Hard Work

I’ve been staying away from Fairfax for the past few days as we have been hard at work on our Spring 07 collection but after repeated attempts to get me to return and assurances that I wouldn’t get distracted, I was pulled back this afternoon by the tractor beam that is The Hundreds office. As soon as I walked up those stairs though I knew it was all over and before I even had a chance to turn on my computer I was greeted by Alyasha who I think I may have startled.













For those of you that don’t know, Alyasha is one of the true legends of this game and he has been behind a number of classic brands including Phat Farm when it first started out as well as Alpha Numeric. He is currently running things with one of the freshest labels out there at the moment, Fiberops, and it was a real pleasure to meet him at last. I just hope I didn’t bore him and Bobby to tears with too many of my notoriously over-long stories.



























A little while later just as it looked like some work might actually get done, it all went horribly wrong when Dame Ca$h rocked up with Ben all excited about one of the new Twelve Bar sample tees he received today which you can see a sneak preview of in this photo.














Then Jay from 5 & A Dime joined the party and shortly afterwards Diz turned up too.



























Last but not least Digit showed up repping the dopest Crooks & Castles tee.













For all of you reading this who run brands, she wears a Men’s Small just so that you know.

By this point it was now so crowded in the office we had to kick Dame Ca$h and Scotty out onto the street and what does Ca$h go and do. Yup you guessed it. He heads over to Flight Club when he should be working, has some words with Ricky behind the counter and goes and buys the kicks I wanted before I could get to them.














Tomorrow I’m staying in my own office.

The Ruler's Back

So of course there is only one real subject for this week's entry from London town. The Jigga man has returned to grace our stages with his presence and impeccable rhyme skills. And let me tell you that Wembley Arena, for one, was collectively thankful that the retirement of the one true colossus of rap, as we all expected, would turn out to be a falsehood. It had to be. I don't care if the "retirement" announcement was a cynical ploy to sell more copies of The Black Album. Maybe he meant it at the time. Who knows. Like I say who cares, because he is most definitely back and the lay-off certainly hasn't dulled his flow nor ability as one of the finest live performers around. His claim to be the greatest rapper alive is not one made lightly, but on this performance he is probably right. He normally is. And the Wembley gig even featured a four song appearance from one of the others with a rightful claim on the title, none other than foe turned unity ambassador, Nas. And a duet of Jay's "Dead Presidents" segueing into "The World Is Your's" was priceless and a view few could have imagined at the height of one of rap's most fierce feuds. And Beyonce came and rocked it too. It was truly massive. New long player "Kingdom Come" drops 21 November and you know it will be huge. Who you know fresher than Hov, riddle me that?

Have You Seen This Man?

Look at the picture below.













Do you know this man? Have you seen him recently? Well let me tell you – He has a lot to answer for. Thanks to him I have had no camera for the past three days and as a result I wasn’t able to take any pictures at the Prince gig I went to on Saturday night or the Mexican wrestling I went to check out yesterday afternoon. Don’t blame me. Blame him as he is solely responsible and is a menace to society.

In the absence of having any pictures to show you I thought I’d take this opportunity to let you know that the Fall 06 Twelve Bar line is now available and, if it isn’t in a store near you yet, it will be in the next fortnight. From what I’ve been hearing it’s selling out quickly so if you have any problems finding what you want please just send an email to appreciation@twelvebar.com and let us know what you are looking for and hopefully we will be able to point you in the right direction. Please also check out http://www.twelvebar.com/ for a full stockist list and remember to support your local retailer.




























































































On an unrelated note, given that this man has not returned my camera and continues to be at large in the Los Angeles underground for a crime he has committed, I spent most of today listening to the radio instead of taking pictures.














Los Angeles radio is truly incredible but without a doubt the biggest tune I heard all day was Billy Ocean’s Caribbean Queen.














I don’t care if you think this is the cheesiest track in the world. I’m standing up and telling you it’s amazing and that’s all there is to it. There’s nothing better than good music. Apart from maybe having a camera.

Can I Get Some Fries To Go With That Shake?

