The altruistic, versatile soul of Angie Stone

Angela Laverne Brown(1961) grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. As a child, she sang gospel at the Baptist church, inspired by her gospel loving father. Stone worked hard to be able to record demos.

At sixteen, Angie B. formed the female hip hop trio The Sequence with Cheryl The Pearl and Blondie. They were signed by Sugar Hill Records. The Sequence scored hits with Funk You Up, Monster Jam and Funky Sound.

During the 90's Angie was a member of the neo soul trio Vertical Hold, who made two albums: A Matter of Time (1993) and Head First (1995).

The talented singer-songwriter dated D'Angelo. Stone was responsible for the backing vocals and a fair amount of the songwriting on his first albums: Brown Sugar (1995) and Voodoo (2000). Unfortunately D'Angelo decided to focus on his super star sex symbol status instead of loving his female muse and altruistic mentor.

In 1996 Stone, Charlie Mole and Gerry DeVeaux formed Devox. The trio recorded one album: Devox Featuring Angie B. Stone. 

Angie's vocals on Vertical Hold's popular track Seems You're Much Too Busy led to Angie's solo career. 
Her debut solo album Black Diamond(1999, Arista) was followed by Mahogany Soul(2001, J Records). Her chart hitting third album Stone Love(2004) came a year before The Best of Angie Stone.  The Art of Love & War(2007)'s single Baby, which featured Betty Wright, was nominated for best R&B Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards. More recent albums include Unexpected(2010, Stax Records) and Rich Girl( 2012, Saguaro Road Records).

Angie Stone is a versatile polymath, utterly bursting with talent and passion. An activist, a poet, keyboardist, writer, basketball player, record and play producer, theatre and film actress and - last but not least- an amazing soul singer.

SpY doesn’t lower your cholesterol

SpY Banana, New York, 2008, copyright SpY

SpY is an anti-conformist street artist from Madrid whose first graffiti attempts took place in the mid 1980′s.

He soon abandoned graffiti to explore the vast variety of other artistic media. He first spread his name by means of posters, then by altering billboard advertisements.

His street art work is based on the observation of urban components which he replicates or transforms to produce innovative urban art installations that comment on urban life. Readapted everyday objects create a dialogue, ironic interventions encourage reflection.

Whether traffic lights, road signs, phone booths, police cars basketball courts or Braille messages, SpY wants his humorous interventions to cause an interpolation in the apathetic urban setting, to surprise people with something unexpected, to awake their ordinary lives and make them smile. 

Talib Kweli Gravitas

With over twenty years of field experience, Talib Kweli released the Attack The Block mix tape, Prisoner of Conscious and Gravitas in the last two years.

The MC used Khrysis, Oh No, Statik Selektah and J Dilla productions. The album includes guest appearances by Raekwon, Black Thought, Rah Digga and Mike Posner among others.

Kweli's sixth solo album doesn't sound innovative, nevertheless it is proficient thanks to the lovely soul samples, spiky rhymes and active beats.

Tracklist:

1. Inner Monologue
2. Demonology – f. Gary Clarke Jr.
3. State of Grace – f. Abby Dobson
4. Violations – f. Raekwon
5. Rare Portraits
6. New Leaders – f. UnderAchievers
7. The Wormhole
8. What’s Real – f. RES
9. Art Imitates Life– f. Black Thought, Rah Digga & ALBe. Back
10. Lover’s Peak 
11. Colors of You f. Mike Posner

The essence of street art

The street art movement arose from the graffiti movement, which was a reaction to the injustice poor youth in NY were confronted with.

Imprisoned in their social situations, artists used graffiti as an artistic 
protest against the authorities. The expression form, mostly applied in subway stations and public buildings, provided urban frustrations 
with a sound board, a highly original way to share personal opinions and inspiring, positive messages about politics and social abuse in a dysfunctional society.

Street art is a revolutionary art form based upon the continual relation with passers-by and the environment. The concept surpasses the narrower meaning of graffiti but it did remain loyal to the playground and the direct interaction with the public.

By means of a self devised , utmost unique language versatile artists communicate activist, critical messages about political and societal themes, materialism, consumerism, violence, immorality or propaganda for a good cause: to influence the collective behavior and stimulate reflection.

The use of catchy, popular images easily attracts passers-by, who connect with the recognizable, to mass culture referring symbols such as comic characters, super heroes or celebrities.

The spray cans made room for an immense variety of expressive forms: from collages, murals, installations, sculptures, video projections, stencils, knitta, photography, poster and sticker art, to virtual kidnappings.

Evolved from a territorial subculture into an innovative, surprising, subversive phenomenon, providing each and every one worldwide with free art, street art performs the essential role art should have in the development of insights and perceptions.

With its diverse references, interactive messages and intrinsic motivation the possibilities remain endless.

Red Bull BC One World Final 2013

The 10 year anniversary of Red Bull BC One was celebrated in Seoul's Jamsil Arena. On the 30th of November the final breaking contenders fought each other in a one-on-one b-boy battle. 

To celebrate ten years of world-class b-Boying, the previous eight winners were present. 

The world finalists first had to prove themselves in the cyphers and regional finals, held throughout 2013. Judged on their skills, choreography, innovation and character, the six qualifiers competed with previous belt winners such as Omar, Lilou, Neguin, and Mounir.

The new world champion is South Korean Hong 10, who had already won the 2006 world final in Sao Paulo. He amazed the crowd with an incredible display of signature moves, epic stare-downs and powerful freezes.