2.28.2008

We Want to be Estelle's American Boy...and Girl

We tried to post this video a few days ago when it dropped, but it got taken off the world wide web about as quickly as it got put up. Anyway, we saw this girl perform with Wyclef a while back and we're definitely fans--Great in '08 material faaaa sho.

So here it is...Estelle ft. Kanye, American Boy...




'prece.

2.25.2008

Proton!

I discovered Proton through SND home girl/mentor Sabel, who happened to be girls with Fadia Kader- hustler extrodinaire, pusher of Come Up Kids, promoter of ATL's Broke and Boujee bashment, manager of Proton! From what I heard on the group's myspace page, I expected to see an improved version of Gym Class Heroes- you know, that colorful hip-hop over live instrumentations. To my pleasure, I was wrong (you wont catch me saying that too often), Proton was more than that.

Lyrically, the two are crack-not part of today's rap galaxy, but dropped from the school of Andre 3000 as valedictorians, if I had to make a comparison. You won't get ABC rhymes from Larry and Thomas, you'll get mind benders like: "not a garbage man, but I rock for illiterates"...take a second...get it?...yeah! And their show is dope too- for me the lyrics you spit are only half the battle, the new frontier is putting down a dope performance. Proton is all over that territory.



Proton, if and when they blow, will be heralded as what hip-hop needs and furthermore, what ATL needs- a break from the snap, trap, magic city boom bap that pretty much defines hip-hop coming out of the state. The homeboys take you all over the sonic galaxy, from emo-hop instrumentals to Baltimore club with their off-kilter flows and crazy energy. They've got a package real music fans can get down with! Your next chance to get down with the get-down is March 12th, a show with Amanda Diva at S.O.B's, hosted by Talib Kweli.

Proton is definitely on our Great in '08 list, so much so that we're already pitching collaborations. Look out for much more Proton on SND, and back in NY this summer (Fadia, holler at us ma'am!).





'prece.

Birth/Death of a Star

Last summer, street wear fashion made it from boutique obscurity to being the new, and current style of fashion for major retailers trying to peddle to the teeny bopper masses. The creative cult clothes went from being blog famous, to hood famous to world famous. It looks like the same thing is about to happen to Chicago indy-hop favorite- Kid Sister. For some this is the dopest thing to happen since red denim, for others it represents the end of an original and a danger to "the culture."



"Beeper" - The Count & Sinden ft Kid Sister
good looks Vimeo




Sis' new video comes after heightened fame, a la Kanye West 'Pro Nails' remix.




Even pop culture vulture Perez Hilton is diggin on her. Peep.

She's made The Fader, which is reasonably connected to the music scene she comes from, but is on the verge of legit main-stream-dom. Check this month's issue of XXL and Thursday's TRL (yes, the one on MTV).

Don't mix up my rhyme- I'm not saying she's selling out, shorty's gotta make money-of all people, SND gets that! As Kid Sis' supporters from her days before URB magazine put her on the cover, I hope pop culture treats her as well as she's treated us- we've all seen what the media can do to a perfectly normal person: Lindsay, Britney, Lil' Wayne, 50 Kanye (ever normal?). It'll just be a sad day to have to pay coliseum prices to see shorty get down, when we're all used to paying Studio B prices....we'll still do it, though.

In the sub-pop world, we're all looking to make a splash with some new ish. There's no problem with doing your thang and making some cash at the same time-the worst fans are the ones that are "too cool" to support the artist once they go "pop". Mo' money, mo' problems.

Really, the only frightening possibility is the potential tokenism that her fame will bring to the scene. Picture even more pseudo-hipster/scenester activity at every party, park and jam- her fame might open up a partially protected world to the for the masses to navigate. Bad? Good? Who knows.

The trick is to remember that your own attraction to Kid Sis and the rest of the indie world is internal and won't change if she sells a double platinum or wood-in-the-hood. Unless she all of a sudden stops returning your calls, or starts rapping on some Lil' Kim tip, it's all good.

As long as "Kid Sis' run things", we'll let her "do what it do".


'prece.

2.24.2008

Party-arty-arty!

We're always doing retrospectives about dope parties, shows and events we go to, it's about time we start passing the invite.

This week's throwdowns:




































































And when you get there, say 'wassup' to your homies.