There’s nothing like sending 200 emails in a morning to get your appetite worked up and there’s nothing like In-N-Out Burger to relieve the hungriest of hard workers. For those of you that don’t know – All California residents reading this please switch off your computers now – In-N-Out is, in my mind, hands down the best burger chain in the world. Forget about Freshness Burger and Mos Burger in Japan. This place is the real deal and for less than $2 you can get the best cheeseburger you will ever eat. The place prides itself on its quality.














Even Dame Ca$h, who I can safely say has probably eaten more hamburgers than any other man I know, went quiet when his food arrived.














What I love most though about In-N-Out is the simplicity of the menu. There aren’t any complicated choices to be made and, as with all the best things in life, everything is so easy.














After lunch it was back to the computer and then in the evening we headed out to Santa Monica to catch up with Brett and Ryan from Estate LA to talk a little hat business. In addition to being super nice guys, Estate LA are making the dopest fitted caps out there at the moment and within the next 18 months are going to become big dogs in the hat game – Mark my words. I felt a little bad rocking up in Ryan’s living room at 10 at night for a meeting as Brett looked exhausted when we arrived.














I then felt even worse when I started asking Ryan to pull out various fabrics to show us and had him turn his living room into a showroom but you gotta do what you gotta do right.



























The perforated suede LA cap is ridiculous and whilst I know you have all seen a sneak peak of the forthcoming Han Cholo hat which my boy Bobby – http://www.thehundreds.com/ – showed you on his blog, here’s a glimpse of the inside - How crazy is that lining!














Also look out for the first ever Sushi Fitted Caps coming soon to Fitted Hawaii – I have no idea where Ryan found this fabric but it is amazing.














On the way home we stopped off at Canter’s on Fairfax for a quick snack and I had a little bit of corned beef which I am guessing pushes that 10 million pound number up a little more – What a horrible thought!

Oxford New Jack

This piece is inspired by my boy, the one and only Rav Diddy, and his sometimes funny, often waywardly bizarre, story-telling. I won't go down the path of retreading his George Costanza-like take on the world and his memories of arriving as an Oxford under-graduate to a New Jack Swing soundtrack, except to say that recent discussions prompted the memory of a true stomper. Little has been said so far on A Story to Tell about the relatively brief but powerful early-90s New Jack Swing takeover of the R&B and hip-hop foreground, but there is plenty to say. Teddy Riley we can of course return to, that is obvious. But for now, try to find time to revel in the delights of Johnny Gill's "Rub You The Right Way". Monumentally cheesy, polished, faux-street tough posturing are all evident of course, but forget about that. The tune is huge, with a ridiculously catchy chorus. Go on begin to relive those years and embrace the Swing. You know you want to.

The Festivities Begin

Quite how it has not been mentioned on here previously I am unsure, but I just wanted to comment - how good is the Rhymefest "Blue Collar"!? I mean, forget all the stuff about his friendship with Kanye, the this and that about who did what on "Jesus Walks", the lost verse on the afore mentioned track, the freestyle battles with a young and eager Eminem. All very interesting as a back story, but the point here is the album itself. Sure he sounds like Kanye, but they are boys so you know the humour and style are going to overlap. Sure the Kanye produced "Brand New" is a stomper with a typical catchy hook and lyrical interplay between the two and a surefire radio hit, if not here then in the States. But to me Rhymefest is more than a Kanye protege or imitation as it seems some want to market him as. He has his own flow, and what he has to say about the social ills of America, and the young black man's struggle with capitalism and materialism is pertinent, insightful and sharp. A clever foil to the flagrant blingism that Kanye has come to personify (despite his own confusing mixture of arrogance and humility, social insight and wanton materialism). Blue Collar includes production credits for Mark Ronson, Just Blaze, No I.D and of course one from West himself. But like Fest says, the latter hasn't been broke since H to the I.Z.Z.O!

