Today everyone was snowed in. Everything shuts down when it snows in Atlanta. Which isn’t really a big deal to me cuz I work from home… but I took the day off anyway. This was the result of me having to much extra time on my hands…
Sometimes you gotta do it just because.
Underground Philly sensation Tone Trump and DJ Ykcor from Coast2Coast mixtapes were on their way to Washington D.C. to do a magazine shoot with Cred Magazine (www.credxtra.com) and radio promo and interview with 93.9 FM WPGC, but they made time to stop in Baltimore to cop some Vintage gear and catch up with me.
It’s great to see Philly reppin’ a Bmore brand. Much love. We’ll be bringing you an exclusive interview with Tone Trump in the near future. For now, check him out at www.myspace.com/tonetrump
And if you haven’t checked out the interview I did with DJ Ykcor, click here.
Ushering in its 20 year anniversary like only Nike can do the footwear kings decided to re-issue a classic. As it’s name indicates the Air Max ’90 was first released in 1990. Featuring the legend AIR MAX on the side panel and visible air bubble in the heel. This exclusive White/Black/Blue/Gray colorway can only be found at JD Sports in the UK for about 90 Euros (click here to see more photo’s of the shoe on JD’s website). For fun we decided to see what would happen if we paired up these hot kicks with our own classics. We matched them with our Lion in the City retro blue t-shirt and gray molten wool/black/white Art Addiction fitted hat. The combination of similar colors and complimenting textures made for a good look.
A lot of brands get competitive. They don’t want to share the spotlight. Everyone is striving for the same piece of the pie. But here at Vintage we don’t hate on anyone. So today I wanted to share with you four brands I like and those which consistently come out with great drops. If you’re like me, you diversify your wardrobe like you diversify your investment portfolio cause you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same thing twice (well, ok that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point). So here they are in no particular order:
Crooks and Castles
Crooks and Castles is the classic signature series brand that has the same philosophy that made such brands like Polo famous. Just like everyone wants that polo rider on their apparel, Crooks brings the Big C with style. And boy do they have some hats! My attraction to Crooks has to be the emphasis on their logo. No art prints with swirling lines and paint splatters and random art work. That all has it’s place, but not here. Word is that Jay-Z is a financial backer of this Melrose-born high-end boutiquer. If that’s true, it’s helping C&C push the envelope and stay at the head of the class by dropping fresh lines. Karma Loop (the largest internet site for private label designers) never seems exhausted on their “recently arrived updates” with Crooks drops, and you’re almost always guaranteed to find something new each week, of course if your wallet can handle the abuse.
Rocksmith
Rocksmith is the Japanese take on American hip hop. And they do a pretty reasonable job of capturing our fashionable couture. Unlike Bape or Billionaire Boys Club which turn the hip hop culture on its head with unique Anime interpretations, cutesy animals, ice cream cones, loud colors, and all the stuff that were it the 1990s the prevailing gangster officiators of the hip hop world would have laughed them into obscurity, the Japanese, who also have hyperbolic interpretations of American culture, go all out with these fashions. But not Rocksmith. The true, classic hip hop branding is alive and well with these guys and I only expect great things in the future.
Adidas
You’re likely to find just about any color or material combination with an Adidas brand shoe. While other brands like Nike compete aggressively, it really comes down to personal preference and whether you like those three stripes or that Nike swoosh. Rocking Adidas is a tacit protest against all the rank commercialism in today’s hip hop culture (even though Adidas is about as big a household name as Coca-Cola). Even so, when I think of classic hip hop, I think of Run DMC and I think of those white Adidas with black stripes, of which I also sport a pair.
Marc Ecko
Impressions of Ecko vary from pleasingly pertinent tokens of high art to a one-time conscientious caretaker of the graffiti culture who sold out for the almighty buck. Whatever your impression may be, Ecko consistently delivers with amazing art print t-shirts, street wear (with the largest selection of track jackets I’ve ever seen), jewelry, and shoe drops. The Ecko store around my way changes it’s inventory it seems on a bi-weekly basis, so I’m never disappointed when I walk in to check out what’s fresh. And the prices are affordable. I can ransack their sales rack and walk out with a handful of shirts. So whatever your take, Ecko is constantly on its game.
The Coast2Coast mixtape website is known for producing some of the best and most widely available tapes in the industry. Many big names as well as unsigned and some relatively new artists find their way into their compilations. DJ Ykcor is one of the forces behind the turntables at Coast2Coast. If you didn’t see our recent interview with him, scroll down just a little.
