My love affair started with Lauryn Hill at 6 years old when I convinced my parents to buy my Walkman’s first tape; Fugees’ The Score album. It’s fair to say that with a relationship lasting 20 years, my adoration for her runs pretty deep. However, as much as L-Boogie holds the spot of one of my favourites of all time, a history of hit-and-miss shows - from not showing up to erratic behaviour left my expectations for whenever I was to finally see her live, pretty low. But amongst good vibes brought by the thick crowd of slightly pissed up festival ravers, a stellar warm up show and DJ set, epic surroundings and the knowledge I was about to see one of my favourites ever, even tapered expectations couldn’t dim my excitement when she hit the stage.

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“My running goes hand-in-hand with who I am. It makes me feel at peace.”

Just as I’m currently in the process of rediscovering the cathartic effect running has on me, I see this beautifully shot reminder from Heist that for some, running is about much more than superficial desires to look good or ego-driven goals around competition. Ronnie Goodman, from San Francisco, shares his reason for running after the cut.

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A couple of weeks ago Ernest, Derek and I got juicy with Currys at their Intro-Juicing bloggers event. As I’ve almost obnoxiously boasted before, I’ve been juicing before it was on-trend, but as the Y&Y team gets increasingly health conscious, it’s only natural that juicing has piqued our collective interests. At IntroJuicing we got to learn a little bit more about the science behind juicing our five - or eight-a-day, before getting our asses beat in Urban Kings Gym.

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Traditionally at Y&Y, on Thursdays we throwback to tunes that deserve to be remembered. But now we’re widening the net and taking you back, way back, back into time with not just music, but fashion, films, cultural moments and movements from yester-year. We’ll reminisce on the good old days (damn, we’re getting old) or talk about things that need to stay in the past. Welcome to the remixed #throwbackthursday.

I’m taking the reigns on the first one, throwing back to two young men who were a massive part of my childhood.

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“I believe this concept is going to feed the world.” Adam Smith has started the first cafe in the UK that uses only ‘intercepted’ waste food. Before perfectly edible food gets to bins or skips Adam’s team ‘intercept’, collecting the food from local business friends including supermarket chain Waitrose to create meals at The Real Junk Food Project cafe in Leeds. The cafe is ‘pay as you feel’, where customers can pay with money or their time or services. In 6 months the crew have intercepted over 10,500KG of food that would have been dumped. Considering the UK waste 18 million tonnes of food every year, it’s a wonder why The Real Junk Food Project (and others like it) hasn’t existed forever.

If this isn’t inspiring enough, Adam articulated a thought that many of us can relate to at the moment - “I had a skill, and I wasn’t really applying it as well as I could be.” The Real Junk Food Project was born from Adam wanting his talent to mean more, for himself and his world/community (our latest feature, Niran’s reflective post, captures this sentiment perfectly). Read on to see project at work.

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This weekend LoveBox hit Victoria Park, London. With Nas performing Illmatic, Soul II Soul and EZ on the bill I thanked my lucky stars when I ended up with a very last minute ticket. I could hardly think of a more perfect way to spend a scorching (and stormy) weekend in London. But when I got there, something just didn’t feel right. The LoveBox I’d come to know and love had been replaced…

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Imagine if Nelson Mandela had today’s access to social media when he was fighting for freedom? Would he have spent 27 years in prison? This project isn’t new, with the video released (almost) two years ago to this day, but the sentiment is no less profound in this day and age of social media activism around the things happening in the world that really matter (I’m nodding to you, #peaceforpalestine and #bringbackourgirls). Check out this awesome 4-minute simulation of Mandela’s life through social media under the cut.

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A 3D docu-film about my area! 1 Way Up tells the story of Tre and Quillan, two teenaged boys from Peckham on the road to the BMX World Championships. It shows how they escape peer pressure to take less favourable social and life choices by investing passion in BMXing. It centres around Peckham’s BMX park; I remember when the park was being filmed, so the trailer definitely teased a smile from me.

However, more probably made me frown about this trailer than smile. Personally, I look forward to the day when films/TV shows/media about working class inner-city London, teenagers and black/ethnic kids aren’t about gangs needing a soft vocational activity they can ‘relate to’ to take them off the streets. My other gripe with the film (trailer) is the long-toted misaligned perception that Peckham is this rough area with full of little more than degenerates and disengaged kids. I scoffed when I saw 1 Way Up’s byline - “one of London’s toughest gang neighbourhoods.” This inaccurate depiction is only toted when convenient.

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Imagine a dystopian land where even football is controlled and taken over by drones. Nike dream it up in their latest short, The Last Game. On the lead up to the World Cup, Nike Football unveil the latest in their Risk Everything campaign - this animated film where scientists try to strip the personality (and ‘risk’) from football, and it’s up to Nike Football’s top stars Ronaldo, Rooney and Zlatan to save the beautiful game.

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On the aptly fitting 4/20 (or, Easter Sunday to most) I headed to the London screening of Newlyweeds, the dope stoners-come-love film written and directed by newcomer Shaka King and co-produced by The Wire actor Gbenga Akinnagbe. Newlyweeds is a hilarious, unpredictable Brooklyn tale of a tryst between the three characters - Lyle, Nina…and Mary Jane.

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