Couture Corner: Influential urban youth lifestyle brands

Urban youth brands such as Ama Kip Kip and Galxboy are brands which complement the word “COOL” within urban streets of South Africa. Today on Da Stitch we briefly look at four cool brands that represent and speak the same language as the urban youth of South African. Not only are these brands cool, but they are also affordable and influential to the urban youth culture.

Butan wear

Known for its cool and affordable clothing Butan Wear was founded in 2001 by engineering graduate Julian Kubel. Since its inception the brand has grown to be one of the republics beloved street clothing and has also endorsed South African rapper, Kwesta.

Purchase items online or locate stockist: www.butanstore.com

Twitter: @ButanWear

GALXBOY

This is a brand I first saw wore on the busy bodies of the East Rand based Pro Twerkers, doing what they do best twerking. The brand was founded in 2008 by young design Thatiso “Vuittots” Dube with a vision to conquer the South African fashion and street style wear industry. GALXBOY caters for both men and women of all races who are into looking fashionable.

Purchase items online or locate a stockist: www.galxboy.com

Twitter: @GALXBOY

Head Honcho

As the brands slogan goes “Live Progressively”, the clothing brand from the Mother City was inspired by forwarding thinking young South Africans with the aim to influence the urban youth culture across metropolitan city such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.  The brands clothing is one of the coolest to emerge from the streets of South Africa and also hosts lifestyle events as a way to market the street wear label.

Purchase items online or locate a stockist: www.headhoncho.co.za

Twitter: @HeadhonchoSA 

Ama Kip Kip

Fashionistas might disapprove with my opinion that Ama Kip Kip played a major role in influencing the street wear culture not only in South Africa, but across the continent of Africa. Founded in 2006 by SiyabongaNgwekazi, NgoriTakawira and NkosanaModise, who together built a clothing label loved and worn by many.Ama Kip Kip endorsed South African talents such as aware winning hip hop group Teargas and Jozi’ band member Da L.E.S.

Flagship store: Rosebank Mall

Twitter: @AmaKipKipSA

Ashley Mokwena

@ashfonik

Sounds of the moment

“Brown Eyes” – Danny K

“Hood Pope” – A$AP Ferg

“Hawaai” – Big Nuz

“Heaven” – Da L.E.S FT AKA and Maggz

“Rider” – Ace Hood FT Chris Brown

@DaStitchBlog

Beat Box: Kendrick Lamar heats up hip hop

Kendrick Lamar performing at the Governors Ball, held at New York City

Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Tyler and Mac Miller, all prolific “new n_ggers” whose hip hop talents shouldn’t be underrated by anybody, unless the critic is some kinder hip hop genius.

Last week hip hop fans took to social media sites to express their views on the controversial new song “Control” by Good Music rapper Big Sean which features Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica. Fans shared divided views and some expressed the same opinion regarding the lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s verse. Lamar’s verse carried an insulting message calling out his peers and uttering that he is the “KING OF NEW YORK”.

While having a conversation with a hip hop lover and a mate of mine on “Control”, he expressed that “to a certain degree Kendrick Lamar could have been quoted out of context”, conversing further on my hip hop loving mate later mentioned that “maybe it’s a good thing that he (Lamar) heats up the rap game a bit and it might also up the standard which has dropped and competition of the rap game”.

The controversial song reminds is a little reminiscent of 50 Cent’s“Piggy Bank”which to a certain level hit the likes of J Rule, Nas, Jadakiss and Fat Joe. One thing for sure “Control” will lead to some “new n_ggers” who were mentioned on the song to retaliate and one can expect harsh verbs.

Thanks to the Compton born rapper a characteristic that I cannot even describe which has been missing within the game of hip hop seems to have reappeared, and my own opinion the interesting phase of new school hip hop has emerged.

Kendrick is a talented rapper, but knighting himself as the “King of NEW YORK” that was a little extreme!

Ashley Mokwena

@ashfonik

Box Office: Action packed laughter

Babalas

 

Cast: Ian Roberts, Norman Anstey, Jack Parow, Tammy-Anne Fortuin

Directed By: Peter Scott, Frederick Hamman

Genre: Comedy

Running Time: 1 hr. 42 min

This local comedy starts with Mia Moolman (a girl who works for an events company) who is tasked by her boss to create an event for SA’s most successful ad campaigns. She decides to bring together three men who starred in Castrol ads and in so doing has to travel to the Kalahari to bring them back in time for the event at Emperor’s Palace. She finds the men in a questionable state indeed which proves entertaining as she races back against the clock for her event.

