I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m very awkward talking about style or any attire related subjects. I guess it’s my obsession with filling the substance void in our cyber village, that makes me not want to come across as another young man obsessed with fashion. Don’t get me wrong, I am obsessed with attire, and there are peers that perfectly execute timeless style with  a side of substance. I’m just a little too self conscious and I guess that has to end sometime; after all we do sell attire here, and we do love great style and should speak about it.

With that being said (apologies for the above rant, I needed to get it off my chest) the conns crew is composed with very dapper young men if we can say so ourselves. we love socks and even though the spring is here for a lot of us, we still wanted to highlight one of our favorite items ever. The socks are a necessary foot warmer in the winter months but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with them. I grew up striclty wearing black and white socks, but all of that changed when I saw an image of a older gentleman with a full khaki suit and purple socks.

Now my obsession runs deep and I refuse to dawn another pair of bland socks, I think this is one of the style aesthetics that is very personal to the wearer. Socks aren’t necessarily seen or noticed, so in a way they are kind of my unofficial badge of “I dress for myself”. Whenever I see a nice pair I smile to myself  for my love for socks and a respect for the individuals style. This post is a disaster since it didn’t go as planned at all, but then again I feel it was honest so I’ll stop typing and click Publish. Hope I made some sense in some way.

Until Next time.

Wale A.

It goes without saying that Fela Kuti is one of the most revolutionary musicians of all time. He was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist that created his own style of music that merged funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock with traditional West African rhythms. Afrobeat, as he came to call it, wasn’t only used to unite people in groove but also in discontent with the corrupt Nigerian government.

Fela’s very public opposition of the government led to rampant raids of his commune, the Kalakuta Republic. In one of these raids, the Lagos police attempted to plant a joint on him and arrest him for the possession of marijuana. Fela quickly ate it, and was dragged into custody while the police waited for him to excrete feces abundant with THC. Apparently that fecal matter never came, and Fela was set free. That little tidbit of information sets the stage for his 1975 release, Expensive Shit. In recent years ES (as abbreviated) has been re-released with another 1975 album, He Miss Road.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I have no known family of direct African descent, much less do I even know anyone in my family who’s been to Africa. I got hip to Fela through Mos Def’s Fear Not of Man*, and that was back in the days of Limewire, the-breaks.com, DeMatha, etc. I still didn’t give Fela my good ear until my dissection of iNi’s Center Of Attention, which is by all means one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard. Pete Rock sampled Fela’s Water No Get Enemy* for the song Grown Man Sport* and since then, I went diving head first for Fela’s music.

Mind you, his discography is extremely deep, but ES/He Miss Road is a great place to start. The 10+ minute songs are perfect for the sunny days when you have the house to yourself and you can just crank up the stereo and let the music play. So next time you find yourself looking for something new, check out something old. The new stuff probably came from it anyway.

- antoine

It was just the other day I found myself flipping through a few family albums; taking a trip down memory lane. The nostalgic, sometimes embarrasing photos of trips, birthday parties, graduations and random happenings in life were all in there.

These albums have become windows showing way to the good times. Just being able to look over these pictures with my sister made me realize the significance of sharing moments with one another. Personal moments and good times to reminisce over don’t always have to be over photo albums because they lie in the morning yawn when we wake up or as stumbling laughter in a good conversation. Anything that shows itself as memorable should be treated as important.

SAVOR life and all the moments in it.

-Light

Samuel

thrift stores are always funny. you never know what you’re going to find, and this has probably been my most interesting grab

i got into jordans after buying a pair of black and red AJ1s off of someone’s foot. i used to work at the local DTLR and i didn’t think the guy knew how much they were worth because i bought him some sale shoes in exchange. i intended on selling them, but finding out how much they were worth actually made me keep them.

since then, i’ve began a very modest collection of jordans. i value the shoes from a collector’s angle, but i also try to incorporate them into a natural rotation and wear them as much as possible. this pick up was for the collector in me.

the nike air jordans were one of the first performance shoes that found its way into street style. the price point was revolutionary for 1985 ($100), and nike had just risked its existence in order to sign michael jordan, which had ended up being well worth the risk.

although they are a little larger than the 9.5/10 that i usually wear, i feel like i stumbled on a piece of history. these are 25 years old and when taking that into consideration, they are in pretty good condition. some of you are well aware of how much money an original pair of air jordans fetch, and to have grabbed them by total chance at the good ole thrifting spot (shoutouts to Dunc for showing me) only escalates their personal value. they were well worth the five bucks, even if they don’t find their way into the weekly rotation.

what are some of your favorite thrift store pickups?

- antoine

So if you follow me on twitter you probably saw this one coming, as I previously noted, there comes a time in every man’s life where he wants to grow a beard, that time for me is now. There is just something about having fully packed hair follicles that speaks to me at the moment. Beards have several connotations in our global village, some associated them with religion and others go as far as making character judgements. A beard can be seen as a symbol of manhood and even considered a red flag or sign of rebellion. I’ve heard things like “don’t trust a bearded man” or ” a man with a beard has something to hide” whatever your views on the man mane I could care less, I’m growing one, or at least going to try.

Its going to be a fun couple of weeks enduring ridicule from friends and constant “EWWs” from female acquaintances. After getting past the expected skin irritation I’m sure I’ll easily withstand your verbal assaults.

Until next time

Wale A.

As I recently stated in the last post, I’m the motivational speaker half of the music collective: DTMD. We had our first show a week ago and a lot of beautiful people came out to support the local hip-hop scene.

There was a producer showcase that lead up to our performance that featured some of the dopest producers in the area: Surock, DJ Eurok & Maverick.

I say this to say, follow your dreams. I’ve met a lot of inspirational people who I never would’ve met if I wasn’t taking the music serious and they push me to keep going, while reminding me never to forget my purpose.

don’t be afraid to be yourself.

- antoine