Everybody In The Club Getting Tipsy

By now you’ve probably seen enough images from The Reed Space and Supreme store opening parties in Tokyo over the weekend and most of the images you will have seen are way better than mine but I just thought I’d share a few with you as my parting farewell to Japan until I head back there in ten weeks time. My last 48 hours in the world’s craziest city involved way too much alcohol, adult video stars of the present and future, old friends from New York and Tokyo, new friends from LA and London, Gilles Peterson, Biggie & Tupac, a restaurant which inspired the Crazy 88 fight scene in Kill Bill Volume 1, sleeping in the grounds of the Emperor’s palace, the one and only Yone and a lot of time with my favorite girl in the world who knows who she is.

Once again mad props to Jeff, Nico, Hiroko and Hiromi for bringing The Reed Space to Tokyo. The city needs it and Twelve Bar will be supporting you guys every little step of the way like Bobby Brown. Everyone was there and it was good to catch up with the Essense crew who I met for the first time in Vegas last month.














Miguel from MTV was up to his old tricks again and spent a fair bit of time working on putting together a joint venture with Sony Japan.















Anthony, the technical man behind the scenes at Staple and Supreme and a million and one other places, was in good spirits and was looking sharper dressed than ZZ Top. Quite why he was rocking the all white you’ll have to speak to him about.














At the Supreme party it was like being in New York. The Beast was lurking and J.Rocc was smashing it on the decks.



























Kana from Warp Magazine and Asobu from One Gram were out and about.














Akko and Shinoboo were about 45 minutes into a 24 hour drinking marathon.














And last but not least I was holding it down with Kogi from United Arrows and Kubo from Nike.














As for what happened later you’ll have to ask me when you see me. I’m now back in LA and am totally exhausted so that’s it for now. It’s all about Tokyo.

Meanwhile On The Other Side Of The World

I could never understand why every time I looked at a Japanese blog there were always pictures of food on it but now it is becoming crystal clear as all people seem to do here is work, eat and drink. After a long day at the showroom the Calquinto crew who have been ridiculously hospitable as always took me out for a delicious meal and once again it was all about the meat.














As the beer flowed things got progressively messier and Kiyo who seems to know more about hip-hop then anyone I have ever met couldn’t resist a bit of bizarre face-pulling.




























Twelve Bar was definitely in the building as Nemo was keen to show me.













Kobi was doing a better job of handling the alcohol than some of the rest of the crew but I still managed to catch him mid-giggle.














Baba remained poker-faced at all times.














I have a feeling this had something to do with the fact that he was sitting next to his boss Mr Kobayashi though.

At this point I’m proud to say that I was still fairly sober and after I said my goodbyes to the Calquinto family I headed off to meet Miguel who was introduced to me earlier in the week by Jeff Staple and who is in town from New York to show some love for the opening of The Reed Space Tokyo.














We rolled to Nakameguro to meet my good friend Yone and this is where things got even messier. You see most normal people work all day, then eat, then maybe drink a little bit and then go to bed but not Yone. He really is the King of Tokyo and when everyone else is getting ready to call it a night this guy is just getting started. Not only does Yone have the world’s best day job taking pictures of half naked Japanese girls for hours on end but he also parties every night and yesterday was no exception. As soon as we arrived at the hotel where his office is people started pouring in. Bear in mind this was almost Midnight.

Dan from Freshness Taiwan was in the house trying to keep pace with Yone.














The Reed Space New York’s best looking couple showed up out of the blue.














Then Nico, Hiromi and Anthony all representing for The Reed Space also turned up. I was wondering where Jeff was but apparently he decided to stay in with a few of the magazines I gave him the other night (sorry I couldn’t resist!)














There were a few locals up in the spot too. Megumi is a doll designer in Tokyo and here she is posing with one of her creations and a bottle of beer of course.














After a few more drinks, we left the bar and, as you do, went up onto the roof of the hotel where there are the craziest 360 degree views of Tokyo you will ever see. I chilled up there for a bit but when I caught Miguel and Megumi in a Sleepless in Seattle moment I decided it was time to go home.














Yone and I had one last picture for the road just in case you forgot that Twelve Bar was in the building and that was that.














