Signature: The Dandettes One of the most important accomplishments you can make as an artist is to establish a fingerprint for your work that is signature to you. SirReal Photography debuts photography series Signature. Signature is an organized display of some of Dex R. Jones’ most signature past and upcoming pieces that is unmistakably signature to SirReal Photography. Originally shot as a follow-up to the Dandy Lions collection, the first installment to Signature will be The Dandettes. The creation of this image collection is captured in this documentary of the behind the scenes of...

Last month Erykah Badu participated in GQ’s Survivor series of interviews. In a feature by Sean Fennessey, Erykah spoke candidly her inspirations, her style, Flying Lotus and neo-soul. The following is an excerpt from that experience. interview by SEAN FENNESSEY images by MARK SELIGER In the mid-’90s, a record executive named Kedar Massenburg coined the term “neo-soul” to describe a new breed of R&B artists—particularly D’Angelo, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, and a certain head-wrapped chanteuse from Dallas—who defined the incense-fogged utopianism of the period....

Called the fashion diva, B. Breezy, to check in; wanted to see what she was up to lately. Busy, as usual, the photographer/model and model’s role model shared a few recent images, courtesy of The Studio Concept. When asked what she was up to, B. Breezy had this to say: “Ok, let’s see…I currently have a site (TheUltraModel.com) that features inspiring models and female role models. It’s about the positive things they are doing in their communities as well as their goals and dreams they have for their business. Each model or role model has a picture gallery (shot by...

Nefertiti of the nefTUNES and earthSista AlleyCat team up with PublikTransit’s Ashley Peoples to form Team Creatives Collaboration for the IHeartMyBreezeCard video competition where the winners could earn $8,500. This video contest is sponsored by Cubic Transportation Systems.The Breeze Card video with the most Thumbs Up votes wins $1,500 and is entered into a final round to determine the $5,000 National Grand Prize winner! The goal is to make it entertaining, original, clean and focus on how your Breeze Card opens doors that take you to the best things in life. Qualifying entries are posted...

SA-ROC is Hip Hop. Sol Messiahh is Hip Hop. They are the collectors, the creators, the performers, the priests, the mad scientists of Hip Hop and I became one of the converted, one night in late February of 2011. It was a cold, dark night in Atlanta’s Little 5 Points (L5P) district; the traditionally artsy/alternative neighborhood of the ATL (think SoHo in NYC.) I was at the Journey of the Starseed album release concert at THE 5 SPOT and SA-ROC was the star. But with the likes of Starchile, staHHr, Boog Brown, Nappy Roots and Khalilah Ali in the house, much of Atlanta’s hottest underground...

Several floors above the city, we began a curious excursion. We had talked about it for weeks, pondering the “whens” and “hows” and “looks” of this endeavor. earthSista Sabali lives in Alabama and I am in Atlanta. During a weekend excursion to Georgia with her sisters, we had planned to get together. We had discussed what we wanted to create and yet among the skyscrapers in the ATL we ignored all of the plans and the setup. Instead it was an intuitive moment marked with discreet activities that were inspired and intended to be shared. Sabali was playful and artistic,;...

Collective inspiration… the sum is far greater than the individual contributions. “I am not going to say much here; the creators of this collection have their own statements. I will say that these images are the culmination of Chi-town artists inspired by an earthSista as their muse. The collective experience is, at times, humorous and tense and always real as they all come together to make it happen. Artist and filmmaker Paul Branton, Photographer Tracy Lynn Deis and earthSista Queen Hadassah Esther share a colorful experience with the rest of us….” –Vincent “I...

“if it wasn’t for the modeling I would’ve never met some amazing photographers, got glimpses into other subcultures and made some great friends” Abigail Ekue At one point, I was pondering what to blog about and within minutes, Raising Hope switched to a scene of Jimmy in an art class where his girlfriend walks in as the nude art model. The moment of truth–could he date a nude model? I’ve done nude modeling since 2006. I’m not as active as I used to be because I’m more selective of the photographers I work with and the projects they present to...

“Roommates” It was an erotic story I wrote last Spring, When I sat down with Nala and remy the ECCENTRICsoul to plan our shoot, we decided to build a visual concept around my story. We were going to take an artistic interpretation the story with me as a writer toiling away with the story, Nala as my manifested imagination, and Remy behind the lens being the “eyes” of the male character by creating a series of dramatic images.  However, it ended up being more of a celebration of our diverse and natural Black beauty. The contrast of our lovely natural crowns, the shades of our brown...

As we gear up for a night of Afrosensual creativity and celebration, take a moment to look back at the last week’s festivities as the earthSistas of For Real Tho! hang out at the Creative Culture Collective’s Open Mic Friday. Its a momentary improvisational free-for-all as we all get caught up in the music and the verse of the performers. Nefertiti is in the background too on the mic and playing her guitar. It raucous and funny and hard to hear as everybody steps up to bring you the fun. Neferititi and Rainbow Soul drop their “For Real Tho!s” What’s Your “For...