'prece

2.23.2008

The Cool Kids are Just Really Cool

You already know Snaps and Daps are big 'preceators...

Cool Kids X London X DJ Semtex




'prece.

2.21.2008

Stuff White People Like

I know this is an atypical Snaps and Daps post, but I was passed this blog and I couldn't resist. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Stuff White People Like

'prece.

**Va$htie**Kanye**The Conformist**

Va$htie works it again. In this joint she uses scenes from the 1970's Bernardo Bertolucci film, The Conformist, and sets them to Kanye West's Addiction...the perfect melding of genre, momentum and design.



Keep an eye on this girl...


'prece.

2.20.2008

Miss Bruno x Snaps and Daps

Three seasons ago scarves were introduced into our regular dressing vernacular. We used to see scarves popping up around October, but the middle eastern neck wraps, now found at every city corner shop, made it's way as a year-round staple in our wardrobes. Even I can admit to rocking these dope speckled cloths when I damn well knew it was too hot (August is not the time y'all). For a while, these scarves were the be-all-end-all in creative neckwear, but now they're as pervasive as T-Pain on the radio. As a neckwear freak, I needed a new fix, not the Old Navy fleece and not the Palestinian cotton, I needed a new new.
Enter Miss Bruno, a sister duo(Shirley and Marjory), straight out of BK, by way of Haiti, with enough fresh inspiration to motivate even the most depressed fashion fan. Shirley and Marjory are the kind of fresh air that keeps fashion alive- they're fresh at it now, but will eventually be future classics.

They grew up in a creative family. Mama was a designer and gave passive inspiration with her design books around the house. The baby Brunos were the off-kilter kids who didn't wear what the popular kids did, but never got picked on for their originality. And they've nurtured all that into a visionary line of neckwear called- "my so-called scarf". These aren't you normal wrap-arounds, these have snaps, extra folds and buttons, come in new fabrics, designs and aesthetics with new functions to revolutionize your wardrobe, like woah.

To us, there's no skepticism, these thangs are dope! So we asked the ladies why they were "so called". Shirley let us know: "it's a scarf, but it's a little bit more...you can wear it that way but it's multi-functional. And yeah, it's neckwear, we call it neckwear too, there's a million names for it. And that's just our personality, our sense of humor. Our sense of humor is always in everything that we do, so it's a scarf, but it's not really a scarf."

Everything the girls make is meant to be simple and sustainable, not convoluted and complicated, especially the yet to be released "my-so-called dress" line debuting this spring. The girls aren't hip to the ironing game, and don't consider themselves fashionistas, so they design their garments being ready-to-wear. The worn-in look is something they design into each piece, keeping it simple enough to be a casual piece, but also having enough craftsmanship to be worn as "haute couture"(I'll give you a dollar if you can say that as perfectly as these girls).
Not only are the concepts fresh, but the materials Marjory and Shirley use are not the usual batch- they're giving us products using leather, leather alternatives and ultra-suede (whatever that is). In today's day and age of copy-cat design (Urban Outfitters = swagger jackers!!!), this kind of attention is what fashion brands must retain to be definitively fly.

Check out the line at Miss Bruno's website- you'll see that the their brand is wrapped around a well defined vision, showcasing their artistship, not their choice in computer program or manufacturer. Everything from their models to the type of fabric is premeditated- classic! When we asked about the creative process, their response was the type of educated response that'd make me spend $100 (not the price of a scarf), easy, just so I could explain it someone else (can a brother be genius?!).

Marjory: "Sometimes we sit down and come with an idea of what we wanna create and sometimes we find wonderful graphic print and we just know exactly what we wanna do. We use a lot of graphic print, especially for my so-called-dresses, and a lot of the times the graphic print speaks for itself so we wanna make sure that we are giving life to it. If it's graphic, it's something that should just really be simple, because the garment is already saying something with the print, it shouldn't be loud. Sometimes the fabric tells us which way to go..."

Like I said, the dresses haven't dropped yet (the scarves are doing their thing at the moment) but when they do, Snaps and Daps needs to be involved in that photoshoot/campaign. Put us down!
And it's refreshing to know this isn't just a hobby for them, this isn't something they're doing to validate going to trade show parties- they've been coming up with designs since Marjory made culatts for Shirley in grade school (yes, Shirley wore them).

