Dubstep bwoys LV’s take on the kwaito sound. Everyone knows how much i detest dubstep so i applaud this welcome deviation. Very happy for the homie Okmalumekoolkat as well, by the way how fucking dope is his name!!! Got in touch with this bredda when we emailed back and forth a while ago. Progression i love that, we should bring him over to Amsterdam to set some parties on fire with L’Afrique Som Systeme! All laud the self proclaimed duke of Casio, you large for this one kool kat!

[Boomslang literally means tree snake. Its dutch but in this case it would be Afrikaans, which basically derives from old dutch language.]

One of my favourite blogs at the moment is Mr.Mort. Mr.Mort is a blog containing a selection of pictures of the travels, and the people the morbid named fellow meets. All i know about Mr.Mort is that he’s a true appreciator of great style and his only known interest is following well heeled men, and that’s not to be interpreted wrongfully. Any blog that features and appreciates the extreme dapperness of (old) stylish Japanese guys and Josh Peskowitz is winning in my eyes Although I’m not sure if he shoots all the people on the blog himself or if they’re pictures collected from around the interwebz.

What particularly captured my interest was the documentation of Mort’s trip, seemingly north bound, although the destination isn’t specified. The pictures show that in certain parts of America time has really stood still and that I find remarkably beautiful.Why? Because we borrow from the past so to see the past still intact is authentically beautifully. Mr.Mort’s blog is sometimes somewhat reminiscent of a street style blog it however has sufficiently more depth. More blogs like this please.

Visit MR.MORT

The reason there’s a stagnation of post on Askwaryaa is because im currently working on a project called Collect & Curate in collaboration with my boy Appie. I get a tingling in my fingers and a sensation in my belly when i think of how much potential this has. Enthusiasm does not come close to justify or describe this feeling. C&C concerns a completely new feature on Askwaryaa, so this website will be split in 2 very soon. I dont want to disclose too much information but I will be collaborating with some very awesome people and brands. A launch date is not set yet but expect it around mid September. So for now its meetings and a whole lot of collecting and curating.

Will update y’all with some work in progress pics very shortly.

Salute

Mz stush, Natalie Storm, Lady Chann and all the female torch carriers of the UK Funky movement have got nothing on the undisputed First Lady of the scene, Miss Dynamite. A while ago a friend of mine asked me whatever happened to Ms.Dynamite, the answer i did not know. All i know is that her hiatus was due to her being a mother or something in that direction. Since the upsurgence of the funky scene i’ve been waiting for a comeback from dynamite and when legendary producer sticky came back i felt it was only a matter of time. Are we in for a collabo? I sure hope so. Her new song produced by Redlight is banging and has all the elements to become a sure hit. The trademark patois, the intensity of her flow, the occasional singing and slight dubstep hints I guess were all talking about Ms.Dynamite again.

People have long been debating and speculating on the demise of the printed letter but Monocle has taken the bold stand to go against the current. This summer they release a newspaper edition because “Having witnessed too many people struggling to read various tablet devices while lounging on the beach, Monocle Mediterraneo also reminds people that matte paper is still the best format to enjoy words and pictures in direct sunlight” al thus Monocle.

Where as i skip articles of worldly issues in say The Times or The Independent, I rarely do so in the Monocle. The magazine has been a long time favourite of mine and I do harbour the ambition to write for them sometime. I’ve always found the traditional broadsheet format of newspapers hard to read and manage because of their size. Therefore I was ecstatic when The Independent and The Times started to print in tabloid form. The range of subjects covered in the Monocle is also a unique aspect, in some sense it represents the total pallet of the GQ man, which said magazine only serves up in the form of style. The addition of depth in the monocle causes it to just triumph over GQ in the battle of which mag gets to be my favourite.

The new newspaper format is slightly big and although it focuses on the Mediterranean (not an area which peaks my interest) it still has some very enjoyable articles on the demise of the Greek economy to how our Ancient ancestors spend their summers. All in all an awesome initiative from my favourite magazine. Turns out they also opened up a Monocle shop in Hong Kong, shame it’s so far but check it out over at SlamxHype

Anyone that knows me knows that my sight is very poor. I can barely read text at 5 meters distance let alone make out someone’s face from that distance . Realising that didn’t convince me to don a fine pair of monocles but an unrelenting migraine that terrorised the whole left side of my face did. It took me two full months of hunting, searching and digging to find the perfect pair. You know when something has taken over your life? When you start noticing that single thing every where you go? Well I started noticing awesome eyeglasses left right and centre.

Thus my quest began at a party when I saw a dude with the nicest pair of Dior glasses, his advice took me to Utrecht, but to no avail. After this disappointment i took to the interwebs and actually found two pairs of glasses which I thought would suit me to the T. Doubt crept back in to my mind and convinced me i should physically try a few pairs to see if they look good on me. That in turn took me to the Brillen museum (translation Eyeglass museum.) I think I tried on a dozen pairs once I finally settled on a nice brown handmade piece.