 

The Wolverine

 

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada

Directed By: James Mangold

Genre: Action and Adventure

Running Time: 2 hr. 16 min

As inspired by the original television series, the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine finds a very dishevelled-looking Wolverine wandering around Japan. He is, however, thrown into a battle that forces him to regain his wolfish ways in order to survive. Pushing himself to the limits and going through a journey of enlightenment – the Wolverine kind he deals with his personal issues, learns the art of samurai-fighting, battles ninjas and moves forth in his quest as the man with the steel claws.

Adhiti Naidoo

@ashfonik

 

In social media space

Facebook to tweak your news feeds – CNN International

Twitter buzz helps up TV show ratings, Nielson finds – Bloomberg

Music publishers to sue Youtube network Fullscreen over unlicensed songs – Techcrunch

Vine climbs to top of App Store - CNET

Twitter: @DaStitchBlog

Facebook: Da Stitch

Tech Bite: TheDot Com Faces

When the creator of the World Wide Web Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee created this great information system that one can classify as a great invention, did he actually envisage the possibilities of other inventors utilizing his creation?  Today on Da Stitch we briefly take a look at inventors who have embraced and harnessed the wonders of the World Wide Web. Through their creations they have emerged as leaders of the information technology and communication industry.

Jeff Bezos

After graduating at Princeton University Bezos landed a job as computer scientist at Wall Street and later led a Hedge Fund firm. The experience gained while working at the Wall Street gifted the ambitious Bezos with an opportunity to play an important in the e-commerce industry as founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, an online merchant for books and later to sell a variety of products online.  Under his leadership Amazon.com become the largest retailer on the World Wide Web and top model for internet sales. To further add on his entrepreneur edge he recently acquired media publication The Washington Post from The Washington Post Company for a reported estimate of $250 million (R2.5bn).  

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Stanford University graduates Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google Inc. in 1998 with the vision of creating an easily accessible and informative search engine platform. Together they invented a champion tool that would influence how people search for information on the net. After firmly positioning their idea to number one spot, Page and co-partner Brin expanded their invention and added products such as Gmail, Youtube, Blogger, Google+, Google Earth and mobile device operating system Android to mention a few. 

Mark Zuckerberg

The co-founder of the world’s most popular social networking site Facebook and Harvard University dropout Mark Zuckerberg founded the site with his friend Eduardo Saverin. From making a presence on Harvard, Facebook spread across the US and then took the world by surprise being the most used platform to share one’s life and daily experiences with friends online. Not only did Facebook earn Mark Zuckerberg global recognition, but it also bank rolled his finances making him the youngest billionaire.

Pete Cashmore

Scotsman Pete Cashmore is founder and Chief Executive Officer of popular technology and social media blog Mashable which is based in New York City. Cashmore founded Mashable at the age of 19 and his creation rewarded him dearly with millions and landed up with a weekly column on CNN writing on technology and social media developments.

The mentioned and many other dot com inventors turned entrepreneurs have put together reliable products that have one way or the other required the influence of Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web invention.

Ashley Mokwena

@ashfonik

More than just a sports wear shoe

The athletic apparel designed Air Jordans were first made for NBA rookie Michael Jordan in 1984, and released in 1985 for consumers by sportswear brand and manufacturer Nike. Since the shoe’s introduction in the sports market the brand has evolved from just been a sports shoe to street gear influencer.

Air Jordan currently sponsors 19 active NBA players, including the likes of Chris Paul, Ray Allen and Carmelo Anthony.  The controversial history of the sneaker is subject to what the Air Jordan brand is and what it stands for today.

Something I fail to understand is how does a shoe with a controversial history such as the Air Jordan be wildly admired across the face of the planet? Is it because of its association with sports stars or sports codes which have an impact within the American society?

Recently a mate of mine posted on popular photo-sharing site Instagram his new sneaker acquisition the Air Jordan which he purchased for over a R1000, which he wore at the Durban July.While on the basketball court a week ago, two teenage amateur ball players came through on court stylishly wearing their Air Jordan sneakers reflecting some sense of swag. Asking them why Air Jordans? The one young oke reluctantly replied, “why not Jordans?”

A day doesn’t go by without seeing the controversial sneaker, perhaps it’s time my black arse hopped into a retail store and purchased a pair of Air JORDANS.

Ashley Mokwena

@ashfonik