King Nicky

I know I keep it pretty east coast on this blog so I think it's time to re-introduce you to my all time favorite SF rapper Andre Nickatina formerly known as Dre Dog. When I first moved to SF I lived in the dorms at first. Across the hall next door to the Lunachick lived a couple of dudes from Fremont in the East Bay. It was through Keith and Chris that I first heard Dre Dog. From the 1st verse I was hooked. His shows are amazing and relatively infrequent but if you get the chance you should really go. Both shows I saw were dope in very different ways. The first time I saw him was on Haight St at the Boomerang. This show was his home turf and the Fillmore showed up in force. The vibe was hard but cool if you can understand that. He tore the roof off that piece of shit club for the whole show and then closed the set down with an accapella version of the Daquiry Factory. Whoa! The second time was at a frat house at UCSD. Yep a frat house, weird ass location, and a completely different crowd. But he still ripped the shit out of the place and played a bunch of old shit. So, on that note please roll a honey blunt (must be a Vega) and pump these while you reminisce about SF circa '94-'00.

Nicky Says


Baking Soda in Minnesota - Live


Crack Raider Razor


Smoke Dope and Rap - the song that got me hooked

Really..Philly...really!?!?

I saw this article on the front page of Philly.com. It is truly unbelievable what the police concentrate on when there are shootings everyday throughout the city. It is the wild west in some areas but let's chase down this guy. He does seem dangerous...right?

Artist quits graffiti but police still skulk

Really...

As promised

I am now halfway through the 1st module of school. So far so good. In honor of that modest accomplishment I have decided to suck it up and put my work out there in cyberspace.
Here are a couple pieces I have been working on at school in my drawing 101 class. I am pretty happy with the way they came out. Before taking this class I could not even draw my name. Hopefully I can keep improving and getting better.

This was a tree out in the courtyard at Platt.

Tissue box - pretty self explanatory.

1st time working with a Conte. I think it came out pretty cool.

My man Richard Pryor! Done in charcoal from a photo.

I would like to know what you think of this. Especially if you have known me before this.

Oh yeah, went skating again. Starting to feel more and more comfortable. But goddamn do my feet hurt after. May have to add another insole to the Half Cabs...old man Army!

The Familia Video

When I was still working at DVS one our sales reps opened a skate shop in Minnesnowta called Familia. He is one of the few good guys out there in the bullshit world of sales. As you know if you follow this I am a big fan of Nate Compher's skating. His shared part in this is super good. Big Ups to Adam Bovee and Familia on this release. Keep the fire burning!

Oh yeah where are my shirts man??

The Familia Video from Familia Skateshop on Vimeo.

Philly Graff Doc?

That's what I'm hearing. I hope this shit is in it.

Donski

Keep it grimy

Remember when hip hop was dope and you waited in anticipation of the new shit to drop. It has been a long time since then. I have been going back in the music vaults lately for my listening pleasure. I was Wii bowling the other with the Ipod bumping on random when Nas' NY State of Mind and The GZA Liquid Swords came on back to back. It brought me back to my days in SF when we were broke and happy to drink quarts of High Life and put in on Delores Park blunt sessions after skating all day.

Bang these in the office or at home and remember when quarts were a $1 and we still ran from the cops...

GZA - Liquid Swords - try not to get hype after this



Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Your Neck - machetes and hoodies, not shiny cars and suits



Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Pt 2 - What!



Nas - Represent - The hardest song. Still hits just as hard today. No NY State of Mind due not finding good video.

Mid terms and stuff

It is about the midway point of my first class. So far I feel like I am doing well. Next up for us is an artist statement as well as our midterm project, a critical analysis project on a specific piece. We were given a list of artist's to choose from. I picked Shepard Fairey. Not because I am a fan necessarily (although I have 2 prints), but the work he does is rooted in the "street art". My main influences are mainly artist's outside the museum's. So I am now in the process of picking a piece of his art to use for my paper. This is the 1st paper I will have written since my college thesis almost 12 years ago. Crazy.

I went skating again on Sat. Went over to Cherry Park again. This time there was a nice session going on. Some locals and and a couple of little rippers. Met up with my friends and played some SKATE and hit the ledges up a bit.
Spent the rest of Sat chilling with Sandra.
Off to work on my project.

Pencils, Charcoal and Paper

So I have been in school for about a week. All is well so far. The class is drawing 101. It is just me and 4 other students. The rest of the class is 3 ladies and a mid 40's overweight rent a cop. This is the type of guy who sounds like he always has to clear his throat when speaking. I am waiting for the day when he spits out a giant phlegm ball mid sentence. Oh yeah he is also godsquad. The professor/teacher is real helpful and patient. He is a professional fine artist along with teaching art. As of right now I am drawing at the level of a blind 2 year old but hope to continue to improve. My hand is a bit heavy and needs to be lightened up a bit. When I have something complete I will post it up for verbal abuse.

Met up with my homie Blake and skated on Sat for almost 2 hours in Cherry Park. It was great to be out. Not that I was able to do anything except push to the spot. Oh yeah I landed a front board on the ledge. That's how bad it is, I have to quantify my abilities.
Being back in school has gotten me back on a somewhat normal schedule. This has led to a surprising burst of energy and motivation. Besides skating I have been out and about in the neighborhood more than anytime in the past few months. So you will see me up and you will see my slaps. Don't sleep.

If you have the chance do yourself a favor and watch Dennis Busenitz's part in the new Adidas Euro flick Diagonal. It is Amazing! Yes with a capital A! Wow!

New begining's

As many of you who follow this blog or in "real life" know that I am about to head back to school. It has been over 10 years since the last time and I not quite sure what to even expect at this point. I am feeling a solid mixture of nerves, excitement, self doubt and more nerves. So as you would expect I have not been sleeping all that well.
I have a sneaky suspicion that once I get involved and start to go everyday the nerves will have worn away.

I am hoping to show some of my finished projects on here at some point in the future. So be on the lookout for that as well as a new site layout. I am getting bored with how it looks and want to start switching things up. Any suggestions are welcomed.