Bandai created armored cats ("Nekobusou") as a jokey tweet whose unexpected popularity inspired the toymaker to go into production with a like of armored cat figurines ranging from $5-14 each.
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In this preview clip from the upcoming BBC nature documentary series, Big Cats, a nearly full-grown rusty-spotted cat, the world's smallest cat species, curiously explores his forested habitat in the island country of Sri Lanka...(Read...)
Brian Hart's exhibit is currently on display through Monday, March 12, 2018 at Gallery 360.
"My work owes equally to the traditions of history painting and pop art. Themes in the paintings are often derived from stories and myths I enjoyed as a child and, instead of a straightforward approach, I reinterpret these stories using pictures appropriated from a wide range of sources. Images taken from advertising, cartoons, and wide variety of media are given equal weight with images drawn from the works of the old masters. This is not meant to disrespect the works of previous artists but meant to show how these images can have the same power, importance, and meaning.
Pictorial symbols in art used to be a language clearly read by the public, and allegorical paintings had set codes of symbols used in order to communicate to an illiterate audience. Now these same symbols can have a multitude of meanings depending on their context. The dense layering obscures a straightforward interpretation and invites the viewer to tease out the meaning by discovering and deciphering all the individual elements."-Brian Hart
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Remember JNCO? The mall goth’s jeans of choice, JNCO jeans were the height of alternative fashion back in the days when Limp Bizkit ruled the airwaves, with their ridiculously wide legs and graffiti-inspired embroideries.
Riding the nu-metal wave, JNCO’s sales peaked at almost $200m in 1998, but the trend soon died, and the brand’s profits halved just one year later. The label’s founders, Jacques Yaakov Revah and Haim Milo Revah, shuttered their factory in the ’00s — although the brand is still going.
Now, Los Angeles luxe-streetwear label Rose In Good Faith has partnered with JNCO to reimagine the brand’s late ’90s juggalo aesthetic (woop woop!) via a six-piece collection. Included in the lineup are cropped hoodies, flame-adorned pants, denim vests and mesh jerseys.
Cuts are oversized to Hulk Hogan proportions, naturally, and prices are firmly at the high end of the spectrum — $330-$1200.
Does the signify a revival? Wide-legged trousers are always a vibe, but even with all the ’90s and ’00s nostalgia that’s gripping the industry, JNCO’s proportions might be a bit too comical for modern tastes — but we’ll give you guys the benefit of the doubt if you do want to pull the trigger on some XXXL jeans.
JNCO x Rose In Good Faith drops via an online pop-up shop, which runs from August 17 till August 22.
Argentinian motion graphics designer Esteban Diacono spends most of his time producing slick digital treatments for corporate clients around the world from Fox to FX and the Discovery Channel. But he also sneaks in a few hours each day to work on an ongoing series of hilarious (or completely discomforting depending on your perspective) animation experiments that he shares through his Instagram account. The floppy 3D renderings of haggard old men being shot at with donuts and imposing suited figures clad in scale-like armor are all ways for Diacono to learn new animation tools like Houdini while expressing himself creatively, free of commercial constraints.
Dianco says the experiments began about 8 months ago, inspired in part by the wildly popular mo-cap dance video produced by Method Studios. “I started doing some small tests, and decided to start uploading them to Instagram as a way of forcing myself to start and finish something,” he shares with Colossal. “Otherwise, you can work on a piece forever and then forget about it when commercial work comes and you need to put it aside. These small things are manageable, they don’t take more than a couple hours to make and that’s great for me.”
While Dianco states emphatically on his Instagram profile that he’s “definitely not an artist,” he was approached in May by ArtFutura to participate in an exhibition at Ex-Dogana in Rome that’s up through September. You can follow more of his works on Instagram.
We can't be far off a time where we can order buckets of paint by punching in RGB color values. The big paint companies could obviously do this, but right now all they seem to offer are elaborate, bloated interfaces wrapping their own marketing-driven color schemes. And I'll grant that the paint pigment gamut might have some very weakly-covered areas, lightfastedness issues, and so on. I hope whoever eventually does this (brand suggestion: LATHEX) also creates a robust API for it and a affiliate program, so that Paint Colors Invented By Neural Network can be tested and refined against thousands of actual purchases.
