One Inch Punch

PEACE! ashwan

*NEW* "I'm Not A Rapper" by poetcurious Video by La Alta

I'm Not A Rapper from samantha marie la alta on Vimeo.

BIG TALL THANKS to Samantha Marie (La Alta) for putting this brain-aching montage together for I'm Not A Rapper. The piece was originally performed at WORDAMOUTH presents FreeStyles @ Favela London. A monthly spoken word and hip-hop night in London's east sides. If you want to know more about WORDAMOUTH events, find us and like us on facebook...peaCe

B-Boy Ynot

Just Chill Out

ashwan

ashwan: painter and multi-media artist, currently living and working in Barcelona, Spain.

Roy Ayers...happy to be sampled!

Legend. Lucky enough to have caught him with Guru and Jazzmatazz back in the early 90's, good to see he's still going strong...wish we could say the same about Guru! WAN love

Danny Hart- UCI mountain bike

INSANE!

B-Toy Barcelona part.ii

A few new B-Toy paste-ups have gone up in the Gracia area of Barcelona. One of them being a tribute to Amy Winehouse who passed away recently at just 28 yrs old.

B-Toy has a style that is really fitting for tributes. The sepia tones automatically trigger the 'historical' idea and that is re-inforced by the use of really iconic images of the people portrayed. Combined with the natural decaying environment, they sit very comfortably in the space and produce something interesting and special. Remove the context (ie. put them in a gallery) and to a large degree you remove the power. As portraits go, they do not come close to, say a Rembrandt or even an Andy Warhol. But Amy Winehouse was one of those very lucky few who at such a young age had access to so many opportunities. Unfortunately, she didn't take some of them and took too many of the others! However, I am sure, were she alive today, one of the things she would be really honoured by would be a B-Toy street portrait.

Obviously I wasn't first to the image above (Ava Gardner???), and while it is a shame to destroy an image like this, it would be hypocritical to criticise it. I think the best way to describe the action would be to revert to old skool graffiti language: TOY...without the 'B'!

That's all folks!

Peace

(all photo's copyright of ashwan)

Building 7 WTC...9/11 ten years on

PEACE

WORDAMOUTH IS BACK!!

More details soon, but after a long summer break WORDAMOUTH is back at a new venue in Old Street, bringing midweek party poetry vibes to all comers. Come and join us at the newly refurbished Bedroom Bar (63 Rivington Street) for the best in spoken word, storytelling, MCing, beatboxing, freestyling...you name it, we've got it! All backed by sick DJs spinning hiphop and eclectic breaks from beyond the crate. Simply put: WORDAMOUTH IS BACK!!**Start talking!!

TAPE DECK SCRATCH

Mack The Rep-mash up!

Here's a sampler from the Inheritance Wax mix tape.

It is a mash-up of Bobby Darin's 'Mack The Knife' and Gangstarr's 'Just to Get a Rep'. You can also hear a Lauryn Hill mash at the intro and then moving out into a DWYCK mash at the end. To get the mix tape in full you can download it in full HERE

about Inheritance Wax:

Inheritance Wax started a few years ago, when Ashwan was working with the elderly in Liverpool, UK. As they passed on, families would come and clear their homes of all belongings which inevitably meant whole record collections being thrown out each time.
Being a dj and producer, as well as nostalgic for the days when you could walk into some ones place, glance at the record collection and book shelf and get a sense of what that person is about, Ashwan salvaged the records and started making new record covers and sampling and remixing the original vinyl to create new art from the old.
The project is heavily hip hop influenced but instead of hours of crate digging, the sample base has come from this limited palate, with the hope that a different and unique sound will entail that also somehow pays tribute to the artists Liverpool roots.
The music is free to download, while the original vinyl covers will be sealed in air tight bubbles for preservation, turning the discarded object back into one of value and meaning. These will be exhibited together with the music over the coming months in the UK and across Europe. Please check www.ashwan.co.uk for up to date information on these. 

the original versions:









Peace

Jhoyti Rahu-Parkour

amazing!

ashwan

Ryan Doyle parkour

good lad...and he's a scouser.
Wan Luv

AKUA NARU...you listening????

A friend of mine just put me onto this German based (U.S. Sounding!) B-Girl. You can tell she has a lot of East Coast influence goin on, but the end result has a slightly softer sound. This joint really bounces.

