Procrastination is not the business. Until it is. And being that I still need to knock out this 10-page paper, it seems like the ideal time to drop a handful of tracks on the Bowties. Jesse already knows, but the real gem in here is the Jose James. Trey Songz goin in over Gucci’s “Lemonade” is a highlight too. Folks out there are grinding too, so if I can distract them from something “important” for a minute, I think I’ve done my job for the day. For all the things we try to do here, we can’t really claim to be helpful as far as homework goes. My apologies.

Download: Trey Songz – “Lemonade” (Remix)

Download: Gorillaz – “Rhinestone Eyes”

Download: Cults – “Go Outside”

Download: Jose James – “Code” (Produced by Flying Lotus)

Download: Redman – “Lookin’ Fly”

Download: RJD2 feat. Phonte – “The Shining Path” (Alan Wilkis Remix)

Download: T.I. – “I’m Back”

Video: Kid Cudi feat. MGMT & Ratatat – “Pursuit of Happiness” (Alternate Video)

Video: Mayer Hawthorne – “I Wish It Would Rain”

Video: Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) – “In This World”

While it might not be his strongest work to date, “Nothing On You” should give B.O.B. the chance to leapfrog a handful of cats in the game right now. At the end of the day, hits get peoples’ attention, and the song is still smashing on most of the shit on the radio lately. Bobby picked the right director for the job though. Ethan Lader, the mind behind quality videos from Pac Div, Kidz in the Hall and my personal favorite, Rob Roy’s “Fur In My Cap”, put together some creative visuals to accompany the song. Expect to see Bobby and Ethan back soon.

This is pretty spectacular. Meet the PS22 Choir. A group of elementary and middle school kids from Staten Island who have found global fame by finding their voice. This song leaves a little to be desired, but kids are great so it’s all good. But what if this became the norm? Kids just started singing pop songs on the regular? Forget amazing grace, what if kids were singing some Lykke or Trey Songz in class? Ok, the Trey Songz is a stretch, but it’d be amusing to see nonetheless. Some 8 year olds singing out, “She gon think I invented sex!” Could you see it?

Download: MGMT – “Flash Delirium”

Today, I’d like share one of my favorite movies with you. Sweet Elizabeth brought this into my life many years ago and it has been my answer to “what’s your favorite movie?” ever since. I can’t even begin to relate to you how wet this movie is. Kof & Lan know. I watched it over and over in Tendrich. I don’t know. It’s just my kinda shit. Reality will always outdo fiction, because that shit actually happened. And nothing is crazier than that.

Seven years ago, a little known trio from North Carolina dropped an album that made an extraordinary amount of noise. Within months of The Listening being released, 9th Wonder was being commissioned for a beat on The Black Album, and the album was drawing unsolicited praise from hip-hop royalty like Pete Rock and ?uestlove. A few years later, their soulful sound has led each of LB’s three members on different paths. Phonte’s Foreign Exchange is Grammy-nominated, Pooh is a few quality solo projects deep, and 9th, who bowed out of the group in ‘07, is a certified super-producer for everyone from Erykah to De La. Next month should see the release of Leftback, unfortunately billed as Pooh and Phonte’s final album together, with “Curtain Call” as the first single. Khrysis killed this one though, and if this a sign of things to come, we got one more quality album to look forward to.

Download: Little Brother – “Curtain Call”

Yoshiro Nakamatsu is a pretty unusual cat. Known to the world as Dr. NakaMats, the 81-year old Japanese inventor holds the world record, with over 3000 inventions. Included on his long list are the floppy disk, CD technology, the digital watch and the karaoke machine, some of which is confirmed by his longstanding relationship as a consultant to IBM. Of course, more than a few of his claims are hard to prove, but at the least, NakaMats knows how to entertain. Some of this shit you just have to see to believe.

Last month, Max, Danny and myself had the privilege of being among a small group of folks who witnessed the first live performance of Broken Bells, the collaborative project put together by Danger Mouse and James Mercer. With a capacity that couldn’t have been more than 200, the show was a firsthand, intimate look at exactly what it was these two had in store. When this particular joint dropped, Max and I could already tell it was bad. In other words, it’s good. And “The Ghost”, like this song and this song, is nothing if not good. The album drops today, and to say I’m giving it a cosign would be a serious understatement. Cop that.

Download: Broken Bells – “The Ghost Inside”

Timothy Leary could not be stopped. He was determined to secure his position as the “high priest” of the LSD movement. He knew he needed the news media to spread the psychedelic gospel, and journalists knew they needed Leary to figure out what was going on in the early years of the counterculture. Leary’s concern for public relations was on display the night following the Human Be-In extravaganza in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the event where the former Harvard psychology professor – dressed in white with beads around his neck and a yellow flower tucked behind his ear – first uttered his infamous slogan, “Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.” Leary had just run out to get an early edition of the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner. He rushed the newspaper over to an apartment in the Haight-Ashbury where Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder and others were in the midst of a post-celebration party.

Leary handed the newspaper to Ginsberg, who read the story, headlined HIPPIES RUN WILD, and let out a moan. “That’s ridiculous,” Ginsberg complained. “Like, it was an aesthetically very good scene. They should have sent an art critic.”
Reporting a complaint

Ginsberg picked up the phone and called the newspaper to register his complaint with the night editor at the newspaper.

“What is this nonsense about hippies running wild?” Ginsberg asked the befuddled editor. “Your story has the kind of inaccuracy of tone and language that’s poisoning the community. Is that what you want to do?”

“We sent our hippiest reporter,” the night editor replied.

“I don’t know what kind of hippies you’ve got over there at your place,” Ginsberg said, chuckling. “Besides, what is this hippie business? What does ‘hippie’ mean, anyway? These kids aren’t hippies – they’re seekers. Today was a serious religious occasion.”

Ginsberg promised to come over to the newspaper first thing Monday morning and talk to the reporter about doing a more accurate follow-up story. The editor said that would be fine. They’d see the famous poet at The Chronicle offices on Monday.

“Well, peace,” Ginsberg said, hanging up the phone.

Ginsberg, still dressed all in white, was sitting on a mattress in the meditation room in the apartment of Michael Bowen, one of the Human Be-In organizers. The mattress and the wall behind him were covered with Indian bedspreads. Sitting next to him was Gary Snyder, who had beads hanging over his turtleneck sweater. Most of the people at the party were still in their Be-In costumes, except for Leary, who had taken off his loose white garments and changed into sports jacket and trousers. That way he looked more professorial when the television news crew showed up dragging klieg lights and cables into Bowen’s apartment.

It’s all about visuals.

The cameraman turned away from Leary and held a light meter up to Ginsberg’s face. Here was a guy with a bushy black beard, love beads and white robes. Better visuals for a TV news segment on the hippies.

The poet groaned at the TV crew. “Man,” he said, looking at Bowen, “it’s bad enough that you have a telephone in your meditation room.”

Ginsberg lightened up when the TV reporter offered his take on the day’s festivities. “I don’t know why,” the television guy said, “but this whole day strikes me as absolutely sane and right and beautiful. You guys must have put something in my tea.”

“What’s so insane about a little peace and harmony,” Ginsberg replied. “Thousands of people came to the park today, just so they could relate to each other – as dharma beings. All sorts of people – poets, children, even Hell’s Angels. People are lonely. It’s strange to be in a body.”

Gary Snyder nodded. “People are groovy,” he said.

Ginsberg looked into the television camera. “It was very Eden-like today,” he said. “Kind of like Blake’s vision of Eden. Music. Babies. People just sort of floating around having a good time and everybody happy and smiling and touching and turning each other on and a lot of groovy chicks all dressed up in their best clothes and -”

“But will it last?” the reporter asked.

“How do I know?” Ginsberg said. “And who cares?”

I still have yet to step through the doors of Opening Ceremony but when I do it’ll be a joyous occassion. Morgan’s in there now, so now ceremony is about to commence. In this short, Spike Jonze sits down with the creators of Opening Ceremony, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon to chat about the inspiration for the space, the importance of limitless branding, and their aspirations to promote culture and creativity. A well done piece, the video shows what the power of passion can lead to. Be sure to say hi to Morgan when you hit up the store. Hit the MORE for part II.