Shedworks is making a video game and I don't care what it's about or whether it's "good" because it looks like Jean "Moebius" Giraud drew every frame of the teaser animations, and I am sold. Emerging from a shed in North London, the unnamed project is by Gregorios Kythreotis and Daniel Fineberg.
Subject-28 presentes sketches, cels and animation tests from Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 masterpiece, Akira. A huge and beautifully-presented selection. [via]
Hunter Hobbs somehow convinced a group of his international friends, from the UK, Australia, Germany, France, Scotland, Turkey and more, to take a regretful shot of Jeppson's Malört, a wormwood liquor made by the Carl Jeppson Company in Chicago, Illinois, that's infamous for being one of the worst tasting liquors ever made.
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After having what can now only be assumed as a very busy hiatus, English artist, Damien Hirst, is back to present his new exhibition, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable,” in Venice, the capital of Italy’s northern Veneto district.
Although his name might have lost some of the weight garnered after “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”saw the suspending of a tiger shark in a vat of formaldehyde, Hirst’s latest project plans to exhibit an impressive 189 new pieces. The show will occupy an unprecedented space in the city’s Palazzo Grassi, as well as the Punta della Dogana which runs along the Grand Canal.
Despite exact costs being unknown, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” is rumored to be one of the most expensive shows ever put on by a contemporary artist. In other news, Daniel Arsham’s ‘Future Relic 07’ will feature a Sony Walkman II – check it out here.
Anyone who follows soccer will know that Cristiano Ronaldo does not take kindly to being mocked, which is what makes the superstar’s newly unveiled statue and the subsequent online mockery all the more hilarious.
Yesterday, a bronze bust of the Real Madrid winger was unveiled in his hometown of Madeira; the terrifying design more in line with something from a cannibal horror film than an Iberian Lothario who models for Armani.
Within moments of surfacing online, the work of art (ahem) attracted widespread derision, with commenters comparing it to everyone from The Joker to Sloth from The Goonies. While Ronny himself has yet to comment (we’re sure he loves it), the sculptor, Emanuel Santos, has been bullishly defensive, claiming that it all comes down to a “matter of taste.” If you say so, Emanuel.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best reactions so far. If you’ve got any of your own, be sure to share in the comments.
American animator Kirsten Lepore, best known for her stop motion short films like Sweet Dreams, Bottle, and Move Mountain, has returned with a new animated project dubbed “Hi Stranger.” The nearly three-minute short in turn stars a nude claymation man, voiced by Garrett Davis.
During the picture you will more than likely transition from feelings of discomfort to encouragement, and back and forth, as the character provides the viewer with a rather interesting pep talk.
After watching Lepore’s Hi Stranger short, be sure to his us with your thoughts in the comment section.
Studio Ghibli just released an official “No Face” coin bank, based on the iconic character from Spirited Away. And much like the original character, there is something unsettling about it. Fans ... Read more
In 1973 Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill stumbled upon a cement factory in Catalonia, Spain, an enormous compound of silos and buildings that covered nearly two and a half miles of underground tunnels. Bofill decided to buy The World War I era structure and its grounds, making modifications to the original structure in order to create an all-inclusive live/work space that would unite the Surrealist, Abstract, and Brutalist elements found in its industrial form.
Original construction to transform the sprawling series of buildings took a little over a year and a half. After the dust cleared from the jack hammers and dynamite, Catalan craftsmen worked to add gardens and purpose back into the abandoned compound. Today the factory holds a cathedral, model workshop, archive rooms, residence, and studio, a workspace for Bofill’s firm spread over four floors in the factory’s silos and connected by a spiral staircase.
Despite over forty years in the making, the entire project is constantly evolving and is one that Bofill never sees as being fully completed. With continuous tweaks, Bofill has created a perfectly programmed existence, a ritualized lifestyle that goes against his previously nomadic early life.
“I have the impression of living in a precinct, in a closed universe which protects me from the outside and everyday life,” said Bofill on his website. “The Cement Factory is a place of work par excellence. Life goes on here in a continuous sequence, with very little difference between work and leisure.”
You can see more images of the garden-covered structures on Bofill’s website, and see a short Nowness documentary on his studio and residence below. (via Designboom)
Joan of Arc. Jules Bastien-Lepage, 1897. Oil on canvas.
Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that more than 375,000 images found in the museum’s online collection are now available for free and unrestricted use. The high-resolution images are licensed under Creative Commons, the non-profit organization that facilities the public use of some 1.1 billion digital works.
The announcement is an update to the Met’s 2014 initiative placing hundreds of thousands of images into the public domain, but the expanded policy, called Open Access, now allows for unrestricted usage including commercial purposes. The vast library of paintings, historical objects, photographs, textiles, and prints can now be utilized anywhere for any purpose. Metropolitan Museum of Art Director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell shares in the announcement:
We have been working toward the goal of sharing our images with the public for a number of years. Our comprehensive and diverse museum collection spans 5,000 years of world culture and our core mission is to be open and accessible for all who wish to study and enjoy the works of art in our care. Increasing access to the Museum’s collection and scholarship serves the interests and needs of our 21st-century audiences by offering new resources for creativity, knowledge, and ideas. We thank Creative Commons, an international leader in open access and copyright, for being a partner in this effort.
All images available through the new Open Access policy are searchable on the Met’s website. Simply check the “Public Domain Artworks” option under “Show only” and start searching. Seen here is a small collection of images available through the new policy. (via My Modern Met)
Victorian Interior I. Horace Pippin, 1945. Oil on canvas.
Openwork furniture plaque with ram-headed sphinx. Neo-Assyrian. ca. 9th–8th century B.C.
Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1868–69. Oil on cavas.
Panel with striding lion. Mesopotamia, Babylon (modern Hillah, Iraq) ca. 604–562 B.C. Ceramic, glaze.
Mäda Primavesi. Gustav Klimt, 1912–13. Oil on canvas.
Frederick Douglass. Portrait by Mathew B. Brady, 1880.
Award to the Hammond Typewriter Company. Jules-Clément Chaplain (French, Mortagne, Orne 1839–1909 Paris). Bronze.
People who looked at pictures of cute animals "improved performance on tasks that required carefulness." The results of the experiments are in a paper titled The Power of Kawaii, by Hiroshi Nittono , Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano, and Hiroki Moriya, published in the Public Library of Science (PLOS).
This study examined the effect of viewing cute images on subsequent performance in unrelated tasks. The images of baby animals were rated as cuter and more infantile than the images of adult animals in all the three experiments. When the participants rated the images of both baby and adult animals (Experiment 3), the former were rated as more pleasant than the latter. In the first two experiments, viewing cute images improved performance on tasks that required carefulness. This effect was found in a fine motor dexterity task that was related to helping others (Experiment 1) and in a non-motor visual search task that was irrelevant to caregiving or social interaction (Experiment 2). The improvement was associated with either a decrease or an increase in performance speed, depending on the nature of the task. Experiment 3 showed that viewing cute images narrows the breadth of attentional focus and reduces the global precedence effect in a subsequent task.
Devin Stratton, 25, was backcountry skiing in Utah's Wasatch Range when he accidentally glided right off a 150-foot cliff. It was unmarked. Above, his Instagram post with the video evidence.
Sharing because I have been slacking on hearing new music and have not heard of any of these.
There’s been no shortage of essential rap albums released in 2016. John Twells and Chris Kelly assemble the best of the bunch, from Lil Yachty and YG to 21 Savage and Kamaiyah.
The dominant narrative in rap this year was a shift from nihilism to redemption – as evidenced by Future’s diminishing returns and Chance the Rapper’s ascent with the gospel-tinged Coloring Book. But as the new generation kicked back against grumpy rap traditionalists, championing Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert and 21 Savage and failing to acknowledge OG rap heroes – most notably The Notorious B.I.G. – the divide between old and new seemed to widen.
The truth is that in 2016, rap is many things: it’s lyrical and it’s simple; it’s slappin’ and it’s near-ambient; it’s made for the club and it’s made for the headphones; it’s jubilant and it’s savage; it’s truth and fiction; it’s old and new. If time is a flat circle, someone’s gonna press it to wax and spin it.
We’ve put together our favorite 20 rap albums this year, and don’t worry if you don’t see some of your favorites represented – it’s not a slight. There’s no A Tribe Called Quest here because they’ve been elevated to a different place at this stage – they’re the Rolling Stones of rap right now and don’t need to be shoehorned into a list like this. Danny Brown’s excellent Atrocity Exhibition was also omitted; not only was it well represented in FACT’s album list, but at this stage Brown has asserted himself as a presence that operates outside of genre – and he’s all the better for it.
