The Annex Basement: 911 Call The Operator!

Thursday morning I received a Facebook invitation from DJ Hiro about a party in The Annex basement titled Drop It Low; hosted by Contessa. I don't usually pay attention to Facebook invitations for parties nor have I ever been to a Contessa party but this one was different; Curt@!n$ was performing. I RSVP'd for the party and attempted to mentally prepare myself for what the party might be like. 

At 11 p.m. I get a text message from a lady friend of mine asking me if I was still attending the party, she also informed me that Curt@!n$ was yet to perform. Upon hearing this I threw an outfit together and scrambled out of the house faster than those eggs that you enjoyed this morning for breakfast. It took me all of 2o minutes to reach the Annex, which by the way isn't too far out of anyones way; conveniently located on 152 Orchard St. New York NY. Upon arriving I ran into a familiar face by the name of Peter Oasis, NY concert promoter for some of the coolest spots in New York and he manages DJ Roxy Cottontail; nice. After talking for a while we headed in.

No amount of mental preparation and meditation could have prepared me for what I was about to walk into. Upon entering the party I was hit with a slew of emotions: confusion, bewilderment, shock and simply huh? Peter disappeared and I was left to fend for myself in this strange and unfamiliar environment. Wandering through the crowd I found another familiar face Stevie Lee, whom was kind enough to explain everything to me. It has become clear to me that there are a lot of cultures and sub-cultures that I am unaware of; this my friends is one of them.

Long story short:

DJ Hiro's style is crazy and he can really play. Contessa is a really fun person to be around, she basically does what she wants to do and has a hell of a time doing it, she could careless if you like it or not. The main event, the show stopper, Curt@!n$ delivered the one two punch with his performance. I was expecting to hear some cuts off of the mixtape or even the newly released Black Folk but he actually did two songs that I have never heard in my life; sweeeet (Jay-Z voice).

SoHo

Complex Interviews TK

"Supra from Ice Cream is (like) day and night...no disrespect" TK

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SoHo

Street Dreams Feature Film

Mr. Williams talks about his contribution to a film about the life of a street skater directed by Rob Dyrdek. Personally I believe that this film is going to be good because Rob working very closely on it, his vision is very original and at the same time he wants everything to look the way that it should and he wants things to happen the way that they should. As a former street skater myself I can relate, maybe if I had heard Pharrell's song Hoping Over Fences I wouldn't have gotten that ticket.

Find more videos like this on Street Dreams Movie

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SoHo

Kanye West: Paranoid

I like the concept behind the video, Rihanna is sleeping and in her sleep she is imagining that all of this is happening and what the visuals are trying to convey to you is that she is paranoid. In the beginning you see her toss and turn and actually get up because she can't sleep but you never see Kanye appear which is symbolizing that it's all in her head. 

Oh, you never had one of those? Lucky you.

SoHo

Ralph Lauren Sale

The Gilt Groupe has really outdone themselves with the latest collection that they have available on sale. You know the symbol, you love the brand and most of you idolize the man so here it is, without further delay; The Ralph Lauren Purple Label sale:
There are dinner jackets and then there are Dinner Jackets but this takes it to another level. Simply excellent choice in color, the cut of the lapels and the positioning of the pockets are spot on. All factors combined make this the jacket that you want in your collection.
These suede slippers are so smooth, too bad my size sold out the same hour that the sale began.
Brown, perforated detail, leather, mesh, wingtip shoe. I am convinced that there is absolutely nothing to be done to make this a better shoe. Great execution.
Are you kidding me? When I saw this deep brown, leather, perforated, capped toe Purple Label shoe as a part of the sale my eyes popped. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to push your collection a step above the rest.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end so this sale is going as long as supplies last or until tomorrow night. I suggest you follow the link below, sign up and take full advantage of your new free membership to Gilt Groupe.

click here

SoHo

I Walk The Line

Anyone that has ever had a REAL conversation with me always looks at me profoundly and ask: "What books have you read recently?"

I always laugh at that question because I don't read books, I mentally write mine as I experience different things in life. You can read about how to catch a fish but reading about it does not give you the experience of actually catching one, it just mentally prepares you for what you might experience if you were ever to go fishing.

SoHo

Kinda Like a Big Deal (Video Shoot)

Toys R Us. from kwest on Vimeo.

"Hard work is the gravel that set the foundation for the pavement called persistence that started the road to success." Burke

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SoHo

I Like Girls, That Like Girls

Katy Perry covers the Complex Magazine

I’m not like Jennifer Lopez or Kim Kardashian, but it’s there. That hourglass is there in some ways. You can ask Travis. It’s probably the best. [Laughs.] I’m probably going to get into trouble for saying this, but he said he was never a boob guy, he was always a butt guy, until he met me. ’Cause my shit don’t sag.

