The post RESPECT. Interview: Noel Bronson talks Life as a Brand Architect appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed. Photo Credit: Eric Salvary/Get Fit Radio TV

Photographer, Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed checked in with Scoop B Radio podcast’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Press Play Below To Listen!

If you read articles on the internet then you’ve seen his work. Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed has photographed the latest and greatest.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, Dwyane Wade, Jay-Z, Fabolous, DJ Khaled, P.Diddy and many more have been photographed under the keen lens of Calligrafist.

His photography is a bridge between fashion, lifestyle, hip hop and culture.

He’s everywhere!  Literally!

Homeboy’s work has appeared in reputable publications such as Billboard, ESPN, Bleacher Report, HBO, CBS Sports, Complex, Catch Restaurant, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, New York Fashion Week, DJ USA, Hot 97, Power 105.1, S.O.B.’s, Tidal, BET, VIBE, Mass Appeal, The Shade Room, Hype Beast, The Source Magazine, REVOLT, RESPECT Magazine, Bleu Magazine and Elliot Wilson and Brian ‘B.Dot” Miller’s Rap Radar.

All of that said…guess what? He’s not comfortable! 

“The kind of person that I am, I just want to do more,” Calligraist told RESPECT Magazine today by phone.

“This is just the beginning.” 

Forever Uptown… it’s a Harlem Thing. | #CalligrafistChronicles | www.CalligrafistPhotography.com

A post shared by Ismail اسما عيل Calligrafist™ (@calligrafist) on Dec 15, 2017 at 7:12pm PST

Harlem, NY bred and globally influenced, Calligrafist actually didn’t aspire to be a photographer. In fact, he fell in love with the art of graffiti and calligraphy; hence the nickname, ‘Calligrafist.’

A man of faith, the devout Muslim is college educated at Jamia Madinatul Uloom University in Trinidad & Tobago, where he studied Quranic Studies and Arabic reading and writing.

Calligrafist acknowledges seasoned hip hop photographers like Johnny Nunez and Jonathan Mannion  who have undoubtedly paved the way for on-the rise photographers such as himself. Calligrafist emphasizes that he’s glad to sit at the table with them and eat, while also gaining their respect for his skin in the game. “It’s genuinely cool to have intimate conversations with them,” he said.

“It’s more humbling that I am able to have direct access to people that I look up to like them and someone like Lenny S., DJ Clark Kent, Emory Jones, that have a name in the industry, people that have a place in the culture, for people to acknowledge me for more my work; that’s an honor. That’s more humbling. But it moves me to want to do more.”

For more information on Calligrafist and his photographic/art movement, visit www.calligrafistphotography.com and scroll up and press play to listen to our chat on Scoop B Radio! 

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The post Scoop B: Photographer Ismail “Calligrafist” Sayeed is a rising star who has stayed true to both his Islamic faith & his craft appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

FUBU’s Keith Perrin and Daymond John with LL Cool J. Photo Credit: CNNMoney

FUBU’s Keith Perrin checked in with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast. Press Play Below To Listen!

There are a few things about the FUBU clothing brand that stood out: they had the coolest sweater vests and hockey jerseys, “Fatty Girl,” a single from the clothing line’s FUBU Compilation album was and still is THE BOMB. They had women with voluptuous bodies that are actually theirs and not surgically altered. 

Additionally, LL Cool J rocked his FUBU clothing line to the fullest and it paid off big. LL also had the coolest wardrobe on the UPN hit show, In The House.

Back in the early stages of the FUBU brand in the 90s, FUBU’s founder, Daymond John, now most recognizable from the hit show, Shark Tank, had a vision.

He stuck to it: create quality clothes at a fair price.

The Queens, NY native balanced time working full-time as a manager at a local Red Lobster restaurant and investing into the FUBU brand.

He and his Queens, NY buddies J. Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin invested into that vision by actually hand-sewing hats, and T-shirts and selling them at New York Coliseum and making a pretty penny, daily.