Lil Yachty is one of 2016’s defining characters – a boogeyman that “discerning” adult rap lifers use to prove to their weary children that the genre ain’t what it used to be. “He doesn’t even respect the game,” they cry hopelessly, betraying a shocking misunderstanding of the plurality of a 40-year-old genre in 2016.
Yachty’s existence – his reliance on simple, bubbly hooks and catchy ad-libs; his vivid dress sense; his unrelenting positivity – is not an attack on rap’s lyricism or heritage. Rap can be many things, and Lil Boat, Yachty’s most defining long-form statement to date, is proof that you can experiment with a genre’s most polarizing elements and connect with a new generation of rap listener. No, Biggie isn’t Yachty’s rap GOAT – it’s free-associating cloud rap outsider Lil B.
He scored his biggest hit of the year assisting D.R.A.M. with ‘Broccoli’, but Lil Boat shows his range, with tracks like the hazy ‘Up Next 2’ and the Mario 64-sampling ‘Run:Running’ offering a deeper look into his brightly-colored world. Yachty isn’t documenting the harsh reality of street life and why should he – it’s not representative of his interests at all.
When FACT spoke to him at SXSW earlier this year, he was most animated when we chatted about video games – he connects with his fans playing Call of Duty and Halo online. This is Yachty’s reality: positivity, parties and video games. And there’s no reason why that can’t also be rap. JT
19. Dae Dae & London On Da Track DefAnition
(Self-released)
If you were watching Atlanta rap closely this year, you certainly came across Dae Dae. The 24-year-old isn’t exactly a newcomer – he’s been appearing on tracks since 2012 – but 2016 is the year people really started to take notice.
2015’s lean ‘What U Mean’ had a new lease of life this year, notching up tens of millions of plays on YouTube and even making its way into the Billboard chart. It’s a bona fide ATL anthem, and with DefAnition – a collaboration with Young Thug producer London On Tha Track – the young rapper proves that ‘What U Mean’ isn’t simply a one off.
Firstly, Dae Dae’s got range. DefAnition isn’t just a rehash of Rich Gang’s most successful London On Tha Track-produced moments – Dae Dae dips from addressing Black Lives Matter on the opener (“Is it the color of my skin / Maybe it’s how I sag my pants?”) to teaming up with 21 Savage on ‘Bullshit’ to offering his own dancehall-flavored ‘Luv’-beater with ‘Don’t You Change’.
There’s a sense that Dae Dae’s the whole package and if he can maintain the momentum, 2017 is his for the taking. JT
West Coast rap is the gift that keeps on giving, and in a year headlined by releases from heavyweights like YG, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, there were plenty of newcomers making names for themselves as well. One of the stars of the new class is G Perico, a Jheri-curled Los Angeleno whose piercing, nasal flow recalls Cali legends like Too $hort, DJ Quik and Eazy-E.
The title of Shit Don’t Stop is instructive: life for someone who describes himself as “a gangster, a player, a banger, a baller” isn’t just Air Maxes, rubber-banded stacks, Henny and women: it’s tough to celebrate when there’s “death in the air.” With its modern take on G-Funk and gangsta rap, Shit Don’t Stop sits nicely next to YG’s Still Brazy and Kamaiyah’s A Good Night In The Ghetto as another dispatch from the best coast. CK
Not many rappers have the talent to follow-up a double-sized debut album with a short-but-sweet concept record, much less in the span of little more than a year, but it’s becoming crystal clear than Vince Staples is not most rappers. After telling his coming-of-age story on the expansive Summertime ‘06, the 23-year-old Long Beach rapper explored what it means to be young, gifted and black in 2016 on Prima Donna.
Punctuated by despondent interludes that find him with a tape recorder in one hand and a .44 in the other, Prima Donna sees Staples employing his agile flow in service of OutKast-sampling salvo ‘War Ready’, N.E.R.D.y pair ‘Loco’ and ‘Pimp Hand’ and bluesy centerpiece ‘Smile’. More than just a stopgap until his next record, Prima Donna is a statement in its own right. CK
It’s hardly surprising that when Gucci emerged from jail with ‘1st Day Out Tha Feds’, fans were suspicious. The skinny, ripped figure that rapped “It’s a lot of people scared of me and I can’t blame ’em / They call me crazy so much, I think I’m starting to believe ’em” exhibited an unfamiliar self-awareness on top of the bangin’ bod. It was a far cry from the stout, erratic addict who’d slurred “I’m drinkin’ soda pop with purple, whippin’ coke and bakin’ soda” only three years prior.