Oh mi amour Paris, I have grown fonder of you and departed with a heavy heart. Our short but intense stay was one of the best weekends I have ever experienced, relaxing and intensive at the same time. We crashed at big homie Yoann’s place huge big ups to him as he made us feel at home and utterly at ease. The actual event and the basketball tournament was a relaxing spot where people connected and chilled out it really had that family feeling. The court looked stunning as the dude with the wonder brush Nyno showed why he’s such talented artist again. We played a few tunes with the P.O.K boys and got our dancing shoes on. But meanwhile, there was no love on the court though. I saw some vicious rejections, big 3 pointers and few nasty alley hoops. I’m not a big basketball guy but I do enjoy the fast-pacedness of the game and the overall 90’s feel it all had. For the second time in a year i felt like i was New York surrounded with sounds of Nasty Nas, Biggie and Big L. The frenchness of it all only added to the elegance of the event. The Pigalle crew was overly represented with a whole host of neighbourhood kids donning the Pigalle shirts and rooting their team on, it was slightly demotivating for the other teams but i suppose thats how they bring it at their home court. Pigalle eventually took the trophy home, get an impression of the event below.

PXA PARIS HOUSE-PARTY (LOVE CUT) from James Red McLeod on Vimeo.

Lets move on to the after party. There are not enough superlatives to describe what went on. Maybe this will sketch an image, it was so incredibly awesome that the walls started sweating. Any party scene recreated by your favourite artist in a videoc does not even get to suck on this parties pubic hair. I suppose this is what a DJ lives for, the most hyped up crowd ever. By my own admission we absolutely killed it, Oko chopped the corpse up and Mehdi and Kiriko bagged the remains up and disposed of it. Peoples faces were so transfixed by all the heat from the dj booths their faced looked like they were in constant pain. I saw the dirtiest grinding and thrusts of the pelvic, half of the club had no t-shirt on,glistening bodies of sweat everywhere. People transpired so much the accumulation of it all could flood the whole of the sahara. Premiere Gauo by Magic System absolutely destroyed the place, people were pounding on their chest while shouting along with the lyrics like there life depended on it. Any old school hiphop track was met by the fiercest pits and any African tune was met by the craziest most awesomest dances I have ever witnessed. Have I succeeded in painting an imagine in your mind that is deserving of the party, i doubt it but i gave it a try. A massive big up to my Blackrainbow Fam, Pigalle/P.O.K, Roucreation, Berlin Fam, Montaigne street, Merystach boys and my very own DP fam.
The lovely Suki bringing it all into visuals for you after the jump.

During the world cup when my hopes were still alive for an African upset, a journalist from the Trouw a national newspaper interviewed me about Africa and the world cup. I dont wanna bring back that excruciating feeling of helpless and pain we felt when Uruguay cheated their way to the semi’s. But the interview took place prior to that event and I was in particularly defiant mood and really confident about our chances at the world cup. We talked about how there is a lack of respect for Africans in sport or for African sporting associations we also talked about how racism is still very prevalent in Football. It was a very enjoyable conversation and interesting exchange of thoughts.

Download the PDF here. Its in dutch my apologies my international peoples.

Berlin was big, I love that city. Its grittiness and size reminds me of my old home town London. My goal wasn’t even to really visit the fair for any business related activities but rather to chill, hang out and generally have a good time. We toasted we ate we drank we partied. Toyah Siegel served as our magnificent tour guide manoeuvring us through all the beautiful sceneries of Berlin. Bread & Butter was different to what i expected it to be, my former expectations are lost now that ive actually been there but perhaps i expected it to be bigger. It was huge and some stands were hugely impressive such as the Calvin Klein, Levi’s and the one stand that really stood out with the waterfall that formed the brands name, utter awesomeness.

Our stay was just a tad too long but it made us bond with the locals, we were on first name basis with the Turkish dude from the corner shop and we trodded the streets like natives. But the pinnacle of the whole trip was the Official Bread & Butter where we L’Afrique Som Systeme got to spin some tracks with the boys from Pigalle, SFRMKRS and the Flexican. All of us absolutely killed it and it got to the point where six riot vans were cotching in front of the garden where the party was and threatened to shut it down. We continued much to their annoyance and they gave us our last warning before they would beat us to pulp. But as true heros, everyone kept on partying until Babylon really got their mean faces on. The Party was epic the whole experience was enormous, next stop Paris. Pop the hood to check out the pictures by the immensely beautiful Sharon Jane.

Sound di big thing dem!!!Busy Signals strike is phenemonal and he just released his new album, 18 tracks of my favourite dancehall DJ. Impressive how Busy plays with mixes and abuses a whole spectrum of genres and still gets love from the hugely masculine dancehall scene. Ive heard a likkle salsa, zouk, soca and African influences. It of course also features the rugged pure Dancehall sound, but with a remake of salsa classic Suavemento it is generally very experimental. Im not one for album reviews or any reviews for that matter. So lets commence with the tunages,  three of my favourite tracks.

Busy Signal – Latino Busy

Busy Signal – My Money

Busy Signal – Picante