Their hard work would pay off. But they also got a huge mainstream co-sign from fellow Queens representer, LL Cool J.

LL Cool J recorded a 30-second ad for The Gap, where he name dropped FUBU by saying “for us, by us” in his lyrics while wearing a FUBU hat.  

The Gap fell asleep at the wheel and didn’t realize it until months later. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

“He looked at us and saw the determination in our eyes,” FUBU’s Keith Perrin told me on Scoop B Radio.

LL Cool J was at the top of his game at the point. He was transitioning from rapping to acting.

According to Perrin, companies like Nike and Timberland were looking to do partnerships with LL. But the rapper, turned actor remained loyal to the hometown guys. “He’s from Queens just like us,” said Perrin.

Perrin vividly recounts giving LL Cool J his first endorsement check while he was on the set taping the video for his hit, “Phenomenon.”

“I went out there and gave him the check in an envelope,” he said.

“And he said: ‘what’s this?’ And I said: ‘this is the first distribution check.’ So he sits down and opens the envelope and says: ‘man, we making this kind of money from clothes?!’ It was $75,000 dollars and he says tell Damon [John]: ‘I need a red Ferrari!’ And I was like: ‘L you just got $75,000, you can put a down payment on your own Ferrari.’ But it was just an amazing thing and an amazing time and he’s a great guy, The dude is 100 percent loyal and dedicated to the brand.”

What a great story. Today, the brand is reportedly worth $6 billion. FUBU is also featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

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The post Scoop B: FUBU’s influence on 90s & 2000s culture stems from timing & LL Cool J’s The Gap commercial appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Power 105’s DJ Clue and Scoop B Radio host Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson in New York City. Photo Courtesy of: The Brandon Robinson Brand

Check out DJ Clue and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on Scoop B Radio

The NFL and NBA’s season are literally around the corner. That means one thing: the release of Madden 18, NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K 18 video games are a fast break pass and a 2-minute drill away from releasing.

Over the last ten-plus years, the NBA 2K franchise has established itself as a premier hoops platform. This year, EA Sports has made a comeback with their release of NBA Live 18 and James Harden as the game’s cover athlete. One of the coolest features of the game is a mode that allows you to play with WNBA teams; the first of its kind and according to my buddy Brian Mazique at FORBES Magazine, by way of Chicago the game’s soundtrack is pretty solid!

Speaking of soundtracks, I’m always enamored by the evolution of video game soundtracks. One of the catalysts of that was NBA Live 2003.

The game had Jason Kidd on the cover and the game’s intro, ‘It’s In The Game,’ was performed by Fabolous with DJ Clue producing the track. “You know it’s funny I was just thinking about that today,” DJ Clue told me on Scoop B Radio.

“I was thinking about how,  I think I saw James Harden say he was on the cover of the new Live. So I was thinking: ‘Man it wasn’t too long ago that I produced the intro to Live and it had rap on it.”

Added DJ Clue:

“I think that sometimes  you get caught in the moment and you don’t realize how big something is that you are doing.”

The track and video was pretty legit!

“They gave me no restrictions on how to be with sound, but they gave me sound effects that they wanted me to actually incorporate into actually beats.The whistle, the feet squeaking, the dunk, they gave me all those sounds. So I was in the studio, I was doing a beat and I came up with the beat and they came up with the rap and I had to go back and put the sound effects in from what he was rapping about.”

That he that DJ Clue is referring to was Fabolous.

Fabolous’ wordplay on the track was insane:

“‘I’m the crowd favorite and I believe the fans love the way I finger roll it with either hand, my handles pull it through presses plus I can play the lane and block shots like bulletproof vestes.’

How the heck did Fab turn the plural of the word ‘vest’ into his own wording? Years later he’d do it again in his song “Breathe,” when he changed the plural of the word ‘mask’ into ‘maskes.’

