Why I Like Comics

Art - Barkley Hendricks

Barkley Hendricks (Born 1945) is an artist from Philadelphia. He works primarily with large-scale paintings of African-American subjects. The subjects exude a sense of pride, dignity, self-assurance and beauty reflected in their style, wardrobe and pose. The ideals of Black Power which are exuded in the portraits is central to his work. A retrospective

(The Birth of Cool), which began at the Studio Museum in Harlem, is currently making stops in

Santa Monica, Philadelphia and Houston.

North Philly Niggah

Tyrone

Tony

Hendricks' paintings offer a variety of styles which have evolved offer his prolific career. The technical virtuosity of his later paintings, like Tony, border on the tradition of photorealism.

Fela Amen, Amen

Cocaine, Crack, Whiskey and Cognac

Racionais MCs are one of Brazil's first nationally popular rap groups. Emerging from the favelas of Sao Paulo's periphery their lyrics touch issues from the police's brutality to the Brazilian political system's racism. Their fan base comes primarily from Brazil's lower classes, in part because of the group's lyrical aggression towards the established elite.

Sabotagem was another Brazilian rapper from the favelas of Sao Paulo who passed away in 2003.

MV Bill is a Brazilian rapper from Rio de Janeiro. His

lyrics deal with many of the same social issues as Racionais MCs. In addition MV Bill has become a leading social

activist concerning urban violence in Brazil.

Jamaica Gangsters Pt. I

I'm a big fan of Jamaican culture and people. The musical heritage is amazing and they continue to produce amazing quantities of quality (albeit dance oriented) music. The people are amazingly warm and their accents are badass.

Speaking of badass, for a country so well known for its beaches

and buddah smoking Rastas Jamaica has a deep history and tradition of gangsters in its culture.

How does a country's stereotypical image include this:

This...

and this?

Jamaica's tradition of Gangsterism in popular culture dates back at least the 1970's and has heavily influenced pop culture in the UK and the United States. In 1973 the Jamaican film The Harder They Come starring reggae star Jimmy Cliff opened. The film follows the trajectory of a real life Jamaican gangster, Rhyging.

Other films like a sequel (The Harder They Fall) and Rockers continued the tradition of Jamaican gangster flicks. Immigration from the island led to new breeds of musical styles influenced by Jamaica in the UK and the US (Will tackles this in second part of post) and a new image of the Jamaican gangster. Slang like "Rude Boy" and "Yardie" which originally refered to the juvenile delinquents in Kingston and resident of the government housing projects (yards) in Trenchtown, took on a new meanings in their immigrant context, as gangsters.

So obviously when I saw this trailer for the movie Shottas (another slang for gangster),

I was stoked about the prospect of a revival of the Jamaican gangster flick.

To be continued...

Pictures

This is your face, now this is your face on meth. This is from an ad for some sort of facial cream. "This face cleansing lotion doesn't just make your skin look younger, it actually reverses the aging cycle."

Next...

If anyone ever asks you what the weather is like in Portland show them this picture. Just remember to copy and paste that pattern over the months between October and June.


Next...



This can't be real, a facebook quiz entitled "How perverted are you?". If you really are a pervert do you think you need a quiz to tell you. And if like the unfortunate friend whose results were "Pervert" do you really want all your friends to know? What's next are you an "Are you possible serial killer" quiz? Should the government take preventative action and just throw anyone whose result come up as "Pervert" in jail?

You're Fakin' The Funk

Main Source's Classic from 1992 - off the soundtrack to

White Men Can't Jump...Remember that one...

Look at that style. So good. Wesley's double tank top. Classic.

What ballers.

Speaking of style check out Large Professor's look...

You can't honestly tell me that Where's Waldo shirt isn't

amazing. And you don't want one.

Matter of fact all the dudes from Main Source were stylin', just look...

Just look at those pants. Wow.