Yup, that’s right kids, for a limited time only you can read all back issues of your favourite art design and music magazine (or ‘a fucking hip-hop guide book’, according to Raekwon) online at Issuu.
We enjoy wasting the day away on the Internet whilst pretending to do work as much as the next person, but Bonafide is essentially a print magazine and in order to keep it that way we need to sell it. And to encourage you to buy it we’re giving away a free album from the legendary BBE records with every 2 issues ordered via our online shop. And that’s what we like to call bullshit free marketing. …Read More.
Rome born, Barcelona based beat-smith Giovanni Civitenga aka My Dry Wet Mess may have a slightly silly name but his musical pedigree is very serious indeed, for the 27 year old producer has a background in sound-reactive video design and a father who plays bass for Ennio Morricone’s orchestra. …Read More.
All art is subjective. But there are some lyrics that, no matter the time nor place, will remain epically true; verses that represent a moment, feeling and passion in a way that demands preservation. Listening to Talib Kweli’s immaculate Blackstar collaboration with Mos Def, for example, it stands tall to this day – 13 years later – as a body of words that’s simply untouchable. …Read More.
Fresh off the back of his long awaited Long Player, First Word Record’s resident crate digger and veteran beat maker Mike-L cooks up an exclusive mix for Bonafide.
Mike-L is one of the UK’s leading turntablists and has graced no less than 6 DMC finals with his innovative scratch routines. …Read More.
These superhero prints by Justin Van Genderen act as a nice foil to the Olly Moss Star Wars pieces we posted a while back.
Riffing off the art deco stylings of 1920s and 1930s travel prints, Van Genderen succinctly captures the essence of some of our favourite superhero yarns. As ever, in my book anyway, the Dark Knight wins hands down.
For more images in the series and to purchase limited edition screen prints visit Genderen’s etsy site.
Jackson is a true ‘headz, head’ and has the talent and ability not only to produce timeless work, but also straddle moving pictures, graphic design and audio production with equal aplomb. For a man who has produced visual slickness for Eric B & Rakim, The Rapture and Output Records, and a multitude of dope music releases under various guises including Playgroup and The Underdog, Nowhere should be a very interesting show. We reckon anyone even slightly curious about the work of an established UK innovator who has helped shaped todays street aesthetic should check this out.
Nowhere features a series of photographic and video works and will run from March 4-26.
Scientist/Various Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space
Tectonic
It seems a relatively obvious connection, getting one of dub’s leading pioneers to remix a range of dubstep tracks, and it is certainly the case that Tectonic have made a link that proves intriguing. Dubstep’s debt to the sonic tenacity of its nominal predecessor has been fairly apparent; not only in the music, but also in the rhetoric of individuals such as Kode 9, for whom the concept of music as some form of mutating viral strain echoes dub’s constant re-framing of its source material. How much of this is apparent in Scientist Launches… is somewhat debatable. …Read More.
Deadly Avengerwas always on the cinematic tip. Anyone who’s listened to his early output, either his Illicit material or his excellent FabricLive 04 mix that opened with the fantastic film riffing track We Took Pelham, would have clocked on to the fact that the dude also known as Damon Baxter had, besides an excellent appreciation of hip-hop beats, a wider vision. Fast-forward a few years and Deadly Avenger is now the go-to-musician for the likes of HBO and SKY and also for commercials that clock up a cool 1.3 million views and some which don’t get viewed that often but really should be.
We will have a Deadly Avenger exclusive shortly, but in the meantime check out his new website and treat yourself to a free MP3 while you are there.
Horrorcore emerged in the late 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to the hippy hop of De La Soul or an evolution of NWA and the Geto Boys’ brutal gangsta rap.
Despite the aesthetic dichotomy between heavy metal and hip-hop the genres have shared many similarities, especially at the extreme end of rap. A morbid fascination with murder and violence was a preoccupation for Kool G Rap, KRS 1 and Anthrax alike during the late 1980s. …Read More.
Jose Parla continues to channel graffiti, the spirit of Pollock and Twombly, and combine it with his own personal experiences and unique style to bring work into the world of fine art that in years to come could see him referred to an ‘old-school master’. An expert exponent of hand-styles and innovative user of mixed media, Parla’s new show Walls, Diaries, and Paintings features new paintings chronicling his experiences of urban life and the cities concrete culture.
The exhibition runs from March to April at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, NYC, and for those that can’t make it (including myself!) there is an accompanying monograph available here. As the promo shots indicate Parla is a unique talent and, in terms of being able to understand, reflect and express the rhythms and spaces of urban life, he is making a sustained play to be this era’s Mondrain.
