN THE BOTTLE WITH A NOTE. WE WERE EXPECTING A CONFESSION TO A MURDER FROM LONG AGO. INSTEAD WAS A TOUCHING NOTE BURIED WITH “PRINCE”, THE MOST LOYAL, BEST DOG- DIED 11 YEARS OLD IN 1919. WE REBURIED THE BONES AND NOTE BEFORE CONSTRUCTION STARTED.

PHOTOS

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STASH THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN WHILE BEING DRIVEN BACK FROM THE INDUSTRIAL AREA INTO THE RESIDENTIAL AREA OF SANTO DOMINGO IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. IT WAS THE LAST SHOT OF A VERY LONG DAY AND BY FAR MY FAVORITE.

PHOTOS

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CRYSTAL MOSELLE I LOVE WILD DOGS. I HAVE A SERIES OF PHOTOS OF DOGS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. THIS IS A DOG THAT I MET IN THE JUNGLE OF CANAIMA, VENEZUELA. HE WAS GROWLING PRETTY HARD WHEN I TOOK THIS. I WAS TRYING TO CHARM HIM BUT HE WASN’T HAVING IT. I WANTED TO HUG HIM SO BADLY.

PHOTOS

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TOBIN YELLAND BRAD STABA WANTED TO SHOOT THIS KICK FLIP NEAR THE MAYORS OFFICE IN SAN FRANCISCO. I SET UP MY NIKON F5 WITH A 105MM LENS AND AND JUST HOPED FOR THE BEST. WITH ALL THE COPS AROUND I WAS READY FOR SECURITY TO ASK US TO LEAVE. BRAD MADE THIS KICK FLIP FIRST TRY. STOKED. / 1995

PHOTOS

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YOUNG KIM aka STMN I HAVE BEEN CARRYING OUT THE ‘SUITMAN PORTRAIT SESSION’ FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS, AND COLLECTED HUNDREDS OF THESE PORTRAITS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE. I CALL THIS PARTICULAR COLLECTION OF MY WORK, ‘THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME TO ME...’

THE OUTFIT UNIFIED THE FACES, AND WHEN THE SUPERFICIAL WAS STRIPED-OFF, WE GOT TO SEE WHO WE REALLY ARE.

PHOTOS

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JANETTE BECKMAN THIS OCTOBER AT THE APOLLO IN HARLEM, GEORGE CLINTON AKA ‘DR FUNKENSTEIN’ FOUNDER OF PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC WAS HONORED WITH AN ALL STAR TRIBUTE FEATURING BOOTSY COLLINS, SHEILA E, BERNIE WORRELL, NONA HENDRYX, VERNON REID, RAY CHEW AND MANY MORE. ‘THE FUNK WILL NEVER DIE ‘

PHOTOS

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ALESSANDRO ZUEK SIMONETTI I’VE ALWAYS LIKED CATS. I WAS CHILLING AND SMOKING ON MY FRIEND’S COUCH (THIS COUCH) IN BUSHWICK WHILE MENTIONING HOW I THINK ANIMALS, IN GENERAL, LOVE ME, WHEN SUDDENLY HER WHITE CAT ATTACKED ME SCRATCHING THE SHIT OUT OF MY FACE! AS MY FRIEND WAS LAUGHING, WE REALIZED I WAS BLEEDING ALL AROUND MY EYES. AFTER THAT I SORT OF DEVELOPED A FEAR OF CATS.

LAZARIDES GALLERY WORDS & PHOTOS BY STEVE LAZARIDES [CURATOR / ART DEALER]

“ I guess for me, it has always been about working with those who are willing to do things the way they want to do it and not compromising. Those who are doing it because they want to make the best they can and not for anyone else.”

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[121]

INSPIRATION

MONTRÉAL [CANADA] WORDS & PHOTOS BY PAUL LABONTÉ

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CITY GUIDE

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Montréal [Quebec] - Things you should know about Montréal: The island of Montréal is the creative capital of Canada, it’s the second largest city in the country. Home to the most storied professional ice hockey franchise in the world and also to the steamed hotdog. The city operates in both the French & English and is the birthplace of Jackie Robinson’s career as a pro-

fessional baseball player. We put this city guide together for you, and as always, it’s places that regular tourist guides might overlook. It’s a list of places we frequent and love. Local. I omitted restaurants that serve poutine from the list. I’m a firm believer that the best poutine is found off island (poutine is french fries with gravy and curd cheese). It’s best at 3 am when leaving a

bar... it’s a hangover remedy of sorts. In other news, I don’t skateboard but from what I understand City Hall, the natural pipe at the Olympic stadium and the ledges at Peace park are the places that shouldn’t be missed. The natural pipe at the Olympic stadium is really the stuff of legends. I’m told that the transition is unforgiving. Tough times.

