Artwork by Dread Solo

“This is grown man rap”

Refreshing would be an understatement. Not just the music itself, but Shabaam Sahdeeq himself in 2016. In the midst of over-saturation, female clothing, and delusional trap lords, SS is a pure testament to remaining thorough as a recording artist. Remaining  humble. Remaining raw. You don’t need to sell your soul or ride the “in” wave to be respected.

The New York City native has a list of commendable stripes. You can read more about that below in our interview with him if you didn’t know. If not, do your research.

Today we present the video premiere for Shabaam Sahdeeq and J57‘s latest “GMR” single (directed by Rhugid Lee for Rhugid Productions – cuts by Dj Eclipse). It’s pointless to break down the video in writing form if you can just click and watch it about four inches below. But do know it’s the perfect creative overload – finding himself doing live painting on the busy streets of NYC. On that note, rest in peace Sean Price. Forever.

‘Timeless: of the Collection‘, a new full length LP from SS and company, is coming very soon. You can read more about that below also. Peace and love:

RESPECT: Before we get into it we want to thank you for your time. If you were to just gain a new fan of your music today, what would you want them to know about Shabaam Sahdeeq?

Shabaam Sahdeeq: I want them to know that I’m a forever-growing and learning embodiment of the hip-hop culture. I’m a father, husband, artist and black man. A very humble and cool individual, but don’t ever take my kindness for weakness. I was told in Africa that “paintings are frozen music“. So, I feel that I’m right in my lane. I’m an emcee, painter and a barber.

R:You’re ranked as a veteran emcee with multiple stripes. What is one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned over the years as a recording artist?

SS: The most valuable lesson I’ve learned is to never lose your love or passion for your music or whatever you do. Some people get so caught up in chasing money that they lose site of what made them love to create and express themselves with the arts in the first place.

R: Aside from recording music, you are a talented visual artist. Can you tell us a little bit about your artwork and how the two crafts echo one another?

SS: Well to start with – emcee’ing and graffiti are two of the four hip-hop elements. So me being a hip-hop head, it’s only right that I fell in love with those two. My visual art sometimes says things my words can’t articulate or vice versa. I think they go hand in hand well. My art work is urban, abstract, and experimental mixed media. I think a lot of music artists have the gift of being artistic in more ways than one. It’s up to them to embrace it and run with all of them.

You have a new record coming real soon titled Timeless: of the Collection and mentioned you were very proud of this body of work. Do you mind telling us a little bit about the project?

SS: Timeless: of the Collection is a four-part series of albums. Each will have a different beginning title but all of them are from the collection. And every single will have a piece of art that goes with it that I hand painted. The cover of each album will be from an artist that I respect or collaborate with like yourself (Dread Solo).

R: Its apparent that family is very important to you. You’re open about it on social media and in your records. What has it been like trying to balance the family man and the recording artist positions over the years?

SS: My family is very important to me. The balance is not hard because my family knows what my passion is. The music is therapy for whatever I’m going through. I work a day job that’s flexible for me to travel and do tours. I spend time with my kids. I go out with my wife. If your hear me talking about streets it’s from my time running them in the past. I spend most of my time these days in my man cave with my music equipment and art supplies – when I’m not at work or at shows. My family is my first priority over everything.

R: Can you give us a little background on the new “GMR” visual? It looks like it was a fun time.

SS: It’s a special video. I shot it right after Sean Price died, and right before I moved out of New York City to Atlanta with my family. It was a bitter sweet time. It was shot by my boy Rhugid Lee that I ran into in Manhattan years after being in prison together. We always said when we get out that we are going to pursue our dreams in different areas – his being film and mine being music and art. We combined the two and did something real special. I told him about the concept my manager Big P came up with to be painting as I moved through the city – even in the middle of traffic and Lee helped me pull it off. I was doing a Sean Price memorial painting that I finished by the end of the video – which was later gifted to Sean Price’s wife Bernadette. It’s probably not the illest one she received, but it came from the heart.

Thank you for the interview. One love!

Official Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Artwork

The post Video Premiere: Shabaam Sahdeeq – “GMR” + Interview appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Dougan Khim doesn’t identify himself as an artist. As he puts it, he’s “still a young padawan slowly growing out of old master styles.” The 21-year-old chicago native has done work for various clients, including clothing brands and music groups, most notably painting the cover for the Phony Ppl album “Phonyland.” He attended Milton Academy in Massachusetts for high school and received a full scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but put it off for two years because of work and eventually just decided not to attend at all. He’s been keeping busy since then with freelance work and personal projects, working in a variety of formats. Keep reading to hear more about his story in our conversation below.

How did you get started in each of your respective creative mediums – painting, composite, graphic and web design.

Painting: I started to learn under a mentor in Chicago about two years ago, been painting on my own since I stopped taking lessons. We’re friends now and chill occasionally. I actually painted in high school a little bit, but I was definitely the worst painter in class because my background was primarily based in graphics/design.

