COOL MUSIC; 67 *POLL*

South London GOONS '67' have just shut down the whole of London with the launch of their latest album entitled 'The Glorious Twelfth'.

The albums perfectly embodies grime's new, brixton drill sound. They haven't tried to do anything out of their comfort zone and it's worked well for them. The first track 'Rolling Up' is a perfect and somewhat calm (compared to some of the other tracks) introduction to a hyped album. 

The albums also features tracks 'Look How Life's Changed.', 'Waps' & 'Guwop'. My personal favourite is 'Rolling Up' the first track (its probably playing out of your laptop/mobile device right now) - and that's purely down to the piano that plays periodically throughout. In all honesty, picking a favourite is too difficult - the whole ting is just too CONSISTENT.

Do make sure you have absolutely no family to see for around a week if you're planning to listen to this album from start to finish.. Listening to bars like 'Nuff DJs spin dem hits, but we just spin dem 40s *BOWW*' & 'The opps don't come to the Hill, if they say the do but they fibbin'! Come to my block, bare gunshots, could be dipping *TRUU*' on full blast may just leave you with a permanent screw-face & attitude problem.

Find the album on Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud & YouTube. Simply search '67 The Glorious Twelfth'.

The whole albums should be available below.. Have a listen and then answer me poll quickly. I wanna see what people think of this genre. The more you listen to their lyrics, the more informed you become about 'gang life' in London. They tell no lies.

COOL PEOPLE; ELIJAH MUSIC

"My goal in life is to be creative - with absolutely no limits."

The past few weeks have been hectic. I've taken on a number of projects (some of which I will be blogging about) and uni has resumed for the year. I am well and truly up to my neck in work but I've still managed to meet with and get to know some intriguing characters...

The second person I have for you is someone I met in London a few weeks ago now. His name is Elijah and he's a proud north Londoner. He actually approached me in need of a lighter but we soon began exchanging life stories. Elijah (Eli for short) is a second year Fine Art student who aspires to one day live off money made from his art as well as is other passion - music. After meeting we exchanged numbers and plan to stay in touch.

Oh yeah.. he also raps and has dreams of making it in the music industry.. Click here to find Eli's soundcloud and stay tuned he will be uploading some of his new music this week! I've been in a studio session or two with him and boy do I have the utmost confidence in his ability to do well.

I decided to include Elijah in this because he is doing a lot creatively and is letting absolutely nothing and no one tell him otherwise. This is the attitude that everyone should have, whatever you want to do, however it may look to friends, peers & contemporaries.

Your free time is YOURS and though you may not have as much 'leisure time' as a student you still have some so make the most of it.

Age - 19

Full Name - Elijah Brown

A.K.A - Eli

Favourite Colour - Gold.

Favourite Drink - Hennessy & Coke, Pineapple Fanta

Inspiration - His family, especially his dad. Rich The Kid (Eli recommends watching Rich The Kid's semi-recent 'Noisey' documentary - 'Rich The Kid is Rich Forever' for an insight into the rapper and his main inspiration.

Background - Part Brazillian, Part British

Occupation/Hobbies- Student, Model, Rapper, Photopraghy

Dream Job - Rapper, Artist & Model

Location - London

Instagam- @ej.brxwn

Cool Person - #1

Hey, if you didn't read my last post on my upcoming blog series (I forgive you).. and here it is!

Although constant updates on celebs and their lives is entertaining, it really isn't as beneficial as ordinary people connecting with ordinary people. If you know me well then you know I use the term 'cool' broadly - in my world it means 'interesting'. It certainly isn't defined or measured by someone's online presence, although that could be a genuine reflection of someone's 'coolness', I guess? Anyhow, these posts should ideally feature people who:

- have interesting things going on in their lives (could be anything..)

- have had unique, intriuging and thought-provoking life experiences.

As I say, it's important to for ordinary people to connect so that ideas can be shared, relations can be built and prejudice/stereotypes - broken down. Prejudice can be defined as "a preconceived opinion that is not based on actual personal experiences." - learning about others leads to a less judgmental world! Hopefully these posts can inspire different people in multiple ways (fashion, ambitions, work, lifestyle).

The first cool person I'd like to introduce you all too is someone that I've now met on a couple of occasions - both times at fashion-related events and boy does she have style!

 Her name is Emily, she moved to London from Italy and she's determined to make it in the fashion industry as a 'streetwear influencer' (which is pretty self-explanatory), not saying "no" to any modelling opportunities on the way. She strikes a mean pose on her Instagram but in actual fact she is really soft spoken and has an cool Italian twang to her voice. She currently works in and studies fashion in London.

