"Damn Son Where Did You Find This?" Book Explores Mixtape Cover Art Evolution

By JON CARAMANICA/The New York Times


Pages from “Damn Son Where Did You Find This?: A Book About U.S. Hip-Hop Mixtape Cover Art.”

Mixtapes have been around almost since hip-hop’s beginning, but in the last decade, their ubiquity and efficacy have made them perhaps the prime way for new artists to be discovered and for older artists to re-establish their bona fides. At the same time, now that they’re everywhere, it’s tough to stand out and win attention.

In this environment, artwork is crucial, a way to stand out on websites like datpiff.com and livemixtapes.com, where dozens of new mixtapes are available free every week. The best covers are a folky pastiche, relying on familiar tropes from movie posters and video games, and applying layers of digital effects and clip art to make something memorable. For a Plies mixtape called “Top Goon,” there’s the rapper Photoshopped into a “Top Gun” setup. For a mixtape released when Young Jeezy and Rick Ross were beefing, the two are illustrated in a fight, with Mr. Ross pushing his hand through Young Jeezy’s chest and coming out of the other side holding his heart.



These whimsical hip-hop daydreams have rarely been truly and fully appreciated. But the art is celebrated in a new book, “Damn Son Where Did You Find This?: A Book About U.S. Hip-Hop Mixtape Cover Art” by Tobias Hansson and Michael Thorsby, released in a limited run on a Swedish press, La Vida Locash. (The title comes from a familiar vocal drop used on Trap-A-Holics mixtapes.)

“Damn Son” features extended interviews with five graphic designers — KidEight, Miami Kaos, Mike Rev, Tansta and Skrilla — along with dozens of examples of their work. As their careers peaked — beginning about 10 years ago — mixtape artwork had been somewhat codified. Each artist, though, has been able to establish signature flourishes in the genre.



Miami Kaos stands out for his illustration skills. Rather than working around a pre-existing photo, he draws his subjects, rendering them even more heroic. Mike Rev is notable for his restraint, as seen in his work for Meek Mill’s “Dreamchasers” series, done in black and green, a sort of modern sepia tone. KidEight is the eccentric of the group, a master of Photoshop and logo reappropriations, with a finely honed sense of the absurd.

The book’s interviews with the artists illuminate what may have been obvious but unspoken: Many rappers and D. J.s ask for artwork similar to things that are already in the marketplace, and only a few are content to let the designers roam free creatively. Some artists have backgrounds in graffiti, and others are trained designers. Surprisingly, two of the five profiled live in England, far away from firsthand interaction with American hip-hop culture. They used the Internet to contact and communicate with potential clients, and some posted their work on message boards for sharing and critiquing.

Hip-hop is too vast to have had cleanly defined eras of cover art design, but over the decades a few movements have stood out, echoing the music’s evolution. In the mid- to late 1980s, the photographer Glen E. Friedman and the designer and graffiti artist Eric Haze created striking, raw, photo-driven covers. From the 1980s into the late 1990s, Cey Adams and Steve Carr oversaw the Drawing Board, which served as Def Jam’s in-house design firm, and strived to import fine art sensibilities into hip-hop.

And in the late 1990s, the Houston design firm Pen & Pixel took the hip-hop album cover psychedelic. Pen & Pixel rightly understood hip-hop as a fantasy of abundance and made its covers into conspicuous consumption cornucopias. On its covers, rappers were street superheroes, surrounded by money, cars, jewelry and women in unlikely combinations and proportions.

This was a turning point — away from realism or classical notions of respectability. And it’s noteworthy that this approach came from the South, a region which had largely been maligned by hip-hop’s coastal elites, and therefore had to develop its own hierarchies of taste.

Modern mixtape art, as captured in this book — fast-moving, bug-eyed, wily — is a clear child of Pen & Pixel. The covers are overstuffed, pseudo-lifelike, disorienting. Rappers are holding babies, or weapons, or ice cream, or cleavers. Aliens might be emerging from their stomachs.