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SoHo

Married to the M.O.B Summer 09

The saying is once your married to the mob the only divorce is death. That saying seems to hold true for the Married to the MOB clothing line, who season after season grow and progress without sacrificing who they are as a brand; staying very close to their roots. What you see is what you get and for the past four to five collections they have been providing women with strong, statement making, bold, outgoing, quality product. By continuing in this course of action they have established something bigger than screen tees and accessories, they have established a suggestive lifestyle; either you live it or you don't.

It's not for everybody but if it's for you then chances are you already know where to find me.

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SoHo

Complex Interviews Curt@!n$

 I’m going to keep it real. From day one, that was always my mode. I always wanted to be that. When people think of 2Pac, they think about “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “Dear Mama”. I always wanted to make those songs, but it’s really not easy to get that message out. So you know you got to hit them with beats first. We released braggadocio raps and other hard raps just to get people on my side. Once they like you, they’re in it with you. Now you can say, “Okay, I got your attention, but this is what I want to tell you.” So I had to give them the bait first before I could get them the knowledge.

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SoHo

Dr. Phil Knows Best

We've all been anticipating this collection and now that it is finally here seeing it feels surreal. The Award Tour summer 09 collection look book has been released and Dr. Phil has delivered everything that you have come to expect from The Award Tour brand. Classically cool logo tee's, smooth hoodies featuring signature designs, good location, a great photographer and an all star cast seems to be the equation for a good Award Tour collection. 

You know the people and you know the style, have you seen the new look book?

For the rest of the collection follow the link below:

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SoHo

Curt@!n$ - Black Folk

Enjoy your Memorial Day.

SoHo

Sponge Bob - Happy Opposite Day

If you didn't laugh yesterday, you may not laugh tomorrow but please laugh today.

You'll feel so much better.

SoHo

No Defense!

Even though this is fictional and I know undoubtedly that Kobe and Lebron do not live together if they did it would most likely go something along the lines of this.

Classic moment amongst athlete's. 

SoHo

When There Are No Walls.

Turn the Blackberry off.

Hold my hand.

Close your eyes

Take a deep breath.

Sit in silence and listen to your surroundings for a minute.

Lay back with no regard for the garments that adorn your body.

Open yours eyes, smile and enjoy.

Liberation.

SoHo

Are You Kidding Me?

Long Live King James

SoHo

Call Seize sur Vingt; Get This Man a Suit!

Christian Bale recently covered the June GQ magazine. He also recently played the role of John Conner, leader of the resistance in the new Terminator movie, so it makes complete sense to me why they went route for the cover. However the problem with doing theme covers is either you get it or you don't. Now since I saw the movie last night this makes a bit more sense to me than the average man that just subscribes to GQ and has no interest in the Terminator film. Do I think the cover could have been better? Sure but at the end of the day we all make bad decisions sometimes and in the case of the Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine they have been producing quality covers and content for some time now so one bad cover isn't much to fuss over.

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SoHo

The Unstoppableness of Unstoppability

Pure Comedy

SoHo

A Rose by Any Other Name

Three things brought this outfit together.

The first thing is my mothers age defying skin. If I told you to guess her age I put the other house up that none of you would guess anywhere near the right age. That comes from maintaining a healthy diet and never being a substance abuser (not judging). If you want to drink, enjoy responsibly. I know you hear that a lot but it does wonders for your body health which in turn does wonders for your outward appearance. I'm not going to tackle the topic of smoking because of how controversial it is.

Live your life the way you want to but be prepared for the consequences.

The second thing that made this a good outfit actually has nothing to do with the clothes and everything to do with the woman. A woman wears her confidence in a similar way that she would wear her handbag. She flaunts it around those without it, she uses it as a facilitator for everything that she will need to get done for the day and when she senses danger she holds onto it for dear life. If you aren't confident in yourself no matter what you are wearing you will not be comfortable and it will show.

Eat well, feel good, look great.

The third and final aspect of the outfit that made it a hit is the accessories. I tell you countless times that accessories can make or break an outfit and in this case they made the outfit. The burnt red ribbon tied around the waist brought out the red in the dress. The pearls drew attention to her neckline and the rose was the icing on the cake.

SoHo

Read Em & Weep

An outfit consist of many different elements: 

the waist coat, blazer, shoes, oxford, neck accouterment and watch can all be considered ingredients to a good outfit. Personally I consider accessories the make or break items in some outfits while in others they are just the icing on the cake. In the case of the picture of Jason Burke seen using the iPhone 3G, his outfit was well put together but two things made this outfit stand out; one of which was the pocket scarf. The pocket scarf doesn't have to be tucked any particular way unless you wish to stick to the conventional rules of it being neatly tucked revealing only an inch of the scarf. If you want to live a tad bit more dangerously then tuck it as you wish. The brown in the scarf also do something very important, it brings out the brown in the stitching of the denim jacket. 