The Reed Space opens in about 4 hours time and I need some rest. Huge props to Jeff, Nico, Hiroko, Hiromi, Mike and all the rest of The Reed Space and Eiko crew for making it happen and I’ll see you there. For now I’m out like the Nigerian currency.

D'evilishly Good

The i-pod shuffle function can be a frustrating yet brilliant tool for those times of musical un-inspiration. We've all had the annoying trawl through the "Artists" list where nothing seems to take a fancy and often, when you use the shuffle, you end up with a similar problem as all the machine seems to spew out are pointless skits or tunes from The Carpenters "Best Of" that have somehow found their way onto it (or is that just me?!?). But sometimes it is genius. The first time I ever used the shuffle function out came Biggie's "Unbelievable" as the first track. Incredible. And today as I wandered reluctantly to work out came one of Jay-Z's truly killer tunes. From his awesome debut "Reasonable Doubt" (do you need reminding? I doubt it) in came the Snoop sample, the Primo beats, and then the story of hustling to live. "D'evils" is a monster, and contains one of the best lines from Jay's seemingly bottomless pit of metaphor and tropism: "So I kept feeding her money 'til her shit started to make cents". Fake hustlers and fake MCs don't come near.

Summer Madness

The Summer may be over in most parts of the world but in Tokyo it is still absolutely boiling and when I say boiling I really mean boiling. As I hopped off the subway for a stroll around my favorite part of town – check out the reflection of the Stevie Wonder Harmonica tee (!) -













I couldn’t resist taking a picture of some cat who – forgive the pun – couldn’t take the heat.













Nakameguro is only a stones throw away from the ridiculously overcrowded Shibuya but you may as well be in a different world there. The streets are tree-lined, it is intersected by canals and there are appetizing cafes everywhere where you can grab some brunch or should I say “blunch”.













If you closed your eyes you could almost be in Europe but if you keep them open you’ll notice a few things that could only exist in Japan. For one you’ve got Elmo advising you to take care in the event of an earthquake –













I guess Sesame Street was always meant to be educational – and you are never too far away from a red box logo or someone, in this case a local hair salon, using their version of the box logo to promote their business.













After a mellow couple of hours it was time to brave the madness and I headed to Harajuku where the first thing you see as you come out the station is an enormous line of young Japanese girls waiting patiently for an audition in front of Japan’s hottest talent agent. I’m not convinced many of these hopefuls have much a chance but you’ve got to admire their commitment waiting for hours in that heat.













From there the next stop was Aoyama and the Tab Device store where I caught up with Mike from Levi’s who is the man who behind it all. Mike is having a crazy week putting the finishing touches on the gallery in The Reed Space which is opening here on Friday but he took some time out of his day to show me around. Tab Device is basically a Levi’s concept shop incorporating sport, music and art and together with the Levi’s Vintage Store next door is one of the most impressive and interesting retail spaces I have seen in a long while.













The amount of thought and attention to detail that has gone into Tab Device from the artwork to the dressing rooms to the floors to even the hangers (!) is remarkable and the space is an incredible extension of the history of the Levi’s brand and what it embodies. No more pictures I’m afraid as this place is somewhere you really need to make the effort to see in person as you won’t be disappointed.

After saying goodbye to Mike I quickly checked out a few other spots in the area and happened across a girl with the craziest fingernails I have seen in a while.













The rest of her looks even better than this but that’s for me to know and you not to find out!

Finally it was time for dinner and whilst I know my daily dietary requirements aren't particularly interesting I can’t leave out how incredible the Tonkatsu (Fried Pork) we ate was.













On top of that it was great to see my oldest friend in Tokyo Dai who is an all round don who was rocking the freshest Rammellzee tee













and who has just got married to his girlfriend of 7 years Nori. Both of them have always been the most hospitable of hosts in this most hospitable of towns and it was a pleasure treating them to dinner – I don’t do that often (!) – about five hours after they officially tied the knot.













That’s it for now.