Ladies and gentleman, I’ve come to a stark realization at 3:26PM. Today, I’ve realized that text messages are played out. They’re boring. They’re impersonal. They’re generic. Anyone can push some buttons with their thumbs. But who can show you the world through their eyes? It’s a little more work, but if you mean it then it’s worth it. It’s as simple as that. We all send and receive boring ass text messages everyday, me included. The “What you doing tonight,” the “What’s Good,” and the infamous two letter, “OK” response. This technology is great and all but let’s not forget that we’re humans. We’ve got emotions to share and love to give. So let me raise the bar one time. Get with the picture message. It’s ten times flyer, and the girls will like it more.

Blockbuster collabs are a funny thing. Sometimes we get a classic, sometimes we forget they even happened. In my humble, this one doesn’t really fall into either category. The latest from Cudi, presumably off the upcoming Cudder doesn’t really deviate too far from the subject matter we’ve come to expect, but it’s not a major problem with the song. At the end of the day, we can always use more songs to smoke weed and drink to. The outro might just be the cleanest part though.

Download: Kid Cudi feat. Snoop Dogg – “I Do My Thing”

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Mykola Dosenko, also known as Myk Dawg. Born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Mykola’s inspirations paint an interesting portrait of popular culture in the late 80’s and early 90’s. A self proclaimed graphic designer, celebrity chef, comedian and stunt driver, it was not difficult to strike up a conversation about Myk’s interests and inspirations. With his graphic design work popping up on popular websites across the net, Mykola’s aesthetic is becoming recognized for it’s vibrant colors and retro influences. Touching on everything from Lebron James to zombie snails, our conversation was peculiar to say the very least.

Did you grow up in the Ukraine? If so what do you remember from your experiences growing up?

Yes, I grew up in Kiev, Ukraine and spent the majority of my life here. My experiences growing up were pretty crazy and vivid… I guess that’s what shaped my view of the world. I was born right around the start of the Perestroika and western culture started finding its way to USSR. I started playing Famicom/NES when I was like 4. Then in 1991 crazy shit went down and USSR was no more. Our parents were scared as hell, but us kids didn’t care – we loved the fact that we could finally watch Ninja Turtles, Terminator and Bruce Lee on cable and buy chewing gum. My cousin had a VCR and we loved watching cartoons on that. Also, Disney toons each Saturday, Chip & Dale, Duck Tales, Talespin, Darkwing Duck etc… I guess that’s why I love bright colors so much.

Do you still live there now? What do you do for fun?

I still live here although I dream of moving out daily. I don’t exactly fit in in this city’s culture nowadays. I have the most fun when I visit other countries. I’ve been blessed to visit places like Singapore, Prague, even Moscow, traveling is always fascinating to me. When in Kiev, one of my favorite things to do is play basketball. It’s like meditation to me.

I think traveling is an incredible luxury as well. What fascinates you about traveling? And where do you hope to visit next?

Just witnessing other countries, there’s something special to that… No matter how many times you watch the Travel Channel (which I do, alot), there’s only so much you can learn from that. You know, the whole tangible aspect of just being a guest in a different culture for a few weeks. It’s great.

Also, I must admit I like bringing kicks from other countries and then having Nike store employees in Kiev ask “where you got those”. Singapore was amazing in that aspect. Great selection of Jordans, at reasonable (under retail) prices.

I’d like to visit the USA, Barcelona, Melbourne, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Rio… Yeah…

Have you seen this before? It’s MJ from a Nike Exhibition game in ‘86. What do you think about it?

I think it’s badass! Don’t think I’ve ever seen MJ break a backboard before, almost Shaq-style. That’s the thing about MJ, he’d always give 100% even if this is a meaningless exhibition game.

You’ve said that you’re influenced by NBA basketball. What do you love about the NBA?

