Saian Supa Crew never does what has been done

Saian Supa crew, composed of beat boxers and MC's, was formed in 1997. Their name refers to Saïyen, manga figures designed by Akira Toriyama. The three groups(Explicit Samouraï, OFX and Simple Spirit) of this amazing underground collective met at the Nomad Studio.

There were six of them: OFX members Vicelow and Féfé (Féniksi), Simple Spirit members Sir Samuel and Sly the Mic Buddah and Explicit Samouraï members Leeroy Kesiah et Specta. All of them had different origins(Morocco, Nigeria, Guadalupe) and lived in the greater Parisian region. The eclectic bunch's differences resulted in everlasting tracks characterized by a distinctive positive sound and reflective lyrics.

All adepts of Afrika Bambataa's Peace, Love and fun, they always stayed true to the pure essence of hip hop music. 
Saian's communal slogan was "Jamais ce qui a été fait tu ne feras". (you will never do what has been done) Their original blend of hip-hop, beat boxing, soul, zouk, reggae, disco and dance hall was their force, as they were one of the first French rap groups to mix musical styles. 

Influenced by soulful musicians D' Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Erika Badu, Marvin Gaye and hip hop legends A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde and De La Soul, the vibrant crew easily succeeded in developing their own joyful French style.
Their philosophical tracks focused on moral and social items as hard drugs(Que dit-on ?), racism (La preuve par trois), AIDS(14.02.2002), intimacy between males and females, suicide(La Dernière Séance) and violence in religion(Au Nom De Quoi).

The six members autonomously produced their first mix tape entitled Saian Supa Land(1998), followed by 1999's Saian Supa Crew.

Saian's first album KLR(1999) was dedicated to OFX member KLR who passed away after a car accident. The album was sold more than three hundred thousand times, partly because of the hit Angela.
The record is characterized by beat boxing, theatric interludes, samples of Bachanach, Cosma and influenced by ragga, reggae, zouk and soul. 

Their second album X Raisons(2001), with its satirical interludes, ragga and soul samples, received a Victoire de la musique price for the best rap album(2002). 

The same year they released Da Stand Out EP and performed at the biggest European rap concert Urban Peace. The Saian Supa Crew shows were spectacular: entertaining the crowd with humoristic sketches, beat-boxing and break dancers.

Specta left the group in 2003 to focus on Explicit Samouraï. The same year Saian featured on RZA's The World According To RZA.

In between their second album X raisons and their third album Hold-up, the members engaged in solo projects and groups such as OFX's album Roots, Explicit Samourai's album Rap, Sir Samuel's album Vise pli o and Sly's beat box maxi. 

French DMC champion DJ Kärve joined the collective in 2005. 

Hold Up(2005) featured German singer Patrice(96 degreez), singer Camille(Si j'avais su) and Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am(La patte).
Another mature record, sparkling with positive energy, uplifted with reggae, soul and jazz samples and the traditional beat boxing.

When Leeroy left in 2007, the entire underground collective of legendary performers and exquisite musicians split up.

Will this funky formation make a comeback? We sincerely hope so...

Diamond District: March on Washington

The Diamond District trio worked hard on their freshly released album, entitled March on Washington. The title refers to the civil rights rally in 1963.

Oddissee, yU and Uptown XO focused their brainy wordplay
on social, political and religious themes. Once again Oddisee delivered compelling cohesive productions, bubbling with warmth and soul. 

Their artistic maturation is to be noted in this exceptional album. 

DMC World Championship 2014

This year's DMC World finals were held on the fifth of October at The Forum London. 
Mr Switch(Anthony John Culverwell) may now call himself DMC DJ champion.
The second place went to American I-Dee, third to Canadian DJ Vekked.
French 9 o'clock won the team championship. The Supremacy title was earned by Image from the Wood, with Vekked as runner up.

www.dj-mr-switch.com

Icy & Sot

Icy and Sot Coke can Tabriz, Iran

With funny artist names referring to icy and drunk and a challenging piece called Beer Is Not a Crime, Iranese siblings Icy(1985) & Sot(1991) are on their way of becoming as good as their role models Blek Le Rat, Banksy, Dolk, Blu and King Stencil.

The young men, who were very fortunate to have progressive parents, grew up in the city of Tabriz. In 2005, the passionate skaters started stenciling skate logos, skulls and computer game images on their boards. Their first amateur stencils were merely made of cardboard and X-Acto knives. They tackled skate parks and the streets, where their stencil and sticker work would be covered up in a jiffy. The brothers also created a giant Coke can sculpture out of a corroded tank situated near Tabriz.

They soon got in trouble because they were using green paint, which the police linked to green protest groups. The young men were caught several times in their homeland, having been interrogated for days at a time. After fulfilling their military service, they were allowed to leave the country. 

Their critical Thief piece, depicting Iranese president Ahmadinejad and Syrian Assad made it impossible to return to their country where street art is highly dangerous and illegal, could even lead to a Satanism charge.

Their universal works about war, peace, hope, love, hate, despair and human rights have been stenciled in the streets of Iran, Turkey, Paris, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. Dutch street art collectors Klerlx and van Gelderen discovered the stenciling brothers. The boys' creations are represented by their Art Agency. From 2009 on, the duo had gallery shows all over the world, from Teheran, Rome, Paris, Los Angeles, Adelaide to New York.