Keep an eye out for Akua Naru. (thanks Angi!)
WAN luv

COMMON and NAS- Ghetto Dreams

Insurrection (London 'Riots', 2011 pt.i)

The violence in London recently is the result of many, many complex issues. Ultimately it cannot be condoned, destroying the lives and livelihoods of innocent people who are in the struggle just as much as the next man.
Greed, Materialism and suppressed anger were just a few of the many reasons this thing got so wild.
It was not a protest in the sense that the majority of people causing problems were simply out there looting for personal gain. It was not an informed crowd, making a clear, articulated statement. It was a mess.
However, this mess has happened for a reason. The reasons are political whether we like that or not.
Capitalism has driven a lust for material gain that is supposedly ok when enforced by a corporation or government, but not ok when taken by an individual. We cannot live under these dual standards, especially when we are trying to cram hundreds of thousands of people into small areas all competing for a fraction of the bread on offer. Humans are like rats unfortunately, and when squeezed like this, we do turn on our own society.

Here are a couple of voices that give a glimpse into the many complex issues surrounding these riots. Please feel free to comment.
I am sure this will not be the last post about the recent insurrection on this blog.


stay safe people.

more interesting reading:
UK riots:the Psychology of Looting
Walworth Road - Only Fools no Horses
The Moral Decay of our Society is as bad at the top as it is at the bottom

POP LOCK- COLD BONE

ILL!

ASHWAN

Daniel Tagno's Morphogenetic field device...really?no. Daniel Tagno's NUTS!

CLASSIXX- old skool skate ish

mayne, totally feelin this video.
ASHWAN

VIZIE

Artist Driven - Vizie Night from LRG on Vimeo.

ash

Les Twins - crazy SLO MO moves

ashwan

Delta in Switzerland.

It's essential for graffiti and writers to evolve if the roots of the culture are going to continue to carry meaning in society today. Most writers have been inspired to do what they do by a dynamic that they saw in the work of artists in NYC in the 80's and early 90's. When I look at Dutch artist DELTA's (aka Boris Tellegen) work it takes me back to scouring the pages of Henry Chalfants 'Subway Art'. I see a kid staring at a piece by Kase 2, trying to understand the intricacy, the computer rock craziness that Kase brought to the world. I can see how the scale of images that Henry brought us in their intimacy would cause a then young and aspiring writer to desire to turn them into macro versions of themselves.
Graffiti art holds a difficult place in art history, even now with major shows cropping up internationally. It is still hard for historians to see, and many writers to articulate, exactly where the relevance is, how it all fits in.
One of the things graffiti did (because it was not 'hi' painting) is take the sculpture off the floor and put it on to the wall. Anthony Caro took it off the plinth and that was considered revolutionary. Graff writers made it two dimensional so you didn't need to fall over that shit while you were looking at the paintings.
Graffiti took graphic languages and experimented with 3 dimensions on a 2d plane on a scale that had never really been toyed with. Of course Trompe L'oil existed already for hundreds of years and even artists such as Richard Haas were dealing with it on an architectural scale, but much of early graffiti was 'sculpture'.
Look at the work of Zaha Hadid and that of Daim and see in a slightly different way, what I am talking about.

When I look at Delta's work in these images, I see things that I saw when I stared at that 'Subway Art' for hours on end in the mid 80's. The dynamic was incredible. COMPUTER ROCK!
Graffiti has done MANY things for the future art history books, this is just one of them.

The show is at the Kunstraum until September 10th, 2011.
for more info visit http://kunstraum.ch/
images stolen from ARRESTED MOTION

PEACE,
ASHWAN

D*Face/Ridiculous Paint pool

QR CODE

OFF HIP HOP QR CODE

Friends. . . How many of us have them ?!

Dude helps homie in need escape from the Police. . .

Muddyloop feat. Ambrosius - NEW SINGLE - Mixtape - OFFICIAL VIDEO

Another future-banging-pop-dutty anthem from the Muddyloop Boyz.

Buy it on iTunes here NOW!!

Justice for Jordan Miles

spread the word...only one way to help reduce police brutality- make people aware of it and make them (five 0) accountable.

Peace and JUSTICE

Will Holland aka Quantic on the impotance of VINYL

brought to you by the amazing people at FRIENDSWELOVE.com ,Will Holland talks about how important the old vinyl you 'inherit' is...which leads me nicely to a plug for 'Inheritance Wax':

about Inheritance Wax

Inheritance Wax started a few years ago, when Ashwan was working part time with the elderly in Liverpool, UK. As they passed on, families would come and clear their homes of all belongings which inevitably meant whole record collections being thrown out each time.

Being a dj and producer, as well as nostalgic for the days when you could walk into some ones place, glance at the record collection and book shelf and get a sense of what that person is about, Ashwan salvaged the records and set about making new record covers and sampling and remixing the original vinyl to create new art from the old.

The project is heavily hip hop influenced but instead of hours of crate digging, the sample base has come from this limited palate, with the hope that a different and unique sound will entail that also somehow pays tribute to the artists Liverpool roots.

