Tahir Hemphill is...TaaahhhHEEERrrrooo!!!

Tahir Hemphill

is my guy. No, for-real, I know this dude! He is a jack of all trades and master of many and his work has touched on every facet of aesthetics. You need some design work for a national ad campaign? Need an art installation? Need a website? Need a movie... a music video? Some cool ass custom designed kicks? 

He got that.             (and this is off the top of my head). 


His latest endeavor is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database contains an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas in hip-hop culture. 
Yeah... Let that marinate.

He recently launched a kick-starter campaign to support the project. This means you could literally help support this venture with word of mouth or with a little scratch. 
Still wondering what a searchable ethnographic database is? Check it out. 

Kickstarter >> The Hip-Hop Word Count: 
             A Searchable Rap Almanac by Tahir Hemphill

The Hip-Hop Word Count (HHWC) is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database is the heart of an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas.

The idea to build the Hip-Hop Word Count came out of having hundreds of heated & passionate discussions about Rap music: Who was the best rapper of all time? Which rapper had the smartest songs? Which was the most popular champagne in Hip-Hop during 1999-2003? Which rapper uses the most clever metaphors? Which city's rap songs use the most monosyllabic words? Does living in higher altitudes create a natural proclivity for Gangster Rap?

Tired of having these answers left up to conjecture or whoever had the loudest voice, I decided to build a tool that would help give answers by charting the culture described within Hip-Hop music.

How can analyzing lyrics teach us about our culture?

The Hip-Hop Word Count locks in a time and geographic location for every metaphor, simile, cultural reference, phrase, rhyme style, meme and socio-political idea used in the corpus of Hip-Hop.

The Hip-Hop Word Count then converts this data into explorable visualisations which help us to comprehend this vast set of cultural data.

This data can be used to chart the migration of ideas and builds a geography of language and is the engine for a K-12 teaching curriculum.

More on the artist 

Born in the Lower East Side, New York, Tahir grew up in a house filled with the artistic influences of his grandmother Clora Tee. Her drawings, which combined bible verses and encyclopedia entries, are spiritually resonant and scientifically verified. From a young age and with this as his backdrop, Tahir was groomed to be an engineer, and with that training he entered the arts. This pull between the profound and profane, between art and science informs his process and life.

Tahir holds a Regents Diploma from Brooklyn Technical High School in Electrical Engineering, a B.A. degree in Spanish Language from Morehouse College (Minor in Mathematics) and a M.S. degree in Communications Design from Pratt Institute where he authored and designed the book Visual Alchemy, a treatise on the work and processes of creatives who use traditional advertising techniques to promote subversive anti-consumerist or pro-social campaigns.

While at Eyebeam, Tahir will be working on the Hip-Hop Word Count, a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 50,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. Tahir currently operates the Brooklyn based creative enterprise Staple Crops.

} Tahir in his own words... in an interview with PSFK Consulting. 

To learn more about his work visit: 

http://tahirhemphill.com/portfolio/case.html

To learn more about his art go to:

http://staplecrops.com/

and 

http://tahirhemphill.com/portfolio/projects.html

Or  

http://tahirhemphill.com/portfolio/photo.html

Jam of the week: Tenderoni

The Black List Volume 1- Serena Williams

Snacks- Mark Ronson knows dope collabos...

YOU should know- Kevin Coval

Kevin Coval is a real soul broth(a). Yeah, with the 'A' at the end. A real life Clark Kent parading around in a "regular guy" costume, all the while being a bad mutha-shut-yo-mouth. He's a poet, a spoken word artist and a youth advocate who's helped to facilitate some of the most exciting youth outreach Chicago could and should hope for. And more, much more. Often I meet people who inspire me and whatever words that I can muster up about them, second hand, fall short of how dynamic they really are. This is one of those moments. This is why I love Chicago. She pretends not to notice you and when you least expect it, throws you a wink.  

Kevin's work is a good meal too rich to eat quickly. And when he means to make you laugh you cant help but pucker afterwards. He's telling the truth and that tends to leave a bitter aftertaste. I want people everywhere to start living like this. Speaking and writing and telling and sharing and living the truth. In this moment in our history, when we are all so depraved and deprived, these are the rock-stars of our time. 

More on the Artist

Kevin Coval is the author of everyday people (EM Press, Nov.'08) and slingshots(a hip-hop poetica) (EM Press, Nov. '05), named Book of the Year-finalist by The American Library Association. Coval's poems have appeared in The Spoken Word Revolution and The Spoken Word Revolution: Redux (Source Books),Total Chaos (Basic Civitas), I Speak of the City: New York City Poems (Columbia University Press), The Bandana Republic (Soft Skull Press), Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reporter, Cross Currents, Crab Orchard Review, Rattle, 2nd Ave Poetry, The Drunken Boat, and many other periodicals and journals. Coval writes for The Huffington Post and can be heard regularly on National Public Radio in Chicago. 

