For this issue of Spraycan Stories, Servo tells Format what it is like to be a graffiti artist coming from the West Coast of Canada now residing in Japan Read more »

There was a time when pop wasn’t hip-hop and hip-hop most definitely was not pop. If you can remember that far back, then you’re likely familiar with the Native Tongues. Though there were plenty of Afrocentric bandwagon-jumpers, the Native Tongues, consisting of A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and Black Sheep were the true leaders of a new school (while it lasted). Their music was as different from rap at the time as their lyrical outlook and fashion (Africa medallions and dashikis, anyone?).

The Native Tongues were laid back and unafraid to rap about a broader spectrum of life. And their album art was just as jazzy, sophisticated and playful – a stark contrast to the album art of then (and now), which often alternates between menacing and wealth-flaunting photos of an artist and his crew. The Native Tongues instead flaunted covers with concepts – ideas beyond the next drug deal or Benjamin-stacking. Though they’ve since grown with hip hop—those who have survived—it is their genesis that truly cements their rap legacy. De La, Tribe and the rest of the crew brought a relaxed vibe laced with jazz to a genre normally associated with alpha-dog aggression. And, however briefly, the rap world followed suit.

De La Soul – Three Feet High and Rising and De La Soul is Dead

These two covers are a “Before” and “After” of the Afrocentric era. De La’s debut features peace symbols, day-glo colors and the exuberant wonder of a flowering movement. But for their second album, De La labeled themselves deceased – a decade before Nas held hip hop’s post-mortem. This was their response to the Afrocentric backlash, which had pigeonholed Plugs 1, 2 and 3 as “hip-hop hippies.” In a move considered career-suicide, the trio didn’t physically appear on their sophomore release, instead symbolizing the passing of the “Daisy Age” with an illustration of a wilting daisy. One of the first rap albums with a concept, both musically and cover-wise.

A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders

The second and third Tribe albums are two of the most memorable albums and album covers in rap history. For the Low End Theory, its minimal cover mirrors the jazz-laced, deep but simple music of the album. The red-and-green body-painted female form on black background also alludes to sly sexiness within (after all, Q-tip raps about sex 80% of the time). And for y’all non-vinyl cats, the CD itself is one of the best – an iridescent green photo of the Tribe, making them look like green-eyed aliens when tilted.

On Midnight Marauders, Tribe’s cover concept is genius: head shots of their rap peers, past and present, all sharing front and back cover space. And as record collectors know, there are multiple versions of the cover collage. Its only flaw: resurrecting the female from Low End and placing “her” in the middle, marring an otherwise perfect album cover. Unfortunately, she also appears on the cover of Beats, Rhymes & Life.

Black Sheep – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing and De La Soul – The Grind Date

Though musically and lyrically clever, the Black Sheep’s first album was a harbinger to the end of the Native Tongues movement. While other covers were conceptual, Dres and Mr. Lawnge are literal – a photo of the two mingling with a flock of sheep.

Completing the circle is one of De La’s more recent offerings, The Grind Date. Though the cover isn’t awe-inspiring (a photo-illustration of the trio), the CD liner notes make up for it with a clever concept – a calendar, with each month related to a song on the album. Clearly, conceptualism is not dead – and neither is De La.

More Covers:

Los Angeles artist Buff Monster is known primarily throughout the world for his street art. These are the cans that started it all. Inspried by ice cream, heavy metal, porn, and graffiti, the ‘Color Series’ set features brightly colored paintings of clouds, nipples, and other fantastic knickknacks, while the black and white cans show the project at its inception — hand-drawn characters on Read more »

If anything, the only times adjustable caps were considered a hot item was during the rise of the recent trucker hat trend and the days when camper caps stepped on the scene circa mid to late 90’s. Camper caps made a hit because of labels like Polo, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger, and even the early days of Supreme. You can still generally see camper caps around, but they never had the same commercial popularity as fitted caps today.

The dominant headwear accessory will always be the New Era fitted cap. It’s the official headwear for professional teams, plus it’s been worn like a uniform on most hip-hop artists’ heads, so it also exudes a certain type of cool the adjustable cap doesn’t have. And with every clothing label trying to get in the action of releasing a New Era collaborative cap nowadays, we won’t see this particular accessory falling off anytime soon.

So where’d the love for adjustable “one size fits all” hats go? If you’re still a fan of the adjustable headpiece, don’t worry, these labels got you covered.

Green Apple Tree:
Get cultural on your friends when they see you rocking this Mexican woven blanket hat by Green Apple Tree. The cap really stands out with its bright multicolored layers. But if you’re not into the bright hues of this blanket style, the subtle blue and white alternative is ideal for on the low personalities. This headwear also sports a short brim and a trucker hat shape, but will not make you feel like another Ashton Kutcher because it bears no foam or mesh. Also, it’s adjustable by velcro tab making it comfortable for almost any head size. Viva Mexico!

Available at http://www.digitalgravel.com

Reason Clothing:
This style hat is the perfect accessory to match the Monster Plaid hoodies Reason is coming out with for this fall/winter season. Also bearing the same name as the hoodies and shirts, the Monster Plaid caps come in colors of red on black and white on black. It’s a five panel headwear that bears a crazy plaid style accompanied by checkered printing, so you’ll definitely have heads turning wondering what kind of plaid pattern you’re rocking. And if you check the back, the cap is adjustable by way of the plastic pop-and-lock-in-the-hole style.

Available at: http://www.reasonclothing.com

Scifen:
Surely there are still some of you out there who has soft spot in their hearts for the classic camper cap. So it’s a good thing Scifen produced this brim for die hard fans of both the camouflage pattern and the camper style. Dubbed the “presidential camo” with the Scifen logo up front, this headwear, like most camper hats sits perfectly on almost any head size. Campers usually hug your head fittingly but never too tightly, and that’s where the adjustable strap comes into play. With Scifen’s plastic fastener on the back, the hat gives off its own unique fresh look and adjustable comfort. The hat will even get you back in touch with nature, as you stroll along with a camo look that sports three different shades of brown.

