None Above Natural Law

"Making music is art, it doesn't change who you are as a person. It doesn't mean you're entitled or you're above the law. You still treat people as human beings. It doesn't change the laws of the universe. Life has a balance and for every action there is a reaction. So if you put negative energy in, negative energy comes back to you. You have to live your life within the laws of the universe and I haven't lost sight of that." Shawn Carter

source

SoHo

The Next 5 Miles

The start of a race and the end, the first and fourth quarter; that's how I play. What about the middle ground? What happens when your on a path chasing a clear dream and you wake up? What do you do when everything that you once worked so hard for is out of sight? How do you maintain the course? How do you even find the course? When you start working towards a goal every step closer to success comes with a new level of comfort. A comfort that was previously unknown to you, making it easier for you to rethink why you are working so hard in the first place. If you engage the comfort and become comfortable you will stop working towards your goal. In the childhood story of the tortoise and the hare, the hare was so far ahead that he felt comfortable and decided to rest a while in his comfort. He never imagined that his little break would grow into a full on sleep that almost cost him the race. Remember this when you think of taking a break, resting or stopping because you'll find yourself sliding back down the same mountain that you worked so hard to climb. Wonder how it will feel when you are standing in the same spot that you started the trek.

May the force be with you.

 

SoHo

You & I Both...

Approach you with my eyes closed, your breathing heavy, your body temperature is rising, your almost ready. Open my eyes wide & dive inside yours, you belong to the city but your mines behind closed doors. Swept you off your feet, you would have fallen for my charm but I held your stamina up with my energy. Deep inside the fox hole I massage your soul, I pull you close to me, whisper in your ear "let it go" & watch you lose control... WOAH! 

I think you need a break, I see it in your face, your about to break but I promised I would you give you more than you could take, your core starts to quake, your leg starts to shake, your nails in my back, your screaming my name! Your stuttering words, all you can say... gator... gator. You want that gatorade? No more holding back, I'm about to give you all, then I pause for just one thought: How sturdy is that wall? Thought lost, socks off, now we will never fall. The bed's dead, the rooms a mess, everything is on the floor but we don't even notice we are caught up in the storm. You didn't know secure until you were in my arms. Your body told your mind it felt love in my palms & your eyes told me "I want you to hold me". Lost inside a pleasure we are having fun, I know a place that we can go (whispers in your ear) "Baby just cum". The volcano explodes, the hurricane came, you lay there froze, your so amazed. You want to take pictures but your in a daze, DAMN what a day, MY what a night, BEAUTIFUL girl, o what a LIFE! I watch the sun rise, your gone before I yawn twice...

This was just a dream it was all in my mind. 

SoHo

Anyone Have The Time?

A non spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future.

I think we have all been mislead about time. As a child the way you are taught to understand time is through the design of the clock. In the early stages they show you a clock with two hands and the instructor manipulates the hands of the clock, stopping on particular times that are easy for you to understand. There are only two hands on these clocks that you are taught with, the minute hand and the hour hand, so does that mean that as a child seconds don't exist? 

Seconds don't exist to a child.

As we get older the clocks that we see get more intricate. Bigger faces, beautiful trim, life size grandfather frames, elegant hands and so much more get added to the original clock that we first learned to tell time with as a child. However there is one substantial difference in the clock; the second hand. Once we get past the age of 5, the second hand becomes real to us. Is it that we better understand time now or is it that time has somehow grown with us? Has time expanded to include seconds or have the seconds always been present? Somehow these new clocks always remind us of the first clock that we learned on so we will always be able to tell the time no matter how different they look.

Our minds are conditioned to think a certain way from infancy.

Daylight savings time is a blatant manipulation of time for the economic profit of the government, America isn't the only country that follows this setting the clock back/ setting the clock ahead process. Remember the initial definition of time? "apparently irreversible succession" doesn't it strike you as odd that the English definition of time uses the word "irreversible" but yet we set our clocks back for an extra hour of sunlight?

What is the connection between the clock and time itself?

The clock is a tool, a man made device that stems back to the beginning of time. When the clock was first created man used the positioning of the sun to determine what time it was. What does the sun have to do with time itself?