Coval has performed on four continents in seven countries including; The Parliament of the World's Religions in Capetown, South Africa, The African Hip-Hop Festival: Battle Cry, Poetry Society of London, University of the West Indies in Jamaica, St. Xavier's College in Bombay, India, and four seasons of Russell Simmons' HBO Def Poetry Jam, for which he also served as artistic consultant. From Jan. 2006 to May 2007, Coval visited 26 states and more than 50 cities during the promotional tour for his first book, performing at over 150 high schools, universities, book stores, theaters, community centers and Union Halls around the country. 

Co-founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival, the largest youth poetry festival in the world, Coval is poet-in-residence at The Jane Addams’ Hull House Museum at The University of Illinois-Chicago and poet-in-residence at The University of Chicago’s Newberger Hillel Center, and teaches at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.

to learn more about the artist go to:http://www.kevincoval.com/index.html

to support this artist visit: http://www.kevincoval.com/downloads.html

YOU Should Know* Georgia Anne Muldrow

Georgia Anne Muldrow

If you think you don't know her... you're wrong. If you keep artists like Erykah Badu and Mos Def on steady rotation, you've probably already heard her in her collaborations with them. Both on thier more recent albums. From the moment I heard Georgia's voice, I wanted to hear all of her work. 

Her highly acrobatic chords and unresolved harmonic tendencies, leave you feeling alert in the way that only something unique can. It doesn't hurt that she also happens to be a highly competent musician and songwriter. I hate to make comparisons with someone who feels so original, but she's something like Chaka Khan during the Rufus years meets Dead Prez type consciousness, rolled in with some serious explorations of minor key sonics.  Everything about her approach to the music makes you listen closely. Its a good thing she's really got some science to drop! 

More on the Artist

Georgia Anne Muldrow is an American singer and musician signed to Stones Throw Records. She is the first female artist signed to the label and seems to be a close friend of fellow label artist Dudley Perkins. Her father is the late jazz guitarist Ronald Muldrow and her mother is Rickie Byars-Beckwith (www.rickiebyars.com/bio.html) Musical director of Agape Spiritual Center in Culver City, CA and Stepfather is Rev. Michael Beckwith who is best known for being a teacher in the Movie and book "The Secret" . Her early work involved collaborations with the Platinum Pied Pipers, Sa-Ra, and J*DaVeY. She is known for playing the majority of instruments featured on her recordings. Her vocal style and musical accompaniment often are free-form in nature. Most recently she produced and is featured with Dudley Perkins on an album for Mello Music Group titled SomeOthaShip: Connect Game.


to support this artist go to: http://www.stonesthrow.com/georgia

Write Bloody- American Books with guts!

All shenanigans aside this is some serious DIY at work... 

This bad-ass collective was offered a deal with a great distribution company earlier this year that would help get there books into more bookstores and libraries. In order to follow through they needed to raise the money needed to print their books upfront. They met their funding goal in August of this year (I know I'm late with this*). 

The money raised is being used to print their current catalog which includes award winning authors such as Jeanann Verlee, Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Taylor Mali, Anis Mojgani, Andrea Gibson, Karen Finneyfrock, and more. In addition the money will also go towards printing Write Bloody's upcoming books by Ben Clark, Beau Sia, Idris Goodwin, C.R Avery, Laura Yes Yes, Paul Suntup, Tara Hardy, and more.

NOW your part in this begins. YOU buy their amazing books by ridiculously talented artists and help them continue the rock-n-roll poetry revolution! 

More About the Artist

Write Bloody Publishing is a unique independent press with a focus on poetry and fiction. They also push the new Write Fuzzy brand for unique and weird children’s books. Thier design team has been pulled from all over America.  Their unique style comes from utilizing modern painters, photographers and rock album designers for all their book cover art. They publish and promote 6-12 tour savvy authors per year. They are also grass roots, DIY, boot strap believers. 

to support WRITE BLOODY go to: http://www.writebloody.com/store/

Jam of the week- J*Davey

The Black List, Vol. 1: Suzan-Lori Parks

The Black List, Vol. 1: Suzan-Lori Parks (HBO)

Snacks- SHFT update

Plastic Bag Ban

Passed in L.A. County

When the effort to ban plastic bags across California failed this past August, we were bummed. But we also knew that it would open the door for local governments to do what the state legislature could not. Lo and behold, it was announced today that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has stepped up and passed a ban on plastic bags in grocery and convenience stores.

Since the ban only covers unincorporated areas of L.A. County, it's not a perfect solution. Cities like L.A. would still have to enact their own bans to help end the plastic plague. But it affects about 1.1 million people, so it's a significant win. Also, other cities that are incorporated in the county will have the option to also adopt the plastic bag ban or not.

Under the new law, "No store shall provide to any customer a plastic carryout bag," although exceptions can be made for plastic bags that hold fruit, vegetables, or raw meat in order to prevent contamination. Establishments will have the option to sell paper bags, which they will be required to sell for 10 cents each.

