There seems to be a new trend in the world of creative culture. There seems to be more and more trend spotters rising in the midst of know-it-alls on all there is to be trendy. Recently, I've been grouped in with trend spotters. This person's comments not only offended me, but forced me to reflect on the image that I'm projecting to others. My image of myself is completely representative to Underground Live. So, this blog is for clarification.
To clarify, Underground Live is not a trend spotting think tank because trend spotting is reactive to recognizing the aesthetics of trend setters. We do not people watch nor predict what is going to be the next big thing. Our mission is to examine the psychology behind individuals and collectives that guide the hearts and minds of the masses into following trends. We aren't some group of individuals on safari looking for the lion. We are more concerned with the ecosystem that exists around the lion that makes him the king of the jungle.
We explore the mental conditioning of the lion cub growing into the king of beasts. Somewhere in his early childhood development or teenage years a trend setter decides to live on the fringes of accepted mass culture in order to create his own. Right there my friends is where Underground Live earns its bread and butter. We look at the developing stages of this creative person and apply logic, rationale, and reasoning to his actions. No one makes arbitrary decisions without some level thought, especially when it is representative of his entire being.
Moreover, Underground Live experiments with the creative class, trend setters, or whatever you call people that differently cool. We take the time to gather these individuals together in various locations throughout the country into a social setting and observe their behavior around one another. It is like placing a lion in a jungle full of lions. Does one rise as king or do they all become pack animals? This good people is Underground Live.
I know many of you have never been to an Underground Live event, but believe me you are missing one of the best sonic-organic, artistically-inspired, and urban upscale events of the year. There is something for everyone at one of these events. You can admire the creator of your favorite Nike SBs, watch an renowned artist paint his heart out, be the first to see a video showcase that is hyped on the Internet, taste the best culinary fusion delicacies, or groove to the best mix-up of DJs nationwide. There is method to our madness and all our shows are themed for people of exquisite taste. Do you believe an actual trend setter would attend anything less? Well, I wouldn't. So, Underground Live goes out like the Passion of Christ in order to give you an event to feast your eyes, ears, hands, and mouth on.
Underground Live has the gall to write about our coveted event filled with not only famous people, but with the people that shape culture that live in the shadows. You know the people that value being themselves over the cost of fame.
Lastly, I will reiterate. We do not focus on trend spotting. We are the trend setter in forming unions like Voltron between those that guide the feeble minds of the masses. We are like mad scientists that experiment with gene slicing like Dr. Maureau, but slicing the genes of creative individuals for the betterment of Creative Culture.
Welcome to the Creative Culture.
17.4.08
3.4.08
The Fresh Jive on Streetwear
It is refreshing to hear a man that loves his art discuss his inspiration behind his creations. But, it is more impressive to hear a man turn his art into a business and be proud of his newfound livelihood. Well, here is a small interview with Freshjive creator Rick Klotz. Rick is an Angeleno, which is a rare find in Los Angeles. Yes, many people claim Los Angeles as their hometown, but very few are actually from Los Angeles.
In his short interview, he discusses his issue with trendy hipsters. Watch and learn.
In his short interview, he discusses his issue with trendy hipsters. Watch and learn.
2.4.08
Review: C.R.A.C. Music
Everyone that I know loves C.R.A.C. music. C.R.A.C. is pronounced "crass." You know unrefined, flagrant, grungy, untactful obnoxious music. The name actually stems from the acronym Collect Respect Anna Check.
C.R.A.C. Knuckles is the killer collabo of Blu and Ta'Raach. The two emcees have a plethora of banging albums- Below the Heavens, Powders & Oils, The Fevers, Triple P, Welcome 2 Detroit, etc. C.R.A.C. is beyond interesting, it is damn good. This album stands out even against their previous works.
As Ta'raach and Blu float through a sea of exquisite production on the Piece Talks, you realize C.R.A.C. is only for the open-minded and the brave hearted. The songs remind you of the classic sounds of J-Dilla, yet carry a harder punch than Wu-Tang. Listening to The Piece Talks is a must have for true music lovers.
TRACKLIST:
DOWNLOAD THE PIECE TALKS
C.R.A.C. Knuckles is the killer collabo of Blu and Ta'Raach. The two emcees have a plethora of banging albums- Below the Heavens, Powders & Oils, The Fevers, Triple P, Welcome 2 Detroit, etc. C.R.A.C. is beyond interesting, it is damn good. This album stands out even against their previous works.