The next and final accessory that brought this outfit together was the eyewear. The strong brown in the reading glasses solidify this outfit and draw attention to the softer brown in the cashmere covering his chest.

You've seen the glasses on Jason Burke and the glasses have also made their way onto the Brooklyn Circus blog. It won't be long now before they find their way onto your face.

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SoHo

Award Tour: Summer Preview

It's almost here.

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SoHo

Beyoncé - Ego

The lack of control of your EGO can lead to your downfall but my EGO got me here. I guess it's cool as long as you can back it up.

SoHo

Selling Yourself Short... or Not.

Petar Petrov

...and to think I used to tie my regular ties short. Why go through all the extra work when you can just purchase a short tie. Of course you aren't always going to want to wear a short tie therefor limiting the amount of times that you are going to wear the tie but you can't wear shorts year round either. So if you can invest in short pants for one season then I say why not get the short tie?

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SoHo

Once a Man

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

I was recently on Kanye's Blog and I came across this video that has been directed and produced by Chris Milk, a well noted American film director whom has worked on some of Kanye's music video's as well. I am particularly fond of this video because I see it as a pretty spot on interpretation of a man's life-cycle. I don't watch a lot of short films but this is definitely fermenting an interest in me to start watching them.

SoHo

The Brilliance: Dee & Ricky Interview

TB: Let's talk about the LEGO accessory takeover. More importantly tell us about when the light bulb went off in your head. 

D: A light bulb never went off we didn't get a chance to pay out electric bill.. But We just did it one day because we were tired or wearing controllers on out waist wanted something more lowkey, we had the lego belt back in 06.. Only ricky was rocking it.. We Had it on ice for a yr.. Then we was at a party in the hamptons ran into one of Marc boys.. He's like yo is that a gucci lego belt?.. Im like yep.. He's like marc would love that im like marc who? He's like marc jacobs im like oword? That's dope.. Then We exchanged contacts.. 2 days later he hits me up like hey dudes im at the mercer.. Come threw bring a couple belts.. Went there enjoyed some beverages polyed at bit.. Gave him some belts.. Next day marc calls us like dude.. I love the belt idea.. Lets do something for fashion week.. Fashion week happend to be a week away but we pulled it off. The show was grand.. And Marc was our big break.. So that's basically how the legos came about it evolved from another idea.. And its ben a success from the likes of takishi and kanye wearing our pieces and a hand full of other celebs and such in that genre.

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SoHo

Gestuz: Black Bodysuit

Believe me when I tell you that women will be wearing this bodysuit and similar ensembles. Why? I don't know whether it is the influence of Lady GaGa or all of a sudden women just got a sudden confidence boost but for the most part woman are way more comfortable with their bodies and they will not hesitate to let the world know how they feel about their bodies. It is going to be interesting to see how far they take it but for now I predict: neon spandex, nude spandex, bodysuits, and cut off denim.

Only time will tell.

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SoHo

Denim & Thread: Coated Jeans

I'm less concerned with how you got into them, the real question is how are you going to ge out of them?

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SoHo

Marc Jacobs SS 09

If you change your bag every other day (if not everyday), if you lose: key parts of your make up, lip stick, cell phone case, house keys, optical lenses, metro cards, parking tickets, business cards and money then when I saw this bag I thought about you. Investing in a bigger bag will not solve your organizational problems but now at least you know the moneymetrocardsmakeupcellphonecasepticallensparkingtickersbusinesscards are all lost in one big bag.

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SoHo

The Most Interesting Man in the World

"The police often question him just because they find him interesting."

SoHo 

Buffalo Soldier

When you have a long way to go that should never be discouraging, it's just an invitation to try harder.

Adversity isn't something that should get you down, it's just another opportunity to be great.

Shine through the darkness and you will find your own path, often times it's not the path that others want you to take; it may not even be one that was ever taken before.

"We still have a long way to go but look how far we have come" means appreciate everything in life because feeding negativity is the only wasted effort.

SoHo

Brooklyn Inspires SoHo?

While checking out the new J. Crew mens shop in SoHo I ran into Takehide. I don't want to say too much about this look because it speaks volumes for itself. The most important key here is execution. His attention to detail is on point but what brings everything together is his execution. The Brooklyn Circus vest was a good choice, also notice the glasses, even though they aren't on his face they are still present and play a role in this outfit. The cut of the denim is excellent and the cuff is spot on and the scarf breathes life into the outfit.

Look closely at the pics below for the little things that make this outfit an instant hit.

SoHo