A lot of people downplayed election day, understandable. Politics is politics. However, for some (or most) of us it was an important day in our history. Trevz, Tone, and I lurked the streets of new york in order to document the intensity that plagued the street that day.
Photos by me, Trevz and Tone shot video and, as usual, Trevz just slam dunked every filmmaker in New York City. If you don’t like Obama, who cares – it doesn’t matter – just look at these four parts as PIECES OF ART. Thanks to all the people that allowed us to interview them. Also, a huge shout out to FOX for announcing Barack as our President ,however, not having the cameras ANYWHERE close to their faces. They were hella pissed!
I can’t embed the videos unfortunately, but go to these links to check them out.
Check out Platon’s work. I met him and he was such a nice dude. He is a great portrait photographer, and probably one of my heaviest influences within photography.
One of the most important elections in United States history will take place this November 4, 2008. While only US citizens may vote in this election, much of the world is watching the race very closely. Faced with a growing financial crisis, climate change and global energy challenges, our future will be greatly defined by the next US president. For better or worse, we are all interconnected.
With this in mind, we have created TheWorldFor.com, an interactive web site where people all over the world can cast a vote for the next United States President.
TheWorldFor.com was developed by a few concerned and hardworking Americans who made this project as a labor of love. We are not affiliated with any group, campaign, or government agency.
Thank you for your attention, your voice, and most importantly, your vote.
While I think that Wall Street execs, the Boys in Blue, and politicians were left off of the world’s 10 most dangerous gangs… its woefully aparent that 8 out of the 10 deadliest gangs are representative of the African and Latin Diasporas.
Whether its by design for this article’s purpose or just a cold hard fact, its obvious that people living on the fringe in developing countries ( and our own for that matter) create separate sub-cultures and societies as a means of survival for lack of integration into society at large. But what happens when the aim for survival doesn’t ever fully establish an independent society? How do you get beyond the reactionary stage when escaping the social ills really only perpetuates the cycle of violence, disenfranchisement, and eventual eradication? Do these sub-cultures ever break from the same counterproductive behaviors that make them a tool of the societal constraints they’re trying to escape – or is it all just a fabled attempt to gain legitimacy and statehood for people who never really belonged or were accepted by a given society? Who/How/Can you inject cause and purpose into sub-cultures that live and die in a cycle of existing on the fringe?
Sidebar: Also checkout Area Boys, a short film about the Area Boys gang in Lagos, Nigeria
hello maroons. i am writing from the bxp in brussels. i have been in belgium this weekend to see my friends designs at interieur the 21st international biennale in kortrijk. my favorite design was the attic shelf by pieter de caluwé. he was great to talk to and also liked the new installations and objects i have been designing and we have many of the same thoughts concerning design which was great.
in gent i was with some great people; my friend nadia and her fiance phil who is in the belgium hip hop group called beat drunx. theyre somewhat like company flow so if you like them and/or definitive jux you should go to the beat drunx myspace page or go see them in brussels this saturday at the event shadow boxing!
while in belgium i started some 3 new photography projects called “jump”, “people and cars”, and “party” or something like that. i may post somethings from them later but the content is as the titles sa. the first is me jumping in some of the best spaces in brussels, the second is all the people in cars i met between gent and kortrijk and the third is my new party photographer character for one night at the i <3 techno party in gent which my friend stino made the commercial for! yes they have commercials for parties in belgium… weird huh? so… its departure time. im see all the people that are going to milan in the same plane as me…. egh… where are the other maroons? idk? but… i am going to be going to some other cities in the coming weeks so if you in europe email me at ekene at 21maroons dot com and maybe next week or weekend ill come to your city!
