Mike Posner, love him or hate him? I’ve been a fan for a while, in fact I randomly stumbled across his music a few years back when he was still in college (university to us!). I actually introduced him to Y&Y readers in our launch week back in November 2009 – click here. A few years on, Posner having now graduated and slowly taking over the music world – having worked with the likes of Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber and Timbaland in the past year. His hustle has to be respected, Reebok have teamed up with US maestro to launch the Reebok Classics‘ RealFlex campaign in London. He sits down with good folk at Vice to give insight into what it takes to make a classic and shares a little of his story. Hop on after the cut.

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Creativity, individuality and courage are what he highlights as the key ingredients into making a classic.

‘A lot of people have amazing ideas but they’re scared and don’t think they’re deserving of the greatness they could achieve. So they don’t end up achieving it.’

You know how I often talk about having to juggle photography, Y&Y and my day job? It’s worth it, Posner juggled his studies and music career, now look where he is. It’s a process.

‘Thursday I performed in Detroit. Friday I performed in Detroit. Saturday I performed at the University of Dayton. I came back and studied Sunday and Monday. I had three finals on Tuesday, and I had a show on Wednesday….Thursday I had like, a meeting with a professor, and Friday I had a meeting with Jay-Z.’

It’s this inspirational journey and can-do attitude that appealed to Reebok, who partnered with Posner to show the world what it really takes to make a classic. Obviously he’s not made a ‘classic’ just yet in his career, he acknowledges that in the interview but only time will tell. Seriously though, how is his shape-up that defined? It looks photshopp’d on. I need to hire his barber.

The sneakers remind me of the Free 3.0′s. Not bad Reebok.

It’s fair to say that we’re renowned for rain all year around. Come on, where else do you get monsoon rain in the middle of Spring!? Londoner and photographer Gavin Hammond has made use of the city’s non-stop rainfall through photographing beautiful reflections from the puddles. Hammond’s series entitled London in Puddles almost looks like a painted series showcasing its citizens and architecture through the reflections. I’ll always post work that represents London in a beautiful light, especially since the Olympics are around the corner which most of us feel like it’s going to be shambolic. More on the reverse.

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While the rest of us moan on Twitter about the awful weather, Gavin created art. Do something.

Oh my God, these photographs are heavenly. As you already know, I’m going to be photographing three weddings this summer and um, I’ve never shot one before?! but I’m really looking forward to photographing happy people. That’s what it’s all about. I know I’m going to need to hire out a telephoto lens and up my game rapidly before then. Lightedpixels are a duo of photographers from Singapore who specialise in couple photography and without a doubt the best I’ve ever seen.  Their photographs appreciate the love, joy, quirkiness and significance of a wedding which enables them to capture remarkable scenes of fun, intimacy, tenderness and love. I’m truly in awe of their talents. Hop on after the cut to see a handful of their shots.

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Lightedpixels – Website | Blog | Facebook

Props to @KisforKani for bringing them into my radar. I can’t wait to get married…imagine the Facebook profile picture options!

Right going to go listen to gangster rap and get reacquainted with my ghetto side.

I don’t post music videos, hardly ever in fact nowadays but this one was just too good to pass on. Everyone loves to hate on ‘Ye but I’m a big fan of his creativity when it comes to fashion, music and art.  The overdue visuals for his track Lost In The World off his last solo album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy surfaced earlier today and I know for a fact, it’s not going to be a lot of people’s cup of tea. It’s so abstract, too abstract for those who are used to the hoes, the cars, the bling – you know the usual MMG/YMCBBC video. What I love about it? The simplicity – no cinematic storyline required, the black & white sharp buildings, typography, high energy dancing and contrast just carry it for me. It’s been directed by Ruth Hogben – a London-based director who’s known for her fashion films. Makes sense now ey?

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If you’ve seen any of her previous works then you know why this is so slick and fast paced. It’s not your typical rap video for a not so typical rap song. Kanye’s on his fashion grind and when the two worlds collide, you get this stylist video. What do you think? or you left completely dumbfounded and lost by it?

Now ‘Ye, allow the PR stunts with Kim Kardashian and get back to making music or even a video for Never Let You Down off College Dropout. That song deserves a video.