This new Gucci was a clone, some fans surmised – a theory that the ATL veteran knowingly toyed with in the ‘1st Day…” video. But when Everybody Looking dropped, the situation was clarified and put into focus. This was a clear-headed Gucci; a positive Gucci who was regretful but hopeful – spurred on by the support of his long-term girlfriend (now fiancée) Keyshia Ka’oir. It was a rare feel-good story in a particularly difficult year, and Everybody Looking is the document of Gucci’s very personal battle for sobriety.
“Facing prison, drug addiction / It’s like I’m battling with myself / I done shook up all my demons / Now I’m back to myself,” he admits on ‘Back on Road’. His street stories are still just as vivid, but kissed with caution. Gucci is settling into his new role as an elder statesman of Atlanta rap, and finally it sounds as if he’s comfortable in the role. JT
Denzel Curry has come a long way from Raider Klan upstart. Last year, he added acid to his anxious energy on 32 Zel / Planet Shrooms, a combination that becomes cohesive on Imperial. Rather than the Memphis cosplay of early Raider Klan records, Imperial updates the Three 6 Mafia aesthetic for a new generation, aiming ominous trap beats and Curry’s unmistakable triplet attack on street-life realities and the police-industrial complex.
Imperial is an intense, nihilistic record, but Curry’s growth as a songwriter keeps it from becoming impenetrable: he sings his hook and recruits Rick Ross for gravitas on ‘Knotty Head’, and expands his palette on ‘Zenith’ and ‘If Tomorrow’s Not Here’. Throughout Imperial, his growth as a man and an artist is apparent, which he acknowledges on ‘This Life’: “Didn’t notice, but as of late, I think I’ve changed / Not the same since my younger days, so far I came.” For a rapper who is still just 21 years old, it’s a moment of self-awareness that bodes well for his future. CK
After being at or near the top of FACT’s best labels list for two years running, there was bound to be some regression to the mean for Awful Records in 2016. But while some of the bloom may be off the rose, there were still highlights, including the latest full-length effort from Lord Narf.
Fittingly for a project entitled Witchcraft, Narf’s sing-song flow is hypnotic and spellbinding. And like the best Awful releases, the entire crew is part of Narf’s coven: Ethereal and Dexter Dukarus lay down left-of-center trap deconstructions that live at the triple point of moody, mellow and menacing, while Alexandria and Tommy Genesis double up the feminine energy of ‘Ex’ and ‘Take Me Home’ respectively. Like last year’s Sick, Witchcraft is more proof that Narf is one of the best rappers around – not just in Awful, and not just amid her female contemporaries. CK
It’s been a couple of years since Young Thug broke into the mainstream, wowing listeners with his post-Weezy rubber-voiced flow and androgynous look. It’s Jeffery, though, that’s taken him to the next level, both as a style icon and as a bona fide pop superstar.
The cover is already iconic – Thug is dressed provocatively in a theatrical, baby blue Alessandro Trincone dress. But it’s the music that matters, and Jeffery shows the rapper at his very best, toying with hook-laced pop (‘Wyclef Jean’, ‘Pop Man’), ATL street rap (‘Floyd Mayweather’, ‘Harambe’) and nailing the contemporary club rap sound with break-out single ‘Pick Up The Phone’.
Jeffery feels like a watershed moment for Thug – he can do anything, and as we’ve seen, he’s going to do it on his own terms. Love him or hate him, you can’t begrudge him that. JT
Lyrical. A big personality. Raps about drugs. These days, it seems that most rappers can manage (at most) two of these. Houston’s Maxo Kream does all three. We slept on Maxo 187 but didn’t make the same mistake on The Persona Tape, a dense, drugged-out slab of street rap that induces laughter and claustrophobia in equal measures. Maxo dazzles with lived-in details (perhaps a little too lived-in) and an elastic flow, finding the pocket whether the beat is by ex-Cool Kid Chuck Inglish, Awful rep Slug Christ or anonymous newcomer Wlderness – he’s even comfortable over a Wiley beat.