This is a far cry from early mixtape art, which was decidedly utilitarian — the fonts were blocky and simple, and the photos were poor quality. Sometimes the track list took up more space on the cover than the photo. Given the rampant bootlegging that was endemic and essential to the spread of mixtapes, the cover artwork might have been photocopied a few times over. These were, above all, D.J. showcases, and most D. J.s were more or less anonymous, a trusted name without a face.

But in the early to mid-2000s, as artists began to use mixtapes as promotional tools, often sidelining the D.J. in the process, branding became newly important. This book skips that period entirely, overlooking essential mixtapes by 50 Cent and G-Unit, and the Diplomats, releases that are as important to those artists’ catalogs as their official albums, if not more so.

Today, some rappers — say, Future or Gucci Mane — take mixtapes that seriously, too. But for the most part, the impact of mixtapes is waning. In the book’s interviews, almost all of the graphic designers indicate that their heyday has likely passed. Creativity has been squeezed out of the business, they say, a victim of diminishing margins and market saturation.

And that’s to say nothing of the recommercialization of the mixtape. Rappers like Drake are now releasing mixtapes straight to iTunes, redefining the form as something other than a steady source of free music. Given that, the freewheeling era in this book already looks like history.

Damn Son Where Did You Find This? was released in a limited capacity (400), but interested parties can still contact the creators for orders.

The Breakbeat Poets | New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop | Trailer

A new poetry compilation titled The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop was released yesterday by Haymarket Books. Filled with the writings of 78 poets and modern scribes fro all over the world–writers whose work is deeply enmeshed in the music and culture of hip-hop–the compilation appears to be an obvious must-read for anyone interested in the deep and every-growing motifs of wordplay, cadence, rhyme structure and symbolism that run through both mediums.

In anticipation of the book, a brand new trailer has been released, offering us a taste of what sort of candor and content to expect from The BreakBeat Poets. Co-edited by Kevin Coval, it features work from Lemon Andersen, Fatimah Asghar, Joshua Bennett and many more. Cutting a decidedly Midwestern course, the book includes poems from numerous Chicago-area artists, and editor Coval has been a mainstay of the windy city for ample time now. Order the book today and watch the full trailer below. via OkayPlayer

10 Best Music Books of 2014

By: Rolling Stone

From the stage to the page: The year's best biographies, rock crit, photo essays and more

In 2014, the rock star tell-all autobiography train rolled on with Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Carlos Santana, Mick Fleetwood, George Clinton, Paul Stanley and Billy Idol among others all getting their turn. But some of the years best books were the stories you didn't already know, including a great alternate history from Greil Marcus and a closer look at a post-punk pioneer

10 'The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution: The Photography of Jim Marshall,' by Joel Selvin



Jim Marshall, one of rock & roll's greatest photographers, was at counter-culture ground zero in San Francisco in the mid-to-late Sixties. This gorgeous oversized book documents the era through iconic images — the Beatles at Candlestick Park in '66, the Grateful Dead at a mobbed street fair in '68, Hendrix torching his guitar at Monterey Pop. Just as illuminating are verité shots of street life, hippies and straights rubbing wary shoulders as the Age of Aquarius, for a magic moment, dawned over them all. By Will Hermes

9'Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars' by Neil Young



Neil Young is a man of obsessions. Over the years he's fixated on everything from toy trains to digital audio quality, but the one constant has been classic automobiles — which meant many fans groaned when they learned his new book would focus on the many cars he's owned over the years. Thankfully, their fears were unfounded. The car angle is merely a clever framing device for Young to tell his life story in a more linear fashion than his scattershot 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Along the way we learn about the making of After The Goldrush ("I had just purchased a pound of Panama Red"), his regrets over his mistreatment of the members of Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield ("I was mostly juvenile and had no patience") and a crazy morning last year when his electric car LinkVolt broke down in Manhattan on his way to film a bit with Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert, almost stalling out in the Lincoln Tunnel ("It was not a good day for us"). People wanting a straight account of Young's life will still be better served by reading Jimmy McDonough's definitive biography Shakey, but Special Deluxe is an enjoyable trip into the singer's endlessly fascinating mind. By Andy Greene

8 'Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir,' by George Clinton with Ben Greenman