As Ta'raach and Blu float through a sea of exquisite production on the Piece Talks, you realize C.R.A.C. is only for the open-minded and the brave hearted. The songs remind you of the classic sounds of J-Dilla, yet carry a harder punch than Wu-Tang. Listening to The Piece Talks is a must have for true music lovers.
TRACKLIST:
- 1. "What Up (Part 2)"
- 2. "Buy Me Lunch"
- 3. "Love Don't"
- 4. "Major Way"
- 5. "Activate (Too...)"
- 6. "CRACHAUSE"
- 7. "Respect"
- 8. "Pop Dem Boyz"
- 9. "2.16.05"
- 10. "Mr. Big Fizz"
- 11. "Chill"
- 12. "Hello?!"
- 13. "Go!"
- 14. "Activate (As Well)"
- 15. "Bullet Through Me"
- 16. "Cotton"
DOWNLOAD THE PIECE TALKS
New Vision of Hip-Hop
I have made some pretty steep claims before such as a white boy from Detroit spitting Nas-like lyrics could possibly be the best rapper alive. I also made the suggestion that a college dropout has the average cat swagger with larger than life dreams will rise to the top of the scene.
Now, I am telling you that this young cat, Ced Hughes will be the next big thing. His soundscapes raise the bar above the majority of independent artists trying to find a home in this forever changing world of music. Ced incorporates production from many high-concept electronic artists such as Mark Ronson, Sa-Ra, Flying Lotus,Sterolab, and Daft Punk. These magnetizing musical pieces contain a complexity of a Bach orchestration; therefore, it is difficult for any vocalists or artists to deliver a solid persona.
Ced remarkably delivers a persona over the complex instrumentals. His lyrical prowess does not outshine the production nor does it allow the production to dictate the pacing of his skills. Ced saunters through the soundscapes with ease. His flow is effortless like J-Dilla over his own production or Madlib over his own production. The first sampling of his mixtape immediately caused me to draw comparisons with Black Thought, Common, and Kanye. He never allowed the subject matter to falter into the realm of bogus fiction.
Even in his flaws, Ced is able to maintain good energy on his mixtape. Besides, it is a mixtape. I cannot expect someone else's production to be tailored to his design. With that said, I await an album that is specifically crafted by this young talented artist.
TRACKLIST:
Now, I am telling you that this young cat, Ced Hughes will be the next big thing. His soundscapes raise the bar above the majority of independent artists trying to find a home in this forever changing world of music. Ced incorporates production from many high-concept electronic artists such as Mark Ronson, Sa-Ra, Flying Lotus,Sterolab, and Daft Punk. These magnetizing musical pieces contain a complexity of a Bach orchestration; therefore, it is difficult for any vocalists or artists to deliver a solid persona.
Ced remarkably delivers a persona over the complex instrumentals. His lyrical prowess does not outshine the production nor does it allow the production to dictate the pacing of his skills. Ced saunters through the soundscapes with ease. His flow is effortless like J-Dilla over his own production or Madlib over his own production. The first sampling of his mixtape immediately caused me to draw comparisons with Black Thought, Common, and Kanye. He never allowed the subject matter to falter into the realm of bogus fiction.
Even in his flaws, Ced is able to maintain good energy on his mixtape. Besides, it is a mixtape. I cannot expect someone else's production to be tailored to his design. With that said, I await an album that is specifically crafted by this young talented artist.
TRACKLIST:
- Greetings from the Firing Squad (Interpol mix)
- Say Hello and Make Sure You Applaud (Sneaky Soundsystem mix)
- Friends Don't Let Friends Use Protection (Justice vs. Simian mix)
- Polyphonic Prostitution (Mark Ronson & Kasabian mix)
- The Juke Joint (produced by Ced)
- On My Lean Casually (produced by EJ and Steve)
- My Cool is the Envy of Iceman (produced by Ced)
- Jus Move (produced by Nick Speed)
- Ced Can't Hold Her (Amy Winehouse mix)
- Instead of U and I, It Could Be Us (featuring Kid A, produced by Gabe Niles)
- Moonlight TigraRhymeKiller on the Misty Planes of Neptune (Justice mix)
- ReWorked Angles (Justice vs. Daft Punk mix)
- Nething U Want 2 Do (Sa-Ra mix)
- Blame It On Ced (Phoenix mix)
- Simple Addiction, Boy Meets Girl (produced by Ced)
- We Don't Care. Really We Don't (Mark Ronson & Daptones mix)
- Are We Gonna Give Up Umm No (produced by Flying Lotus)
- Sunset Round Up the Galaxy (Stereolab mix)
25.3.08
Lesson 1: Self-Oppression fashion
Thank you PBC for the wonderful image.