Lost In Translation

So I’ve finally arrived in Tokyo following a 10 hour flight from Los Angeles and within three hours I have already managed to get myself into trouble. After a packed ride on the bus from the plane to the terminal, a one and a half hour trip on the Narita Express and an extremely confusing few stops on the world’s most complicated metro system I somehow managed to make it to my hotel.








































Starving I dumped my bags in my room and headed for a safe haven to grab a bite to eat.













Now this is where everything went wrong. In desperate need of a haircut which I really should have had in Los Angeles I ventured out into the backstreets of Nakameguro to find a barber. When I explained to him that I wanted him to give me a Grade 1 all over I felt confident he knew what I was talking about but alas no. Here I am in the hotel lift with hair:














And here I am post what was supposedly a Grade I cut:














Not a good look. Not a good look at all and suddenly that whole movie has started to make sense.

More tomorrow. Now it’s time for dinner.

Outkastic Fantastic

So, it is finally here, and you must have checked it by now. Idlewild arrives with a bang and the dynamic duo from Atlanta drop another classic. No? Yes I've seen the reviews and seen the hating, but in my opinion it is another Outkast monster. Fine, the pair don't rap back to back too often. Did Phife and Tip on Midnight Marauders? More maybe, but don't be fooled into thinking that this isn't the sound of a group who are comfortable with their arrangement, knowing of their strengths and still at a creative high point, despite being 6 albums deep. I know that no Twelve Bar discerning types will be taken in with the reports of a drop in form, and will relish the innovation once more, as well as the familiar yet strangely elusive signature sound and styles. Intelligent, humorous, satirical, insightful, and delivered by still two of the best voices in hip-hop. And another Tribe comparison is possibly fitting, as I think that Outkast have every right to the claim of hip-hop's number one group. Think about it, and think how they consistently bring the goods. Commercial reviewers may well be disappointed. Good.

A Family Affair

Unless you’ve been in Outer Space this past week you’ll know that all roads yesterday led to The Hundreds Block Party on the corner of Fairfax and Rosewood in Los Angeles. I’ll leave it to Bobby to give you what I'm sure will be a way more detailed report – http://www.thehundreds.com/ – but in the meantime here are a few pictures to whet your appetites. For those of you who have never been to a party put on by The Hundreds, these boys know how to get down. The sun was shining, there were girls everywhere, the music was off the hook and there was no half stepping when it came to the food.













The burgers and dogs were under the careful supervision of Ben who made sure no one went home hungry.













Everyone in the neighbourhood turned up to show some love and Dennis from Crooks & Castles and Omar from Commonwealth were rolling deep and also brought a tent along to keep the sun off everyone’s faces.













It wasn’t just a local thing though. Jason formerly from Vapors and now running things at Tower Records – Yes Tower Records – came down from Sacramento for the day and was kicking it with Brett from Estate LA.













The guys from Fruition in Las Vegas were up in the spot.













The Huf crew from San Francisco and the Inquiring Mind gang from Toronto were also all getting down.














Meanwhile around the corner Flight Club opened up its doors to give the crowd a little teaser of what lies in store and Damani from Flight Club and Dame Ca$h from Twelve Bar/Cliquenmove took a little time to talk kicks and things.













The store looks amazing and will no doubt be taking the West Coast sneaker game to the next level. If you look hard you may be able to make out a little heat behind the back of the three of us representing for Cartel Goods / Riottt, Flight Club and Twelve Bar – Sky is there anything you don’t do ???!!!













Then all of a sudden everything went crazy. A helicopter appeared out of nowhere and the good old LAPD showed up in force with nightsticks and bullet proof vests. The Hundreds had a permit, there was nothing going on but good vibes but the cops weren’t having it and no one wanted to mess with them. Within minutes it was all over and everyone was gone.













For a moment I thought they might have been looking for me for trying to strangle Yuri from Warp Magazine but that wasn’t the case at all.













They just weren’t down with a bunch of friends all partying and having a good time and I guess in LA that’s a crime. Cops aside this party jumped off and was the real deal. Fairfax is the future of LA and I’m looking forward to us being here permanently. Thanks Bobby, Ben and the rest of The Hundreds for making this happen and keep me posted about the next one.