As funk's bravest cosmonaut, George Clinton spent the acid-fried Seventies in a world of Doo Doo Chasers and Thumpasorus Peoples and Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloops. But his look back on the methods to his madness are as clear-headed as a textbook, reading less like a gauntlet of antics (and there are antics — including a donkey taking a "regal shit" on the steps of London's Albert Memorial) and more like a great piece of rock criticism with himself at the center. He's a fan first, with omnivorous taste, and can break down theories with zeal, whether its meetings with fellow boundary pushers ("Listening to Sly Stone was like taking a master class in brilliant nonsense") or talking about how keyboardist Bernie Worrell used Bach-esque counterpoint. By Christopher R. Weingarten

7 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.,' by Viv Albertine



If Viv Albertine's memoir had only focused on the broadest outlines of her life — her six years as the guitarist in influential post-punk band the Slits, her return after a decades-long absence — this would have been fascinating enough. But Albertine's approach is far closer, pushing past candor into the uncomfortably honest. Some of this memoir involves talk of romantic liaisons in the heady days of London's late-Seventies punk scene, but there's also a harrowing account of her struggle with cancer and grapplings with suburban isolation decades later. A fully realized portrait of its author. By Tobias Carroll

6 'Songs Only You Know: A Memoir,' by Sean Madigan Hoen



"My bandmates saw me at my most inspired, screaming every pain I had access to," Sean Madigan Hoen writes in his gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir, "though I had told them next to nothing of where I'd come from." Hoen, it turns out, had plenty to scream about — a father addicted to crack, a sister consumed by depression, his own feelings of alienation, helplessness, adolescent angst; if his former band, Detroit art-core self-immolators Thoughts of Ionesco, was his young-adult self's cathartic outlet, Songs Only You Know is his older, wiser reevaluation, no less vein-bulgingly visceral but infinitely more nuanced and poetic. It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family — both those we're born into and the ones we choose. By Brandon Geist

5 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol



In his self-penned memoir, Billy Idol fleshes out his charmed life with an even mix of thrilling tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll. The singer is refreshingly candid about his heavy heroin addiction in the Eighties, a regrettable Rolling Stone cover story interview when he got too drunk and yelled at the writer, an unrequited threesome that landed him in court on sexual deviancy charges and the harrowing motorcycle accident that stymied his acting career (he says he'd tried out for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 but lost the role due to a limp). He also recounts some of the weird stories behind some of his greatest hits — "Dancing With Myself" was inspired by a Tokyo disco where people stared at themselves in mirrors and "Rebel Yell" was named after a whiskey he drank once with the Rolling Stones. He also writes about his post-drugs fallout in such a heartfelt way that he almost makes a case for reconsidering Cyberpunk. By Kory Grow

4 'Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James,' by Rick James with David Ritz



Those looking simply for stories of sexual and pharmaceutical excess can re-read Mötley Crüe's The Dirt. In Glow, Rick James' posthumously published autobiography with author David Ritz, the funk pioneer surprisingly eschews repetitive freaky tales for a deeper look at an insane life. Sure, there are unflinching looks at the singer's crack binges and violent behavior — an already unbridled id made worse by the death of James' mother — but it's the lesser-known adventures that make this essential reading for those only familiar with James' dark side. A mob-connected dancer mom who smuggled James into the club as a child to see Miles Davis; a chance encounter with future members of the Band, who saved a teenage James from getting his ass kicked; a headache that prevented the musician from hanging out with people who would be murdered by the Manson Family that night. Any hack can make a lost weekend enthralling, James and Ritz can make the history of "Super Freak"'s four-note descending bass line as intriguing as a pipe-filled motel-room breakdown. By Jason Newman

3 'Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,' by David Ritz



Back in 1999, David Ritz helped Aretha Franklin write her memoirs, sanitized enough to be allowed into an operating room. This year, he issued Respect, his uncensored 520-page biography of the Queen of Soul, and it's clearly the book he's been preparing to write his whole life. It's stuffed full with revealing interviews from Franklin's family, her musical collaborators and subjects of Ritz's other books, from Smokey Robinson to B.B. King. MVP interview: the saucy Etta James. ("Who wants to admit that you're praising the Lord at the 8 p.m. service and servicing some drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a singer an hour later?") Knowing the details of Franklin's complicated, sometimes painful life — starting with the two sons she had at ages 12 and 14 — helps deepen an appreciation of the pain and passion that fueled her music. By Gavin Edwards