Forget Everything You Already Know!

Time is independent. Everything else is affected by the existence of time. The planets in our solar system orbit the sun in a matter of time but the time they take to orbit the sun doesn't determine time itself. Therefor the time it takes our planet to spin on it's axis doesn't define time itself. Truth is no man has ever completely understood time. Time is a natural force of the universe and the key to comprehending the idea of time is understanding yourself and nature itself. Technology has created this idea that we can manipulate the forces of nature but in actuality it has kept us further from the truth than ever before. We aren't living off of the natural time of the universe but rather by an artificial man made time. The reason we can actually manipulate this time is because it isn't real.

Space, Time, Nature & God

SoHo

Jay-Z: The Godfather

"The Michael Corleone of the microphone/ The Michael Angelo of flow/ I paint pictures with poems..." Shawn Carter

I find it comical that we are in this situation yet I am not surprised. P and I often speak on the fact that most people don't understand Jay-Z so it always amazes us how much people like him. Recently the jigga man has been brought to trial on all sorts of charges from his marriage and thoughts of children to his affiliation with the free mason society. Earlier today a 7 minute track by Beanie Sigel entitled "What you talking bout?" was the hot topic on twitter. The tweeters thoughts varied, from why Sigel was saying these things about Jay-Z to why Jay-Z would do these things to Sigel. In order to understand the situation you must first understand the man involved, that man being Shawn Carter and in order for one to understand Shawn you need to decode the messages in the lyrics of Jay-Z. They are two very similar individuals but as any dictionary will tell you "similar" is not "identical". If you don't believe me google images of "Jay-Z" then google images of "Shawn Carter" you will see that completely different sets of photographs will show up for each respectively. 

If you have followed the career of Jay-Z as long as I have think back to his first album "Reasonable Doubt", to me the album cover is foreshadowing what is to come from Mr. Carter. The shot seen above includes Dame Dash and Kareem Burke the co owners of Roc A Fella records but the shot that was selected for the album cover was a solo shot of Jay-Z. The theme for the album and those to follow are obviously very heavily influenced by 'The Godfather' trilogy. This movie in combination with: 'Scarface', 'Goodfella's' and a bit of 'Casino' are the keys to understanding the rhymes of Jay-Z and the mind of Shawn Carter. The moves that led to the break up of "The Roc" would have been predictable if people were more observant. In the first installment of "The Godfather" three important things happen to allow Michael Corleone, the youngest out of three brothers and a sister, to become 'the godfather'. The first being the murder of his older brother Sonny, then the death of his father and finally the extermination of three don's and a major player from Las Vegas. These men that were murdered  under Michael's orders were men that worked with his family in the past that he saw as threats to the survival of his family. Once these men were strategically taken out of the picture Michael Corleone received the title of "Capo di tutti capi" or Boss of all bosses. There was no one left to stand in his way and his family was now the strongest with him as the sole controller.

This is a plot that Jay-Z knows all too well, his songs are sprinkled with the ideals from the depicted mafia lifestyle and even specific terms. In a 1997 freestyle done for the "Bad Boy Mixtape Volume 3" Jay-Z says in the first line "Roc A Fella's Capo unflappable" now for those of you whom don't know the word "capo" is short for caporegime which is a high ranking ''made'' member of a family. Owning this title grants you certain privileges, for one you can't touch a made man without an approval from a boss; so your basically bullet proof unless someone has the resources to handle being the target of an entire family. A capo is head of his crew and has some influence in the organization or family however he is not the boss. As a matter of fact the Capo is under the underboss whom is second in charge only to the boss. Jay-Z knowingly admitted in his '97 freestyle to being third in charge of the Roc A Fella family, however as his popularity grew and the family ventured into new avenues he realized that he would always be in that position unless he took action. When Dame brought on Cam'ron and Dipset as the newest members to the Roc, that was a very pivotal point and could possibly being viewed as the move that led to the separation. The problem Jay-Z faced with having Dipset on the label is the fact that he wasn't in control of them. Cam'ron was not a soldier, he was a leader and if you pay attention to everyone that was previously signed to the Roc they are soldiers. If Jay-Z said shoot, they shot. If he said take this bullet for him, they did it without question. This is the point when Jay-Z realized that he had to up his position in the family and there was only one way to do that; eliminate Dame. The tragic assination of the Notorious B.I.G was like the death of Michael Corleone's father, I believe that B.I.G played that role to Jay-Z. I hear a lot of Biggie's lines in J's rhymes but I see it more as the knowledge that B.I.G left him with that he is passing on, just as Michael Corleone passed on the knowledge that his father left him with. So now with Dame out of the picture & Burke continuing to play the background Jay-Z is now the "Capo di tutti capi". Doesn't every other rapper respect him as the best rapper alive? Isn't he the most revered rapper alive? Kanye West refers to him as "the god of rap". Lil Wayne was content with being second on MTV's best rappers of 09 list once he found out that Jay-Z was number one. Oh and think about this for a second: How relevant is Dame Dash? How relevant is Jaz-O? How relevant is anyone else that got dropped from Roc A Fella records? 