The music is free to download, while the original vinyl covers will be sealed in air tight bubbles for preservation, turning the discarded object back into one of value and meaning. These will be exhibited together with the music over the coming months in the UK and across Europe. Please check www.ashwan.co.uk for up to date information on these.

You can download the mixtape free of charge here (it fits on one side of a C90):

http://ashwan.bandcamp.com/album/inheritance-wax

DOZE GREEN

old skool writer/b boy doing his thang...DOZE!

ashwan

GULLYVER @ the Alibi...DJ MK and ACYDE

STOP! Sexy Time!!

And they say there's no decent hiphop in 2011...

Whadda they know?!?

peaCe

KC and the Sunshine band

classic track, as sampled by Jazzie B from Soul II Soul back in the day...a real head nodder.

DJ Hiatus - Insurrection (feat. Linton Kwesi Johnson)

30 years since the Brixton riots and here we go again with another lame Tory scum government bringing civil unrest to our streets. Great!! - Watch, learn, use!!

Kwesi kills it on this DJ Hiatus track; what a voice!! Also I rate Kwesi's ability to discuss such deep issues with such simple language. The result is that it makes his points seem obvious; like a child could have made it! Genius!! peaCe

Session and the Bear @ FreeStyles

Here's Polar Bear and SessioN NoisseS killing the set at FreeStyles at Favela Chic in East London in April. Video footage of the dancing that followed this set would trend within an hour!!

SESSIONANDTHEBEAR @ FreeStyles

...Next FreeStyles is on 14th June and features Salena Godden and Talia Randall.

peaCe

Aaron "JAWS" Homoki - OLLIE

Aaron "JAWS" Homoki - OLLIE from Birdhouse on Vimeo.

Aaron De La Cruz puttin' it down.

RIP Gill Scott Heron

RIP Gill Scott Heron by Black Classical on Mixcloud

ALICE!!!!

Alice...I want y'all just for ME!

ENJOY

Daniel Tagno's 'Gadget' in use for performance piece by Job Wouters & Roel Wouters.

If You Could Collaborate — Job Wouters & Roel Wouters from If You Could on Vimeo.

spray gun designed by Daniel Tagno.

ROCKING IN PARDISE- Bob Marley.

 Bob Marley pasted 30 years today .  A  forever Legend. No greater reggae Artist. Respect

U.N.I.T.Y.

In the next week or two Manchester United will end the 2010/2011 Premiership Football season having won an unprecedented 19 (cue Paul Hardcastle sample) titles and pushing aside their most embittered rivals Liverpool FC. Under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, United have been tended, pruned, fertilised and harvested year after year, making them the best team in the history of English Football and arguably, the World!

Watching yesterday's clash against closest rivals Chelsea, United displayed the collective body language of a battle MC spitting fire at a hapless new jack who'd just won a couple of clashes round the way and thought they were ready for the big time. The onslaught was relentless with the footballing equivalent of 'Yo mama' cusses boying off their shook opponents from start to end.

I couldn't help notice the parallels with hip-hop. From the swaggering fashions and big headphones of the arrival of the team; through the matching colour outfits, the formations; routines that have been worked out in rehearsal (just to merk the opponent); the testosterone-fuelling; the tribalism and gang-mentality, the rhythm, the dancing and... the street level creativity! The moves may be polished on the training ground, but they come from the street, from the battle. Working class creatives reaching for diamond-encrusted stars; is that really so different to the motivations of hip-hop's pioneers? Didn't motherfuckers just wanna get paid and have fun?!...and don't they always get hated on and labelled sell-out when they achieve it (if only by those who don't?)

Growing up, I turned my back on football in favour of other less conventional (cooler) pursuits. However, now that I am United with the beautiful game again, I finally realise why it's called that. Who's house? Reds house (and it's time to party!)

peaCe

Roger Gastman & Caleb Neelon stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and knocked one right out the park with this hardcover 400 plus page ode to the worlds oldest & still to some most misunderstood art form. This book is a must have for any and all who have ever applied paint or ink to a surface that was not their own & went for theirs, or for anyone that ever had the desire to do so . What makes "The history of American Graffiti" different is the fact that it's not the same old faces, pretty pieces, & bombed out spaces most people have seen before. No homies you see Roger & Caleb took the time to show some super stylistic love to such cities as Boston, Washington D.C. Philly, and Chicago & so on. . . So wherever your at now or was at BITD best believe this book got your ward,section,side,borough, junction or way covered real tight like on the graff tip, with no delay. "The history of American Graffiti" is a book that will more than hold it's own weight right next to the classics . . . "Subway Art", "DONDI WHITE :Style Master General", & "The Art of Getting Over"

B-Toy Barcelona

If you are looking for some quality stencil/paste up work and are in Barcelona, keep an eye out for the city’s very own BToy.

