Urban Word at Brave New Voices

     Last week was the national teen poetry slam Brave New Voices, this year held in Chicago. Urban Word's Slam team of 6 teen poets representing NYC took 3rd place.
    Check out one of their group pieces performed by my own peers, Darren Arthur, Maya Osborne, and Anthony Ragler

Afro Punk Fest is right around the corner!

    The Biggest event of the summer is back. August 24th and 25th. This year's festival will just as eventful as last year and shows to be very promising. Once again I am volunteering for the AFROPUNK and I wouldn't have it any other way.

    This years AP fest will include performances by Chuck D, ?Love, Theophilus London, Danny Brown, The Skins, and so much more! A lot of talk has been going around about the lineup this year and so many people are very excited. Of course the festival will also include vendors, live art, BMX, food trucks and more.


   A new addition to the AFROPUNK festivities is Afro Punk after dark. If you are 21+ this includes several bars and clubs in the area having events, giveaways, and just dope happening right after the festival all in the name of AFROPUNK.

For all the information and to RSVP go to: http://afropunkfest.com/

PUNK at the Met

The Met's spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition, PUNK: Chaos to Couture, will examine punk's impact on high fashion from the movement's birth in the early 1970s through its continuing influence today. Featuring approximately one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments and recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk's visual symbols. Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of "do-it-yourself" and the couture concept of "made-to-measure," the seven galleries will be organized around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style. Themes will include New York and London, which will tell punk's origin story as a tale of two cities, followed by Clothes for Heroes and four manifestations of the D.I.Y. aesthetic—Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti and Agitprop, and Destroy. Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques.(Met Museum)

    I visited The Met with a close friend of mine yesterday and I am so glad I did. We went at a good time and the museum wasn't terribly crowded.

    Upon walking into the exhibit you are sucked into a world of PUNK. There are description on the wall of the whole Punk era in New York City and London. There is also a replica of the very popular NYC nightclub CBGB's bathroom. I admire the fashion so very much and how true to the era the works were. On display there were various clothing design by iconic names in fashion such as: Margeila, Versace, Alexander Mcqueen, and Galliano. The clothes were all heavily punk inspired, ripped, layered, cover in paint splatters and safety pins. It was all very impressive, not just the clothing but also the overall design aesthetic. There were colorful lights and and a different feel for each room/section. There was also punk music playing and various TV screens playing footage of various punk icons of that era.

     I enjoyed the entire exhibit very much, personally I already admire the entire punk era although I wasn't too knowledgeable about and now I'm glad that I learned more.

Photos:

Outfit of the Week !

Last night was a friend of mine’s book release and this is the outfit I wore. I didn’t want to dress up too much but I still had to look good. This look is simple, funky, edgy, and fun. Pretty much. I paired a cropped shirt from Asos.com with high waisted jeggings from gojane.com for a more modest look but still showing off my slim physique.

Lianne La Havas LIVE at summerstage !

Lianne La Havas headlined at Summerstage this past weekend and she was wonderful. This video is just her performing Lost & Found.



   The other performers were the bands Quadron and LP, they were both lead by women and were both very impressive. I had not heard of either band prior to seeing them and now I recommend them both.

   Lianne started her set with "No room, for doubt" and continued to perform each song off of her album "Is you love big enough" and then ended with the album's title track which is an ode to New York City. The whole event was completely enjoyable. Beautiful music, beautiful, great weather, great music, and of course it was free. Lianne La Havas did an amazing job.

Quote

The public needs art- and it is the responsibility of a self proclaimed artist to realize that the publicneeds art, not to make bourgeois art for a few and ignore the masses
                                                                                                                                   -Keith Haring

Chest length Loc Extensions ! (HOW-TO)

I haven't made a video but here's a how-to step by step, including photos

Materials Needed:

• 4 packs of Marley Braid hair
• 2 Packs of Kanekalon hair
• A pair of scissors
• A Lighter

Pre-Procedure(I asked my friend to do this before she came to my house)

• Wash, Blow-dry, condition hair
• Put hair in small/medium two strand twists 

Procedure

• Open pack of Kanekalon and cut the hair in half
• Take piece of the Kanekalon hair(large enough to do one braid)
• & Braid it to the end of one of the twists
• Open pack of marley braid, take one strand
• Wrap a tip of the hair around the top of the two-strand twist you just braided the bottom off
• then continue to wrap it around
• Keep wrapping until you get to the bottom of your braid then cut and burn
• Burn the very tip(left over kanekalon hair) 
• Do this with every single two-strand twist
• When you're finished run you finger through the locs and check to see if any had unraveled, if so burn again.

And there you have it! 

The whole process took me about 9 hours! Check out more styles, tips, and how-to's on http://iloveboxbraids.tumblr.com/

A little rant about Feminism and Disco Shorts

   Well, The other day I tried to leave my house wearing those Disco Shorts from American Apparel but my mother had a problem with that. We got into an argument and here are my feelings afterwards.

 

 What really made me angry was how strongly my mother felt about how others would perceive me. I feel that I was in no way sexualized aside the fact that I am a woman. Also she made me feel that I would have to censor myself or compromise who I am/What I like for other people. I don't do what I do specifically for anyone else I do it for me.

New track from NoName Gypsy !

    The name of the song is Baby and it is lovely. NoName is a young rapstress hailing from Chicago who first got a taste of fame just a few months ago when she featured on fellow Chi-town MC Chance the Rapper's mixtape AcidRap.
    Tons of fans have been checking for her ever since, so this record was already highly anticipated. Have a listen:


    Baby samples Inoj's "My Boo" the same track Ciara sampled for her latest hit "Body Party". As a hip-hop head I will always and forever appreciated clever samples and interpolations. I like how this is so different from Body Party although their born of the same song. Baby is about Noname being in the beginning stages of a relationship but knowing that he is the one. The sample of "My Boo" is slowed down and has a chopped and screwed effect, I enjoy that very much as well.
    One thing I can say about Noname Gypsy and her music is that she is very poetic, her wordplay, her flow, and that fact that she doesn't try too hard. I honestly cannot wait for a mixtape form her.

Shoot Somethin'

Today I took some photos with my best friend, Ali Esteem, and I look so great I had to share a few

I've switched up my Facebook page with a couple of these pics https://www.facebook.com/KearahArmonie