OK, so I’m not very good at ‘talking about myself’ but here it goes… My name is Sami Janjér and I’m pretty much your average guy and then some. Haha, that sounds corny as hell but I will swiftly move on. I’ve known the guys since our days at Arts (to think that was one big holiday) and this site pretty much set standard for most of our peers to do something and I can safely say between Yin, Yang and DJB they were the ‘cool cats’ of uni so I’ve proudly bookmarked www.yinnyang.co.uk since second year of university (you should do too).

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OK so the ‘average guy’ part; I’ve got a degree in Marketing and Advertising, I don’t really like socialising with strangers but love networking with like minded people. Very big on visual stimulation whether moving or still hence you will most likely find me near a poster, gallery or an east end street corner. My latest obsession is running, this is actually true (not like your CV) and part of the baddest, RunDemCrew. I’ve worked for some big brands, some small brands and myself frankly border line workaholic. If I’m not doing any of the following, I’ll most likely be travelling, filming (oh i act too) or learning something new. I’m a self titled ‘Earth Child‘ who is obsessed with sunsets and hippie behaviour. All round weirdo.

Sorry in advance.

I feel this brand still slips under many people’s radars with only 300 likes on Facebook. Have you heard of them? My colleague at work first put me onto them last year, Percival is one of a few brands that is designed and manufactured in a glorious. The prices are a bit steep but that’s understandable, production costs in London must be crazy. The quality of the clothing and design definitely warrants the prices. The SS12 fashion film features several models bowling in the new trousers, shirting, outerwear and jersey in the new Percival range. Just a teaser collection of what the brand have cooking up for the fall season.

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Percival Clothing – Website | Facebook | Vimeo

See the film starts off beautiful, tonnes of cutaways and bokehs at the start of the video but I feel the video is a little too long, lost interest about halfway through. The sound is my favourite part, it’s just so perfectly in-sync with visuals.

I was fortunate to catch up with the good folk at STööKI ahead of their pop-up store today in Boxpark Shoreditch. My first encounter with the three creatives was during their takeover at the Tate Modern with their interactive art installation in collaboration with the Louis Vuitton art’s project. They spoke to Y&Y about their new collection on the reverse.

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It’s often we hear about a new and emerging streetwear brands, how did your decision to infuse art into your apparel/jewellery differentiate Stööki from others?

The way we identify Stööki from other brands is by creating depth…creating a lifestyle behind the brand. By incorporating elements of art and music through our various events, we remove the distance from our audience thus being approachable and making our philosophy more transparent.

How did you come across the title of the latest collection – Obscura?

We stumbled across the word/concept whilst doing research and the collection has evolved with it. Obscura is a minimal symbology collection presented through the theme of light. The 3 elements showcased visually represent collaboration, interactivity and vision. These are fundamental to our process and a manifesto to which Stööki stands by.

The collection consists of§ black and gold statement pieces – earrings, rings and chains in addition to a collection of sweatshirts, t-shirts and snapbacks.

It is apparent that Stööki is more of a movement than simply a brand. How would you describe the kind of person your brand would appeal to?

We don’t believe it appealing to a single customer profile. We encourage a diverse range people to pose with our collection and add to our ever evolving look book which is present at all our pop-up shops. We wouldn’t define our audience, our audience defines us.

Art Against Knives have teamed up with Le Scratch to launch a collaborative monthly event. Head down to the Stööki popup shop and pre-party at Boxpark from 7pm. DJ sets / Live Acts / Art installations whilst you’ll get the chance to purchase one of the hand crafted Jewellery pieces and be part of the OBSCURA live look-book compliation. All guests at this party will receive passes to gain FREE entry to Le Scratch @ Concrete.

◼ Stööki Sketch Freestyle @ Boxpark ◼
Your mic on the night will be a sharpie pen as you take to the Stööki panoramic ‘canvas’ stage. You will have a selection of well-known rap lyrics to spark your imagination, before you lyrically scribe your doodle. All your actions and 2-stepping will captured and made into an animation which will be premiered at Le Scratch in Concrete!