I understand everything Jay-Z does including the things he has been accused of by Beanie Sigel in this new track because I have seen the aforementioned movies (Godfather, Scarface, Goodfellas, Casino) and I see what power did to those characters, he is not exempt and he knows that he is not without fault. As he said in a freestyle over Kanye West's track "Grammy Family" "I got my face to the ceiling/ got my knee's on the floor please Lord forgive him/ has he lost his religion is the greed gon get him/ he's having heaven on earth will his wings still fit him?" Do I agree with all of Mr. Carter's decisions? No. However I can say that as long as a man is aware of the mistakes that he has made, he can learn from them. I hope that after reading this everything makes that much more sense.

"I'm spiteful/ If I don't like you I'm liable to buy you and drop you." Shawn Carter

SoHo

Can You Feel Me?

"Don't hold me down, just let me fly. Don't kill me now, just let me die." Gunplay

SoHo

New Post Coming Soon

I'm in love with life simply because I am alive. I'm not a hard man to please. I promise you are going to love the pictures from the Madbury Club shoot. I guarantee your going to love everything that everyone around me is doing and I am sure that you will not know what I am doing until I am done but right now I am tired. 

Good Day.

SoHo

Pack It Up Father

The bag that you see above is a creation by two stylish young men out of Jersey. No one is better suited to tell their story than they are so I suggest you take the time out to read their site: Herds of the Fathers

I got a chance to speak with Tobi, one half of the design duo about everything that came to mind during an amazing photo shoot with Phil that the world will get a chance to marvel at shortly. After speaking with the young man I felt compelled not only to take this picture (they just happened to be standing like this; seriously) but also do this post because I feel like the direction of their blog and the motivation behind the creations are positive and long story short we are on the same wave length when it comes to the way we view fashion, style and some other things that I can't really focus on right now because Nas 'The World Is Yours' is playing in the background and now I'm getting a call from a very attractive young lady; peace and much love to ya!

SoHo

Coolness P in BkC

When you wear clothes its not just the fact that you like that particular article of clothing but its also a matter of you showing your level of respect for the brand. I like this article of clothing and I respect your brand enough to give you my hard earned money in exchange for this product. So this is P showing his respect for the brand The Brooklyn Circus.

150 Nevins St Brooklyn, NY 11217-2349 - (718) 858-0919

Open Daily 12pm-7pm

SoHo

The After Party

I was attending a Knick pre-season game the night of this party but as I watched this video of what happened after the party I was in complete shock; I don't think I moved until the video ended.

SoHo

We Made Magic

(click to enlarge)

I was thinking to myself the other day, there are many people with nice cameras and very few 'photographers' now that the true photographer's don't even want to be addressed as such just so they don't get mixed up with the rift raft. Personally I know some good photographers and not just people that play with lighting but I'm talking about some chicks that can kill you quick with a big gun (capture amazing shots with a nice camera). One in particular came to mind and I actually kind of miss her work. I don't see as much of it nowadays as there used to be and I feel like it needs to be seen so keep your eyes locked b/c in the near future there will be a reintroduction. 

SoHo

Diamonds & Maybach's

Rick Ross & Triple C's In Studio from Jason Burke on Vimeo.

