Category Archives: Popular Culture

Popular Culture: Style, Swag, Trends

Popular Culture

Poetic Fashion 2010

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For more info check out http://www.poeticfashion.org/

A worthwhile event to check out going down September 2, 2010 in Toronto:

LITERATURE FOR LIFE announces the all-star line-up for the second annual POETIC FASHION to be held SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 at the ST. LAWRENCE CENTRE FOR THE ARTS. JUNO AWARD NOMINEE KIM DAVIS (kimdavisonline.com) and RAPTORS TV SHOWTIME HOST AKIL AUGUSTINE host a showcase of some of Toronto’s best up and coming designers – including ROD PHILIPOT of SHKANK INC. (shkank.com) whose designs have already graced the stages of THE GRAMMYS, MISS UNIVERSE, and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE and CINDY RENEE of SODALISIOUS (carringtonsworld.com) who has been worn by celebrities like 90210’s ANNA LYNNE-MCCORD.But this isn’t your average fashion show. Poetic Fashion also showcases some of Toronto’s best talent including CANADIAN BEATBOX CHAMPION SCOTT JACKSON (myspace.com/sjbeatbox), composer and pianist JD KEYS and APOLLO AMATEUR NIGHT WINNER BLAKE CARRINGTON (carringtonsworld.com)alongside a host of established and up and coming spoken word artists from Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. Poetic Fashion is a model youth leadership initiative – run by youth for youth – and committed to building bridges not barriers between Toronto’s at-risk communities, finding commonalties, not differences.

For more info check out http://www.poeticfashion.org/

Cre8ive Abstract, Popular Culture, Social

Black TwitterBirds

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The Black Twitterer

A deep social study may exists in analyzing why black people have flocked to Twitter.  Not to dwell on that in this post, I came across a post from InyyVinny.com as they responded to an article about black people’s habits and Twitter.  Anyhow, they created some creative Twitter avatars to define the ‘Black Twitterer’, I have added my commentary to each avatar, see below:

tweet_afro

Afro proud Soul Brother Twitter

tweet_bknati

NY Twitterer

tweet_spinners

22″ Dubs Twitterer

tweet_kanyeshag

The Kanye Hipster Twitterer

tweet_lightskinned

The Light-skinned Twitterer
Check the original hoopla here.

My only comment about black people and Twitter is an observation: it has been well-documented that black people are late adopters to social media; in the instances of Facebook, MySpace, and even Twitter.  Its not until a high profile figure in hip-hop and/or the black community endorses or talks about a social media tool, that black people will begin to utilize it.  Being a black male myself, I am impressed that we do use Twitter, as it can be a useful tool, but I too often find that we are promoting and tweeting nonesense/foolishness/tomfoolery.  Its always sad when a Trending Topic is some ghetto term and/or involves the ‘N word’.  I truly think that due to the short 140 characters of Twitter, it allows many people to practice online, what they do in real life – talk sh*t.   Because, if you roam Twitter for even 10 minutes, you will be left with the deduction that there is a lot of sh*t talking on here.

.:: LiBM ::.

Hip-Hop, Popular Culture

Nerd Generational Hipsterism

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The Nerd Culture & Hip-Hop

Seems like that the hip-hop hipster/nerds are here to stay; which in my opinion, has both good & bad traits. The ‘good’ is that maybe some intellectual/creative art can come about, I mean not to say that the average hip-hop head is dumb; as many of the ‘real hip-hop heads’ know a lot about the socio-political world beyond the music. But in theory, the ‘nerds’ and the ‘hipsters’ should be able to be just as knowledgeable – if not more …. sounds like a stretch especially since the hipsters only seem to be about fashion, but I guess we will see.

The bad? Well, I am not necessarily a fan of the tight jeans and loud ass colors, but to each their own. Oh, also don’t like the feminine nature that some of the male hipsters are promoting – be a man.

A breakdown from Illdoctrine on Hipsters
– kind of accurate

Cre8ive Abstract, Popular Culture

Black Superheroes

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The Black Superheroes

Yes, they do exist, and have existed since the 1960’s or so – the first popular black super heroes such as ‘Falcon’, and ‘Black Panther’ were introduced to cater to different audiences that were emerging. Jumping forward, the most popular adaptation of a Black Superhero would have to be Will Smith’s portrayal of Hancock released in 2008. And with Hollywood’s fascination of imaginary worlds and characters, the releases of the Iron Man series, X-Men, Avatar, and Transformers, have resurged the comic book industry – whom we once thought was dying, but is surging as they are adapting their content to new mediums (such as Apple’s iPad).


Via Cynical-c.com

The Mighty Thor
Via goodcomics.com


The Falcon: The First Black Superhero by Marvel comics in the 1960’s


Black Panther
Via Black Super Heroes


Via Wired.com

For more information check out: http://www.blacksuperhero.com

Popular Culture, Social

The Influenced Economy

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The Influenced Economy

Sourced from Adweek:
“Social media specialist Vitrue, which aids brands in building their customer bases on social networks, tried to put a media value on such communities.
The firm has determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.”

This translates to the fact that the more followers and/or fans that you have on social networking sites, the more leverage or value one possesses. Which in turn suggests that advertisers should pay more for an ad on a profile page with 1 million followers, than a profile page that has 5,000 followers – creating an advertising economy of scale based on influence.   Seems like we are in high school all over again, but this “Influenced Economy” may be a viable way for social media companies to actually start making money, and have a real business model.

Sources: http://www.adweek.com

Hip-Hop, Swag

Defining an Era or Error: Timbs

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The Hip-Hop Utility Boot of our Times

Timbs, Timbos or Timbies

The utility boot that was originally designed for hiking and mountaineering, is probably more popular for its usage and wear in hip-hop culture. Since the mid 90’s, the Timberland boots have been a staple in hip-hop culture – from the young Mobb Deep due of Havoc & Prodigy walking Queens, NY in their Timbs in Shook Ones, to the current female video vixens that rock cute pink Timbs, Timberland boots help to define the hip-hop era. You can simply look at a Timb and know what year, or what trend was popping around that time. I always wanted a Timb in high school, but couldn’t afford the high price – I know have one, and I always revert back to it for snow/rainy weather. You can tell the success of a product when the good ‘ol bootleggers in China try to start selling knock-offs, and when there are many imitation brands (pointing at YOU ‘Lugz’, are they still around?).

The Custom Joints
With a popular brand, comes the demand for custom designs to your product – mostly by third-party sources. Here are some interestign ones:

The Dead Presidents Timb

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The Designer Timb

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The Louis Vuittion Timb

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The Scottish Timb

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The Full House Timb

Overall the Timberland line has flourished in the past 10 years or so opening many retail stores throughout North America and the U.K., and have grossed yearly revenue sales that have climbed into the billions.  Another brand that has benefited off of hip-hop culture – hope they give back.

.:: LiBM ::.