Killing em with the freshness is Complex

The sartorially inclined will want to rush out and cop the August/September Complex magazine. Mr. West, Kanye is guest editor for the issue so of course it’s all about the threads. The first really engaging piece has Kanye expanding on the future shock, sci-fi cool look he’s been promoting Graduation with. It’s not a look that’s easy for amateurs to pull off, particularly in its reliance on loads of high end minimalist gear from Jil Sanders, Dior Homme and the like. Nevertheless it’s really cool to see such a specific look explored in a range of ways and it’s all pretty much cool as fuck.

The real gem for someone like me who’s trying to get his grown man on though is the T.I. “man in a suit” pictorial. Jesus H. Christ! No one should do a fashion shoot without getting T.I. involved ever again. Plain and simple, the man rocks a suit. I mean, there is a shot in the magazine of him in a Chambray shirt, charcoal suit, black shoes and pink socks. That’s certifiably sartorially advanced. There’s a good range of really interesting suit ideas, as good as anything I’ve seen in any of the high fashion magazines and with very little of the silliness. The good thing about getting someone as street as T.I. to model is that you know he’ll never agree to the silliest of the fashion contrivances high fashion stylists lean on to differentiate themselves with. What you’ve got are interesting, innovative ways of wearing a suit without looking like an idiot.

Image via Hip Hop Crunch

A note about Complex Magazine itself is that they’re really killing the game in their own quiet way. No Hip Hop associated magazine has production values nearly as good. Their photo shoots are always great and the interviews worth reading. The magazine stays narrowly but very sharply focused and for the fashion identified, each issue might as well be porn. Get in on it.

I can hear the sirens coming

The mix of surrealist imagery, historical allegory and social criticism in Dizzee’s video makes it likely the sickest video of the year, from one of the sickest (and my favorite I think) Hip Hop albums of
the year. The other thing that’s great about this song that’s missing from a lot of Hip Hop is good old fashioned story telling. Hidden behind that scattered flow and accent of his are storytelling chops worthy of anyone from Slick Rick to Jimmy Hendrix.

“1 day i was with ma breddrin Aido roaming the street, on the main road hungry looking for summin 2 eat, not no burger or no chips, shit that’s easily digested, its the shit that if your caught u’ll be easily arrested”

It’s really annoying when the guys from across the pond do better work with a form that originated in the US but I figure it’s for the same reason as NY losing it’s dominant place in Hip Hop. Ownership breeds arrogance and stagnation. Everyone whines about how everything that comes out of any other market isn’t real Hip Hop rather than taking creative chances and letting their work evolve with the market. It isn’t 1994, but from the artists and music NY keeps fielding, you’d think Biggie and Tupac hadn’t already had their day and everyone had to keep trying to recreate them.

Anyway, check out more of Dizzee’s tracks, the bombastic EZ Rock and Rob Bass sampling Pussyole (Oldskool) and the bouncy, fresh to death ode Bubbles and then go buy some real Hip Hop right here.