"I don't have a twitter but if I did I would wake up 5 in the morning everyday and twit all my bitches this..." Rick Ross in reference to the song 'What I Do It For'.

SoHo

Monday Night Football

If you ask me to forecast what a Monday night would look like I'd probably picture a beautiful young lady laying in my arms after hours of 'extra curricular activities' or even a three hour long conversation with  a beautiful out of towner, who's voice alone gives me enough motivation to pack my bags for another trip.

However what I often forget is that my life is random to say the least so in short my Monday night was spent watching a rapper who made his way into MTV's top ten list & his crew tear up a manhattan studio while playing tracks from their upcoming compilation album. I'm working on the video as well, nothing special just a little something before the album drops.

Stay Tuned

SoHo

This Is Art!

featuring: $hellz

photo credit: Synkami Diablo

Mixed feelings from most? Maybe, but most never get genius until years later when what that person did finally becomes acceptable. Upon first sight my reaction... WOW! Possibly even a couple laughs until I got to this picture and I froze. I was stopped dead in my tracks and captivated for God only knows how long by this shot. It's perfect. However it was much more than the fact that it was perfect that held my attention, I wanted to understand why I thought it was so perfect? How is this shot any different from the rest? Then it hit me, this is a natural shot. A moment in life captured, very different from a picture. Most pictures are posed people, held in time and reviewed in frames of existence but this photograph is what every photographer tries to do in every shoot; make it look as natural as possible. Except for in this instant there was no effort, it just is. I can mentally see the motions a second after the picture, they might not even had been ready for the shot but just then... a flash!

Cheers to perfection.

SoHo

& I Don't Even Read His Blog

This is by far the best picture that I have seen all week. 

Just so happens that the picture echo's how I feel about the current state of fashion. 

I offer my sincerest apologies to the readers that I left confused by the lack of an explanation.

 L&F used to be a fashion blog, featuring fashion week interviews, street style post, trends (current and my predictions), & the works. Everything that you have come to expect from the average fashion blog with my own spin on it. It was cool, life was great, we were having fun. The parties were hip, the people are cool and the jobs felt like recreation. Then one day something clicked in my head, as fast as the lights come on when you flip the switch and I woke up. The people are fake, the parties are redundant and the jobs are remedial; there was no challenge in it for me. I was creating post, slapping pictures anywhere and using 'key phrases' just to get through the week and it was acceptable. Why? Because thats what we all have come to expect from a fashion blog. I think thats what we all have come to expect from fashion and I was bothered by it. My lackluster post about designers throwing foolishness together just to have something be dragged down a runway by a woman that shows signs of being caged and denied food for months before the show. I find it utterly shameful that the last time I was excited about an article of clothing was 2007. Everything that I have added to my collection since then was most likely vintage, I find the pieces already created far more interesting that the nonsense that we are being force fed now. The real reason why I stopped 'fashion blogging' in the sense that we all have come to accept it is because all blogs say the same thing, cover the same topics and show the same pictures. No matter how different you try to word it you are all talking about the same thing (with the exception of few). So I have declared that all fashion featured on this blog (from whenever that switch flipped in my mind) is somehow associated with either P or myself. We want to focus more on the lifestyle than the fashion and I'm talking about the REAL lifestyle, not the nonsense that they would like you to believe. I'm referring to the lifestyle where we actually work for the money and purchase these items, as opposed to them being bestowed upon us by some ancient form of wizardry. Stop doing things just because the majority thinks you should do it. 

Majority of the time, the majority is wrong.

 Stop letting fashion control your life; it's just clothes. Materials, fabric and ideas pieced together to compliment your body and express a portion of the creative genius better known to us as a true designer. Appreciate it but don't worship it. Step on your LV bag, cut up your Gucci shirt, sneeze in your Fendi handkerchief; free yourself.

photo source

SoHo

Media Takedown

The Defeat of Ghost P from Jason Burke on Vimeo.

"In the streets when you get gum on your nose you lose?" Ghost P

SoHo

Memories Re(Surfac)ing

Before I start my day I run through every blog that I can possibly think of just to see what happened in the world while I was sleeping. So even though you may not see me as much or speak to me as often I am never going to be out of touch. While viewing A$H's blog 6'' (that completely sounds like a porn site for women) I read her post about her internship with God knows whom and I had a flashback to when I was at Surface Magazine. 

