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[spashion-blog]

@hollienict talks to @graymalin #photographer #sperry #Spashion #footwear #paris http://www.spashion.com/spashion/life-through-a-lens/

[pauladrianblundell]

DYNAMO on point

Magic impossible

[sartorialcreations-blog]

A news piece that I wrote for Spashion Magazine 2013

[sartorialcreations-blog]

A news piece that I wrote for Spashion Magazine 2013

[denisyong-blog]

August 2013

Interview with rapper Da$h for spashion.com

[denisyong-blog]

SPASHION - DA$H

August 2013

Read the piece at spashion.com

Full transcript below

Aside from being Damon Dash’s nephew, rapper Da$h is making waves of his own. He’s got strong ties with A$AP Rocky’s A$AP Mob and delivered an impressive mixtape which features one of the hot artists of the moment, Action Bronson. Da$h speaks to SPASHION about Polo Ralph Lauren, movies and artistic influences.

A sense of Mobb Deep comes through your rapping style. Who else did you listen to when growing up?

Definitely Mobb Deep, along with Method Man, Beanie Sigel and AZ. You represent Heir Gang. Can you tell us more about your group?

Yes, Sir. (The Heir Gang brand can be expressed in many ways) Hz global. Heir Gang, H.igh E.veryday I.gnoring R.ule$ . The Heirs are me. It includes my brother Keefy, my brother Stevie and at the moment is fronted by Retch and me. We’re from New Jersey, 201. We’re just trying to show the world a little bit of our lifestyle and give people a little of what we do from our perspective. Retch and you come across as today’s Mobb Deep (Havoc and Prodigy). Do you two have a duel project in the pipeline?

We’re working on our next project, having put out ‘La Cienega’ back in September 2012. Retch and I grew up together so we were able to hone our skills when we started taking rap seriously. We always had a chemistry, like bread and butter, which meant it all came together well. ‘Brighton Beach’, referenced in in the mixtape, ‘V.I.C.E.S.’ shouldn’t be mixed up with the English town, Brighton. Have you been to England yet?

I haven’t yet. I haven’t been to Europe at all. I’m really trying to get there soon. I’ve actually got a couple of people trying to get me to do shows there, so hopefully you’ll catch me in the fall or winter. The ‘Brighton Beach’ song came about because I was watching a film, ‘Lord of War’, starring Nicholas Cage. He [Cage] plays a character called Yuri Orlov and he was from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. So I mentioned him in the lyrics when I did the song and called the song Brighton Beach and it came full circle with the idea. Is the track itself quite nostalgic in relation to you growing up?

Yeah, correct. The track was something for me to get a little personal, to give people a better look at me. Artwork completes the packaging for any music project. Do you have any creative input into your mixtapes covers, which are very good? For ‘V.I.C.E.S’, I wanted to get just one picture that embodied everything that a person of my age would be indulging in at the time, especially me. I feel that if you’re able to control your vices, you’re able to indulge in anything you’d like to. My vices provide a very interesting life for me. What have been key moments for you so far in the rap game?

I can’t say key moments, but being able to travel the country and do it with people I respect musically and personally. That shit means a lot. It’s big for me. Where there any key moments on tour?

All of them to be honest with you, man! I’ve been to every State in the country and before then, I’d only been to five or six of them. So, being able to travel everywhere, seeing kids knowing a lot of the words to my music and being fans of mine blows my mind. I started this [rapping] as something to do. This wasn’t going to be my career, my job or something to do with my life. It was more or less something to kill time when I was younger and now it’s become which is mind blowing to me. Do you follow any sports or teams?

To be honest with you, I don’t follow any sports. I don’t watch any television, only Netflix.

What’s caught your eye on Netflix recently then?

I watched a movie called, ‘The ABCs Of Death’, the other day, which was pretty crazy. There were 26 different Directors who all chose a letter out of the alphabet, and did a 5-minute short film, more or less, on a killing or murder in a horror movie style. Shit was really tight. I saw ‘Platoon’ for the first time too. That film, for me, is a really big inspiration for my music. I’ve taken a big interest in movies since I was younger. Back at my house in New York, I have a DVD collection of 80+ DVDs. So, cinema is a big part of the music that I make. Off the top of your head, what are your top five films then?

I’d say my top five are ‘The Usual Suspects’, ‘Heat’, ‘Wedding Crashers’, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and ‘Requiem For A Dream’. That’s a very strong selection… Having touched on the topic of sport, do you keep fit in any way?

Honestly, I don’t work out. My smoking habit keeps my metabolism pretty fast. I keep it skinny! Polo Ralph Lauren is very relevant in your city and seems an important element in your wardrobe e.g. like the bucket hat in your ‘Brighton Beach’ video. Any key pieces amongst your hoard? My hat’s become pretty signature — an all-over print ‘Lo bucket. The Polo Ralph Lauren thing is something we’ve been doing since high school and middle school. Me and my group of friends always felt Ralph Lauren was a sign of prestige. Ralph Lauren made stuff for any type of man for any type of time, so we took pride in our Polo. I’ve still got a few pieces including a few bears and Polo Sport things. My brother was totally on the Lo Life and pretty much has everything he could load up on. We’re gonna make that shit popular again. They need to start putting us in their lookbooks because we’re about to make that shit pop again! How would you describe your clothing style in general?

Other than Polo, I don’t really pay for clothes. There are a few street wear brands like DURKL, Deadline and Diamond. What’s your preference for footwear?

I just wear my Air Jordans. I try to keep my Jordans unretroed and keep ‘em based. A lot of my Jordans are from ’02 and ’03, so they’re pretty messed up, but I wear the same pairs almost every day! I got the AJ 3s from then, 5s from ’99. I got 4 or 5 pairs in rotation.