To us SHFTers, this is big news, not only because it takes an important step in addressing the prickly problem of plastic pollution, but also because it shows how lower levels of government can take action on the environment when the governments above them fail. Ahem, state legislators, let's move forward on climate change.

yes...i guess, dr. martens

Funky Snacks- with Dâm-Funk

Snacks: Mayer Hawthorne and the Village Discount

Snacks- Obama and more work to do...

  Ill Doctrine:  Why I’m Happy, Why I’m Not Satisfied
- Watch more Politics Videos at Vodpod.

Jam of the week

Asian Models Are

 ‘Redefining Traditional Concepts of Beauty’

L–R: Du Juan, Tao Okamoto, Lee Hyun, Hyoni Kang, Liu Wen, Bonnie Chen, So Young Kang, and Lily Zhi.

December's American Vogue features eight Asian models who are, according to the magazine, "redefining traditional concepts of beauty." The Steven Meisel–lensed two-page spread features: China's Du Juan, Liu Wen, Bonnie Chen, and Lily Zhi; South Korea's Hyoni Kang, So Young Kang, and Lee Hyun; and Japan's Tao Okamoto. With Asia's significance to luxury brands becoming increasingly visible, it seems only natural for Asian faces to become more prominent in the industry as well.

They've been landing plenty of high-profile work lately: Earlier this year, Liu Wen became Estée Lauder's first Asian spokesmodel. Later, Maybelline announced fellow Chinese modelShu Pei as the face of the brand. One can even look at Marc Jacobs's cheongsam-infusedspring 2011 collection for Louis Vuitton, in which eight out of 53 models were Asian (Lanvin cast three Asian girls, and Valentino cast one). Meanwhile, Miuccia Prada shot her spring 2010 menswear campaign in Shanghai, featuring relatively unknown Chinese models (at the same time, her past two major women's shows have included no Asian faces). Yet while major fashion and beauty brands are hiring more Asian models, Vogue's proclamation comes off as dubious at best.

While it's refreshing to see the magazine acknowledge the importance of Asian models in the industry, especially since Vogue has largely ignored Asian models in the past, it always seems easier for magazines to lump the girls in a feature like this, feel like the acknowledgment has been made, and then revert back to their usual ultra-white mix of models in subsequent issues. It will be interesting to see if and how Vogue will support these statements in forthcoming issues. Can we expect to see more of newcomers So Young Kang and Bonnie Chen? Or perhaps newly minted runway fixtures Ming Xi and Fei Fei Sun will actually have a chance at longevity? Maybe, maybe not. But hey, baby steps?

The Black List - Volume 1

Reconsider Columbus Day

Jam of the week

For Nancy*

Local Yokel - vol.1

Tom Slazinski

Who are you and What do you do?

Tom Slazinski- I create tailored environments. I'm a Senior Display Coordinator for Anthropologie while also working as a freelance event design/installation artist. This largely involves creating the displays for Anthropologie stores by designing the store environment. I like to think of it as an unusual combination of set design, interior design and art installation. On the side I've also executed the design of numerous retail, event, wedding, and residential spaces. 

Where are you from? 
I'm a Midwesterner. Was born outside of Detroit. 

How has that influenced your aesthetic or approach to the work?

Well mostly that I come from a hard working set of parents who embraced my creativity when I was young and provided me with countless opportunities to develop that aspect of myself. I grew up talking full advantage of the artistic wealth around me which included Cranbrook, Interlochen and a number of other institutions. We also traveled extensively and I always have been fortunate to have a broad perspective to draw upon. 

Was the path to what you do now a linear one? Or did you stumble upon your calling?

I've always been involved in the arts. My entire youth I trained in the fine arts. By high school the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts ranked me among the most talented young artists in the nation. I went on to study architecture at the Univ. of Michigan. Traditional architecture practice wasn't the best fit for my more visceral temperament so I steered my design sensibilities towards more hands-on projects with a quicker turn over rate. This led me to interior design, and later to a greater focus in prop sourcing and creation. I worked at the largest prop house in New York, created props for theater, freelanced at a production design group and eventually found my way to my current position with 

Anthropologie.

                                                                        

What do you love about your work? 

I love tactile work. I'm hands on every day painting, drawing, sawing, climbing ladders... I get to have a direct connection with my creation and leave a personal touch. Back when I used to work in the architecture profession this is what I missed the most. I also love having involvement in a project from start to finish in a relatively short timeline. The variety of tasks with in the process always keeps the work fresh and exciting - from planning, (especially) supply research and gathering, production and assessment. In the end what I love the most is using creativity to transform a space into something I find beautiful and special that I can share with others. Really there's not much I don't like about my work. 

What keeps you motivated and excited to continue? 
The challenges each new unique project brings.

More from the artist }