▲Join The Movement ▲

www.stooki.co.uk

www.facebook.com/stooki.jewellery

@_stooki_

Recently I asked a few friends about their sources of inspiration and at least 80% of them responded with ‘people’. I’m a firm believer that one person’s story will inspire another to improve his own. On Bank Holiday, I was due to meet a friend at 11am to photograph her for a magazine feature (you’ll see the results soon) but foolishly, I was up till 3am and didn’t end up getting up till the time I had to meet her. Left my home in 15 mins but only to be stuck on the Central Line for 30 mins before eventually hoping out at Bethnal Green for a cab. Yes, I hopped in a cab in LONDON. Must have thought this was NYC or something – ended up costing me £27 to get to Soho Square. I didn’t regret it because the cab driver shared his story with me; about when he spent 22 years in the army, fighting in many wars and units. More on the reverse.

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Our conversation was spurred by me telling him of the Central Line delay caused by someone jumping under the tracks at Holborn. He didn’t agree with it, spoke on soldiers who did the same who were not able to adapt back to normal life after war. The main point he brought up was his regimen’s saying ‘You always march forward’ – whatever situation you’re in, good or bad, you’ve got to keep striving forward. You know where you need to be, let go of the past. Overcome and conquer your problems, you don’t have control of the world but you damn sure have control of your own mind. Renew your mind. Here I go sound like a preacher again, honestly you have a choice. You can either drown your sorrows in something that happened in the past or wake up with a new state of mind, look past it and progress with your life.

It’s all about how quickly you get back up to your feet. Have a great week!

High resolution version.

22 tracks has been around for a whole minute now. The Dutch-based music curation website was brought to my attention a few years back by @oi_nico. I didn’t really pay much attention to it since I had bookmarked many music blogs at the time that checked on a daily basis. Who knew the site would blow? It’s now multinational with curators from cities all around Europe and now it’s coming to our glorious city. What better way to get things started than with an event with some of London’s best curators? Including artists, DJs, producers and even our friends over at Pinboard, more on the reverse.

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22Tracks – LDN Website

If you haven’t heard of 22tracks before go check out their site now. If you’re a designer then you’ll definitely appreciate the site design. Slick.

It started with a buzz, then came the rumours, but now it’s official! 22tracks will be launching in London on March 22nd with some of the finest selectors our city has to offer. More info: http://22tracks.com/ldn

RSVP to the launch event -  click here.

Line-up:

Host: MC Judah
Elijah & Skilliam (Butterz Records)
Jean-Claude (If Music)
Chris Read & Nick Armitage (So Much Soul)
Giles Smith & James Priestley (Secretsundaze)
Danny Wood (PinBoard)

Location

The City Arts & Music Project
70-74 City Rd,
EC1Y 2BJ London,
United Kingdom

Date

March 22nd

Thought I’d give a shout out to @Miss_Tosin‘s weave and clique. SIGOURNEY.

Afternoon. Hope you’re all well and dandy? *don’t ask why I intro’d the post like that*. I managed to get my hands on 1948‘s upcoming issue of their magazine on the iPad. For those that don’t know about the magazine, it focuses on celebrating the future of sport; an expression of the bold experimentalism of the next generation. Pretty much like Y&Y but sports orientated. You already know the visuals are going to be beautiful, it’s Nike – they don’t do half-arsed attempts when it comes to branding. More on the reverse.

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Download Nike 1948 iPad Magazine | Website | Twitter

It’s very clean, crisp and filled with great photographs and interviews. The cover with Luol Deng takes inspiration from the #MakeItCount campaign by W+K. My favourite feature has to be the photography series by Londoner and basketball fan, Jake Green. ‘Free Throws‘ is an exploration of London’s most unexpected and unusual basketball courts from the gardens of Argyle Square to the rooftop courts at St. Patrick’s College. I’m actually quite surprised to see the diversity of London’s courts – didn’t think the sport was THAT big over here. I’ve been getting back into NBA through Linsanity and sleep deprivation, my body clock is aligned with New York!

Shot the photographs at my work place during lunch – don’t you just love the wooden floor? Have a gander.

Photographs: YIN