First Look at Nike Air Yeezy 2? *Updated*
The folks over at SneakersAddict.com may have the first look at the Nike Air Yeezy 2's. While the image looks a little sketchy and photoshoppy (yup, coined that) you can be the judge as, Mr. West has been spotted recently in London rocking what are believed to be the second edition of the sneaker. Definitely a better look than the first joints, either way. Hit the jump to see pics of Ye rocking the 2's.
*UPDATE* according to Complex's E-I-C these are definitely fake
The Best of Chicago '09
Lupe Fiasco once said, "Really love my city, and I hope that G-D bless it." And bless he did, uh, musically at least. While Chicago got dissed from the Olympic Committee, saw their parking meters jacked, and all around sports failures, at least the arts and culture scene put forth something to be proud of. To celebrate the year that was in music, fashion, and culture, we put together a survey to highlight the best of Chicago 2009. We invited a wide variety of our friends, colleagues, and associates to tell us their favorite artists, release, DJs, clubs, clothing brands etc from '09. A Sample of our respondents include Naledge, Willy Joy, Million $ Mano, Suli, Anna Hovet, Krabby of Saint Alfred's, Brian Nevado, Matt Boy White, Scheme, Michael Kolar, and many many more, so, if you don't like the list send them the hate mail hahaha.. Enjoy!
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Skyler: Diary Of A True Villian
*The views expressed in this blog are those of DJ Skyler, and do not necessarily reflect the views of RubyHornet and its staff...
Well, it's been a while since I've actually sat down and thought about what has been going on in my life, I normally never look back... Lets see, since the last time I wrote to RubyHornet I think I was getting ready to play Lollapalooza, and working on a lot of new music... Lollapalooza was everything I thought it was going to be and more. I mean, I'm always nervous whenever I DJ, but playing Lollapalooza put the excitement back into my job. I've stepped away from playing music people expect to hear and have been focusing on educating people. I mean there are always things in one person's job they have to do that they don't like, my job is no different.
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Schwerve's Magnum Opus: Top 100 Albums and 1000 Songs of The Decade (2008)
Disclaimer: Years are fairly arbitrary time periods. The only thing that makes a decade is the human conditions' odometer fetish. Unfortunately, like you, I'm human as well and fall prey to these tendencies. I can't claim to know everything, I'm just an educated observer; and here are my educated observations. They are not perfect and neither you nor I will completely agree with them in a years time, but that is the fun of lists.
I think I'm the only one, but I absolutely love 808's & Heartbreaks. It's a shame because it hit right when the autotune backlash was strongest and that argument completely overpowered what I think is his most complete album. I've previously stated that I have a problem with hip-hop albums because they're too scattershot, being broken up by skits, essentially an incoherent mess outside of a few singles. That can't be said about 808's and Heartbreaks, it has a coherent thesis and aesthetic quality. Certainly it doesn't have the same number of standout singles, but singles do not an album make.
One album from this year that has gotten more and more play for me is Titus Andronicus. Wasn't a big fan initially but I keep coming back to it and finding more that I like about it. The Bound Stems, which got no love last year when I had it as my top album, has waned somewhat for me, but taken as an album, is still brilliant.
I'd argue this is my strongest list of songs. There are songs that were left off this list which would've easily made my previous ones. Make sure to check out Marnie Stern because she can shred, Boris - My Neighbor Satan for some Japanese hardcore, and The Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy because I can't get that damn song out of my head.
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Treasurechest's Blog #11: You Think I Lose Sleep...
"I'm known as an occupational emcee, you think I lose sleep if you sleep on me?"
De La Soul featuring Adrock: "Squat"
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/de_la_squat.mp3|width=180]So, I originally started this blog on May 11th, a week after my 27th birthday, and shortly after Vibe released their to 50 Blogs list, and then XXL released their top 50 20 Blogs list to try to clean up the mess. RubyHornet didn't appear on either, and I felt, I don't know, I felt somewhat "slept on". It's actually kind of funny because anybody that knows me, Virgil, or any other RH staff will tell you that we're famous for the phrase, 'we're not a blog, we're an online magazine.' That is what we aim to be, that is what we're going for, and so, in a way, not being on the top blog lists is not much of an insult, slight, or diss, and more of people recognizing the full plan and image we have for RubyHornet. At least that's what I was telling myself when I saw the lists without RH, it's also what I told the various artists who asked me about it, and again when Peter Rosenberg talked about our absence during our interview (coming soon). I mean, come on, our "blog section" one component of our site is still the business, and I'll put it up against any pure blog site...But, a few more days passed, the fervor went down, and I lost those hard feelings and moved onto something else. More artists and their PR folks hit us up about features, more emcees asked me to host their mixtapes, and the White Sox kept falling deeper in the AL Central. But the original principle is still the same, and it's kind of funny that I'm writing now about wanting more attention and all that after my last blog pretty much broke the other way....
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Mireya Acierto's Chicago The Photo Album Photo Album: Common and Bump J Edition
RubyHornet has linked up with photographer Mireya Acierto, a very accomplished photographer that has documented a large portion of Chicago Hip Hop over the last several years. Intended to celebrate both her work, as well as Chicago's Hip Hop achievements, we present "Chicago The Photo Album Photo Album", a look at some of her most notable shots and the stories behind them. We kicked the series off with some shots of Lupe Fiasco (click here) and continue the series with some flicks of two Chicago Hip Hop heavyweights, Common and Bump J. While both hail from Chicago's South side, Common and Bump seem to occupy different spots for Hip Hop heads. Their subject matter shares certain elements, but perhaps the dividing line is their perspective on the matters, as Common offers a voice and critique of society ills, while Bump J writes from position of someone actually participating in them. Find out how they came to meet for these pics, why they're in front of Cabrini Green, and more straight from Mireya.
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Arkitip No. 0051: Shepard Fairey
One of the most prominent artists of our generation, Shepard Fairey, will be featured in the number 0051 edition of the Arkitip Magazine. The magazine also goes along perfectly with Fairey's 20 years of the Obey campaign, which marked his beginning as well as spawned other like minded artists and art genres altogether. The magazine will have 96 pages and a specially designed cover, only for this issue. Limited to 5,000 pieces, the magazine will drop June 15th. Pre-order yours now at Arkitip. See a few more pieces right after the jump.
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Undftd: Spring 2009 Delivery 5.0
Undftd will be releasing a fifth Spring shipment of t-shirts to all four of their locations on the West Coast. The theme of this shipment is geared towards the summer that seems to be approaching quite fast. The U man is used a lot throughout the collection alongside beach balls, the play dirty theme, the fives, and a theme of the Mitchell Report, which was an investigation by United States Senator George J. Mitchell on the alleged use of performance enhancement drugs within professional baseball.This collection will be available this weekend at all locations.
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