Being absolutely intrigued with FADER Magazine has not only left me with inspiration but a wider view on culture outside of the United States. I remembered the first time I listened to the Issue 54 podcast by FADER. I calmly nodded my head to Lykke Li’s “Dance, Dance, Dance” because, hey, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a really beautiful song. As the end of her song approaches, I heard these vibrant rhythmic drum beats in the beginning of the song and then this commanding bright melody being sung. The song was named Costa Paraíso by El Guincho It made me envision the way nightlife is outside of this country. People ferociously sweating with one hand in the air and singing along to a verse that may not be in their native language, but something they clearly understand regardless. Everyone jumping up and down at the same time, perhaps, making you wonder if this is the closest we can get to world peace.
I’ve always had my love and hate relationship with nightlife, but I found myself despising it to the fullest. I’m positively sure it had nothing to do with the entity of nightlife itself, but that loathe was directed to the negative people I would bump into. I don’t have to go further into that explanation, because we all know how the industry is. Instead of sulking about being extremely stuck, I remembered that there is another kind of nightlife out in the world. However, this doesn’t imply at all that I want to shoot more nightlife, but I’d rather shoot more GOOD events rather than plaguing myself with fake people and the same shit over and over again. It’s getting really boring, really fast, and I wish more people would take risks. And, some people have. I shouldn’t call it a “risk”, though – I rather call it a positive development. TASTE NYC and GOOD PEOPLES did it last weekend at Nublu with LuckyMe. La-Mae, the first lady of TASTE NYC, is developing a constructive expansion in nightlife with her event LICK.
New York City nightlife inspires me, however, there is a larger spectrum that needs to be experienced – and, the day I get to travel in order to witness the insanity that goes on during the night time will be something to remember for the rest of my life (since it is rarely mentioned). And, I do believe nightlife is one of the steps to be peacefully involved with people from other cultures. Call me a hippie all you want, but my generation has identified the problems within this world and through art we (here at 21MC/21X, as well) are revolutionizing your mind every single day.
The purpose of me writing this has nothing to do with me, but it has everything to do with you if you’re feeling incredibly stuck. Don’t forget that whatever is in front of you isn’t the only thing in this world. It’s mainly up to you to remain inspired because inspiration can and does come from the least likely of places. Dream big, maroons. It’s about to get seriously crunk in 2009.
PS: Check out the F2 Issue 3, download it here. (King) Muhsinah and Flying Lotus.
This one I saw on the local news, but sounds so “impossible” that no one believed me when I told them about it. I couldn’t find anything online that night but some actual video of the ballots did finally hit the web -
Greetings Maroons!
As you can see, we are hosting our first
web contest and the rules are simple...
21MC in conjunction with 21bizarre.com is
giving away this Limited Edition Pharaoh
Poncho from the 2009 Triads Collection.
So how do you win?
Follow @21MC on twitter. That's it!
If we reach 2100 followers by Oct 21 2009
1 lucky follower will randomly selected.
Additional prizes will be awarded to the
most active retweeters during the contest.
[must tag all tweets - #21bizarre] Follow @21MC!
President Obama said Friday that he was ”surprised and deeply humbled” by the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award him the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The committee said it ho…
Kenyan authorities have begun to move residents out of Africa’s largest slum – the Kibera settlement in Nairobi. Officials expect to take from two to five years to clear the slum, which…
It seems that the new 3.1 iPhone OS update kills both tethering hacks and the ultrasn0w unlock hack. Be especially careful since there might be no way to undo the iPhone update – update and b…
Former executive editor of music at BET.com, Andreas Hale hit “send” on an explosive e-mail that sheds light on some of the inner workings (and malfunctions) of the once revered company.
The 21st century Maroon Colony is a NY/SF based critical art & design collective representing the Afro-Triangle and the 2/3s world.
MAKE-TANK / 21MC 21MC serves as the make-tank for The 21st Century Maroon Colony and aims to produce Tropical Wear garments and functional goods for Maroons worldwide. Read more...
Commitment
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Colony - Collective Home Base 21Trillion - Collab Studio/Think-Tank
21Maroons - You Are Here/Make-Tank 21Bizarre - Online Distro/Break-Tank Rxlngr - Rock Slingers & Trouble Bringers