But I digress!

“It was a cool experience,” Fabolous told me in a recent interview.

“The whole video game, I actually got to visit the EA Sports headquarters and got to see the stuff behind games; the real geeky, techy side, that was even cool. It was really, really, really a cool experience.”

According to DJ Clue, not only did he take part in the producing process of the game, in the NBA Live 2003 game, EA Sports created a creation of the DJ Clue if you put a special code in. “If you typed in the code ‘Mixtape,’ I personally came up in the game as a player you could play with a 96 rating,” said DJ Clue while on Scoop B Radio.

A 96 rating Clue? Don’t let current NBA players hear that!

Apparently EA Sports crafted the Power 105 dj’s likeness after Tracy McGrady, who will be a minted an NBA Hall of Famer in a couple of weeks at the NBA’s Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Make sure to check out DJ Clue’s interview in its entirety by clicking here. Not only did DJ Clue discuss NBA Live 2003, he also discussed his infamous ‘Clueminati’ and William M. Holla Drops before the start of songs.

“I have always heard people talk about the Illuminati,” said DJ Clue.

“But it was, I wanted to try and put my own little twist to it. So I came up with Clueminati, Clue Fargino you know all those names, just to keep it interesting. You know Fidel Cashflow, you know.”

DJ Clue also discussed what it was like working with Mariah Carey on tracks like  “Thank God I Found You Remix,” a track that DJ Clue produced:

“Mariah is a super perfectionist man,” he said. “So she wants to make sure that when she does vocals that it are done right. She definitely is that person that if she wants you to hear her music it has to be right. She isn’t playing around.”

Clue says Working with Tamia on the So Into You Remix with Fabolous challenged Tamia in a good way: “I feel like I pushed her,” he said.

DJ Clue weighed in on why Jay-Z doesn’t write his lyrics down: “I think Jay started doing that because I think it helps him remember songs,” said DJ Clue.

“There have been times when we have been on stage when he first started. He would be on stage and he would forget a line or two. He would tap me and be like: ‘Yo what’s the line?’ I think coming from that he would just sit and be like: ‘yo maybe if I just memorize it better if I just sit and say it to myself over and over again.. He used to get in the car and be like: ‘yo give me a day or two. He would ride around with his driver and make up his lines. He would call me up and be like: ‘Oooh I got a line.’ That is how it would be.”

He also says Puff Daddy has a pretty good routine while in studio:

“I think with Puff working with him; when I would go to Daddy’s House [his old recording studio]  he would have Total in one room working, then you would have BIG working in another and then have Craig Mack working in another room. He would be bouncing from room to room working on songs; it was crazy! Je would say: ‘Ok I’m working with Total in one room and then be back in an hour, he was going for it. He had a movement, he would be there all times of the night, working on songs. Puff’s work ethic was serious!”

DJ Clue also discussed his own business ventures like his DJ Clue Ap, his forthcoming documentary and his no-tie shoelaces that he has called Clue Lace. The partnership that he and business partner, Randy Parker, a fellow DJ who goes by the stage name DJ ESSO is successful so far. “It is definitely the first no-tie shoelace,” DJ Clue told me.

“If you have kids out there, you know how strenuous it is when you get yelled at to tie your shoelaces. You don’t got to do that! These are the no-tie shoelace. They are flexible, they are dope. They are good for kids in sports. You don’t want to stop the game from the moment on the court because their shoelaces are untied, or trip over them. You can set them one time and it will never go loose. They look stylish too.”

 

There are about 12 varieties of his laces available.

As for DJ Clue’s forthcoming documentary he told Scoop B Radio:

“It is going to take you into different phases of my career,” he said. “The start, obviously you have to go into Queens and check out mom’s crib and the place it all started at. Different times when I was producing with different people, my different travel, of course. It is going to have my trials and tribulations and that kind of stuff. It is like any story. You have to make sure you focus on the good and the bad and all the positives and all the negatives. We want to have it well-rounded so that people can really understand the story and know where the grind came from.”