When you commit to fashion it's extremely easy to get caught up in image, especially when you're designing clothes. The girls have not let the image of their brand become limited, they want everyone to rock their scarves. Part of Miss Bruno's genius is being excited that a teenage daughter and her mother can both peruse the line and find something they like...and at the same time, my hipster ass is digging on that brown, tweed, snappy, so-called scarf (check the dude above with the red beret).

We tried to find out if Miss Bruno was on that hipster-tip too, but they are too free flowing to be categorized. While they identify with the crowds that go to Dante Fried Chicken and who used to go to Bobbito parties, they also feel connected to "something new" coming up, especially in their Crown Heights hood. But then again, they feel like they represent with immigrant cultures, love chilling with creatives- all the models on their site are artists in their own right- and anyone else who relates to their way of life- no BS, no bias. All of this is evident in the neck wraps they design. Often, the scarves bring a bright, colorful, Caribbean vibe or consist of fabrics from any given country.








I would go as far as saying that the eccentric styles, unique patterns, alternative materials and creative energy these scarves (and soon to be dresses) bring are an example of that "something new". While we admired some old things, like well established designers Sheila Bridges, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vouitton, we talked about other newness like 21MC, an extremely dope San Fran based brand. And still, Miss Bruno knows that inspiration isn't centered in Brooklyn, or NY for that matter:

Marjory: "things aren't really happening here, they're happening in other places. They're happening in Nigeria, they're happening in South Africa, they happen in Paris. New York is not the center of the world, like it used to be."

Miss Bruno is a contributor to the newest evolution of fashion, brewing on the horizon. If you tune into international design you'll notice that fashion is developing another side: one dedicated to simplicity and functionality, that rides on unisex design and exudes high and low fashion simultaneously. Miss Bruno is inside this new way of thinking- they let us know about an idea they have to create a line that can be worn all year long- because "it's cold here, but it's warm half way across the globe", as well as unisex items and a line for men, Buster Bruno. (fellas, hit up the site and let them know what you want to see).

We got to talking about the connection of art and commerce-Shirley told us that that Miss Bruno is for mass appeal, "the struggling artist thing is a cliche, it doesn't need to be." And while they believe in the coexistence of art and commerce, they won't go about earning money in the conventional manner. They might end up in Vogue, Missbehave or Elle magazine, but it won't be through typical, e-mail-blast-type marketing. They're spreading their gospel through satisfied customers, word of mouth, and appreciators on the "internets" (the girls have discovered that everything sounds better in plural).

Look out for Miss Bruno on the digital highway, on the lips of cutting edge fashion folk, on the necks of those on the "new new" tip and at Brooklyn Fashion Weekend this March. They'll revolutionize your game.




'prece

MY CHALLENGE
Before we left, I issued a challenge to myself, inspired by the Bruno ladies. I know I can't do a raw diet, like the girls did for a couple years (Marjory says it was the best period of her life, albeit near impossible in NY), but I will attempt to be a vegetarian...for two weeks. The girls helped me out by giving me a couple recipes that are full of healthy goodness without loosing the savory flavor that Jamaicans need to survive (literally, I'll die without it). Wish me luck. Send other recipes. Look out for the results.

2.19.2008

PROTON in NYC

ATL based PROTON is landing in NYC tomorrow, Wednesday Feb. 20th...


They'll be at 205 on LES, $5 with RSVP (email RSVP@thetastecrew.com), $10 without. For more on Proton visit them on myspace or check out their site, blog.comeupkids.com/proton.

'prece.

2.18.2008

More FRRESH pics!!

***More pics from the Frresh photoshoot can be found on the Snaps and Daps myspace page!***


www.myspace.com/snapsanddaps
Just click on our profile picture to view all the additional photos!

'prece.

2.14.2008

Feresheteh be Frresh!

There are very few things that will get the Snaps and Daps duo awake at 6:30am on a frigid Sunday morning. When our girl Sabel passed the word that she and Cool Chris were styling a photoshoot for Frresh, a line of coats created by Atlanta based designer Feresheteh Rashidi, we knew we had to get down and bring y'all the behind the scenes. Shot inside Yume BKNY, this space (and all the people in it) would have made Andy Warhol shed tears of joy. From the art on the walls to the colorful racks of clothes to the Tribe Called Quest bumping from the speakers (courtesy of Snaps and Daps), the vibe was effortlessly creative meets we-got-this chic.