2'Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,' By Rick Bragg



"He did not need a song to make him inappropriate. Jerry Lee Lewis had always been inappropriate, and being a little bit famous did not change it; you can paint a barn white a thousand times, but that won't make it a house." In this gripping biography, Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg tells the story of rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the full force of history, poetry and two years of exclusive interviews with the Killer himself. Bragg grounds his story in the texture and tradition of the South, but when he tells the epic tale of the creation of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he captures Lewis's divine madness. Reading the saga of rock's piano pioneer, you will likely agree: "It was like any life, really, but with the dull parts taken out." G.E.

1 'The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs,' by Greil Marcus



Greil Marcus carved his stern visage into rock criticism's Mount Rushmore decades ago, but he won't rest on his laurels — and he won't let rock & roll either. And so he kicks off this ferociously cerebral and warmly empathetic super-listicle with a monster sentence that reels off lots of critically acclaimed musicians — it takes, like, five pages — and by the time you've gotten from the beginning (Chuck Berry) to the end (Jay Z), his intent is clear: Forget all of this. Rest assured the 10 songs he picks from there will surprise, and/or amuse, and/or enrage and undoubtedly challenge you: They span from Joy Division (as filtered through that goofy Ian Curtis biopic) to Phil Spector (as filtered through Amy Winehouse) to Etta James (as insufficiently filtered through Beyoncé) and beyond. Whether he's talking Buddy Holly or Cyndi Lauper, Robert Johnson or the Flamin' Groovies, Marcus writes with a philosopher's zeal and a superfan's joy, drawing connections between artists and eras and solar systems you'd never even imagined. It's revisionist history of the best and most necessary kind. By Rob Harvilla

Ed Templeton On His New Book and Life After Skateboarding

Vice| by Chris Nieratko


Fuck Laws Kid, Portland

Ed Templeton drew the graphic for his first pro model skateboard in 1990. Since then, he has been a regular tour de force in both the skateboard industry and the art world. While almost everyone who rides a skateboard considers themselves an "artist," very few have been able to make a successful leap into the fine art world. Templeton is one of those few. His work has been shown in some of the most respected museums around the globe. From his paintings to his board graphics, to his photography, to his skills as a skateboarder: he is, in my opinion, the best and most multifaceted artist that skateboarding has ever produced.

His latest photo book, ​Wayward Cog​nitions, is a collection of riveting images taken during his travels abroad and stateside. Shot mostly using a Leica M6 with a 50mm lens on film, printed in his home darkroom, and then scanned and laid out by the artist, this book is 100% Templeton's brainchild. Known as the Eternal Voyeur, it's not uncommon to find Ed lurking around his local suburban sprawl, Huntington Beach Pier, or the backstreets of some European town, snapping away whatever passes before his lens. This book shares those captured moments.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Ed to discuss photography, his company Toy Machine, and the legend's retirement from skateboarding.


​Girl On Swing


Deanna


​Man Walks, Sign Flare, Zurich

VICE: Thematically, Wayward Cognitions is a departure from your previous photo books. Can you talk about the process of picking the images for this book? ​Ed Templeton: I just wanted the freedom of not having a specific theme for once. Most of my books are very specific, to the point where the title of the book pretty much explains the subject matter. Those books have come from having a big archive to mess with. I just have fun searching for words and coming up with groupings. Teenage Kissers was born that way. I searched the word "kiss" in my archive and had so many photos of people kissing that I was able to narrow it down to "teenagers kissing"—although technically not all of the people in the book are teenagers.

​ ​For this book, I had a title in my head before I even started thinking about what would be in the book. I was thinking about how my style of photography produces a lot of stray thoughts. All the photos that I shoot that are not shot for any reason or theme—which is most of them—are just stray dogs with no place to go. I just walk around shooting people, and most of it does not fall into the category of something that I will use for a future project. So that was the spawn of the title, Wayward Cognitions, which is a more poetic way of saying stray thoughts.


