Interview with ChinoBeige co-founder of the HipHopToyShop

Hip Hop gets its own toy shop, born from an MA project, the HIPHOPHEADS paper toys will be the shop’s first venture.  The first series is made up of 3  east coast rappers Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z and Nas. We first saw these over on TDS and decided to delve a little deeper and got in touch with Chino Beige herself to understand a little more about the concept.

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m currently in London. Chino Beige is a moniker for my creative work. I don’t give too much away about myself.

What was your MA in? How did that cause you to develop Hip Hop Heads paper toys?
The MA course “Applied Imagination”, was based on developing and testing an artefact, and interpreting that artefact into a business environment. I’ve always wanted to make collectible hip-hop vinyl toys, as there is no existing hip-hop influenced toy brand.

What inspired the idea?
My creative and business partner Alexander Hughes introduced me to paper-toys to help me with my project. I really took to the idea of “building your own” paper-toy. I ended up scrapping the whole concept of vinyl toys and instead made paper ones.

Alex and I began HipHopToyShop, focusing on our first product release HIPHOPHEADS. Our main aims are to keep the brand as authentically hip-hop as possible, do the culture justice and commemorate dope and classic hip-hop.

We decided to package HIPHOPHEADS in 12-inch vinyl record sleeves, to recreate the nostalgic relationship fans once had of collecting music.
Jay-Z was the first HIPHOPHEAD to be made, creating a collectible series of 3 of hip-hop’s most prolific artists Nas, The Notorious BIG and Jay-Z, an East Coast collection.

How did you decide on taking this to the next level and producing them to sell?
In all honesty, the product looked so dope, we received overwhelming good feedback and there’s nothing on the market like this.

When are you launching?
End of February, but everyone should follow @HipHopToyShop for all the latest info and updates.

Will you release any more rappers in the future?
Currently we’re working on a second series made up of West Coast rappers, Eazy-E, Snoop and Pac. We’re also in talks with MF DOOM’s people. That’s all we’re giving away for HIPHOPHEADS. (for now)

Will the Hip Hop Toy Shop just sell Hip Hop Heads or other product too?
We hope to release collectible vinyl toys / figurines inspired by Malcolm X, Tony Montana and young Michael Jackson, becoming a home for followers of hip-hop culture. Collecting is a big part of hip-hop (sneakers, caps) no one has introduced dope collectible toys, until we came along. We’re working on a customisable O.G Bear paper-toy (our mascot), set for release in April.

http://www.hiphoptoyshop.com/

Vans Half Cab 20th Anniversary (Supreme Edition)

2012 sees Vans celebrate 20 years of their popular Half Cab model. Every month Vans will be releasing a new limited edition version of the shoe. January sets things off with a very limited 20 pairs in collaboration with Supreme who take the shoe back to its owner Steve Caballero himself. A slightly unorthodox approach here as Cab will be hand-cutting and duck-taping down a pair of Caballero Highs, personally numbering and signing each pair in the limited collection.

They’ll be exclusively stocked at select Supreme stores worldwide.

Free Brainfeeder Sampler

Brainfeeder would like to show sincere thanks to our fans after winning “Label Of The Year” at the 2012 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards.

Download a free 12-track Brainfeeder sampler, with tracks from Thundercat, Martyn, Samiyam, Tokimonsta, The Gaslamp Killer, Jeremiah Jae, Taylor McFerrin, Teebs, Austin Peralta, Matthewdavid, Mono/Poly, and an exclusive download from Lapalux.

Silas T-shirts Spring/Summer 2012

Back in 1998 Silas was born from British skateboarding culture, gaining attention from a wide variety of designers, artists and creatives alike. In 2007 Silas ceased their UK operation moving to Japan as a result of being acquired by B’s International.

Last season Silas returned to the UK market by opening up a flagship store in London. You may remember reading our interview with George Louch who runs the store in Islington.

Having established themselves back on home turf, here is a preview of some of the Spring/Summer 2012 stock in the form of basic t-shirts with nostalgic designs that look like they were made back in the 90′s. There not up yet but Silas have an up to 70% sale well worth checking out in the meantime.

All Gone 2011

The All Gone book series, curated by Michael Dupouy and his creative agency La MJC, annually documents the most sought after limited product over a year, after they’re ‘all gone’.

2011′s edition comes bound in two limited covers, classic leopard print (800 copies) and grey leopard print (600 copies). Across 248 pages you’ll see key product from street culture leaders like Medicom, Bape, Adidas, Supreme, Nike, Puma, Vans, Kaws, Bodega, Asics, HUF, Patta as well as many others.

Over on the All Gone site you can see a brief preview of All Gone 2011 as well as a look inside editions from previous years.

Available from UK retailers End Clothing, Foot Patrol, and Hanon soon, but is also available to order now from All Gone.

Rinse FM Advent Calendar

It’s December and time to get ready for Christmas. Ahead of their boxing day event at Fabric, Rinse will be running special giveaways throughout December – tune into Rinse for your chance to win. Keep track of prizes and competitions on their advent calendar.

Sampled: Sicker Than Your Average Sample Sale, 3rd Dec

The Doctor’s Orders knows what’s up! Sampled combines a sample sale with a record fair and club night featuring your favourite streetwear brands, some of the UK’s best record sellers and art stalls. If the girlfriend needs convincing let her know that there’ll also be a nail bar.

A strong hand picked selection of streetwear brands will be on offer at a fraction of their usual prices. Brands will include the likes of Stussy, Alife, Stones Throw, Gimme Five, DGK, Osiris and a lot more. For the crate diggers there’ll be classic vinyl, hip-hop box sets, rare soul and jazz LPs traded by Mr Thing, Crazy Beat, Rapandsoulmailorder, Jake BBE, JP and Nice Up will all ensure plenty of interest for any avid music collector. This will bound to be crate digging galore!

After the sale, Sampled holding a one off club night with an incredible line up of DJs including Mark Rae (Rae & Christian), Andy Smith (Portishead), Mr Thing, Spin Doctor, Mo Fingaz & BobaFatt.

Sepalcure Debut Album available to Stream

On the heels of the Fleur EP and this summer’s Love Pressure remix project, Sepalcure has released their debut full length through Hotflush earlier this week. For a brief period it has been made available to stream:

The Brookyln based duo Travis Stewart and Praveen Sharma are already well established through their individual monikers of Machinedrum and Braille. The two are behind the Cassette NYC events as well as mix archive PercussionLab. For their eponymous album expect influences from tribal dub, house, dubstep and juke as Detroit techno chords cut through wooden 2-step beats, neon synths and dubbed out atmospherics.

Available from: Boomkat, Bleep, Surus, Beatport

Nuji – Your social wish list

Nuji is in short an online ‘Social Wish List’. When you browse products online use Nuji’s simple bookmarklet to tag them for your personal wish list. Besides it’s simplicity and clean design, a big selling point for Nuji is they gained the support from smaller more specialist brands and boutiques, and not just the big guns!

Nuji is currently invite only and will be launched to the public shortly. However, they’ve have been good enough to let us hand out a few exclusive invites.

When you’re a member be sure to follow Nerdbanite as well as some our favourites: Norse Store, Penfield, Wood Wood, Super Denim and Good Hood.

oki-ni’s History of Denim

oki-ni’s History of Denim begins with Levi Strauss and his less known partner back in the 1870′s. Read on to learn how cowboy films took denim into mainstream america, the controversy of a certain denim tuxedo and how Hip Hop was partly responsible for saving denim.

If you really want to geek out and missed them the first time around you should take a look at oki-ni’s other features: denim glossary, raw care guide and Jean Therapy.