Leads and followers. As a follower, you voluntarily oppress yourself under someone else's whelms and thoughts. For example, when people become trendy by following a trend dictated by a celebrity, who is usually following some unknown trend setter's style, then you submitted to the style of the unknown trend setter. You are following his or her style second-hand. If by chance you happened to cross paths with the trend setter, which your favorite celebrity copied, then you would not respect him or her as the father of the style. More than likely, this trend setter would have moved onto a different style, thus being labeled as weird until some celebrity copies that new style.
We call this the Agnostic Trend Setter Effect. We are blind to the individuals that actually conjure up new trends; however, we revere celebrities for mimicking these trend setters' styles. It is like ignoring the message of a god because we want to relate to the messenger. The messenger is this person that has earned our support by causing us to relate to him or her in some way through art, sports, fashion, or swagger in public view. The god-like trend setter has not earned our trust or our support, so we view him or her as being "too" individualistic. The trend setter in his god-like manner does not care if you appreciate his style because no one's opinions matter to him. His emotion and mood trumps his existence, so he drums to his own beat. The celebrity (local, national, or international) is not quite the god-like being.
The celebrity is the demi-god. As mortals, we can follow the path led by demi-gods. They make the work of the gods easy to understand. These individuals do not create usually in fear of losing public support. They admire the gods, but rather not be one because the gods are very detached from the mortal population.
Mortals are the leaders in the general public. They are more hip to fashion. They are your hardcore stunters. They latch onto celebrity trends as they hit the scene. Mortals have no understanding on how to recognize a god, thus losing the ability to become a demigod. Most mortals are satisfied with their current position. The usually hate the gods for being so different, fear the demigods for being similar to them, and love the clones for showering them with praise.
In the eyes of clones, mortals are similar to demigods in their areas because of their ability to switch styles right after a celebrity makes it popular. Clones follow the style of mortals because they have no idea of what is cool. They find it easy to look at the mortals around them and purchase the same products as them. They have no idea why the product is special, but they desire to have it because everyone else has it. That is good enough for them. Then, there are those that don't even care about trends and such. These individuals are considered droids.
Droids drone to their own symphony. They are completely blind to the world around them and completely internalize their existence. These guys look inward for confidence and think the world is a big wilderness. These guys are like the gods, but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Where the god feels to project his personality on the world, the droids shelter their personalities from the world.
When are you going to destroy your self-oppression to be reincarnated into a demigod or a god?
Here is an example using the shemagh/keffiyea:
God - Taz Arnold, one of Kanye West's associates that is always pushing the trends to the next level. Most people think Taz is weird. But, really he is the next level of style.
Demigod- Kanye usually follows suit after Taz. The only advantage Kanye has over Taz in collecting the new new stuff is money and celebrity power. However, Kanye still cannot keep up with Taz's style because companies seek people like Taz to plant the seed of any product.
Mortals- David Beckham is a mortal because his fame or fortune does not give him trend setting credibility. He is just following what all the cool hip celebrities.
Clones- All the trendy kids in the suburbs and urban areas running after their favorite celebrities.
Droids- These are the people that think following trends are so lame, so they are anti-trendy.
24.3.08
Why is Murakami so Hip that He's Hop?
Why is Takashi Murakami so big in urban trend setting lore when his art is seriously high snobiety?
Takashi Murakami is an inventor. He created his own style birthed from the soul of ancient Japanese art. Like Hip-Hop was birthed from soul music, Murakami's Superflat artwork was incubated when he was pursuing a doctorate in Nihonga, a mixture of Western and Eastern styles dating back to the late 19th century. Murakami like most hip-hop heads fixated on two Asian entertainment arts--- anime and manga.
Yes, I said it. Many hip-hop heads have a hidden love for Asian martial arts movies, anime, manga, and urban Asian fashion. This explains the recent phenomenon of mediocre graphic designed T-Shirts, poor faux vintage denim, and bad colorwise sneakers flooding some urban and all suburban communities.
