Month: April 2018

August Greene: Audio Cleansing

"Musicality in hip-hop is sort of a lost art, and Common always used real musicians. It’s keeping real music alive at a time where most people aren’t."

-Robert Glasper

Glasper, a rap icon, legendary pianist  and Common's new group mate  almost perfectly puts into words how some of us fell  in love with the intricacies of our favorite artist’s music, in conjunction with the way they deliver heartfelt lyrics.

Common has always been credited with delivering some of the most soulful and powerful music for the culture. So teaming up with longtime friends and legends in their own rights, Robert Glasper and drumming icon Karriem Riggins, was the perfect way to yet again breathe life into the artistry of rap and hip-hop.

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Hassan Johnson: Take the Good with the Bad

The talent an actor possesses can be great for a role.  You can get so caught up in an actor’s character that you could very well believe it’s how that person is in real life.  It’s almost as if you don’t expect to see them in anything other than what you consider “the norm.”

Hassan Johnson, most notably known for his role as “Wey-Bee Brice” on The Wire, most certainly fits this scenario.Being in the industry for over 20 years, appearing in movies, music videos, television shows and even modeling, he has a robust resume in the entertainment world.

Johnson always knew he wanted to be on television, he just didn’t know how to achieve his goal.  He first got his start with acting when a high school friend challenged him to go to an open audition in New York, resulting in landing a role to be in Spike Lee’s film, Clockers.

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Fernando Corona: Blending Borders with Paint

There are some street artists that have the ability to paint such magnificent murals that you couldn’t imagine the building looking any other way. A mural titled “Mirandas en Transito” which is outside of the museum Instituto de Investigaciones Culturales Museo in Mexicali, is the work of an artist who has such artistic capabilities. This mural features shapes that have the ability to flow with the edges of the building. Fernando Corona possesses a talent where he is able to utilize the shape of the building to animate his murals and give them a natural flow that can’t be found in most two-dimensional art. The mural also features several pairs of black-and-white eyes looking in different directions. The simple color choices in the eyes are contrasted with several yellow, green, purple and orange triangles, which gives the mural a geometric sharpness balanced by the soft lines of the eyes throughout the mural.

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Vivian Eyo-Ephraim: Changing the Face of Beauty

With only seven months of modeling experience, Vivian Eyo-Ephraim has the internet buzzing. As part of a campaign to help promote ASOS 2018 swimwear collection for plus-sized girls, the 20 year old University of East London student posed in a bright yellow bikini for the advertisement

What happened next was nothing short of a dream as social media users from all over the world praised ASOS and Ephraim for positively representing plus-sized women. “I had no idea it would go viral,” she told Refinery29. “But I’m so grateful and excited that so many people all over the world are supporting me.” At 5 feet and 9 inches tall and wearing a size 14 (18 in the UK), Ephraim is living proof that beauty is not determined by size. The outburst of praise she’s received for her brown eyes, black skin, Nigerian accent, 37 inch waist and 49 inch hips is proof that representation matters. Within a matter of months, plus-sized model, actress and everyday woman Vivian Eyo-Ephraim is changing the face of beauty.

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Gesaffelstein: Creating Something New

Techno music originated in Detroit in the early 1980s by young African-Americans, according to NPR Music. Over time it has become a worldwide phenomenon, creating a culture of beats made for dancing. Thirty-two year old French DJ, Mike Levy aka Gesaffelstein has taken a more expressive approach to making music, aiming to create work that tells a story, and he has established himself as a staple in the music world.

Hailing from Lyon, France, Gesaffelstein takes songs with dark, low tones and amplifies them with dance-able ecstasy. His hyper-electric tracks incorporate many elements of hip-hop, though the DJ knew almost nothing about hip-hop when he began his career.

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Yang Li: Fashion Simile

“Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

-Coco Chanel

Fashion is reflective of life. Fashion Designer Yang Li used his experience skateboarding and playing basketball to create an avenue for his passion. Li is originally from Beijing, but he was raised in Perth, Australia. He credits growing up in the skateboard world as a way to stand out. He used his experience with sports to design a spring 2012 fashion collection.

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