Woman and Monkey, Santa Monica


Puddle Woman, London

The bulk of your book seems to be strangers passing in front of your lens, many of whom don't appear to realize you are taking their photo. Have you had people freak out on you? ​I don't use a flash for the most part—only natural light. Also, I have developed a few techniques that make my shooting fluid and essentially unnoticed for the most part. Or even if you did see me, you would have some doubt over whether I was shooting you or something else. There's some acting involved sometimes, other times Deanna [Templeton's wife] helps me by throwing a screen, or talking to me really loudly so we look like we couldn't possibly have been shooting someone else.

​ ​I also feel hyper aware of all the people around me. I'm not only thinking about the person I'm shooting but about the people possibly seeing me shoot them, including their partners. You can't go in with blinders on. That homeless guy passed out might have some buddies across the street watching him, or that girl doing cartwheels in a bikini might have a meathead boyfriend waiting to stomp some ass, so you have to be aware of the whole scene you are a part of. I pick and choose my battles for sure. I have passed on photos to avoid a likely confrontation. It's not worth it, there are other photos down the block. The times where I have just said screw it and went in shooting regardless of my surroundings have mostly turned out OK though. Nobody has freaked out on me.

My in-laws know I write about naughty topics, but we don't ever discuss that side of my work. I've always wondered if it's the same for you. You put images of your lovely wife, Deanna, in various states of undress and even occasionally in the throes of a sexual act. What does her family think about that? ​It's strange. I kept everything from my grandparents, including ​the b​ook Deformer, which is essentially about them and how they were instrumental in shaping me as a human. They would have really enjoyed seeing me published and have some degree of success at what I'm doing, but the nudity in there would be beyond their comprehension. I can't picture my grandfather being OK with photos of my naked wife with my penis in her hand no matter what the explanation. He has since died. My mother and grandmother are still alive, and they don't see any of my books or shows.

​ ​I have not seen my dad since I was eight years old—I have no idea if he knows anything about my artwork and I don't care. My Aunt Margie and Uncle Bob are both super hip and have seen my books. Uncle Bob even came out to my last photo show in LA. But they are the only non-Christians in the family. The rest are certified born-agains. Deanna's brother and his wife would probably be pretty tripped out. I suspect they have googled me and seen some stuff, but they have never brought it up. My niece is 13 and she's on Instagram now, but she's not allowed to follow me. One time she was going to do a report about me for school, but then suddenly she said she couldn't, and that's when I think they Googled me.


Boy Watches Graffiti, Barcelona

I believe you to be one of the best, if not the best, talent scouts in skateboarding's history. Since the inception of Toy Machine you've always had the best guys riding for you. What's your secret? What do you look for in your riders? ​It's sort of a gut feeling. I don't hang out in the streets with the guys and I'm not a hands-on team manager, so I need a rider who doesn't need to be babysat, who is out there doing shit on his own. You have to be able to blend well with the team, too. So talent is only part of it. I'm not going to sponsor the best skater ever if they are an asshole to be around. I would rather have the second best guy who's fun to be in a van with, and then use his own personality to promote him. I like to coax out the character of each rider and not have them be faceless rippers who nobody really cares about. You have to put yourself out there, that's what people connect with. I honestly don't know how I do it, there's no formula. Luck is part of it. Being open to weird shit is part of it. I want the freaks. I think good skaters seek Toy Machine out actually. We are not the big bucks type of company, so if you are riding for us it's because you want to.

In your opinion, what was the gnarliest, most heavy-hitting team in Toy's history? ​At one point we had Jamie Thomas, Chad Muska, and Brian Anderson on the team—all dudes who would be megastars at different points in their careers. So there's a strong case for the Welcome to Hell era, but to tell the truth right now is the best team I've ever had. Leo Romero, Collin Provost, Daniel Lutheran, and Jeremey Leabres? And that's only half of the guys. My main job in the near future is laying this team down on tape, er, pixels.