[denisyong-blog]

April 2013

Interview with S.A.S for spashion.com

[denisyong-blog]

SPASHION - S.A.S

April 2013

Read the piece at spashion.com

Full transcript below

Hailing from London is S.A.S (Streets All Salute) — a lethal brother rapping duo, Mega and Mayhem. They spit smooth punch-lines that's reflected in their personal suave styles and the 'runway' (one of their taglines) everywhere they go. In between trips across the pond, they speak to SPASHION about their long standing relationship with America, basketball and what's in their wardrobe. 

Your recent mixtapes are called ‘Coming to America II (Sides A & B)’ and you’ve already had strong ties with the States. What’s the history there? Mega: Basically, we first moved to America in 1998 and Mayhem was playing basketball. I used to ball too, but I wasn’t as serious and I wasn’t as good as well. I just started playing in the hallway at high school and battling people for their lunch money. So we were always in America, kind of heavy. Then when we moved back over to the UK, we used to go over Stateside to visit New York. Mayhem: And also network. And after our stint with the Diplomats and Roc-A-Fella [record label founded by Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Damon ‘Dame’ Dash and Kareem ‘Biggs’] we’ve maintained our American fanbase. 3 DJ’s host your latest ‘Coming To America’ mixtapes and represents your strong international base. Can you tell us more about Snips, Big Mike and DJ Allure?  Mayhem: Snips is our tour DJ and runs his own night, Livin’ Proof, in London — the biggest hip-hop parties in the UK, more or less. DJ Allure does a lot of our online stuff and works with distributors, and sells a lot of units via independent distributors in London and also HMV. And Big Mike is not our personal DJ but a well known mixtape DJ from the tri-state area of Connecticut. I think he’s French Montona’s tour DJ now and has done a lot of work with the artists coming up, also with D-Block, Dipset and others from that era. Mega: He [Big Mike] hosted our initial ‘Coming To America’ mixtape from 2006, so it was only right to link up with him and did it again. Being one the first British rappers to really start wearing and rapping about luxury high-end brands, that must make everyone else to step their wardrobe game up. What are your favourite garments?  Mayhem: We’ve always liked Maharishi and that’s not going to go anywhere. Recently I like Balmain. Mega: I like them Rick Owen leathers — their jackets are so sick. Can’t forget about Edwin too. Women judge men on their footwear. What shoes do you like to wear on your feet? Mega: Recently I’ve been keeping it calm with the PUMA Suede, Stepper or Clyde. Also Air Jordans — you can’t go wrong with a pair of OG retro colourways. Mayhem: My favourite pair are actually what I’m wearing right now are the Maharisihi and Palladium collaboration. Us Brits tend to know the term ‘swag’ meant rubbish before the overkill buzzword of it through rap — did that encourage you to refine ‘swag’ with suave?  Mega: The fact that people knew ‘swag’ meant that’s shit over here and also the fact that people ran amuck with the swag thing; they didn’t even use it correctly. For me, swag is your mannerisms and the way you move. You’re born with it or you don’t. And I felt that people started using it in terms of what they were wearing or what they were doing. Since we got a bit more restraint over here than America, we wanted to give them a bit of suave, a bit grown, and let the kids swag it out. Eurogang is your team and isn’t to be confused with the currency and has an acronym. Explain what is it and who’s rolling in the crew. Mayhem: Eurogang is ourselves, Scrilla, Villain, Mr Bigz and Haze — and they’re from various parts of London. Mega: And the acronym is English Unified Revolutionary Organisation. How do you feel about the current UK hip-hop scene?  Mega: I feel like it could be better. If there was less divide in the scene, then it’d fluctuate a lot better than it is. But due to people putting labels on things like ‘this is that sound; road rap, hipster scene or conscious’. There isn’t enough togetherness in the scene; it’s a small market over here because hip-hop doesn’t really chart over here as it is, so if you’re going to have a small scene, the only way it’s going to work is if everyone stands together. It’s getting better, as far as the music goes, but I feel it could be a lot better. Nicki Manaj features on ‘Dungeon Party’ of ‘Coming To America II (Side B)’. How did that collaboration come about?  Mayhem: That was a collaboration that we did quite a while ago — a few years ago actually. We had the accapellas and we met a producer, Kid Bass, who made a beat around it and we just threw it out there. When we did the initial song with Nicki, only the States kind of got it and people in the UK didn’t know what was going on as such. So it was quite timely for the release now… Mayhem: Yeah, it was perfect. Basketball’s a part of your life, including professional involvement. Tell us more about it.   Mayhem: I used to play for London Towers Under 15s and Under 17s, and I played for Brixton men’s for a year. I went to all sorts of basketball camps in the States and in England; ABCD Top Flight League Under 17s and went to the States to play for a couple of years in high school. Do you follow sports? Support any teams?  Mayhem: The World Cup is the only time I watch football. Basketball whenever I can catch it, but not really, as I spend more time into music. Mega: Same. Any sporting heroes in your lives? Mega: Growing up, mine was Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan

Mayhem: I had a couple when growing up. Jordan of course, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter for a minute.

Mega: Vince Carter was hard. How do you guys keep fit?  Mayhem: I go gym, three-times a week. Mega: I used to go gym, but I have a semi-vegan diet going on — I eat vegan food for most days of the week. I’m still in shape since I went gym for so long, but I need to get back on it. Now that it’s nice outside, I can hit the pull-up bar. Was on the running as I had the Nike app on my phone, but the novelty wore off. Might have to reach Run Dem Crew sometime soon though!