Let me do a quick role call: the photographer du jour, was Andrew DeFrancesco...his multicolored scarf was as perfectly photographer-esque as his last name. The fierce vixens he snapped all day were Reba Massey, Karina Parris, Carmela Tai, and Isabella Zubor. The fellas elevating their looks to the next level were hair and make-up stylists, Cesar Ramirez and Merrell Hollis.



Though we tend to be a blog for readers, the pics should probably just speak for themselves.

'prece.






More pics to come, real soon!

2.08.2008

Kareem Black!!!!!

Shouts to The New Pop for doc'ing (new term-short for documenting) Kareem Black, a visionary, artist and success story of the NY, "young blood" creative class. Artistically the man is dope (check him at www.kareemblack.com) and philosophically, he's equally as adept- his ideals of the funky creatives, how we relate to each other and and the world are spot on. He basically echoes what Snaps and Daps emulates (or rather, we're all just reflections of each other). Peep the vid, and the sequel!





Black is a future classic!


'prece.

2.06.2008

Saving the "Hip" from the "Scene"

Contrary to popular belief (don't believe the hype-word to Chuck D), the hipster phenomenon is not a new one- bohemian culture has existed as a socially recognized subgroup since the French revolution, where many of today's hipster lifestyle traditions originate. You can trace these qualities, as they manifest in hipster cultures, in subsequent Paris, in Chicago blues joints, pre-bougie Greenwich village cafes and Williamsburg outposts (and soon to be in Astoria- the next frontier). Whatever you think about it, bad or good, just don't think that the occurrence is brand new. We're not THAT cool!

We're at the point now where being hipster carries a certain cultural cache, the kind that attracts others to neo-bohemian enclaves to accumulate the same cultural capital. Granted, as hipsters come from an artistic background, the pedigree has been diluted by gifted dopplegangers who are arguably responsible for the present negative connotations of the hipster identity.

Scenesters are bizzaro replicas of hipsters- they look like them, speak the same, frequent the same joints and bop to the same jams. Without a fine tooth comb, it might be difficult to tell the difference(s) at all, but they do exist. The motivation for the scenester is to be present where the cultural capital is most easily visible- key bars, parties, concerts, cafes, restaurants, etc. They are there to be stars in the practice of the culture- what differentiates a hipster is their contributions to the community. I say this with great self-awareness, risking outing myself to scenester-dom (I think I passed though, fingers crossed). And you, reading this, without any alibi of legitimacy, should be self-aware of where you fall on the spectrum. In the words of hip-hop America "keep it real".

I don't know these girls, but I'm willing to bet...not hipsters!
swiped from Last Night's Party

Below are a few more folks we've captured ourselves--think you can decipher?



Many pigeon-hole hipsters as out-of-state, white transplants who adopt certain fashion, lingo and attitudes to stand out in a crowd of out-of-state, white transplants. These yuppy-like peeps would use money as a means to acquring identity- one would assume that a "true" hipster is a struggling, barely eating artist, so dedicated to their creativity that they submit themselves to such financial insecurity. But in today's post-modern culture, that definition is too limited. Check the rhyme:
"Bohemians go everywhere and know everything; sometimes their boots are varnished, sometimes down at the hell, and their knowledge and the manner of their going varies accordingly. You may find one of htem one day lenaing against the chimney-piece in some fashionable drawing room, an the next at a table in some dancing saloon."
- Henri Murger, Scenes from the Bohemian Life, 1848.

Today's social, class and racial dynamics are too complicated to define any cultures according to simple social divisions. In such, you'll peep hipsters with rich parents, who've chosen not to pick the family fortune for the adventure of being in the thick of inspiration (goodness knows it's a lot harder to be inspired towards progressive art in Greenwich, CT than in New Haven artist centres). There's variety across race, social class and nationality (all of which we'll be scooping on, hopefully). The most important unifying qualities are in how the individual is involved in the creative process-do they only go to bars to get heroined-up with the rest of them or is that heroin put to good use-ridiculous paintings, poetry, writing, etc.- they've asked not what their culture can do for them, but what they can do for their culture.

What's your answer ?



'prece.



P.S. Next time I'll write something significantly less nerdy than this. I promise.