Available at: http://www.elmercadoonline.com

Street Shots by Zach Slootsky. Toronto: The Gift of Booty, New Kicks, Naughty or Nice. Read more »

Sometimes the South gets a bad rep. You have to look past the jeweled chalices and oversized tires. Boiled down, Southern hip hop is about making music without pretension, the everyman as artist. Nobody exemplifies this more than Memphis’ Project Pat, a gun toting, steel grilled Willy Loman. Fresh off a four year prison stint, Pat is back with his fifth album, Crook by the Book: The Fed Story. Read more »

Style Wars is the Star Wars of the hip-hop generation. Just as Star Wars ushered in the era of the special-effects blockbuster, Style Wars is the founding film of the hip-hop cinematic genre–the one that got you open, the one that showed you there was some cool-ass shit goin’ on, and it wasn’t going on a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It was New York City circa 1983, birthplace of hip-hop and all things cool. Read more »

Supposedly success is limited to 15 minutes in the spotlight; Styles P aims to dismantle this claim with his sophomore release Time Is Money. Battling label counterparts, industry bullshit and an audience with the attention span of a moth, the Ghost knew this had to be his most cohesive release to date. Read more »

Comedy has always been part of the black community and with the revolution of the 60s, blacks were finally given a chance to shine in the media. From the Jeffersons to Girlfriends, black comedy shows have done well on tv, but it’s been a different story at the movie theatre. Many have come and gone unnoticed and unsupported in the community, and some have done their part to degrade black culture and set back what few strides were made in those days of revolution. Still, there have been manymovies that have been noticed and that have made us laugh. This top 5 shows a wide range within the culture and represents movies that are are or will be classics in the future.

5) Scary Movie
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans,

The Wayans family as a collective have written, directed, produced and starred in numerous movies, and garnered reputations and names for themselves in the comedy business.

The first of four in the Scary Movie series was released in 2000 during a good time for African American movies at the box office and turned into the most successful movie ever directed by an African American, big brother Keenan. The movie successfully brought back the spoof comedy to the masses and since has spawned many sequels and spin offs.

The movie itself stars Marlon and Shawn along with Carmen Electra, Franchise regular Anna Faris and many others and is a parody of slasher films, in particular, Scream 1 and 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Scary Movie was a great success but has polarized some in opinions. It finds its way here mostly on popularity and influence.

4) House Party
Starring: Kid, Play, Tisha Campbell, Martin Lawrence

Kid N’ Play got their acting break with the release of House Party in 1990. The movie was a hit both at Sundance and when released to the public, dwarfing their music careers, making movies their focus from thereon. Set in LA, the movie follows Kid and his friend Play through the course of a day. Kid gets into a fight at school and is grounded by his father, Robin Harris, on the night of the biggest party of the year, being thrown at Plays house. Kid sneaks out, and from then on we see him trying to get there with the bullies and the LAPD on his tail. Once he gets to the party the movie really begins to shine and we get a look at an almost perfect house party.

3) Friday
Starring: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, John Witherspoon

Ice Cube had been famous for many things prior to Fridays release in 1995. As the toughest gangsta rapper in NWA, and in his film debut ‘Boys in the Hood’ but ‘Friday’ changed it all, and laid the groundwork for the family friendly Ice Cube of today. Friday is essentially another hood flick but this time a comedy. Cube stars as Craig, whose weed addicted friend Smokey (played by Chris Tucker) gets high off the supply he’s supposed to sell and in turn owes local kingpin, profits he doesn’t have. With their lives on the line from Worm and Deebo, local bully, we see how they manage to survive the Friday.

2) Coming To America
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, John Amos

Coming to America was Eddie Murphy’s last commercially and critically successful movie of the 80s, released after the zenith of his popularity, Beverly Hills Cop.

The movie stars Murphy as Prince Akeem, a perpetually bored prince of an African country who is scheduled to marry a woman he has never seen before and flees to America to start a new life. He brings with him his faithful right hand man, Semmi, played by soon to be talk show host, Arsenio Hall. Once in America Akeem and Semmi decide to live their lives as if they had no money and find work at a local restaurant chain where Akeem meets the owners daughter and without showing his past tries to win her affections.

The movie shows Eddie Murphy at his most charming, his funniest and most versatile. He plays numerous characters, as does Arsenio Hall. Coming To America still stands today as one of the funniest African American comedies.

1) I’m Gonna Git U Sucka
Starring: Keenan Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Dawn Lewis

Written and produced by Keenan Ivory Wayans, I’m Gonna Git You sucka was the first foray of the Wayans family into mainstream comedy on the big scale. The movie features the comedic style that has followed the family through In Living Color, the legendary sketch TV series, Keenans’ failed talk show, and the offshoot sitcoms and movies of the other siblings.

I’m Gonna Git U Sucka perfectly satires 70’s blaxploitation movies and blends it with 80s street culture. Jack Spade, played by Keenan comes home to find his neighborhood has been taken over by a crime boss, Mr Big and with the help of the great black heroes of his youth, Jack decides to finally rid the city of Big’s influence.

The movie stars Damon and Kim Wayans and ‘A Different World’ alumni, Kadeem Hardison and Dawn Lewis and blaxploitation movie legends, Isaac Hayes, Antonio Fargas, The movies non stop humour made such an impression that Wayans was offered his own little heard of TV show, Slade, Hammer and Slammer as a result. While that failed, it and this movie acted as the perfect precursor to In Living Color.