The newest image I caught was all the way up on Ronda Guinardo, just near Hospital San Pau, but generally I would start in the El Borne area, around here:

View Larger Map

peace,

a$Hw@n

Breath taking views of Edinburgh,Scotland and extra ordinary biking skills make for a simply mind blowing video. Brought to you by Danny Macaskill & the fine folks at Redbull. . Ride On.

This beat is right up my alley and I think Mikey Rocks kills it as usual. Video done by HYSTK, some real cool kids I'm working on a video/art installation project with right now.

Pugz Video

Met Pugz a couple of times in Chitown through I.L. (now disbanded: Bobby Lovelock, Ramsey Judson and Dj Form). Seemed like a cool bloke and obviously had skills. happy that the guy is starting to blow up.

I was always a fan of Top Cat too, so peep this video for 'Hey Y'All'.

the cover of the album is dope too:

DJ P & DJ CRIME - Bboy Massacre

a$hw@n

Barcelona Street Art-Goliath

These Meerkats jumped out at me this morning, then I walked around a corner and saw a couple more...I had already seen a Goliath paste up earlier in the week, so figured I had enough to justify a post.

I am going to be doing features on artists that I spot regularly in the Barcelona city centre. If you have any info or images that you think I should include, let me know. Artists that I am looking at right now include Idiot, Nimek/Sope, Bunes, QS, Tzar, Pelele, Culo and Sonar. Be mad interested in having some words from one or more of these guys.

Culo is in the last image here, real quick image but with a nice clean typeface. good combo as far as I am concerned.

A lot of the stuff they do is throw up 'name' stuff. I know a lot of people will hate it, but personally I love it...will justify that when I actually post some of their work.

Also looking for more work by someone in the city who just writes DB. I have a couple of beautiful images on their stuff and would like to see more....anyone got anything???

This is a new blog, so we need help getting word out about what we are doing. Believe that this is gonna be a dope spot as we have some supafly contributors lined up. role call so far includes Curious, Londons brightest spoken word talent; Dj Form, aka Angry Skinny who is the dj from Pseudo Slang (Fat Beats) and Chris Silva, who is a dope artist and graff writer as well as one part of ThisMotherFalcon, who will be featured here at a later date....If he is too humble to mention them, I will.

keep posted and feel free to hit us with feedback or ideas.

FOLLOW FOR NOW.....

ASHWAN

Toddla T - New Video

Loving the pirate vibes on this Toddla T video. I wish some of the pirate radio spots I dropped at had been so plush!!

Blah Blah Blah...

WORDAMOUTH presents OPEN/WIDE

peaCe

Dangermouse n Daniel Luppi -Rome Trailer

peace

WORDAMOUTH presents...

WORDAMOUTH is the cunning disguise of London-based spoken word artists Angry Sam and curious. The pair currently host two nights a month in London - FreeStyles and OPEN/WIDE.

FreeStyles at Favela Chic presents the best spoken word artists in the country in one of the cities hottest venues for FREE. Previous artists include HKB FiNN, Polar Bear, Johnny Fluffypunk, Anna Le, Session Noisses and The Savage Nomads. The venue's restaurant is open from 6pm and the night runs from 7:30-1am blending spoken word acts with sick DJs spinning everything from classic 90's boom-bap to Dubstep floor-smashers!! A must see for spoken word fans and hiphop heads alike.

OPEN/WIDE at Alaska Studios plants WORDAMOUTH right on the river in Waterloo. Occupying a charming and intimate performance space at one of London's most welcoming recording/rehearsal studios, OPEN/WIDE is an open-mic night with the emphasis on supporting emerging talent within poetry, music, comedy and more. Where the majority of London's open-mic night follow a poetry slam format, OPEN/WIDE has a more subtle competitiveness with acts being invited to perform at FreeStyles as well as one performer being selected each month for a Summer Slam finals at Alaska to win a days recording at the studios. However, there are no points, rounds or eliminations on the night, just good vibes, diverse poets and a blagged feature performer! Last month saw a truly unique performance from Dutch poets L&D who only perform as a duo outside of Holland. At home they are slam contest rivals and have both won the Dutch Slam against each other previously.

Follow WORDAMOUTH on facebook to keep up to date with gig information and the occasional download or free giveaway.

We are here!!

peaCe

Barcelona paste up

caught this amazing paste up in Barrio Gotic recently, just near the cathedral. I think it's by Barcelona based artist duo Btoy.

Tha Barcelona graff scene has changed dramatically over recent years as the Mossa squad have come down hard on it. It means you see a lot more through ups and pastings than before. things that don't take long to get down... this one is a beauty!

Ashwan