Have there been any guys you can recall that got away? That you wanted on the team but it didn't happen or work out? ​I passed on Chris Cole. Kerry Getz brought me his sponsor-me tape—I still have it somewhere. Bam Margera left the team right before he blew up into mega-stardom. Muska left before he became a mega-star, too. I was after Spanky before he went to Baker. Alex Olson was on flow but he went for Girl. There's more... I can't remember all of them! All of them probably worked out for the best. I think kicking Muska off was a tough one, and I like Alex, so it would have been cool to have him on. But really things work out how they're supposed to.

You mentioned Alex Olson. Long before getting on Girl, Alex went on a Toy Machine tour and was in the running to make the team. Why didn't that work out? ​I'm not even 100% sure. I think for a few reasons. He was essentially couch-surfing from a really young age, and I think me being based in HB as opposed to LA played a factor. Also, I cared maybe too much about him and wanted him to get back in school so he could think about life after skating as well. But that may have been too overbearing for him. Like I said, things work out and he is doing all sorts of stuff outside of skating and will be fine without any help from me. There was no bad blood or anything. When he chose Girl I was sad but totally stoked that he was making moves and starting to go for it. Up until then he didn't even seem sure if pro skating was what he wanted to do, having grown up in it with his dad [Steve Olson] and everything. I was always saying, "You're a natural! You have to try and make it!"


Boy Walking and Smoking in White Suit, Antwerp

​
Handstand, Ohio

In the final part of your ​Epicly Later'd ep​isode, Deanna gets very emotional about the thought of you further injuring yourself skateboarding. You had a severe leg break a few years back. How does it feel now? Are you able to skate again? ​​I skate here and there, but for the most part I have retired. I have other things in my life and I don't need to skateboard for money. I feel very lucky that I don't have that pressure to come back and be a pro skater at my age. I started Toy Machine in 1993 for this very moment. Now that I'm useless as a pro skater, I can still be involved with the thing I love and be able to be around skateboarding.

​The leg is as good as it can be. I still feel it when I take a little impact. I'm sorta scared to try anything that will put big stress on it because there are two plates in there and 21 screws, and they take away the natural flexibility of bones, which makes it more likely that the leg will break again right above the plates. I think about skating all the time. I need to make it part of my routine. My routine now is just to get up and work all day and all night.

What's next for you and Toy Machine? ​We want to finally make another full length Toy video. Our last three have been incomplete because riders were working on other videos. We have been waiting for Emerica videos, Vans videos, etc. Now it's time to start making an official video that will be on the level of Welcome to Hell and Good and Evil.

​
Keegan Points, Grand Canyon


​Balloon Girl



Follow Templeton on ​Inst​agram and pre-order Wayard Cognitions from ​Um Yeah Arts.

More stupid can be found at ​Chrisnieratko.com or on ​Twitter.

Seven Burning Questions for 'Game of Thrones' Season Five

by:The Day Caller

Another year, another season and a lot of deaths. The “Game of Thrones” finale Sunday night didn’t disappoint, and even ended on an upbeat note (as much as the series can be upbeat).

But just because the season ended lightly, despite two confirmed major deaths and one probable major death, doesn’t mean “Game of Thrones” fans don’t still have a ton of questions. So while next season might still be a year (!) away, here are seven questions to think about until then.



1. How is Tyrion going to survive in the Free Cities?

Tyrion has made his way through Westeros because of his father’s wealth. He’s been able to pay his way out of any predicament by simply telling whichever threat he encounters, “A Lannister always pays his debts.”

That was when Tyrion had money to rely on. Now he’s on the run with Lord Varys to the free cities, and while I’m sure Varys took into account the funds, Tyrion doesn’t have the Casterly Rock vault to rely on anymore.

Plus, he’s obviously much more jaded and angry at the world at this point. It was one thing for his father to sentence him to death. In fact, it was almost expected, given how much Tywin hated his youngest son. Even Shae testifying against him was shocking and hurtful, but it didn’t faze Tyrion.

But seeing the two share a bed was too much for him. He got his sweet revenge on both of them in perhaps the most satisfying deaths of the series, save for Joffrey. Varys once said Tyrion is one of the only people in Westeros capable of ruling the country appropriately, but will this latest abuse cloud his usually pragmatic judgment or leave him seeing clearer than ever?