Recently they launched a print magazine, and our man Wordsmith appears in Issue 4. Take a look here.
An Interview with Montreal Producer Strada
Trey P: So can you tell the Vintage audience and fans who Strada is?
Strada: I’m a producer, sound designer, and composer. I live in Montreal, Canada and yes, I am a French Canadian! For the last five years or so, I have been Wordsmith’s in-house producer. I also worked with Chubb Rock, Skyzoo, Gage Pierre(France), and The BC (UK). I did some scoring for a couple animation films and a few sound design gigs. Basically, I just try to make the best music possible, create audio background, and get you that feeling from sound.
Trey P: How long have you been producing music and how did you get involved?
Strada: Probably around 2000 I started to look more into the computer production thing. I was always having fun with the little hip hop eJay-type programs but they were so limited. I searched and finally found the first Fruity Loops version and rolled with it. Before that, I was always into music playing guitar, bass, and drums. I was lucky enough that my father was a blues guitar player. I picked up a lot from him but I was never a great player. That’s not my thing. I like to add to my tracks with guitar licks and so on but don’t ask me to do a show (laughs).
Trey P: You’re out of Montreal. What’s the hip hop scene like in Canada compared to the U.S.? What kind of audiences are you bound to find?
Strada: The hip hop scene is much different from the States. Back in the ‘90s and ‘00s it was picking up pretty good. That’s when the France market was huge. There was a lot of local bands and original acts on the main radios but that died down. There is still good hip hop music here but it changed. Now it’s eclectic. You can have the electro crowd (MstrKrft, Justice, Crooked…) that’s huge, and Indie rock (Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire weekend…). I mean, Montreal is different from the rest of Canada. It’s a giant pool of great artists. We were named Unesco City of Design in 2006. Hip hop has its place here, but it’s definitely on a smaller scale than in the U.S.
Trey P: How important is fashion to the hip hop culture? Do you see any parallels with unique beat making and unique clothing ensembles?
Strada: Fashion is huge in hip hop. I mean the gold rope chains, the Adidas, the Guess jeans, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. Hip hop is also fashion in itself. It represent a set of ideas, what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. Beat making in itself is becoming a “culture.” You got all the equipment companies catering to them, clothing companies have studio gear as designs, forums, ads, events (Red Bull big tune contest).
Personally, I try to keep it fresh and comfortable when I know I am going to spend the day in the studio. Jeans, t-shirt, sweaters (I work in my basement and I don’t heat much s**t too expensive (laughs)). What is important is to put on something that makes you feel good. Look at Ryan Leslie sporting the full on 3-piece suits in his video. If that’s what it takes, do it. Besides what everybody portrays, it’s not always 10-minute beats and like 15 beats a day. A lot of times, you got to scratch your head and fiddle around trying to catch your vibe. So you don’t want to have something that you don’t like on. I like to stay fresh. That way, the beats are fresh too.
Trey P: What does your production schedule look like on a normal day?
Strada: I work full time, so whenever I squeeze time in I’ll do something production related. That can include making a beat, mixing, digging for samples, drums, VST research (stay on your VST game people), determining who needs beats, updating the blog, Twitter, Facebook. On a day off work, I’ll wake up early, eat, shower, grab coffee, and I step down to the studio. I try to make it a habit. That way, I can get the creativity flowing faster. Usually I check the emails, what’s popping on the blogs, what I need to be doing that day, listening to music to catch a vibe, and start banging. On a good day, I get one or two good joints done or I’ll finish some I started. It all depends on what’s needed and what’s time sensitive.
Trey P: Who are your influences and why?
Strada: Producer-wise…it’s the same as everyone else I guess – Timbaland, Dre, Pharell/Neptunes, Premier, Pete Rock, Alchemist.
Music-wise, I listen to everything. That includes Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, Mingus, Gillespie, Dylan, Sting, CSNY, Presets, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk…. anybody that makes great music.
Trey P: Do you have any projects now or coming up that you’d like to plug?
Strada: Wordsmith’s next mixtape “Vintage Vault” on February 23rd, 2010. Wordsmith’s Vintage Experience” dropping in March 30th, 2010. While Chubb Rock and Wordsmith’s Bridging the Gap album on iTunes is already available.