I digress. Murakami became disillusioned with Nihonga, and fell in love with otaku culture, which he feels closely represents modern day Japanese life. Murakami armed with his Superflat style focused his energy on making Poku (Pop and otaku aka nerd) culture popular. He believes animation and otaku will be the leaders of trend setter culture. This new culture will rejuvenate the contemporary Japanese art scene. He is dully quoted as saying that the Japanese contemporary market is nothing but "a shallow appropriation of Western trends." His stance against Japan's love for post-war Western culture is very similar to Hip-Hop's societal rebellious attitude. His first reaction was to make art in non-fine arts media, instead to focus on the market sustainability of art and promote himself first overseas. This mindset led to his creation of KaiKai Kiki, LLC. KaiKai Kiki has grown into a professionalized art production studio and also an artist management organization.
Kaikai Kiki represents a great opportunity for hungry creative artists to develop under the watchful eye of Murakami. In grand high-fashion and urban creative culture respected style, Murakami took over Roppongi's Rolling Stones Cafe with an opening party to commemorate both Kaikai Kiki's roster of artists and commencement of his new gallery. Google Translation of Openers Fashion Coverage of the Event
Murakami has the soul of a bonifide hustler. He is very unapologetic for what he believes; he forms alliances with the right people and companies; he isn't a guy out to sacrifice capital gains for a social message, yet all his work has some social message; and he doesn't give two yen what anyone thinks of him as a person. Murakami is young at heart. Hell, the man is seen running around chasing the finer things in life with Kanye West. He does Louis Vuitton pieces, but is rarely seen rocking the brand. His swagger is similar to Jay-Z thrown in a blender with Dame Dash. I think that is the recipe for a celebrated personal life and calculated business life.
Thirty years from now, society will be dissecting his art and wondering why in the hell did he accept Hip-Hop as his voice. One thing is for sure. Murakami has changed pop culture and trend setter culture in one single swoop with his Superflat art style.
Takashi Murakami is an inventor. He created his own style birthed from the soul of ancient Japanese art. Like Hip-Hop was birthed from soul music, Murakami's Superflat artwork was incubated when he was pursuing a doctorate in Nihonga, a mixture of Western and Eastern styles dating back to the late 19th century. Murakami like most hip-hop heads fixated on two Asian entertainment arts--- anime and manga.
Yes, I said it. Many hip-hop heads have a hidden love for Asian martial arts movies, anime, manga, and urban Asian fashion. This explains the recent phenomenon of mediocre graphic designed T-Shirts, poor faux vintage denim, and bad colorwise sneakers flooding some urban and all suburban communities.
I digress. Murakami became disillusioned with Nihonga, and fell in love with otaku culture, which he feels closely represents modern day Japanese life. Murakami armed with his Superflat style focused his energy on making Poku (Pop and otaku aka nerd) culture popular. He believes animation and otaku will be the leaders of trend setter culture. This new culture will rejuvenate the contemporary Japanese art scene. He is dully quoted as saying that the Japanese contemporary market is nothing but "a shallow appropriation of Western trends." His stance against Japan's love for post-war Western culture is very similar to Hip-Hop's societal rebellious attitude. His first reaction was to make art in non-fine arts media, instead to focus on the market sustainability of art and promote himself first overseas. This mindset led to his creation of KaiKai Kiki, LLC. KaiKai Kiki has grown into a professionalized art production studio and also an artist management organization.
Kaikai Kiki represents a great opportunity for hungry creative artists to develop under the watchful eye of Murakami. In grand high-fashion and urban creative culture respected style, Murakami took over Roppongi's Rolling Stones Cafe with an opening party to commemorate both Kaikai Kiki's roster of artists and commencement of his new gallery. Google Translation of Openers Fashion Coverage of the Event
Murakami has the soul of a bonifide hustler. He is very unapologetic for what he believes; he forms alliances with the right people and companies; he isn't a guy out to sacrifice capital gains for a social message, yet all his work has some social message; and he doesn't give two yen what anyone thinks of him as a person. Murakami is young at heart. Hell, the man is seen running around chasing the finer things in life with Kanye West. He does Louis Vuitton pieces, but is rarely seen rocking the brand. His swagger is similar to Jay-Z thrown in a blender with Dame Dash. I think that is the recipe for a celebrated personal life and calculated business life.
Thirty years from now, society will be dissecting his art and wondering why in the hell did he accept Hip-Hop as his voice. One thing is for sure. Murakami has changed pop culture and trend setter culture in one single swoop with his Superflat art style.
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