Composite: I started in high school in my photography class. I wasn’t the greatest photographer, but I created composite images using photos I took in an old studio space. Rather than capturing photos, I was interested in telling stories through this medium. Even though I was exploring what I now consider juvenile themes, it was the genesis of my artist self, though I still don’t see myself as one.

Web + Graphic Design: I started teaching myself Photoshop in the 5th grade. I downloaded Photoshop 6 on Kazaa, spent my afterschool time/weekends making websites on yahoo and creating designs. I used a lot of tutorials to teach myself how to use the tools. Over the years, it went from playing on Adobe programs to becoming a designer.

Once I graduated highschool, I worked at Sir & Madame as a design intern for the summer in Chicago and the following fall I was employed at a design firm in Rochester, New York. When my boss told me I was picked over 100 graduate art students, I started to rethink college. When I was 18, I moved to New York by myself and worked full-time for about half a year, then moved back to Chicago at the end of the winter. At 19, I began working as a freelance designer, and made close ties to people in the start-up game. Because of the amount of work I’ve done with start-up companies, especially with people who are part of the Excelerate program in Chicago, my name gets bounced around enough in that world for me to have consistent work every month. Recently, the Creative Circle agency employed me as a designer – it’s my backup job in case I can’t find my own work.

Your paintings have a lot of details and emotion, what is your general process and goals when you are making a painting? What do you try to convey and get across? 

All of my paintings are oil paintings. My mentor taught me how to paint like the old masters, following the rules of the classics (Vermeer, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, etc.). I’m not sure if I have any goals with my paintings besides painting what I want to paint — I have no desire to sell my personal pieces yet. Normally, I create paintings to overcome an issue/problem in my life — it helps me move on. I don’t create art for walls in nice homes.

I have my own interpretations of my work, and don’t expect others to understand the meaning — everybody sees, hears and feels art differently. My opinion might change in the future, though. My mind struggles with this idea of creating art for yourself, or creating art for the people. Friends tell me I think too black and white about it, but if I’m creating art for myself, it’ll be isolating and come out as something sad. Who wants to see or deal with that? If I focus my mind on creating more commercial and aesthetic art, thinking about the masses, it could be more positive and progressive, even if it means creating something that doesn’t interest me. I gotta figure it out. Maybe I could do both someday, I don’t know.

Tell me a little about the composites. I know there are only a few on your site, but the ones that are up are interesting. Is this a medium you want to pursue further in the future?

The composites were made in high school when I took photography.  “Silver Tongue Rings” was the piece that convinced me to take art more seriously — it was the first time I saw myself becoming an artist. Composite imaging was the first time I created an artistic piece rather than making something functional like design. My goal with most of them at the time was to create something you would see in a film. I have a few composite ideas for the future, involving multiple mediums (photography, paint, collage, etc) but I am saving them for future shows & exhibitions. With all the ideas I’ve planned out, composite imagery is the medium I think I could use to create something aesthetic, profound and progressive for the masses, but I want to mature more as an artist before I put myself out there as one.

What are your future goals?

I’m teaching myself html/css so I can double my work rate, and I plan on going to art school for about a year or two so I can pick up a few skills and learn about art, then drop out. My goal is to never stop working. Everyday I build a road towards art & design and go wherever it takes me. As the saying goes, I don’t want to be one of those people waking up in 20 years and thinking “what if?” Obviously I have dreams of becoming a recognized artist/designer like everybody else, but having great expectations of fame and money limits the creative mind so I don’t really day dream in that sense. If we create art like there’s no future, then it will be 100% organic and human.

The post “To Thine Own Self Be True” – Take a Look at Dougan Khim’s Painting & Graphic Design appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

His work is defined by “l’humour noir” (dark humor) and really just makes you think.

“To me it was a way of telling things like they are less sugar-coated than the rest, and closer to my own version of reality. It could make a real impact,” he says.

The post Art: Dran’s Dark, French Humor appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Don’t let your eyes fool you. The picture above is a painting.

Brookyln-based painter Alexandra Pacula creates incredibly realistic, but blurry, images of busy nightlife seens on very large canvases. Or what New York City might look like if you were driving by at about 300 mph. Here’s what Pacula has to say about her work:

I recreate the feeling of dizziness and confusion by letting the paint blur and allowing shapes to dissolve.  I suggest motion in order to slow down the scene and capture the fleeting moments, which tend to be forgotten.  The sense of motion is intensified with the use of quick vigorous lines and sharp perspectives.  By interpreting lights in graphic or painterly ways, I create a sense of space, alluding to a hallucinogenic experience.  I want the viewer’s eye to travel within my composition and experience a familiar, exhilarating event of an actual nightly excursion.

See much more of her work here.

The post Art: The Blurriest Paintings You’ve Ever Seen appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.