CITY GUIDE

RESTAURANTS Joe Beef/Liverpool House 2491 Notre Dame West Montréal, QC H3J 1N6 514 935-6504 Faros 362 Avenue Fairmount Ouest Montreal, QC 514 270-8437

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Myriade 1432 Rue Mackay Montreal, QC H3G 2H7 514 939-1717

Tokyo 3709 Boulevard Saint-Laurent Montreal, QC H2X 1A1 514 842-6838

Cafe Campanelli 4624 Notre-Dame Ouest Montreal, QC H4C 1S4

Buvette Chez Simonne 4869 Avenue du Parc Montreal, QC H2V 4E7 514 750-6577

BAGELS CULTURE St Viateur 263 St-Viateur West Montreal, Quebec H2V 1Y1 514 276-8044

Canadian Centre for Architecture 1920, rue Baile Montréal, QC H3H 2S6

Fairmount 74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest Montreal, QC H2T 2M1 514 272-0667

DHC/ART 451 St-Jean Street Montreal, QC H2Y 2R5 514 849-3742

DADS Bagel 5732 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest Montreal, QC 514 487-2454

Parisian Laundry 3550 Rue Saint Antoine Ouest Montreal, QC H4C 1A9 514 989-1056

NIGHTTIME

SHOPS

COFFEE

Blizzarts 3956 Boulevard Saint-Laurent Montreal, QC 514 843-4860

San Simeon 39 rue Dante Montreal, QC H2S 1J6 514 272-7386

Philemon 111 Rue Saint Paul Ouest Montreal, QC H2Y 1Z5 514 289-3777

Olimpico 124 Rue St-Viateur Ouest Montreal, QC 514 495-0746

Baldwin 115 Avenue Laurier Ouest Montreal, QC H2T 2N6 514 276-4282

Off The Hook, 1021 Ste Catherine Ouest 514 499-1021 Les Etoffes, 5253, boulevard saint-laurent 514 544-5500 WeSC Montreal, 1387 Ste-Catherine W. 514 315-5743 Brakeless, 5390 ave du Parc 514 759-1251 Unicorn, 5135 boulevard St.Laurent 514 544-2828 Tattoomania, 1615, boul de Maisonneuve E. 514 525-2025 PSC Tattoo, 1925 Centre street 514 931-2325

St Viateur Bagel

Philemon

OFF THE HOOK

TuckShop 4662 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montreal, QC H4C 1S6 514 439-7432 Montreal Pool Room 1217 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montréal, QC 514 954-4487 Voro 275 Fairmont, Ouest Montreal, Quebec H2A 0A1 514 509-1341 Willensky’s Light Lunch 34 fairmount ave west, Montreal, QC H2T 2M1

CITY GUIDE

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TOP TO BOTTOM: WeSC MONTREAL STORE, BLIZZARTS, STEAMED HOT DOGS/MONTREAL POOL ROOM

TOP TO BOTTOM: BRAKELESS, LIVER POOL HOUSE, MONTREAL POOL ROOM

TOP TO BOTTOM: JOE BEEF, OLIMPICO COFFEE

LOCATIONS

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On December 1st, 2011, WeSC and RZA launched the CHAMBERS BY RZA in Los Angeles, California. WIth a special performance by Talib Kweli, DJ set by Paul Banks, WeActivists Pace Rock, Lady Tigra and Eddie House of Steed Lord, it was truly a night to remember.

For those of you that missed it, check out the scene below‌ [photos: JUSTIN JAY] Special thanks to KANON ORGANIC VODKA & ASAHI for the drinks.

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LOCATIONS FOR MORE ON ‘CHAMBERS BY RZA’ & TO FOLLOW RZA: wesc.com/chambersbyrza facebook.com/RZAWU twitter.com/RZA iTunes: RZA’s World App

WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy symbolizes what we as a company represent: a group and family of good, creative minds working towards the same goals and ideals. The Superlative Conspiracy is the idea and philosophy behind our brand. We aim to address like-minded people, who are awake and aware, regardless of race, religion or financial background. People within the Superlative Conspiracy share the values and lifestyle of the WeSC founders who all have a background in skateboarding, snowboarding and street culture – which are the heritage and inspiration for the creation and making of WeSC. The people flying the flag of the Conspiracy are the people enjoying, wearing and representing the brand, and importantly also the WeActivists. Those great creatives, skateboarders, snowboarders, actors, musicians, chefs, models, artists and more who are all a part of the WeSC Family. Their representation of WeSC adds new and other dimensions; the things they do in their field of work and interest in the different genres of culture, sports, music and creativity.

It all comes together and contributes to make WeSC the brand for intellectual slackers, creatives and supporters of streetfashion.

© 2012 We International AB All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic or mechanical (including photocopy, film or video recording, internet posting or any other information storage and retrieval system) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Made in Sweden by WeSC Karlavägen 108, Stockholm, Sweden tel. +46 8 46 50 50 00 www.wesc.com facebook.com/superlativeconspiracy twitter.com/WeSC1999

CEO: GREGER HAGELIN GLOBAL BRAND DIRECTOR: THOMAS FLINN GLOBAL VICE MARKETING MANAGER: HANNA LUNDGREN GLOBAL PR & WEB MANAGER: DANIELLE KRASSE EXECUTIVE ART DIRECTOR: TONY ARCABASCIO ART DIRECTOR: SIMON MÅRTELIUS

WeSC, www.wesc.com, WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy AND ‘THE ICON’ ARE REGISTRATED TRADEMARKS OF WE INTERNATIONAL AB®

WE A R E T HE S U PE R L AT I V E C O N S PI R A C Y www. we s c. co m

2012