This versatility allows Maxo to focus on painting pictures in vibrant, codeine purples: tales of scamming with Karo corn syrup, building up a military-grade arsenal and leaving John Does in vacants – all while chewing Xans like candy and rhyming Alprazolam and Alpharma. “Texas country ranger sipping dirty out the teaspoon,” he raps on the Paul Wall-featuring ‘Smash’, “Swanging, banging, pop the trunk like ‘Hi it’s nice to meet you’.” If The Persona Tape is your introduction to Maxo Kream, it’s one hell of a first impression. CK
After years grinding on the mixtape circuit, Memphis kingpin Young Dolph finally released a proper album this year, and it didn’t disappoint. King of Memphis is that rarest of rap full-lengths – all killer, no filler. It’s 11 tracks – a mere 35 minutes long – and shits on most other rap albums released this year.
Dolph excels with a well-trained ear for beats and a confidence that only comes from experience. When he croaks “before I learned my ABCs / I learned how to hustle” on album highlight ‘Fuck It’ he sounds completely effortless; when he chants “fuck it”, you’re left with no doubt that he means it.
As rap was gripped by gospel-flecked jubilance in 2016, it was refreshing to hear Dolph sticking to his guns and simply coming correct with a grip of lean, grimy bangers that come into their own when played at deafening volume. Man cannot live on sunshine and rainbows alone. JT
Amid the rich and varied cast of characters that have revitalized West Coast rap for the last half decade, it is perhaps YG – not Kendrick Lamar – that stands tallest. While K. Dot has taken his music in increasingly heady directions, YG has found fertile soil while staying closer to the earth. After recounting the day-in-the-life of a Compton gangbanger on My Krazy Life, YG looks inward and steps out on Still Brazy, letting his real-life anxiety and paranoia fuel his ever-sharpening lyricism. And while DJ Mustard loomed large on My Krazy Life, YG and company use Still Brazy to write a love letter to the entirety of West Coast rap (basically, the laser-focused version of what Lamar did for black music writ large on To Pimp A Butterfly).
Still Brazy is cohesive but contains multitudes: gangsta rap shit-talkers, BBQ party starters and – perhaps most surprisingly – political rally rockers. Post-election, ‘FDT’ has gone from campaign season one-off to four-year anthem, and ‘Police Get Away Wit Murder’ and ‘Blacks & Browns’ continue the political traditions started by NWA and 2Pac that have been largely missing from mainstream rap. So fuck Donald Trump, and long live YG. CK
For a genre that few people outside of LA got to clap their ears around, jerkin’ has had an outsized influence on rap in the last few years. DJ Mustard’s self-styled “ratchet” sound is a direct descendent, and that still dominates not only LA’s rap scene but the wider world. Put it this way: if you spun YG’s Still Brazy this year, you were listening to jerkin’s run-off.
As part of five-piece Pink Dollaz, twin sisters Cam & China cut their teeth in the LA-centric scene back in 2009, and this year they returned with their debut release as a duo – one of the year’s very best EPs. There’s none of the dancefloor and radio friendly snap of Mustard here, but the stark minimalism that characterized a scene that regarded the kick drum as optional is present in tracks like stand-out ‘In My Feelings’ and the stark ‘Low Low’.
When the duo allow their back-and-forth to bubble into something more pop-friendly – for instance on the early Kendrick-esque finale ‘We Gon Make It’ – it’s very clear that the reason they’re still around is that they possess what others are missing: dextrous lyrical skills, a talent for memorable hooks and a rapport only twins can nurture. Seven tracks ain’t nearly enough. JT
8. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin Savage Mode
(Self-released)
As we look for end-of-the-year superlatives, there’s a case to be made for “savage” as the word of 2016, a year marked by musical legends falling like dominoes, successive waves of online outrage and – most significantly – the global trend towards reactionary politics. Similarly, there’s a case to be made for 21 Savage as the rapper of the year: not by traditional metrics, but as the rapper best suited for our coming (or increasingly current) dystopia.
