"The Future Belongs To The Few Of Us Still Willing To Get Our Hands Dirty"

A Gentle Dissolve


Here's a joint off the upcoming project Black Ribbon: Hard Work! that I flipped from Thievery Corporation's "A Gentle Dissolve" from their album "The Cosmic Game". Having been recently inspired from traveling and some pretty ill contributions to hip-hop music over the last two weeks, I decided to write a joint with no hooks, no bridges, and all bars! Check it out and let me know what you think. Black Ribbon: Hard Work! will be finished by the end of November so be on the lookout! Peace!

Thank You!



As I walked to my bookstore today (my family owns a bookstore here in Chicago, don't know if I said that before), I was listening to a new batch of Blueprint 3 instrumentals I'd stumbled upon whilst surfing the web, and of course I gravitated towards one of my favorites off the project, the No I.D. - produced "Thank You". The horns are so elegant and polite, I could see it was the perfect platform to speak, as Jay did on his original version, about the positivity I've been able to pull out of some of the most toxic situations. I address haters, old flames, and old friends all in a lyrically tasteful manner that shows my acceptance of their roles in my life! So thank you to all my doubters! You make me great! Black Ribbon Hard Work! Partake!

"American Fashion Menswear", by Robert E. Bryan


Luxury publisher Assouline and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) have come out with a new book called American Fashion Menswear, billed as "the most authoritative and exciting book to date on the evolution of menswear in the United States over the past century. Author Robert E. Bryan has divided the volume into seven different sections based upon the diverse identities of the American man, covering everything "Levi Strauss to the Ivy League, lounge suits to Zoot suits, and cowboys to counterculture," with cameos from the likes of Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Ralph Lauren and more.

>>Assouline
>>Council of Fashion Designers of America

Air Jordan V1 Black Infared Retro

Air Jordan VI (6) Black Infared Retro
I'm not a big Jordan head like the rest of my peers, but these are pretty dope. Air Jordan VI Black Infared Retros. Available for pre-order soon at OSneaker.

>>osneaker

The Neptunes: Decemvir Mixtape

(taken from my post on Blindiforthekids.com)

I’ve been working on this for a LOOOONG time and I finally completed another masterpiece. For those not in the know, The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for some successful Hip hop, R&B and Pop artists in the late-90s and 2000s. The Neptunes’ sound is a distinctive brand of off-kilter, stripped-down electronic funk. Along with Timbaland and Dr. Dre they were the driving force behind many of the musical characteristics of late-90s/2000s hip-hop, helping to re-introduce sci-fi style sounds into the hip-hop mainstream, along with sounds from Middle Eastern and Asian music including percussion and woodwind.

I decided a few months back to make a collection of my favorite rare, b-side, and unreleased Neptunes production, from 1999 to 2009, in order to create a dedication to over 10 years of next-level music that still stands the test of time. I swear listening to these tracks puts you in a state of mind where everything’s better around you. Decemvir, which is the latin term for “ten“, is used to describe this decade of incredible works from the stellar production duo. Their music can speak for itself more than anything I can say, so without further ado, I give you…

The Neptunes: Decemvir (A Decade Of Rare Gems & Unreleased Material)
(Disc 1 Sharebee) | (Disc 2 Sharebee)

Yi Zhou - "The Ear" Featuring Pharrell Williams


This is really dope to me. Freshness tells it like so:

"Based on Gogol’s short story, The Nose, the ear undergoes a similar Freudian treatment of amputation and detachment, and goes on a journey and transforms into an Earbridge as it gets crossed by a bridge. The story eventually ends where Pharrell is pulled back into reality reading a newspaper article about the Earbridge in Baku, Azerbijian. This collapses the art work into the other side of reality as well as the project is part of a public design project for Azerbijian involving the likes of Jean Nouvel and Cai Guo Qiang in 2013."


>>Freshness

Penfield Stapleton Coats

New Penfield Stapleton Coats. Waterproof, windproof, and Tefloned out. Only $264. I'll probably try to grab the tan daddy for my wintertime exploits. Beware!

>>Penfield

"The Dead" by Damien Hirst


Damien Hirst, a great modern artist and avid art collector, arguably one of my favorite out of the current cultural icons, is celebrating the opening of his new installation at London's Other Criteria. The premiere features 30 new works from Hirst and a few limited edition signed pieces as well. Check it out if you're in Londontown tomorrow (October 8th).

>>Other Criteria

On Your Mark...

On Your Mark, produced by Beat Maker Beat, is a simple precursor I created late one night after a day of sessions to shoot to homies, associates, blogs, and fans to let them know what to expect from the upcoming project. It got a lot of love off top so I'm excited to see what the reaction to the project is gonna be, since this is just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned!