Karama, Dubai Sees Some Malaysian Graffiti Love

Any regular commuter of the Kelana Jaya LRT line – so long as you pass by the Pasar Seni stop – will be acquainted with the sheer talent and creativity of our local graffiti artists. Funnily enough, their talents are more prominent abroad than on our own shores, which is a crying shame. Our streets, residential and commercial areas could use some beautification via a little graffiti loving.

On the streets of Karama, Dubai, our local graffiti artists Katun, Pakey One, Abdul Rashade and Sored One have inflicted their talents with the brush and spray with the help of their friends Newba, Yumzone and Itspoketwo. Throughout the month of Ramadhan, they adorned 24 facades with truly astonishing and distinctively vibrant artworks to liven up a tiny fragment of the Middle East.

These street art murals showcase exactly how graffiti can completely transform the aesthetic of an otherwise unassuming residential and commercial block. Feast your eyes on some of the art right below:

Newba (1)

This masterpiece was done in a team comprising @newba@katun_@yumzone_@abdulrashade, and @itspoketwo.

abdulrashade (1)

“Wool Balls” by @abdulrashade
15m x 28m
Acrylic spray paint & exterior paint
Al-Karama, Dubai, UAE

Katun (1)

“UP” by  @katun_ and @pakey_one
15m x 13m
Acrylic Spray Paint
Al-Karama, Dubai, UAE

yumzone

“Between The Lines” by  @yumzone_ and @katun_
15m x 13m
Acrylic Spray Paint
Al-Karama, Dubai, UAE

Pakey One (1)

“Cartilaginous Gang” by @pakey_one
15m x 28m
Acrylic Spray Paint
Al-Karama, Dubai, UAE

We’re hoping to see more projects like this popping up around Malaysia especially in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. However, due to irresponsible parties that misuse graffiti by spraying and painting curse words on public facilities such as the toilets, bus stops and R&Rs the art form is largely considered nothing more than vandalism here. Graffiti can and should be a positive aspect on our streets; a means of which to give our streets and buildings character and renewed life.

Kudos to these guys for showing Dubai the creativity and talent of Malaysian artists!

Before we go, here’s a quick timelapse video for you guys to watch:

How Vans Brought The Hype Train (Part 2 of 2)

Disclaimer: The English version is an authorised translation of the original article in Mandarin for informational purposes only. In case of any discrepancy, the original Mandarin article by Ah Nel can be found here.


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Vans’ success in more recent times cannot only be credited to the hype train Supreme’s partnership brought into the mix. However, the footwear giant’s strength has definitely been bolstered by any smart collaboration that has come their way.

During 2005, Vans started to make their way through a diverse market, that of the music industry. It was a major drop back then when they collaborated with Iron Maiden and launched The Number of Beast Shoe, featuring the album’s iconic cover art.

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The triumph of Vans x Iron Maiden showcased the perks of Vans’ daring yet successful pursuit in creative collaboration with heavy metal bands. Although Vans has been involving themselves in skateboard shoe retailing for 40 years, having a fresh start in a heavy metal line of footwear evidently spawned endless new ideas and excitement to the team.

They worked with countless bands and produced numerous designs. Here’s a look at some below:

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Personally, I don’t really get the craze. These shoes just lie in my cabinet and I don’t tend to wear them.

Though working on the Metal Band collection was blissful for the footwear company, ideas for the collection were limited and eventually reached its bottleneck. Shoe sales were also reported poor due to the lack of influential music bands around that time. Instead of ending the series, Vans gave their last shot by approaching Beatles to be incorporated into their last music series collection.

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Fortunately, Vans was able to score and set an unprecedented record for themselves through the famous Vans x Beatles collection. But as the saying goes, all good things come to an end. Designers were losing their enthusiasm towards the series and Vans had to move on to other creative pursuits.

They then decided to capitalise on the Star Wars trend.

It just so happened adidas also collaborated with Star Wars before, and Vans was taking cues from adidas to break their limit.

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2010 adidas x Star Wars

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The Vans x Star Wars collection was produced in mass quantities, but with such a massive market for Star Wars-related products this worked out well for Vans. We can see that this strategy worked as expected, but what was next?

Vans repeated the strategy of capitalising on trends and big names by collaborating with Disney.

Vans was really smart at selecting which fictional characters to use for their designs, as well as when to use them. Before that, they even produced cute collections like Hello Kitty and Snoopy.

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Don’t ever underestimate the power of cartoon character appeal; thousands of Hello Kitty Vans pairs, for instance, flew off the shelves.

I really anticipate Vans’ next collection. I know what’s coming, but it’s something I can’t reveal just yet.

So far, what I’ve highlighted are the design aspects – on the back of these collaborations – that have driven up Vans’ sales. What we will be focusing on next is more on their experimental collection. You will see that Vans is willing to explore pretty much anything.

 

Vans x Golfwang

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Tyler The Creator, regarded as God’s favored and he is always rocking on a Vans pair when performing. Of course Vans didn’t let the opportunity slip and engaged in a few collaborations.

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One quick question, is he famous in Malaysia?

Vans x Takahashi

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An almost neglectable collection at a glance, but somehow they will surprise us. Like below, would you think this is a Vans shoe?

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Can you imagine this is Vans?

Vans X CLOT

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He is the pride of the Chinese, Edison Chen. Clot’s products usually sell like hot cakes.

Vans x Diamme

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Originally Italy, crafted in premium leather and priced at USD400.

Vans x Kenzo

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Is Vans helping Kenzo in this collection? Or vice versa? This project is pretty.

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The “Flying Tiger Kenzo X Vans”has the highest exposure.

 

Vans OTW was an experimental collection but too bad they stopped pursuing it:
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The Vans OTW Tenant, they look pretty identical huh?

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What I wrote is just a brief part on how they became a favourite brand, and the effort they put into making it so. A brand is easy to build but hard to maintain. Not just any brand can bring an ordinary slip-on shoe to the world stage.

Lastly, lets come back to the music series.

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When the world’s eyes were on Kanye, he wore Vans. He looks like a “heavy metal music” person, but we’re not sure if he really loves the music or this is just to project a certain image. In any case, it isn’t odd to see him wearing Vans. He is a smart guy; we can smell that something big is dropping.

Vans is fortunate enough to have Kanye and Tyler to bring them further. We are expecting more design fireworks from Vans!

FILLING PIECES x PUMA BLAZE OF GLORY

Filling Pieces, an Amsterdam based footwear label established by Guillaume Philibert in 2009, is known for merging high-end fashion suave with streetwear aesthetics.  They had worked closely with PUMA to reinvent the Blaze of Glory and now we get a closer look at this luxurious collaboration.

Taking cues from a signature design element of Filling Pieces silhouettes, the Puma BOG now comes with a high tongue and a premium leather woven toe. Build atop the standard Trinomic-cushion, the upper is constructed with an elastic strap covering the midfoot and high grade nubuck and mesh outfitting the rest.

Of course, the premium item is attached to a premium price of RM890. You will see the sneaker drop at Sole What Mid Valley on Saturday, 30th July at 10am.

Aman RA ignites the crowd at HOAX005 Party with “Budak Flat” Live

Our local rapper and MVP Aman RA has shared with us his recorded live performance of “BDKFLT” at HOAX005 Party last week. Looking at the thumbnail alone you can tell that Aman RA set metaphorical fire to the stage as the crowd gathered around him for the song!

For those who missed his performance at HOAX005 Party, Trec KL last weekend feel free to click on the video below and enjoy!

If your ears enjoyed the audio paradise, head down to Aman Ra’s official facebook, twitter, instagram and not to forget his youtube channel too for more!

 

Nike Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit

Since making its debut in 1987, the Nike Air Max 1 have been re-crafted through countless editions with the latest construction of the sneaker being the Flyknit material. It seems that Nike is coming up with everything in Flyknit recently.

The Nike Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit will still maintain the traditional Air Max 1 sharp retro look, but with the newly implied Flyknit upper the shoe will now be even lighter and more breathable than previous versions. Other than the OG colourway, the Nike Air Max 1 also comes with a few range of colours such as ‘Wolf Grey’, ‘Royal Blue’ and ‘Crimson’.