Funny thing is that she was complaining about having to do returns (take clothes back to the show rooms) but she actually wanted to do office work. I always saw it the other way around, I used to volunteer to take clothes back. It's a great way to form relationships with showrooms and you get to get out of the office for however long it should take you; sounds great to me.

I feel like this would be a 'check the credits' moment because I was the assistant stylist for the cover shoot for whatever month this was. The best feeling is seeing the end product on the stands and knowing everything that happened behind the scenes and how close the cover shot was to a shaved head well dressed man holding a baby. Don't ask! Guess who returned the McQueen collection after the shoot...

SoHo

Skin Deep

What do you see?

Do you see what they see or do you believe what I see? Is it that my perspective is being altered by my vantage point? Am I the closest to the truth? Is it by chance or was this written?

The naked eye is deceptive so I'm forced to focus. I need to look deeper, deeper than anyone has ever cared to look before. Ignore my 5 senses and engage my 6th sense, forget what my hands tell me I feel and focus on what I really FEEL. I FEEL you, not the you that they see but the REAL you. I FEEL your energy even when you are there (where ever there is) and I'm here. This phenomenon intrigues me, so I'm intrigued by your existence. 

You are a PINCK flower in a sea of pink flowers so you wonder how I can look into your eyes and completely ignore theirs. Truthfully I know that you are surrounded by pink flowers, I mean I know that they are pink but they all look dull to me so it's like a black and white picture but you are the only one in living color.

I appreciate the things about you that you dislike and they hate. I love the scars, I understand the pain behind the eyes and I respect the process that you went through to get here. If you hadn't I don't know who you would be but everything happens for a reason. Never let them make you believe you are less than you ever thought you were because the truth is you are so much more than you think you are. YOU ARE so much STRONGER than the people around you and that scares them so they will never tell you. Close your eyes and focus your energy, you can feel me writing this right now... I just sent you some energy and I know you felt it, not sure if you know it was from me but I know you received it. There is nothing that can stop you from doing what you want to do, just realize how powerful you are; YOU ARE POWERFUL! YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! It's not that they don't believe in you, it's that they see your potential and are jealous. Why you and not them? What makes you so special? They see what I see but their perspective blinds them from the best parts, the parts that I haven't even seen yet that I can see in your eyes. The thoughts that you try your best to hide that creep out of your mind and into mine. The warmth that you feel when I hug you or the joy you feel when I caress your hand...

I know how you feel when you listen to me speak...

Good day luv...

SoHo

Clean Cut B

In ancient war there were many soldiers, drummers, archers, a leader and a flag bearer. I had every intention to lock my hair then it hit me, if I did that I would be a flag bearer for the Rastafarian faith. I agree with a lot of their beliefs but not all of them and I wouldn't consider myself a rasta so out of the respect that I have for their way of life I see me locking my hair as a mockery to those that are true believers. That fact aside I felt that it was time for me to cut my hair. My hair was the physical representation of my growth, but me cutting my hair symbolized a change and even the smallest change makes a difference. Whether it be for good or bad is determined by progression.

Oh yea I also cut the sleeves off of my leather jacket, brought the Good Wood Brooklyn ring out to play on the Brooklyn Bridge and found my 3 year old Gucci shades. I'm feeling it.

SoHo

The Artist in Motion

Kish

If your around me and you aren't smiling, then you are dead. The point of being a positive person is not to trap the positivity in your frame but to release it into the world and introduce it to everyone that you come into contact with. Making others happy will make you happy. If you are in a position to do something for someone; do it! Do it today! Don't wait until the worst occurs to look back and say "I could have done something about it." For every issue that you are dealing with there is someone in the world dealing with something far worst than that, imagine that the person next to you is that person because they just might be. 

I haven't been sick in over a year now and my only secret is that I have found the key to my happiness. I laugh everyday and smile at everything even the bad things because I understand that bad only creates the necessary balance and invites good in.

SoHo

What More Can I Say?

SoHo