I love that NBA players are first and foremost personalities. It’s probably the most appealing sport ever because each player has their story, their little style of play etc… In a way it’s more than just the game of basketball. If you try to watch the Euroleagues you know what I mean, it’s pretty much bland and faceless, even for a basketball nerd like me.

Is there anything you dislike?

One thing I don’t like is the hypocrisy of the league when it makes a huge effort to market in-arena entertainment to the millionaire cowboys in the front seats ignoring the thousands in the stands that are the real core fan base of the sport. Remember the post-brawl “dress code”? Long shorts double standards? I hate that shit.

If you were commissioner for a day what would you do?

Tell the refs to enforce flopping more, and perhaps even add some rule that would make it an automated technical. This flopping trend is very lame, we don’t want basketball to be as cheap as futbol* do we? (Google “Rivaldo bad acting” and you’ll see what I mean.) * I hate fútbol with a passion! lol.

(I Just googled that shit. It’s jokes.)

Will Lebron ever do the dunk contest?

I doubt it but I really hope so. I’d also like to see Vince back in it, I think he could win another one or two easily. I wish the league would come up with some sort of loophole to oblige All-Star players to do the dunk contest.

I found your interpretation of Robocop very creative. I’m a fan of the Super Nintendo myself, so the SNES inspired graphics were appreciated. Can you describe the process that went into creating the piece? What compelled you to create the video in the first place? And are you a fan of Kanye West?

Yes. I’m a fan of Kanye since hearing his first album in 2005. He’s one of my main influences. If I wouldn’t of heard College Dropout back then, I really don’t think I’d bother trying to make it as an “artist”.

The idea to make an unofficial video for that song was quite spontaneous, I remember sitting in the evening mid December 2008 with nothing to do and then all of a sudden I was like “Wait… I can make an 8 bit video for Robocop!”. That was pretty much it. Seriously, ideas always come to me like that, as one finished sentence. The hard part is to actually spend the next 2 months working on that idea. Takes balls and patience. I honestly thought the video would get thrashed by Kanye fans, but it didn’t turn out too shabby I guess. Also I still wonder when and if the official video that was rumored is ever going to come out.

* for the record, the graphics are actually NES, not SNES inspired, they use the NES color restrictions as well.*

Personally, I’m a fan of Maestro and his work. Can you tell me a little bit about the collaborative work you did with him? And what you do for other people?

It was so random… I noticed the first episode of his show on Kanye’s old blog. Playing basketball in Yeezy’s and whatnot. I thought that was fresh and interesting. Watched every episode, then one day it’s like BLAM, I get an email from him! I think he noticed me on Vimeo. So yeah, he asked me to do the Tour Edition intros and I was hyped to do it, obviously. The process didn’t take long, I think a few weeks or so. Never met Levi in person, but I’ve talked to him on skype and he really is as down to earth + crazy + funny as he seems.

If you were having a dinner party and could bring three guests who would they be?

Bill Murray, Bill Clinton and Charles Barkley.

As far as Pharrell hooks go, I have a few favorites. Young Girl, Frontin and Gangsta Lean top my list. What about you?

I like all of those! Frontin’ was my jam! Do you like Jamie Cullum’s cover version?

Hmm… I’d say Allure might be my favorite. Also, Blue Magic and I’m Good (instant classic).

What do you know about zombie snails?

Wow. That is crazy. The pulsating eyes was the best/worst part. Reminded me of this article.

Have any favorite quotes?

I don’t really collect/memorize quotes… But I have a few favorites. Like Charles Barkley… He needs a 24-hour reality show. Did you hear him telling the story how his mother gave him a Superman suit as a present and he jumped off the house roof or something? Or the one about duct tape… “Tear your ACL – use duct tape!” Dubya had lots of classics… Kanye’s “’cause my Jesus likes sex. He didn’t die a virgin.” Anything by Das EFX.

Pistol grip pump on my lap at all times?

LOL. Yes. I bet you recognized where the quote is from? I don’t own a gun though, but I like the idea of being prepared for shit at all times (Also, I own a pair of real nunchucks.)

For more from Myk visit his site Myk31