The Nike Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit is currently available at selected Nike retailers nationwide, such as Hunderd%, Sole What and Crossover. Priced at RM709.

 

Nerdunit Parkson Pavilion Grand Opening

Nerd Unit may have achieved another milestone in their business after opening their physical store in Malacca, but they’ve yet to slow down their expansion footprint! They’ve now marched their retail presence up to Parkson Pavilion, further solidifying the brand within the heart of Kuala Lumpur with this new outlet.

The grand opening received warm welcome from fellow Malaysians and also appearances from special guests including Phat & Kit from HongKong rapper group LMF, Hazel Tong (HK actress & G1 MMA Fight Club Champion), Amber Chia, Janechuck as well as Parkson Group CEO Tan Sri William Cheng.

Check out the pictures of the event below.

Remember to follow Nerd Unit’s instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.

Let’s go on a “Journey” with Armon feat. Adam Izzy

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Local artist, rapper and songwriter Armon is here to share with you his journey, conveyed in an uplifting rap with Adam Izzy lending his soothing vocals into the mix. This journey, which he started in mid-2014, marks one of the first songs that is to be in his upcoming debut album, “Thank You”. Armon notes that this song symbolises the beginning of a dream, a passion not only in music but a dream to touch lives no matter how big or small and “to start being a conduit of change for the Malaysian music industry.”

“I am extremely proud and happy that I finally get to start sharing with you one and a half years of hard work and love, through all the challenges and naysayers. Through all the doubt and insecurities. To keep the fire burning,” says Armon.

The music video’s production brought him on a little journey of discovery around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Check out “The Journey” music video below and enjoy!

Last but not least, if you want to listen to more of his music feel free to follow Armon on his official Facebook and Instagram!

How a Realistic Drawing of a RM50 Note Looks Like by Fathli Art

Fool gullible proprietors by attempting to pay with a realistic 3D drawing of a RM50 banknote with help from the talented Fathli! We’re kidding of course, but we wouldn’t be surprised if people looked at this RM50 and thought it was the real deal.

Timelapsed videos of amazing 3D drawings never cease to amaze and this one by the local artist is no different. Here, he uses no more than a relatively conventional drawing and colouring arsenal – as well as his prowess at translation a 3-dimensional object onto a 2-dimensional medium – to create this cool currency drawing.

Enjoy watching this awesome work by Fathli himself below:

If you want to watch more of his artworks feel free to check out his official page.

+2dB “Crush” Yuna Cover

Lovers of Yuna and Usher’s audible offspring “Crush” are certainly going to be mesmerised over Jeannie Lee’s sultry vocals in this wonderful rendition of the hit single by homegrown talent +2dB. The cover was produced alongside Jo Ann with Nick Lee providing the finishing touches via mastering.

This down tempo song mix is a distinctive and slightly haunting take on Yuna’s love song, but the strong bass, echo-y vocals and slower beat all come together beautifully here. I’m sure some of you can’t wait to hear this cover song live at GoodVibe Festival which will be happening this coming mid-August.

Why don’t you guys give a listen to their cover of “Crush” below:

https://soundcloud.com/djeannieleemfrl/crush-yuna-cover?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=facebook

You can check out their other songs on SoundCloud. While you are at it do follow them on Facebook and Twitter for more updates!

ARAS: Live Performance by IQBAL M. and The Fridays

 Aras Showcase

ARAS SHOWCASE is a stage show managed by ACE STUDIO & ATAS that combines two live performances by local homegrown bands IQBAL M. and THE FRIDAYS. The stage will come to life for approximately 3 hours this upcoming 5th August at ATAS, Kelana Jaya. The only barrier to entry is forking out RM30 per ticket! You can book the tickets by contacting Kintai at 013-2000947. Tickets are also available at the entrance . Please take note that the entry is limited so be quick and grab your tickets now before it’s sold out!

Here are a couple of tracks by the two talents respectively to whet your appetite for the upcoming stage show:

IQBAL M.

The Fridays

For more info and updates regarding the showcase do visit this page.