Over the starkest beats Metro Boomin has ever composed – and without the shellac of Auto-Tune to soften his blunt edges – 21 Savage whispers, chants and otherwise grunts his lyrics, which are often as casually spoken as they are caustically sinister. Percs and syrup don’t just fuel parties – they’re consumed to kidney-fucking levels. Guns aren’t just fired at enemies – they’re aimed at mothers and grandmothers until the neighborhood is lit up like the Fourth of July. And how else to describe a lyric like “hit her with no condom, had to make her eat a plan B” than savage? Make no mistake: 21 Savage is a “fuckin’ bad guy.” But in 2016, Savage Mode often seemed like the soundtrack most apropos for an apocalypse. CK
Despite producing high-profile tracks since 2010, Cardo had arguably his biggest year yet in 2016. The Colorado-based producer produced two of the albums in this top ten list alone, and his glossy blend of G-Funk and early-‘00s pop rap has proven to be one of the year’s best surprises.
On Big Bossin’ Vol.1 Cardo teams up with Detroit’s Payroll Giovanni, one of Detroit’s Doughboyz Cashout crew, and finds a kindred spirit. Despite not being from South Central, Payroll has no problem spinning together complex, lyrical street rhymes over talkbox croons on ‘Big Bossin’ and recounting his lifelong struggle over funk loops on ‘Real Plug’.
There’s a nostalgia element to the record, that’s for sure – but Payroll and Cardo don’t mine the late ‘80s and early ‘90s to play on acclaimed totems of hip-hop’s golden era. Instead they attempt to master a more maligned sound, and they occasionally better it. It’s one of the most enjoyable rap albums of the year. JT
Sacramento’s Mozzy had had a more prolific year than most of his peers. He’s on a Gucci Mane-style roll, dropping new full-lengths at a faster rate than Donald Trump farts out petty tweets. Of the umpteen albums Mozzy dropped in 2016, Mandatory Check is the most coherent and the most focused.
Mozzy’s unique selling point is his ability to vocalize not only the ugliest part of gang life, but the dread and depression it informs. His rhymes are dipped in regret and remorse – he doesn’t falter for a minute, but he’s horrifyingly aware of the mental price he’s paying for his actions.
“I’m on these pain killers tryin’ not to feel it,” Mozzy opines on ‘Pain Killers’, blocking his most gruelling experiences while diving into new ones. It’s not always an easy listen, but Mandatory Check is as raw and genuinely melancholy as rap got in 2016.
Before Cousin Stizz, Boston inhabited an awkward place in the rap landscape. It had its successes, sure, but the boom bap runs deep – in Boston, even the backpacks wear backpacks. It took Stizz – and a few of his like-minded associates – to wake the city up to a fresh, innovative generation that were ready for change.
MONDA is a confident second outing for the Dorchester rapper, outlining both his lyrical skill and rare attention to detail. He goes deeper and darker here than he did on his excellent debut Suffolk County, and isn’t afraid to approach subjects most rappers take years to address.
But Stizz’s real skill is in fusing the old with the new. He doesn’t simply jump on Atlanta beats and label himself an innovator – Stizz has teamed with producers that understand a balance between freshness and heritage, and his sound reflects that better than anyone on the East Coast right now. JT
After blowing us away with last year’s gothic opus Down By The Trinity, The Outfit, TX returned this summer with Green Lights (Everythang Goin). This time around, the Dallas trio took trap tropes down home to Texas – the part of the rap map best known for sludgy, chopped-and-screwed menace.
On Green Lights, rapper-producers Dorian, JayHawk, and Mel fixate on money, women and power over sinister nightmares made of gut-rumbling bass and horror-movie ambience (Stunt N Dozier, the Dallas duo behind underground hits by Dorrough and Gangsta Boo, produced more than half of the mixtape). For fans looking for the spiritual successors to Southern rap powerhouses like UGK, Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG, look no further than The Outfit, TX. CK
California’s Bay Area has long understood that if you fold some fun into rap, the results speak for themselves. Look at E-40 – the Vallejo vet has nurtured a career that’s lasted longer than most of his peers, despite being the butt of plenty of jokes in the 1990s. By nurturing his fan base, keeping an ear to the streets and keeping the quality consistent, he’s managed the impossible. Fuck, he even owns a wine company.
