Kevin Munoz’s type-led Flying Lotus limited edition screenprint is a super nice piece of design. Printed using metalic ink on black paper, it is in the Cali native’s own words, “super nerdy and way blingy.” Coming in at a mere $20 it’s as kind on your wallet as it would be to your wall.

Munoz has worked for the likes of Paul Frank and Converse and counts joker Jack Black as a fan of his Juan t-shirt. Check his artwork which has that relaxed, idiosyncratic vibe that is peculiar to Californian visual culture. His blog and bio also raise a smile.

We don’t do end of year lists at Bonafide but if we did Dimlite’s Grimm Reality would we be well up there alongside Shabazz Palaces’ Black Up, Thundercat’s The Golden Age of Apocalypse and Stepkids self-titled debut as some of the strongest releases of 2011.
Andy Spragg described Grimm Realityas “Ducking the cliché of ‘being taken on a musical journey’, Grimm Reality is more akin to going from ‘in here’ to ‘out there’, a sudden collapse of constraint into dazzling inventiveness.”

We have three copies of the album up for grabs, to stand a chance of winning one just answer this question: Which country is Dimlite from? Send your answers into the usual address, mailbox@bonafidezine.com including your full name and postal address details.
Competition closes February 25th.

A quick round up of some of the great art stuff going on this month – which can also be used as a handy guide to tasteful last minute Christmas presents.

Last weekend saw the Christmas Bazaar featuring Pure Evil, Mr Jago and a whole host of others. The line-up and events sounded amazing and, judging by the above image, it looked the dogs bits as well. Also happening this December is Pictures On Walls annual art-ghet-t0-together headlined this year by Evol with a supporting cast full of familiar names (will Bansky appear, the catalogue says not but history suggests yes), whilst Print Club have their excellent 12 Prints show going on. Meanwhile up north, illustrator Matt Sewell has been working as fast as a Hummingbird’s wings producing some brilliant work around birds (the feathered not the female kind).

News has recently been broken of an EP-length collaboration between Madlib and Freddie Gibbs. Still untitled, it will consist of six tracks, Thuggin’ and Deep being two, and be released through Madlib’s Madlib Invazion label at the start of 2012.

Having previously worked with esteemed musicians DOOM, J Dilla and Strong Arm Steady, Madlib’s famed psychedelic production will stand as a change of direction for Gibbs’ hood-rap style.

Containing vocals, instrumentals and two bonus beats, the artwork by Jeff Jank (check out his guest cover design in Bonafide #03) will feature a dual A-side, “Madlib” printed on one side, “Freddie Gibbs” on the flip.

Love this new skit by the Modern Toss team for Channel 4′s Comedy Blaps series. A genetically enhanced, bastard child of Danger Mouse and Lord Alan Sugar that’s received a blood transfusion from Bob Hoskins (in The Long Good Friday mode) and Scarface, Business Mouse is not interested in type of cheese most mice get excited about and has business skills best described as lacking (m)nouse. “Show me the money!”

Ben Drury, legendary go-to man for anyone wanting street influenced graphic design that drips with innovation and freshness, has broken cover from his esoteric and sometime plain unfathomable The Silent Listener (or the Violent Whistler as it is now called) website and launched a more commercially minded space to showcase his far reaching and influential talents.

The new site show’s off everything from his record covers, promo direction and love of handcrafted typography. An inspiring insight into the work of a man best summed up as a ‘designers designer’.

What is it with rappers and acting? The tangible line of success between hip-hop and Hollywood has strengthened through the nineties and into the noughties, with countless examples of successful money-grabbing rappers trying to convert their lyrical talent into acting steel. What is it that prompts this change in field? The money? The ego? Probably both. The on stage persona that is seen as part and parcel in the hip hop industry appears to feed the musicians’ egos to the extent whereby they believe that they have the ability to cut the mustard in front of a camera.

Needless to say, the forgotten failures far outweigh the success stories. For every Common and Ice Cube there is a 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, RZA, Ja Rule, DMX, Eve, Xzibit and Ludacris. ‘Where’s Eminem?’ I hear you cry.  Sorry Eminem fans, but one good role does not make a good actor.

One hip-hop icon who has bucked the trend by making a tentative yet successful conversion into the glitzy world of film and TV has been LL Cool J. With credible turns in Deep Blue Sea, S.W.A.T and Any Given Sunday, J has most recently turned his Shakespearean prowess towards such shows as 30 Rock, House and, most recently, NCIS: Los Angeles in which he has a starring role with Chris O’Donnell of Fast and Furious fame.

Now just as much a seasoned actor as rhyme-spitter, J can be legitimately respected in both fields. This is not to say that he hasn’t appeared in some clangers over the years, but would you be able to name any Academy award-winning star who hasn’t been part of a box office dud in their entire career? Say what you will about James Todd Smith, but the self-proclaimed G.O.A.T. has stayed busy on both the rap and celluloid fronts, acting continuously while finding time to crank out an album every two years or so. Here’s to hoping that 50 Cent’s latest role as a near on anorexic isn’t as god awful as it sounds.

More exhibition news, this time a bit closer to home. From the 04 – 27 November 2011, Borough and Lane a new exhibition featuring works on paper by American artist Evan Hecox, will be held at Stolenspace, London.

I’ve been a big fan of Hecox’s since seeing his Beautiful Losers exhibition and his contributions to Arkitip. He’s reached the stage that few artists many to do – develop a style of work that is recognisable, popular and influential. Indeed a quick root around the office reveals magazines, CDs and even tees (it’s that kind of office) that feature his work. He’s worked with some of the great indies such as Chocolate Industries where his killer portraits for the Urban Renewal Programme matched the sounds of the releases, and been commissioned by major’s such as Adidas   and bitten – as all great styles are – by Coca-Cola. Hey his work has even been featured on pillow cases.

His own art practice has been flourishing as well. His works on cities are particularly strong and lend themselves to his abstract interpretations and clever use of shadow. His new show draws on his explorations of London town, a journey that took him through the back streets and little used passages and visits to the industrial heartlands and bustling thoroughfares. Likely to be a more nuanced and real view of the capital than a thousand tourist shots taken outside of Buckingham Palace.

Bonafide issue 04 star D*Face is holding his first solo exhibition in Australia during November. His new show takes places at the Metro Gallery, Melbourne, and will give our Antipodean cousins a chance to view work in the flesh by an artist who has made his name subverting popular culture and playing fast and loose with the trademark pop stylings of Litchenstein and Warhol.

The exhibition will launch on the 02 November and include his flutterdies and splutterflies work, original pieces, huge concrete spraycan sculptures (that will also be dotted around Melbourne city – try nabbing that Mr Street-Art reseller on eBay) and, according to the blurb, a new limited edition print.

Some big street-art exhibitions are penciled in before the end of 2011, including Triptease Revue from Paul Insect. Held at Post No Bills, California, graphic designer (he was one half of Insect with Luke Insect) turned street-artist, Paul Insect has been a piece of the furniture at POW for a long time. His Bullion show in 2007 made the headlines for boasting chomped on gold bars and for Damien Hirst – aping his friend Jay Jopling’s Super Market Sweep shopping technique – by buying the whole show.

I’ve been a big fan of Paul Insect since his Dead Rebels series and for prints like Who To Believe, his artwork for DJ Shadow and his street campaigns featuring science fiction-esque baby heads. However, compared to other luminaries in the scene, he’s been keeping a relatively low-profile, so hopefully Triptease Revue will prove more than a tantalising glimpse of one of the UK’s most technically adept and diverse contemporary artists.