Happy New Years 2008

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Years from Culture Kings.



Be safe and we'll see you in 2008.


Remember....



A taxi is Cheaper then a D.U.I.



Be Safe this New Years...



Don't Drink and Drive!

Paid & Popular X Culture Kings

The guys from Paid & Popular headed down to the design district early last week to check out Culture Kings...




The Paid & Popular blog serves as a collective consciousness for a group of budding young tastemakers from across the U.S.


Here's a few highlights from the interview:

P x P: Why did you guys decide to open up a sneaker boutique?

C: I Opened up Culture Kings because it was a goal of his for a long time; since I was in college. Prior to Culture Kings I was a financial advisor for Merryl Lynch and hated it. The corporate world wasn't really for me, I felt like I’d lost myself.



P x P: How did you financially ready yourselves to open up shop?

C: I made a few investments prior to the whole real estate market crashing and while I was in the financial industry; it helped me out big time and I had money from past ventures saved up. With that and a little help from a loan I got it open.


P x P: I’ve seen pictures of the infamous bathroom, what was the inspiration behind it?

C: Mike was the inspiration for the bathroom sticker design. That’s how he does his artwork; by putting a collage of pictures from early 90’s magazines. It was his rebellion for the color of the store.



M: You go to the bathroom and do your 30 seconds of business you get to travel back in time. The only thing you can see in the front is product and artwork. In the bathroom you get to go into your own little world. The bathroom is a different world you go in there and you go threw a little journey back in time.

P x P: How long did it take?

M: It started off in pieces. I get in a zone and I just won't stop I can do it pretty quickly. The thing about it is it took a long time to do complete the entire wall. Everything that is in the collage was a collection of things that I’ve collected from magazine ranging from the last 10 years. In reality it took a lifetime but physically it only took a couple of days...


To read the full interview check out the Paid & Popular site by clicking the P&P logo.



www.PaidandPopular.com



Shoutouts to DJ Louie Arson and all the homies at Paid&Popular!

Upper Playground

Retna X Upper Playground



Retna from the world famous Seventh Letter Graffiti Crew has teamed up with Fifty24SF and Upper Playground for this limited edition print. Retna has recently been focusing on a collaborations series with Reyes and El Mac. Retna and Reyes have been known for there colorful and vibrant styling, and with the meticulous detail of El Macs Portraits, there collaboration series have been hitting the streets and art world by storm.






Estevan Oriol X Upper Playground



Estevan Oriol began his career in the entertainment industry in the late 1980's as a club bouncer at Los Angeles' most popular Hip Hop clubs and infamous Hollywood hangouts. It was there that Estevan first linked up with his Soul Assassin brothers from South Gate, Cypress Hill. Eager to expand his knowledge of the business, Estevan secured a job as tour manager for the rap group, House of Pain, in 1992.

Estevan invoked his unique photography style to catalogue the outrageous experiences he had on tour and began taking pictures of his neighborhood homies and the low rider culture. He had a gift for capturing the raw essence of street life through his photography. Within a short time, he became one of the most sought after photographers of the Urban and Hip Hop community. His work has been featured in magazines world-wide including: COMPLEX, FHM, GQ, Flaunt, Details, Vibe, The Fader, and Rolling Stone.

In 2006, Estevan teamed up with clothing powerhouse, Upperplayground, noted leader in specialty artists' inspired t-shirt lines. Estevan's line expresses his photography on limited edition t-shirts. In its 5 season, the line and its following continues to grow at a tremendous rate.

Culture Kings in Domino Magazine

Big thanks to Ambra Medda.

Dominomag.com

The Seventh Letter

A Couple of New Prints From Our Friends At the Seventh Letter.

Official X Girogio Armani

Made From Authentic Italian Made Giorgio Armani Wool Suits available exclusively @ CULTURE KINGS




Also from OFFICIAL

New Era

A few of the New fitteds from New Era

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

One of the areas hit hardest in the recent housing market crises was the city of Miami. What was once a sea of building cranes amidst the Miami skyline is now just a reminder of over-development, in-factual speculation, and shady lending practices.

Many areas that were formally lower income neighborhoods, seen the start of a demographic change with High-End condominiums popping up faster than new reality shows on your favorite network. However this gravy train of accelerating property appreciation has crashed in a high speed collision with reality. It is estimated that more than 50% of the new condominiums will never be completed leaving the city full of modern day ruins.

Mean while, New York was one of the areas not to be as affected by the real estate crash as others. Recently while developer Mike Namer was working on one of his most recent renovation projects, which is a luxury condo conversion, he stumbled upon a piece of recent cultural history. He found a graffiti covered wall that was created by graffiti's earliest pioneers in New York City. Artists such as Jean-Michael Basquiat, Futura 2000, and Fab 5 Freddy.

Takashi Murakami X Louie Vuitton

Designed for the Pop-Up Store In the Los Angeles Museum Of Modern Art, these two pieces will only be available during the exhibition that is currently running until February of 2008.

Hi-Tek Album Release Party @ Buck 15 12/11/07: DJ Louie Arson, Tom LaRoc, Keen 1 & DJ Craze!

Bounus Video's:

DJ Craze: DJ Craze showcase at the 2006 World DJ Championships (London, UK).



Hi-Tek: Where it all started.

Culture Kings News Video Link

Last week Culture Kings Miami was on Channel 7 News during the "Style File" segment of the broadcast for a story they did about Sneaker Culture.











If you missed it you can check it out on there website.

Just go to www.WSVN.com and click on the Style File logo at the bottom of the web page with the title "Sneakers".

Or just click the image under the 7 News Online logo.



http://www3.wsvn.com/features/articles/stylefiles/MI69857

Here is the youtube video of the story.



Big thank you to Angela Caraway and the Channel 7 news staff for making this happen.

Shout outs to Deelah for coming contributing to the story.