Bye to the beach ball, Bye glistening thighs under mini skirts that never ever play bashful, hello layers. The reign of the summer time has come to an end folks, For us it was a productive summer, and the fruits of our 90 degree toils will soon be realized. From the days at Durkl to the nights in the Basement summer 2009 proved to be unique one, allowing growth and enlightenment. If my existential rigmarole confuses you, all I’m trying to say is this was a good summer and I personally look forward to the Summer 2010. Now with that being said, bring on the falling leaves and long sleeves!!

Over the course of the summer, I (Sam- also the cooler half of the Connoisseur team lol), spent some time exploring different sights, customs, and all that other good stuff. What better place is their to visit than the truest melting pot on the planet, the United Kingdom? So i’m strolling through UK’s finest streets and slums when i peeped some of the most piff street art from a Bristol bloke named Banksy. The notorious street painter and English crooner is best characterized as the worlds most known-unknown artist to tote aerosol on public property. Reason being, nobody knows Banksy’s identity but can better identify with his sick stencil works. Banksy’s socially conscious and trill subjects have made him two of many names among people in his hometown: one; a vandal and two; an artist.

Here are some shots I took:

blur crazy

pledge your allegiance to tesco

Because of the political humor in Banksy’s work, there’s been an unsettled uproar about the locations that they’re in. Especially by critics that denounce his work for “garbage.” Yet, his very own art exhibition and many books showing his stencil works have gained world recognition and draws plenty of curiosity among enthusiasts.

Here’s a video of his latest exhibition from early this summer

What do you think?

-Peace & Light

Welcome Back! It’s been a while hasn’t it? When we left you we were in the “heat” of the summer time, and shorts and skirts were reigning supreme, now the degrees are falling and soon the leaves will follow suite. In the last post before the absence I expressed reaching a new plateau of self discovery and that you will all witness it very very soon. Little did I know that it wasn’t going to be as soon as I thought. Life brings us different challenges with which we learn from, collect inspiration from and grow from. I have many projects in the works right now that are in embryonic stages but that is not the subject of this post (some things never change I still manage to go on random tangents)

Back to the baby at hand, the young CONNOISSEURS. The Dynamic Duo is back people! back for good this time (I promise) we have gathered a lot of information and experiences in order to make this blog experience reflect the individuals behind the brand . Expect a more consistent design atmosphere but more importantly, expect QUALITY!  quality posts, and quality clothing, and quality fun times and REAL TIMES, we all know the blogsphere is full of facades but there are none here. I’ve started rambling again so I’ll sum this up for those of you who are allergic to a third paragraph, when you think CONNOISSEURS, think Real and Quality. oh! and welcome back!

Till next time,

live live, create after.

Wale. A.

Life takes you on a journey and with new journeys come new experiences to learn from, to love and use in your art, I figured out a lot of stuff in the past couple of months and the in past weeks, I reached another plateau of self realization. you will see all of this soon, very, very soon.

I wasn’t going to do it, due to the fact that I’ve suffered too many deaths in the past week, but I can’t ignore my problems, MJ was and is my main inspiration as far as global icons go, I remember as a kid devoting 4hrs a day everyday to watching the MJ VCD I had over and over, learning the songs and dances, he introduced me to two art forms that have not left me since and for that I am greatful. rest in peace.

Sorry for the long vacation from posting. In our absence too much fun was had only to be overshadowed by too many deaths for me to handle. I didn’t abandon you guys for no reason trust me. I’ll discuss all the fun in coming posts in the following days, but I’ll leave the sorrow for a never date.

HOW HAVE Y’ALL BEEN THOUGH!?? lol

The blog will be back on top of things as soon as the moon gives way for sunshine tomorrow.

peace and love, God bless

Happy Birthday to may Main man Nate!

So it seems bike riding is the new skateboard as far as the trend goes (not dissing anyone, just pointing out an observation.) I for one am not mad at all, Fixed Gear riding seems to be all the craze right about now and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve always been a two wheeler myself, but moving from Nigeria I had to leave behind my 3 awesome bikes to rust in the West African sun.

 The fixed gear craze is sweeping the world and it’s just starting people, I didn’t ride a bike for years until the post a few below this one and it made me feel like a kid again, I remember my cousins making fun of me because I couldn’t ride, I remember waking up that Saturday morning and finally mastering the bike before sun down, I remember all the blood and scabs from countless dates with the pavement that day. THE GOOD OL DAYS ARE BACK, I’m buying a bike again, but I’ll pass on the fixed gear stuff, although it seems very interesting and point blank……..COOL, I can’t give up that childhood feel of a freewheel bike coasting around the opposite sex with one hand showing off. plus ever since my terrible crash years ago, I’m too paranoid to ride without a break.

If you’ve survived my random rambling until now, congrats, if not? lol read more, it’s good for your brain, Bikes are back, I’m happy, and you should be too, get one if you like it (not just cause all the cool kids are doing it), and check out the dopest bike blog in the area fixedindc

Until next time compadres (wonder if the fedex guy dropped my packages today??)

It’s hard to  find balance sometimes, the summer is going great but I haven’t seen my friends as much as I want to, the fact that we are all making moves to take over the world partially compensates for that but it’s not enough, I’m about to spend the rest of today planning events, trips to get us all in the same places, so if we’re cool, hit me up, the summertime is nice but short, lets have a blast.

Are you tired of lackluster and distasteful music? Have you been searching high and low for all the news, gossip, and conversation you missed during the week? If so, tune in every Sunday from 10-12 p.m., with Tafisha, for another edition of Sugar Shack Radio!

Call in at 301-314-8800, AIM @ ThaSugaShack, or just listen to wmucradio.com. (If you ever miss a show go to http://wmucradio.com/stream_ripper/wmuc2/, click Sunday and have a listen.)

click HERE for more pics!

-peace & light