Chairman Fred Hampton, at my house in Brooklyn, NY

Last year I designed a key piece for the Prohibit Winter 2009 line.  The garment was called the Prohibit Resistance Stadium Jacket. The Jacket was inspired by a vintage Military Varsity piece , that highlighted various cities of battle during WWII.  Being as though we are inspired by resistance movements, I decided that our piece should pay homage to the people who have sacrificed their lives in the name of resisting oppressive governments.  I would sit in the backroom of Prohibit NYC for hours researching names and movements that would apply to this concept, and how we would incorporate them into the Jacket.  Shin Nishigaki and I would go over various statements, people, and movements that impacted the struggle for justice and found many noteworthy concepts, but it took a while to come across the statement that best described the point we were trying to convey.  This process carried on for about a month.  The one excerpt that truly stuck out in my mind was a simple yet timeless statement made by the deputy Chairman of Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Chairman Fred Hampton. . .”You can kill the revolutionary, but can’t kill the Revolution”. We decided that this statement would be the centerpiece for the garment and placed it on the front of the jacket in elegant cursive. On the back we placed the birth dates and assassination dates of key Revolutionaries in history a list that includes Malcom X, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Hutton and of course Chairman Fred Hampton.  The jacket made an incredible statement and added historical relevance to our Winter line, not to mention artist such as Black Thought, Jay Electronica made several appearances in it.

Jay Electronica in the Prohibit NYC Stadium Jacket at Prohibit NYC

Recently I met Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.  My brother and revolutionary Dedan Kasimu was doing some work with the brother in NY and showed up to  my house to build one morning.  At first, I thought the Jehova’s Witnesses were making another uninvited appearance at my doorstep, but was surprised when I looked out of my living room window.  The first thing I did was show Chariman Fred the Stadium Jacket, and he was pleased to see that his fathers words were being used to create dialog in the form of clothing. We spent the next hour listening to the brother explain the evolution of “street tribes”or gangs, truly a blessing. I regret that we didnt make a 4x in the jacket, I would love for him to have one more than any rapper or so called taste maker living.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my year so far.  Meeting the son of Chairman Fred Hampton, the man who is continuing, and furthering the platform started by his father, was a special moment for me.

Point blank, they just don’t make men cut from this cloth anymore.  For more information on the Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. read here.

If you don’t know much about Chairman Fred Hampton I suggest you watch The Murder of Fred Hampton

Aariona Chalom Johnson aka Chalom Infinite.  The Coolest Kid Ever.

Lower East Side. Manhattan. New York City. August 2010.

I recently had the pleasure of formally meeting a person I have a lot of respect for, David Banner. It’s crazy because Banner and I have a couple of mutual friends that have mentioned to me on ocassion “you need to meet Banner”. When I was working at Priority records, I began to work closely with my good friend Ras Kass, (who I consider to be one of the illest MC’s ever). Ras Kass and David Banner are close friends, and I remember back then, Ras would often speak highly of him. Fast forward 10 years later (time flies!), Banner, who now lives in Los Angeles, has been doing some work with my brothers the Strong Arm Steady, and Phil the Agony keeps telling me “my nigga, you gotta meet Banner..y’all the smart niggas”. Needless to say my the homies were right, David Banner is indeed a powerful brother, and I was honored we had the chance to build. He played me some select songs from DEATH OF A POPSTAR his collaboration album with some guy named 9th WONDER.

Speaking of 9th WONDER, on the same day I meet with Banner, 9th Wonder texts me out of nowhere to ask me for a Africa piece (a bigger Africa Piece) to rock on 106 & Park with David Banner, how ill is that? When 9th got to NY yesterday he came through and grabbed the pieces (Red & Black) I had made for him. Sure enough, he rocked them yesterday , on 106 & Park.

For those of you who have children , you know exactly what I mean.  Not many people who don’t have children, can truly understand the type of undying, unconditional, love you have for your seed.  My daughter Aariona Chalom is here for the last month of Summer , she has only been here for 4 days but they have been the best four days of the summer yet.  The next couple of weeks on here will involve a lot of lil Aariona Infinite..

I spent a week working on new songs with Khalil and the family.  I was feeling pretty good about my level of output for the first couple of days and decided to take a break for half a day and smoke with Strong Arm Steady.  Khalil received a call from the Aftermath offices and had to get to work on some stuff for the good doctor. The SAS studio is literally next door to ours so I walked over. I was feeling good, feeling like I had done something, 5 songs in 3 days…not bad right? I wanted to play some of the new stuff for Krondon, who I feel is one of my best critics. I saw something in this studio though, that put my momentary, productive ego in major check.  Upon entering the main room I noticed an obituary that, I have seen before but probably never really examined because, quite frankly, I’m emotional and shit like that could fuck up a whole week for me.  This time I decided to examine the pages.  People always talk about how much of an inspiration Dilla was, and I agree.  Even if you are among the 3% of the people on the planet that don’t like his music, upon examination, you HAVE to respect this man’s work.  By volume alone Jay Dee aka J Dilla aka Dilla is one of the greatest producers of our generation.  In this obituary I thumbed through 8 pages of material that had been RELEASED (and this was at the time of his passing).  I decided maybe I shouldn’t be taking any “breaks”, rolled up another Backwood and got back to work with Khalil.  So whenever you think you’re doing something special, remember the people who set the precedent and…THINK TWICE. . .Truly inspirational. . .thank you Dilla

I spend a lot of time at the store (ProhibitNYC).  The store happens to be in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  The Lower East is the epicenter of the so-called hipsters and tastemakers that some many corporations fork over dollars to reach.  This is the place that breeds its own trends in every aspect of culture.  Food, fashion, architecture, art and of course music have their own unique movements down here, and in some way, it’s all related.  Sometimes I spend hours after the store is closed building with some of the artists, weirdos, hustlers,etc. that stop by.   Last night I found about the homie Smoke DZA’s show at Fatbaby’s on Rivington.  I decided to walk over and catch some flicks, but being the weed heads we are, when I saw Smoke we headed to burn it down instead of waiting for the promoters to tell him he was on. I got a chance to give him some Blue Africas for some of the brothers  out here.  After that I went to Sutra on 1st Ave. heard Pete Rock was Djing…saw the homie Filthee in town from L.A. (even though he’s from New York), and Statik Selektah…stay tuned for news with that dude.  Good night in the Lowah.

