MJ: The tee says it all.

Six months without a post...so sorry to neglect this blog, especially since it received such a great response!

Yesterday, the world stopped. Michael Jackson, the greatest entertainer who ever lived, died of cardiac arrest in LA. MJ's music touched the entire world, regardless of age, race, religion, or beliefs. He brought us all together in a way that not many people can do.

I ran into a friend who had joined the masses in Harlem at the Apollo Theatre to celebrate MJ's life and music, and he showed me a tee that he bought there. They were selling shirts less than 4 hours after his passing! Wow.

I was stunned to hear of MJ's passing, and will add this to the tragedies and events that will mark my generation. This shirt says it all:



Rest In Peace, MJ.

The New Black

Didn't mean to stay away for so long, but I'm still caught up in the whole New Year frame of mind...new year, new goals...new president!

You know how the fashion world calls things "the new black"? Since black is always hip, hot and in fashion, calling something "the new black" would mean it's dope. Check these out:



"Green is the New Black"

(Pause)

Pause:

Said after something that may be taken as homosexual.

-Pull it out, pause.
-Son, that ball is huge, pause.

(as taken from the Urban Dictionary)

Coup d'Etat BROOKLYN

coup d'etat (pronounced /ku de'ta/) BROOKLYN is a graphically bold clothing company based out of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, whose brand philosophy follows the principle "live to change something.”

The term ‘coup d'etat’ means ‘a (sudden) blow (or strike) to a state, in French, is synonymous with an aggressive overthrow of an establishment. Coup d’etat Brooklyn has embraced this as a brand concept as we aim to “change” the current “state” of urban fashion.

(taken from Coup d'Etat's MySpace Page)

Here are some of the t-shirts from I've seen EVERYONE rocking this year. Can I have my black and gold "Teach the Babies" shirt NOW, Daoud? LOL



Daoud (left)



Rasu



Rasu and Charles Anthony



Kesed of Writers Block



Rasu and the lovely Khaymecca in a dress fashioned from a "Teach the Babies" shirt, courtesy of Born As A Ragamuffin





Charles Anthony is quite a character. You'll see more of him really soon!

Shameless Plugs

Artists are always selling themselves. T-shirts are a dandy way towards easy promotion. Especially if the shirt is catchy! Check out these shirts worn by some of my favorite artists:



Blitz the Ambassador



Rugged N Raw's "I'm Better Than You!" shirt, as worn by Homeboy Sandman (K. Gaines of Sleepwalkas approves.)



Haitian Fresh rocking the Haitian flag as a t-shirt



Two shirts to pay attention to: 1) Top Center: 2 Hungry Bros. t-shirt, created by Fresh Daily (seated)! Limited edition, folks... 2) 8THW1's "Love, Money and Music" tee as worn by Deep of 2 Hungry Bros. (who is one of the characters on the shirt worn by Ciph Diggy of Sleepwalkas...peep the degrees of separation!)



Here's a close-up of the same shirt on Ben Boogz (the other half of 2 Hungry Bros.)



This is another 2 Hungry Bros. shirt, also designed by Fresh Daily and worn by Homeboy Sandman (Conscious is on the left. I didn't like his shirt. LOL). Fresh is a graphic designer as well as a dope MC! Deep owes me one of these...L please.



Here, we have cross-promotion by 8THW1 and Homeboy Sandman. I have both shirts, and it's always a dilemna trying to decide which one to wear to an AOK Collective show. Someone suggested wearing both and taking one off during the show. Not a bad idea.



Another one of Homeboy Sandman's shirts. He has tons! I could do a post just about Sandy's many t-shirts. Maybe I will.



Little Brother t-shirt. What's cool is if you send a pic of you wearing this shirt to them via MySpace, they'll post it. They have a folder of JUST people wearing their shirts. This one made it in!



Daoud of Coup D'Etat rocking one of his signature tees. Coup d'Etat is a clothing company based out of BK. What's really cool is how Daoud and his partner Rasu are very present in the BK arts community. More on Coup d'Etat soon, so stay tuned!

It's All Love

It all started with the "I <3 NY" shirts...then other cities got into the mix. Peep Mark (one half of M&M, the handsome hosts of the Thursday night parites at Barna (26th & Park) - just found out he was one of the "American Boy"s in Estelle's video!) and I in a prime example:



Things got so crazy, even whole countries got in the mix! I'm sure you've seen the PR and DR ones at the parades this summer...I think this next tee says it best:



But then you got the derivatives, that had nothing to do with cities.





(dope tee worn by the even doper Sucio Smash!)



(you can pick up the above-featured shirt if you run into Ciph Diggy and/or K. Gaines, who make up the Sleepwalkas. That shouldn't be too hard; they're all over the place!)

So after the cities and the variations on that concept, other tees started popping up around the same concept. No love lost? Maybe so...



(as worn by Poison Pen at the EOW Awards)



Nowdays, the love has returned, but no longer is confined to cities. The next tee is the logo for lovemoneyandmusic, 8THW1's excellent album, as worn by Cion of Brokn.Englsh (center) and Homeboy Sandman (right):



Stay tuned for more tees exploring self-promotion!

Hip Hop

Since I cover a lot of events centered around hip hop, I've come across many tees that are hip hop-oriented:



(At first, I really thought this shirt read "Yes, I am a rapist" because it's hard to see the "O")







Mr. "I Am Hip Hop" is none other than Wordspit, a dope MC from Brooklyn. I think he embodies the spirit of hip hop in terms of his energy and stage presence while performing (my two most important critera for a good show!) - check him out!







Excellent tee as worn by Ciph Diggy of the Sleepwalkas



(as worn by the lovely Miss Kalae... look out for her!)



The latter tee is worn by Green-Eyed Bandit, Mr. Eric Sermon! I caught him wearing this one after EPMD's performance at Black August this summer. Stay tuned for more tees exploring the heart...

Freedom!!!

Why are all our favorite rappers getting locked up? What cracks me up is how sometimes I don't know until a shirt such as these pop up somewhere:





This second shirt was created by a really dope artist by the name of Demont Peekaso. He's based in the DMV area, but you may have seen him doing live art while on tour with Raheem DeVaughn (one of my favorite artists. Ever. Don't know why? Check out one of his shows!). If you want to learn more about this talented guy, check him out at www.demontpeekaso.com or on MySpace. He does customized clothing as well!

RSVP

Anyone who's ever been to an event where you have to RSVP knows the drama and shenanigans which surround doing so. Sometimes you get rejected right off the bat...sometimes the list is closed by the time you find out about a dope event (bummer.) - but the worst is when you go to the spot to find out that the people at the door completely forego the list and let in whoever they want to let in. This is where "it's who you know" comes into play, and woe to you if you don't know anyone or don't know someone who knows someone...

Anyway, this shirt sums up our lives as RSVP'ers quite perfectly:



Thanks Lynette!

Dilla

Found most of these at J Dilla's Tribute Show @ Southpaw earlier this year...