More surprises for 2010 are coming up. Finally, my blog about music production and the 2.0 music business can be read here at www.stradagized.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/strada514
Trey P: Any shout outs?
Strada: Wordsmith and the whole Nu Revolution camp. We work HARD!!!!! Vintage Clothing Limited for making this interview happen. Hiphopdx.com, 2dopeboys.okayplayer.com, kevinnottingham.com, and all the blogs and the Twitter folks that show support for our music. Thank you!
I had to do some crate digging to blow the dust off this one. Wordsmith laced the track with some stellar rhymes a couple years back and he was joined by none other than the legendary Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes. Yes, this is no joke. Word gets down like that. Take a listen.
(explicit lyrics)
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(Raekwon stops by PedX to grab up on all the latest fashion)
Even with all the hype, the RSVPs, the record crowd expected to descend upon Red Maple for PedX’s weekly hip hop event, Wordsmith, and finally Vintage Limited, it wasn’t enough to overcome the four inches of snow that dumped on Baltimore City and ruined the evening. Still Shaun B and I managed to brave the weather, hook up with Garth (PedX’s savvy promoter), and arrange for a return. So with prayers in the air, we’re hoping March 2nd, which we’ll call “the reschedule concert” is far enough out into warmer weather. But the way this year has been (and with a projected two more feet of snow threatening to fall on our heads again this weekend) I remain hopefully optimistic.
The good news? Vintage Limited is OFFICIALLY on the shelves at PedX! So make sure next time you’re down in Baltimore city, you stop by the trendiest part of town (Fells Point) and pick up our latest offerings at PedX
PedX
1707 Aliceanna Street
Baltimore, MD 21231-2902
(410) 276-2005
The new Warner Brother’s film “The Preacher’s Kid” hit theaters nationwide on January 29th, 2010. Why is this relevant you may ask? Well, you may have heard that local hip-hop artist Soulstice had a song featured in the recent smash “The Blind Side” which stars Sandra Bullock and depicts the struggles which Baltimore Raven’s offensive tackle (NFL) Michael Oher endured on his rise to stardom.
Its also relevant because Soulstice is a friend of mine and having heard him perform on a few occasions while marketing Vintage Limited in make-shift stores at the back of live venues Soulstice and I have had the chance to speak on issues concerning the music industry, the state of hip-hop, and life here in Baltimore. A few seconds into a conversation and you instantly get that he’s no slouch and has a collegiate background knowledgeable on many subjects. For the past few years we’ve kept in touch through email and events and Soulstice has been a supporter of ours. Take a look at our photo gallery and you can see a few shots of him rocking our Brown Classic tshirt at a local show. Another one on there shows Soulstice wearing the Rock is Steady tshirt during a tour in Italy in 2009. I was also informed that he wore one of our shirts on a tv appearance (more details to come regarding that).
“The funny thing about The Preacher’s Kid is that this was actually the first movie I placed a song in, it’s just taken this one forever to come out.” Soulstice said in a recent email to his fans. Apparently It took so long that he had actually forgotten about it until his Dad text messaged a reminder.
“The Preacher’s Kid” is a modern twist on the prodigal song story in which a preacher’s daughter leaves home to pursue her dream of being a singer. The movie stars the singer Letoya Luckett (formerly of Destiny’s Child). The photo here shows Letoya and Soulstice on the red carpet at an event in DC.
The movie features a remix of the Soulstice song “The Melody,” which was the first single he ever released back in 2003, on 12″ vinyl. The club-friendly remix featured in the movie was crafted by DMV producer Arsonal. If you watch the movie trailer, you can hear the song play briefly around 1 minute: http://bit.ly/aBsWVx
You can hear the song in it’s entirety on his myspace page: www.myspace.com/soulstice (yes, musicians still use myspace even if the rest of us have left it far far behind ha)
Congrats Soulstice! Look forward to seeing you around the city. Who knows? Maybe Hollywood comes knocking?
Trey P: Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you get started as a hip hop DJ?
Ykcor: I’m an ‘80s baby so the hip hop scene was the main scene growing up and I just took to it. I loved everything about it and when certain artist hit the scene then that was it for me. I was hooked!
Trey P: How did you come about your DJ name/handle?
Ykcor: It’s Rocky backwards. At the time everyone called me Rocky. So a close friend of mine (R.I.P.) had the suggestion to just flip it and have the “Y” make the “Ya” sound like it does. So that was it. It was completely original and unique, so it was perfect! In the business, originality is what helps to brand you to the fullest.