Dog Day Afternoon

It really is a different world to where I come from. When the sun comes out in London the entire city descends on Hyde Park and by noon there is enough litter on the grass to fill a medium sized quarry. Anyone with any ideas about having a BBQ will receive an instant warning from the cops and it’s most likely that by the time you return to your car you’ll either have had it broken into or find a $200 parking ticket waiting for you.

In the OC it’s a whole different story. You pay $5 for a day’s parking, there are BBQs everywhere so you can chow down wherever you like and I dare you to find even a crumb of litter on the ground. Most importantly though people here know how to put on a good feast and Yuske, Eriko and the rest of their crew showed us how it’s done best.














Not only is Yuske one of the most generous hosts you will ever meet but he’s a man of many talents and when he’s not manning the grill he divides his time between continents working with everyone from Yasumasa Yonehara to Delta to Parra to Fafi. Here he is with his wife Eriko.














And here’s about 0.1% of the food that was cooked up.














With so much food to go round Yuske, Toshi and the rest of the gang were all smiling.














Even the dogs were in good spirits and Yasu and I managed to get Dame Ca$h to overcome his phobia of threatening canines.















We did such a good job he wanted to take both Yoda and Yaso home but there was no chance of that.

































Thanks for a great afternoon guys and we’ll be back soon.

Reading The Signs

So, I don't even know if I have spoken on this blog before on the purple-tinged genius that is Prince Rogers Nelson. It doesn't matter, because even if I have, there is enough juice in that puppy to power-up a hundred blogs, and still be on a full tank. Such is the genius of the man, the creative wizardry, the musical inspiration, the pure variety. Forget about the late-90s, the Time Warner dispute, the Rainbow Children, the symbol, all of that nonsense, and focus on the records that the man delivered between his debut long player in 1978, "For You" and the beginning of the wane, around 1991's "Diamonds and Pearls". Close to fifteen years of musical boundary pushing, icon making, pop chart busting, surely a sustained period unrivalled by virtually any other seriously critically acclaimed popular artist. And the high point? Well, there's a question, and one you'll surely have your own view on. I started this blog wanting to just talk about "Sign O The Times", but that will now have to wait as I've got carried away with the intro to the piece. But in the meanwhile, if you have a moment, dig it out, and remind yourself of what perfections sounds like.

Lonely Nights In The Desert

There’s only so much time you can spend in a room without windows when you haven’t committed a crime before you start to go mad so we decided to spend the first few hours of our last day in Vegas hanging out with the cats from Fruition instead of heading straight to Magic.














Chris, Neek and the rest of the Fruition crew are really taking the game to the next level and take my word for it when I say that we can all learn a lot from these guys. This is one store that you have to go to in person to fully experience as their choice of vintage is totally off the hook. Nike Flight tracksuits, Life’s A Beach shorts, Do The Right Thing tees, classic Ralph Lauren polo shirts – You name it, they have it all and to top it off their prices are pretty reasonable too. I have no idea where they get their stuff from but in a world where everything is slowly but surely beginning to look the same, they have their own unique style mixing up the past and the future and are quite simply killing it.














They also have the coolest dog on the planet in the store too who could actually be the secret leader of the whole crew.




















After leaving Fruition we ate the world’s biggest cheeseburgers and then made our way back to Magic for a final flurry before heading out into the night. Aside from the Crooks & Castles booth which was busier than Grand Central Station at rush hour everywhere else was a little mellower so we had a chance to catch up with Ben Hundreds and Arnold from Greyone as well as Mike from Greedy Genius who could be the luckiest guy in the world and Digit before bouncing.



























On my way out I took this chair which I will be putting up on ebay soon. It’s super limited and the only one of its kind in the world so if you want it before it goes up holler and make me an offer.














Right at the end of the day I bumped into my friend Nam who is originally from London but now living in and loving Los Angeles and I can’t wait to be joining her out there for good.














Then there was one last stop off in the desert to pick up some refreshments and we were gone.














Next stop Sun Diego.