He also knows how to identify young talent, and Nef the Pharaoh is his newest protégé. Nef is another Vallejo native who seems eager to pick up where his mentor left off, but he’s far from a copycat. Neffy Got Wings succeeds because where other rappers have posture and tall tales, Nef substitutes heart and home truths. Sometimes he’s aspirational (‘Michael Jackson’), sometimes confessional (‘Devil’s Team’) and sometimes throwback (‘Wake Up’) but with Cardo on the boards it’s a perfect meeting of trunk rattling beats and urgent, infectious rhymes.
2016 was the West Coast’s time to shine, and few rappers shined as brightly as Nef. JT
While other rappers made headlines by disavowing Biggie and Tupac, Kodak Black used 2016 to follow in their footsteps. After closing 2015 with a somber jailhouse missive (his Institution mixtape), Kodak celebrated his 19th birthday with Lil B.I.G. Pac, the South Florida rapper’s tightest, strongest effort yet.
Throughout the mixtape, it’s shocking how preternaturally gifted Kodak is at bringing vitality and personality to familiar street rap tales (despite the title, Kodak is more in the tradition of Gucci and Boosie). Often, that means opting not just for a nihilistic, me-against-the-world attitude but struggling to “do something productive for once” instead of simply finding solace on the streets, whether that’s taking time to raise his son or mourning the ones he’s lost. But he doesn’t put on airs: despite all his life experience, he’s still just 19, and that means sometimes his better angels will lose out: for every moment of self-reflection, there’s a sip of syrup or a lick to hit.
That way of life hasn’t come without consequences (he was recently released from a Florida jail only to be extradited to South Carolina on a sexual battery charge), but his lyrics at least look towards a better future. After all, as he raps on ‘Everything 1K’: “You know life ain’t tied with a bow but it’s still a gift, though… It’s a blessing just to be here.” CK
A Good Night in the Ghetto is the rap album of the year and it’s not even close. It’s got everything you could possibly want – honest, affecting lyrics, a confident, infectious flow, great hooks, incredible beats – even the artwork is great. The fact that it’s Bay Area newcomer Kamaiyah’s debut is even more startling.
Kamaiyah sprinted out of the gate last year with the anthemic ‘How Does It Feel’, but rather than pad a lazy mixtape around one breakout hit, she managed to put together an album that’s packed with jams that are as good, if not better. It’s the depth of the album that makes it so special – it’s a record that can be played endlessly on hot summer days with the car windows cracked, but one that works equally when it gets personal.
The album’s most crucial point is the last track, ‘For My Dawg’, a dedication to a friend who died of cancer. It’s not the first rap obituary and it won’t be the last, but Kamaiyah’s wordplay and sensitivity is breathtaking. “And I can’t give a fuck about these millions / And I will give it up to see him live on / To raise his daughter up ‘cause she’s so brilliant,” she says, close to tears. It’s a poignant moment that shows that there’s far more to the Bay than parties, and far more to Kamaiyah than one big single. JT
If you haven't peeped any of the new episodes they are pretty easy to find streaming online.
Interest in mushrooms is, well, mushrooming. In recent years the utility of mycelium has made these pages numerous times, from the production of infinite-sized mushroom-based leather sheets to word that Dell and even Ikea are looking at it for packaging. Earlier this year we even grew our own mushroom mycelium planter in less than a week.
One of the reasons mushrooms are looking like a good sustainable bet is that, like bamboo, the stuff grows quickly. A mushroom's mycelium roots can absorb water so rapidly that, viewed in time-lapse photography, they don't seem to be growing so much as inflating:
Those time lapses were shot for the UK's new Planet Earth IIseries, which is currently only viewable by Britons. We yanks will have to wait until January before we'll get to hear David Attenborough narrate the on-screen wonders on American TV.
If you've not heard of the show, the eye-opening trailer is below:
(PG-13 language) Australian comedian and film critic "Ozzy Man Reviews" adds hilarious commentary to an intense chase scene from the first episode of BBC's Planet Earth II nature documentary series. Watch the original clip.
In this fun series of six embroideries, Slovakia-based artist Terézia Krnáčová brought needle to bread as a way to combine her need for food and textile artwork, a somewhat literal expression of things that sustain her. Titled Everyday Bread the work incorporates a slice of bread for each day of the week in a different design, with the 7th slice remaining plain in honor of the sabbath. You can explore more of her sculptural and textile work on Behance. (via iGNANT)
View the full project here