Trey P: You’re known for doing mixtapes. Really good mixtapes. What’s the difference between DJing at a club and DJing over mixtapes other than the obvious fact that one offers a live crowd and the other doesn’t?
Ykcor: Clubs are a lot of fun and I’ve done the clubs for years, but right now I’m focusing on mixtapes and bringing the true feel of what a mixtape is back to the people. Mixtapes have gone sour over the years. You have a lot of iPod DJs now, which are people that ain’t DJs, they just play one song after another and call themselves that and that ain’t what a mixtape or DJ stands for! I’m doing this because I love it and the support I get from friends and fans keeps me doing it and loving what I do more! So this is for hip hop, for the public, for the fans and to bring mixtapes back. All them DJs that are faking out there put a bad name to what a DJ is or is not supposed to be and I’m here to help reclaim all that and show people why real DJs still run this industry and deserve the credit for their hard work.
Trey P: How did you get hooked up with Coast2Coast, the premier mixtape site on the Internet?
Ykcor: When I started doing mixtapes, I just got on my grind real heavy and approached Coast2Coast about being a part of the team. They did their research as they always do and seen what I was doing and my future in all this so they welcomed me and that was it from there. Since I’ve been with Coast2Coast they have seen my work ethic and they support me 100% now.
Trey P: Who are some of the big names you’ve set the stage for in the course of your career?
Ykcor: Amerie, Fat Joe and the Terror Squad, Foxy Brown, Juelz Santana, The Franchize Boyz…the list goes on and on.
Trey P: Can you run through the equipment you currently work with for aspiring DJs out there? And on that same level, what equipment should a DJ start with?
Ykcor: I use all the best equipment…Tech 12′s, Rane TTM-57 with Serato. That’s all you need (laughs). As far as starting out, just save your money and get the best you can, reselling worthless stuff is impossible to do and if so you will lose so much of what you paid. If you have to start small then do so but also understand that you can’t do it on cheap stuff what you will be able to do on the professional stuff. So know what you’re getting into and research before you buy anything less then the best.
Trey P: With all that you’ve accomplished, someone might ask, why Reading, PA? Why not L.A., New York, Chicago?
Ykcor: It’s where I’m from, but I don’t do much here anymore. I have family here and it’s a place I call home, but I travel a lot to do what I need to.
Trey P: Who are you currently working with and what are you working on?
Ykcor: Right now I am working with a few different artists on production, promotions, mixing, and mastering – stuff like that. I pretty much do it all, a little bit of everything, “jack of all trades, master of none” (laughs).
Trey P: How important is fashion for a man who is behind the turntables and not front and center on stage?
Ykcor: We are up on stage, in front of the crowd too with all eyes on us, so if you ain’t looking good or don’t have anything exclusive on then change. The more exclusive your clothing is then the more exclusive your image is! That’s why I like lines like Vintage Clothing Limited, because “Limited” actually means just that. They only making a 100 of this or 200 of that so it keeps you exclusive and keeps your image tight cause the quality and look of the clothes is unbeatable in other clothing lines I have seen!
Trey P: When someone picks up a DJ Ykcor mixtape, what can they expect their experience to be like?
Ykcor: They’ll hear a real DJ. I spin, cut, mix and so on and play a good variety of music from all across the board. All I can say is check one out. I got everything on there and they are truly “real” mixtapes!
Trey P: Anyone or anything you’d like to plug at this moment and what’s in store for Ykcor in 2010?
Ykcor: Everybody! If I were to make a list, you would run out of pages (laughs). I just wanna thank everyone who helps support the movement and everyone that shows me love through my ventures. Shouts to the other real DJs out here, all the artists that support me and what I do, magazines, clothing lines, and all the promotional outlets that work with me. Coast2Coast, Fleet DJs, The Mixtape Syndicate and so on. Thank you all. Without you, I wouldn’t be! As far as the future of the DJ Ykcor movement, all I can say is sit back and enjoy the ride. I ain’t going nowhere and you will see a lot in the years to come!
For more information on DJ Ykcor, follow him here:
www.myspace.com/djykcor
www.facebook.com/djykcor
www.twitter.com/djykcor
www.djykcor.ning.com
www.focusonthedj.com
www.fleetdjs.com
www.coast2coastmixtapes.com
www.themixtapesyndicate.com
www.unheardradio.com
www.revoltradio.com