In 2012, their pieces were shown at Pori Art Museum's Street Art – The New Generation exhibition in Finland. The same year, their Made in Iran show at the Open House Gallery in Manhattan was an incredible success. 

In March 2013, the brothers went on a Four City East Middle West tour, with shows and musical performances by the Yellow Dogs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago. 

After winning the Red Bull Curates: The Canvas Cooler Project, they exhibited work at the Art Basel Miami Beach SCOPE fair(2013). 

They applied their signature stencil of the walking boy, which they have used all around the world. The boy represents all of those innocent Iranian children, who live in crazy surroundings while trying to keep that childlike sense of exploration and innocence. 

Children are often depicted in their creations because their happiness seeking, playful and explorative attitude is easy to relate to. 

Now living in Brooklyn, where spray paint is a lot easier to find, 

Icy & Sot continue their unique social crusade, making plans to go on a European tour.

Icy and Sot Beer is not a crime

icyandsot@gmail.com

http://www.icyandsot.com/

http://www.vimeo.com/icyandsot

http://www.flickr.com/groups/icyandsot

http://www.facebook.com/icyandsot

Make the city playable: The Playable City Movement

Piano staircase Stockholm

The universal Playable City movement creatively reacts to the cold, industrial, urban environment. Running counter to boring, machinelike cities where technology enhances the fear of isolation. A global human counterpoise to the anonymous, monotonous smart city, in which (swiping) screens predominate personal lives.  

The socio cultural movement has traveled to China, Brussels, Sweden, Brazil, Sheffield, Bristol, Italy, Texas, Japan and London, offering a gateway to a city of providence, hospitality and openness. Recently city conferences have been held in Brazil and Bristol. 

Urban planner Claudio Marinho explains that the project arises from the need for an affectionate re-appropriation of public places to get city-centre life back from our bunker-high-rise isolation. He aims to renew cities with landscape (urban memories), texture (human scale) and affection (place appropriation).
Bristol's conference organizer Clare Reddington claims smart cities are over-planned, with people hurrying like lab rats, guided by smart phones and paralyzed by technology. A safe urban playground has become a utopian ideal in the restricted setting of adult managed play. 

The key idea behind the Playable City project is the fact that urban living difficulties may only be addressed by collective action. 
A sense of communal well-being is not an issue to be solved by local authorities(but nevertheless requires their co operation), quite on the contrary: citizens need to be able to take control of their own surroundings. When given this creative ability, citizens can make profound contributions to their living area. The encouragement of public activities brings joy.

Much more than a trivial good laugh, play refers to any kind of pleasant activity which can act as an interlude in the city's functional productivity and stimulate individuals to reflect on what actually makes us human. Play ground cities combine art and play to ameliorate urban living. Self-conscious, artificial interventions are applied to unsettle our self made alienating, concrete cities, which are packed with people and filled with conflict.

There are easy, cheap ways of achieving a more human, friendly community. To add color to a grey, depressing society, many thinkers and artists have been commissioned. From Stockholm's Piano Staircase to Bogotá's traffic mimes, there are no restrictions to make people laugh.
This year Bristol allowed artist Luke Jerram to transform Bristol’s Park Street, one of the main shopping streets, into 95-metre a giant water slide open to the public.  His other low-budget Play Me, I’m Yours project has seen 1300 pianos installed in public spaces in 45 cities around the world. Other humoristic installations included temporary play streets,  a zombie chasing game and a text message conversation with a lamppost.

In Bradford artist Usman Haque designed a permanent installation of fountains and lights that respond to people's movements. Paolo Cirio's Street Ghosts consisted of life-sized printed pictures of people found on Google's Street View. In Britain there are around fifty incredible edible towns and cities, which grow fruit and vegetables for everyone to share. 

This unusual playfulness creates a happy city environment, it connects its citizens to each other and engages them to think about the ways of interrelating community and people.

A tube piano, unexpected light and sound installations, a narrated fairy tale on the way to the office, ...  are all simple but highly effective city interventions to generate an incentive, interesting atmosphere, as if on a delightful exploration in an exotic country.

Playable Cities: the city that plays together, stays together.
Let's all stop taking ourselves too seriously. It's about time we have some fun, play and be filled with wonder!

Giant water slide

The Outlaw Instagrammers' urban performance photography

Copyright Humza Deas

Seventeen-year old skater Humza Deas shares his urban experiences in New York via Instagram. Armed with a camera, the young urban explorer climbs sky-scrapers, advertisement-boards and bridges to discover unusual, spectacular visionary angles. 

The Outlaw Instagrammers group consists of street photographers who dedicate themselves to the playful exploration of the urban air. 
Its members try to outdo each other by getting the most likes on their startling photographs, to achieve the attribution of the letter K when their followers exceed 10.000. Last Suspect and Humza Deas are the group's leading photographers.

Competition is tough. When blabbermouth Deas told a reporter all there is to know about city climbing, he was confronted with hate and frustration from his colleagues. However this infamy led to publications in Complex and New York Magazine. 
Despite the negative exposure, the boy stays focused on aerial challenges and is planning to sell some of his work. 

http://humzadeas.tumblr.com
http://instagram.com/lastsuspect