Gave Smoke DZA the Blue Africa…

The homie Filthee , been knowing this dude for years. A very solid brother…We still out chea’!

Coney Island has an interesting history , and is one of the most unique places in America.  Being from the West Coast , growing up taking trips to the Venice boardwalk you tend to believe there is no place on earth like Venice.  Let me correct myself , there is no place on earth like Venice, Los Angeles… but visiting Coney Island can give you a clearer understanding of the energy Venice has.  I went for the first time on The 4th of July, I needed to see a beach.  There has never been a central manager or operating company for Coney Island, which seems to be be prime real estate for corprations looking to create an entertainment destination in Brooklyn.  The parks and vendors are all individually operated, giving it an common man sort of appeal.  The beaches are split as I was told by a native New Yorker, “in two sides, one side is Russian the other side,,,ehh, more Urban, ya know?” Right.  So naturally, I started on the “urban” side, where there were thousands of children, mothers, families, aunties, boyfriends, gangs, weirdo sideshows, fried food stands, high-fructose corn syrup ,frozen beverage dispensaries, funnel cake ….way to much going on.  There was literally a traffic jam of people on the boardwalk, some families opted to set up a blanket, radio, cooler, etc,, right on the boardwalk instead of just venturing 50 feet out onto the sand.

Also noticed an exceptional number of women walking around with pythons, mostly those lil cute lesbian chicks, and a couple huge butch girls.  Is it me or is it ironic that lil lesbians are walking around with snakes around their neck.  Okay, maybe it’s me.  Then I ventured over to the Russian side where there was a much different tone, much more quiet.  The boardwalk on this side was covered with restaurants that serve traditional Russian food and beverages.  Nice, guess I’m getting old cause I felt more comfortable on the Russian side. Here are some flicks of the day…

The Wonder Wheel..

On some Venice shit….

Helado

Pork station….

Hazy Sunday..going into a beautiful sunset

Told you…

I went down to Philadelphia last week to have a meeting with my brother Set Free about some upcoming projects we may be involved with in the near future.  A mutual friend of ours, with considerable influence has been toying with the idea of starting some very creative entities.  I met Free years ago while working at Priority Records, and he was at And 1, we share the same frenzied creative energy.  Free is the guy responsible for packaging the And 1 VCR Mixtapes back in the day.  He is also the creative consultant / marketing guy over at UBIQ, Philadelphia’s premiere lifestyle boutique, works with Chris Robinson at Robot Films…etc.  He was hosting a party at the store for Vans and their new line OTW (Off The Wall), so I went with him and his team from the launch and took in some of the Philadelphia scene.  Ended up staying up all night , building about these creative opportunities and actualizing the day it actually comes to fruition.  Inspired. Peace Free!!the incredible RES was in the building.

Peace brother Eaze, pleasure to meet you, I’ll try to help you get the Red Africa soon.

The legendary DJ Pete Rock killed it after some minor sound problems…of course.

Chace Infinite X GoodWood NYC for Snoop Dogg -Blue Africa

I have been holding on to Snoop’s piece for a long time now.  I only made 2 blue pieces one for Snoop and the other for Nipsey Hussle, only Goodwood spelled Nipsey’s name wrong so I have yet to give him his.  I haven’t really seen Dogg (outside of performances) since I worked at Priority Records (97-2001).  Since I was opening the show for him out here in Stavanger, Norway. . . I knew I would get a chance to give him his piece in person.  I went looking for the homie Ted, who is also Snoops business partner / manager as he was working backstage from his makeshift office, which consisted of cardboard boxes stacked high enough to rest a laptop on, and a borrowed production chair.  I asked Ted if it would be cool for me to give Snoop his Africa and maybe snap a pic of him with it on.  Ted was cool enough to walk me in after Snoop performed about 10 interviews and signed 1000 autographs in 15 minutes. Snoop is an icon and one of the most accomplished individuals in entertainment ever.  Beyond that he is a personal favorite of my father, and a true example of the West Coast , a Father, Gangster, Gentleman, and Hustler.  My life is crazy. . .

Ted, I got you on the Prohibit gear.

On my previous blog in 2007 I showed you an inside look at the Timberland offices in New Hampshire.  I had been invited to review their Fall 2007 line-up and give some insight.  At the time, they were suffering from trying to chase a growing sneaker market with some pretty horrible sneaker boot hybrids. They seemed to understand how much they had confused their heritage consumers and were getting back to making good old boots again. I also discovered that one of my favorite Hip-Hop journalists Brian Coleman was working there doing their PR.  Since then Brian has successfully helped Timberland regain some of their original flavor, and introduce the line that has given them credibility again The Abington collection.  I received the Timberland Abington joints (above) in the mail yesterday from brother B. Coleman.  Suede Tan Handsewn, and Black Abington Hiker…much obliged. If you read anything other than a blog, read his book Check The Technique, Rakim Told MeThe Abington Collection returns Timberland to it’s roots (no pun intended), and are made with great materials.  Nothing extra, just really durable, stylish shoes.