Age - 19

Full Name - Emily O'Donnell

A.K.A - Queen Skally

Favourite Colour - 'Plant Green'

Inspiration - I.D Magazine

Background - Part Italiana, Part Irish

Occupation- Student, Model
Dream Job - Streetwear Influencer

Location - London

Instagam - @emily.j.odonnell

A lot of people like the idea of getting into fashion but it can seem intimidating and opportunities sometimes look out of their reach, but there are loads of routes into the fashion world. Start looking at courses and the requirements of your local college, speak to a teacher or someone you know in the industry. Also.. Check out the ever popular 'Fashion Retail Academy(FRA)' -- who offer LOADS in the way of courses and fashion qualifications.

Thanks for reading  - look out for the next cool person!

COOL POINTERS; Talk To A Stranger..

“Don’t talk to strangers.”

There’s one global piece of advice that I think we all remember getting from our parents at an early age. It’s right up there with:

“Don’t do drugs.”

“Don’t talk back.” and

“Look both ways when crossing.”

This is the kind of instruction you get at a very young age and it doesn’t usually come with much explanation. It’s just one of those universal truths that we seem to accept as law for all human beings..

“Don’t talk to strangers, it’s dangerous.” That’s about as far as it ever gets. If you're as lucky as I was, you may have heard "Don't talk to strangers, most people are lovely, some are bad". We don't realise the direct impact we have on the lives of the youth. If a child is brought up on the first ideal - "Don't talk to stranger, it's dangerous" you can see how later in life that same child will find it hard to meet new people, no?

But don't get me wrong.. It’s not really bad advice for a 3-year-old. As they doesn’t have the ability yet to see the bad in people, bless them.. they're just too innocent.

But it’s terrible advice for adults.

Talking to strangers is one of the most important things we can do. Strangers hold the keys to all kinds of knowledge that we want. They help us understand more about people and how we relate to each other by unlocking cultural misunderstandings.

Strangers have so much to offer us, and I think we should go out of our way to talk to more of them. I promise you that every 'stranger' has the answer to at least 1 of your 100s of unanswered questions!

This was my most recent experience with a strange..

On the 16th of January, I went to my guy's house, he wasn't in so I spoke to his flat mate properly for the first time (amazing chat), spoke about about our perceptions on the real meaning of life, our disconnection with nature and  each other. 

Anyway, left there about.. 7pm (meant to be meeting my boy, Dominic). Went to the bus stop in town, where an older guy (later found out he was 72) was rambling on to his friend slightly erratically about something he couldn't get his head round. He was saying that he one had a friend who was a gardener for 50+ years, who after 10 odd years on the job could tell (not predict, not forecast, TELL) him what the weather was going to be like for a day, sometimes a few days, and he was ALWAYS right. Despite what the "experts" & "professionals" were saying.

I thought to myself "No way is he talking on this subject! I have to manoeuvre my way in to conversation.." and suddenly became a part of their, once, private chat with a laugh. I said, "you're confusion is justified! You shouldn't feel crazy. It's your body's natural discontentment towards life, if we all weren't told about the weather and love with nature, don't you think after TEN years, we, humans, would also be able know what the weather is gonna be?..". 

And he just said back "exactly, that is what I mean!" And we began talking.. We spoke for AGES (about an hour), about so many things, I told him to enlighten me because I could see how much he wanted people to listen to him. 

I recorded this conversation (voice memo) because I knew I'd obviously tell people about this fabulous man! The man's name was Alan French, he told me a lot of mind-blowing facts about my town. Check this, he also told me that Tarzan was based on a true story, about a boy named Peter the Wild Boy, who was buried in Northchurh which is only 15 minutes from my house, sound unbelievable? Search 'peter the wild boy' yourself!

The last thing that this total strange told me was that that the pub near me called, 'Top of The World' represents the highest point on Earth, Everest, and the road leading up to the actual Mount Everest is called 'Northridge Way', YES.. So is the road leading up to the pub. 

I learnt so much from this absolute stranger! And feeling you get after acquiring new valuable knowledge is unbeatable, they do say 'knowledge is power'.

Click here to see Alan's hugely insightful and informative blog!

 #Talk2a'Stranger' #Brothers&Sisters

Stay tuned and stay blessed!

COOL DEBATES; 'SCIENCE HELP US' - Why Are We Racist?

Good day beautiful people! I hope you've already done your good deed for the day, whether it was helping your mum with the shopping or letting the pregnant woman behind you with two shopping bags onto the bus first.

Recently, I have spoken to many people, family, friends and professionals, about the seemingly eternal problem that is racism. Racism isn't a new phenomenon, and we've most probably all been on the receiving end of it, whether it was 'light-hearted' and 'jovial' or outright, in-your-face, r a c i s m, we've all experienced it. But the question is, why? Why are we still racist, why does it still exist? What is the 'science' behind racism?

If you've viewed my last post, you would have seen that I was talking about our life's number one enemy, fear. Fear is the main thing that stops us from doing the things we want to in life. As people, naturally, one of our favourite things to do is meeting new people, not only is this one of our favourite things to do, but it is also essential for the growth of every human being, no exaggeration. If we all spoke to each other, the knowledge we would gain would make humans, as a collective, one of the most powerful forces in the universe. But anyway, back to fear. How is fear related to racism?