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The post Scoop B: DJ Clue Discusses Working With Fabolous on NBA Live 2003, Clue Lace, Documentary, Producing For Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy & Jay-Z appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Michael Vick and Terrell Owens were both one-time members of the Philadelphia Eagles. Photo Courtesy of AP

In the NBA super teams are a trend. The Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant. Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson found a way to make it work. Imagine if a QB and WR tandem of Michael Vick and Terrell Owens running the NFL in their prime was a thing!

Vick would have had the marquee wide receiver he’d always craved back when he was an Atlanta Falcon.

Could you imagine T.O. having folks get their popcorn ready every Sunday? The two tried it in the land of make belief in a Nike commerical.

The post Scoop B: Terrell Owens Ponders What It Would Have Been Like To Play With Michael Vick In The NFL appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Air Jordan 12 “Blue Suede”

Release date: November 12th, 2016

Retail price: $190

First of all, if you haven’t already realized, 2016 is the year of the 12! Air Jordan has released 16 Air Jordan 12 colorways over the past 10 months, pictured below, and they aren’t finished just yet. The first Air Jordan 12 to be released was in 1996, with a classic black/white/gold color scheme (Air Jordan 12 Taxi). Since then, new colorways have been created, as well as old ones being remastered. 2016 is the 20th anniversary year since the 1st Air Jordan 12 release, and Nike is doing it big.

From the infamous ‘Flu Game’ colorway, to the ‘Pink GS’ for young girls this shoe model has every flavor anyone could be looking for. As a result, everyone of every age is finding a way to these sneakers. Due to popularity of the Air Jordan 12, I recommend you pre-order them, or wake up early enough to get in line for them!

Air Jordan 12 – 2016 Releases

On November 12th, 2016, the ‘Blue Suede’ colorway will be released, and shake things up for sure. This Air Jordan is sporting a mixture of a deep royal blue, white and metallic silver color scheme. Sneakerheads don’t really know where they stand on this shoe. Some say “Why monochrome?” Others say “This is exactly what we needed to bring in the fall.”

We’ll just have to wait until next weekend to see them on feet, because it seems like pictures aren’t doing this unique colorway much justice.

Tell us what you think about the new addition to the jumpman collection!

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The post Air Jordan 12 “Blue Suede” to Drop Next Week [Cop or Not?] appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Remember the 1995 U.S. Open? Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi met in the 1995 U.S. Open Finals matchup that was heavily hyped by Nike and a defining moment for both stars. Ranked numbers one and two respectively, Sampras would defeat Agassi 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

In all matches played, Sampras leads 20–14. Looking back on their competition, Sampras marvels at their competition.

“What Andre and I had was pretty unique,” Sampras told me by phone. “Both being American, both being different. We dressed differently, we played differently, our personalities were different, it was a great clash.”

Sampras Dropped By Today’s Scoop B Radio With CBS’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson To Discuss It

It’s customary in today’s sports climate to compare what happened in a hey-day to what’s going on currently. We see it in football, where folks wonder whether the New England Patriots or the Seattle Seahwaks are today to what the Dallas Cowboys were in the 90s. You also see it where many tried to compare 72-10 Chicago Bulls superpower to last season’s Golden State Warriors who beat that record but lost in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers in June.

But what Sampras and Agassi did during their reign was special; many wonder if that can be replicated.

Any similarities Mr. Sampras?

“Today it’s not quite as sexy,” he said. “But I think you look at Djokovic and Murray as the two best players. It’s a great rivalry and they’ve played each other a bunch, they’ve played great matches. It may not have the same appeal as say Andre and myself, for a few years. But if you look at it, the last two greats were Roger and Rafal when they had their moments: lefty, righty, both very different.”

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The post Scoop B Radio: Pete Sampras Talks Agassi, Rivalries appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.