About two nights ago now, I found myself knee deep in a debate on LBC (Leading Britain's Conversation, formally London's Biggest Conversation) 97.3 FM. It was around 2am and I was listening to Cristo Foufas' show, which is AMAZING. Cristo, an exuberant man of the Greek variety from St. Albans, loves to touch on all the topics that a lot of radio presenters are scared to talk about. He began by talking about UKIP and a news story that had broke, where a member of the party, Rozanne Duncan, was videoed saying that she "didn't know why, but she doesn't like negroes or people with negroid features", she then followed this by saying.. "I am in NO WAY racist", when I heard this it had me thinking.... 'what? How can that not be racist?!'...

The fab Cristo then opened up the show for listeners to call in, which they did, in their 100s. The majority agreeing with Cristo in saying that the woman was racist and her comments were derogatory. The mood of the conversation started to alter after a few people (from African backgrounds) phoned in, claiming that categorically, the entire white race is racist for one reason or another, a very racist statement, in itself, the issue was getting nowhere. This massive generalisation was picked up on by the LBC presenter, who said "hold on, we can't be making such huge generalisations.. It makes you just as bad".

After a few more opinionated callers, up stepped 'Anthony', a caller from Greater London, who votes for UKIP. Anthony came on, and some would say, bravely, defended Ms. Duncan's comments, claiming that he too was not racist but also had a problem with some Africans. This instantly alarmed me as I could hear the honesty in what he was saying, I could hear that he was genuinely distressed by his opinions and did believe that he was not racist. He specified, he stated that he was friends with plenty of Africans.. But mainly eastern and southern as he had a problem with the way Western Africans and Caribbeans looked. Cristo then stopped Anthony with a sentence, 'So.. you are basically saying that you don't like the black people that look more black?', to which Anthony replied, 'Yes. But I am NOT racist'. As you can imagine, given this day and age, Anthony was promptly laughed off the air as a racist.

I thought that something was wrong here, something fundamental had been missed and in order to get to the root of this serious problem, an element of understanding has to be applied to the situation. At 3am, eyes half shut, I tweeted Cristo, saying 'I don't think you should be so quick to call Anthony racist' and said that it seemed like he was being very honest and true to his feelings and when that is the case, you must first try and understand someone.

Cristo replied to me asking me to message him privately, where he asked for my number and said that the show would like to have me on, if I didn't mind. I accepted the offer and no sooner than 5 minutes later I received a call from the station. I spoke to the producer of the show briefly about my views and the girl I spoke to seemed to agree with, saying that Anthony seemed 'scared' more than anything.

I said 'exactly..'

Cristo then had me on the show and we spoke for a good 10 minutes on the subject. I explained what I believed the main problem was surrounding racism. I said that Anthony seemed like an honest, good person and pointed out that he wouldn't say he was friends with Africans (eastern and southern), if it wasn't true. This made it clear to me that the problem wasn't the fact that someone was a different colour, it seemed to be more about the features.. 'Why are their noses so much bigger?? Why are their lips bigger? How comes they are stronger?

Naturally, when we don't know why someone looks a certain way or why someone acts differently, you develop a natural fear towards that person. This only means that when something goes wrong, the people that you're unsure of will get the blame and as a result feel the wrath of the vexed individual. This natural fear can be seen as a wall that you put up to people, and it can only be knocked down by talking to people and learning about different people.

If you don't take the time to understand and appreciate the people around you, you are susceptible to having your mind polluted by the current social ideals we have in place.

People who are able to come out and say they don't like someone and they can't explain why, need to be helped and educated. This is clearly a cry for help as they wouldn't say a word if they were happy being labelled as a 'racist'.

The end to racism is only ever around the corner, and will come, it will come once we make social and cultural studies and integral part of the education system. When multi-cultural societies were created, basic essentials were forgotten, you cannot possibly think that throwing a bunch of people together from all the different corners of the Earth into the same place, without firstly educating people as to why we are so wonderfully different, is right. It is always bound to go wrong in some instances.

If you have a friend who seems to have a problem with people who look differently, they may not be a KKK subscriber/Nazi, talk to them, ask them why? What is it that you don't understand about the person and see if some simple explaining helps the situation.

When we call someone racist, it does absolutely nothing to help the situation and the person, it only keeps them in the same place mentally.

Taking offense to these behaviours means that you are turning it into a personal attack, the issue is well and truly global. Don't be selfish, we all do wrong, try your hardest to act with love and first understand where your opposite number is coming from, that way you can sympathise and educate them on what is right and what is truly wrong.

I hope everyone had a blessed weekend and is enjoying 2015 as much as I am. Stay blessed!