2. Who is the next Hand of the King?

With Tywin gone, there is a serious power vacuum in King’s Landing. As the Hand, the patriarch of the Lannister family controlled nearly every aspect of the government. Now that he’s dead, who becomes the puppet master?

There are a few candidates, each with some baggage. Most notably is Jaime Lannister. He’s been around three kings and Tywin now and knows the ropes. He’s smart and cunning as well. Plus with his hand gone, he’s of practically no use to the King’s Guard.

However, he’s still in the King’s Guard and takes his oath very seriously. Would he be willing to forgo that oath the become Hand next to his son?

There’s also Petyr Baelish, more commonly known as Little Finger. He was Master of Coin before marrying Lysa Arryn of The Veil. We’ve seen just how manipulative the man can be, so it makes sense he’d try to become the number two in the country. But he’s got baggage as well, namely Sansa Stark. The last we saw of Little Finger he was showing Robin Arryn how to be a man instead of a sickly boy and courting Sansa. We know he’s hungry for power, but would he risk Sansa — the daughter of his true love Catelyn Stark — for that power?

3. What’s going on with the dragons?

Daenerys Stormborn, the breaker of chains, showed that even she will break her rules. First, she allowed a man to sell himself back into slavery for a year, which even Barristan Selmy knew would lead to the exploitation of the older slaves.

Immediately following this meeting, a man came to Khaleesi weeping for his dead daughter. Drogon, Khaleesi’s black dragon, burned her alive. Khaleesi immediately chained up the other two dragons in the catacombs to stop them from injuring anybody else.

Will this lead to the dragons turning on her? She only has her power because the dragons burned the slavers of Astapor after she took over the Unsullied. Now that they’re trapped in a cave, will they still be the loyal beasts they have been or will they continue their independent streak and take it out on the young queen.

4. How are Stannis and the Night’s Watch going to handle the situation?

We saw the Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch defend The Wall against Mance Rayder and the wildlings. It looked a like they were about to broker a peace agreement before Stannis Baratheon showed up and took out much of Mance’s remaining army before capturing the King Beyond The Wall.

What’s going to happen to these wildlings? We know they’re on the run from some scary stuff, namely the White Walkers. But will the people of Westeros accept the wildlings into the fray against the monsters, or will they be shortsighted and simply enslave them?

Plus, what was up with Melisandre’s look toward Jon Snow? Her blue eyes were reminiscent of the White Walkers, which is a little eerie, and her gaze at Snow toward the end suggests she has a plan for him, probably something nefarious.

5. What’s Jorah going to do?

Jorah can’t catch a break. First, his unrequited love for Khaleesi is seriously depressing. Then he had to watch Daario Naharis leave her room after a night of intimacy. The final nail in the coffin came after someone presumably in the Lannister camp sent his pardon from to Mereen while they were in the thick of freeing the city.

Jorah is a man filled with transgressions. He was a slaver, something he’s at least shown a little remorse for. He also spied on Khaleesi almost to the point of her assassination before having a change of heart.

Now he’s on his own in Essos it seems. He’s a man without a country who is still loyal to Khaleesi, but it appears he will never be in her good graces again. So where is he going to roam, and how is he going to survive?

6. Is Arya about to go off in Bravos?

After nearly reuniting with her family multiple times, Arya is somewhat of an enigma. She didn’t return to Sansa for whatever reason and is obviously hell-bent on revenge at this point. She shared her list with The Hound before taking his money and fleeing to Bravos, leaving him for dead.

Why’s she going to Bravos? Well she does have a connection there: the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar. H’ghar is actually the identity of one of the Faceless Men of Bravos, a group of assassins. He killed three people at Arya’s request before giving her a steel token to find them if she ever were to get to Bravos.

Now that Arya has tasted her first murder, will she join the assassins, or simply learn from them to exact her revenge?

7. Where the hell are Benjen Stark, Gendry, Nymeria and Rickon?

It has been forever since we’ve seen Benjen Stark, and his whereabouts are one of the biggest of the series. He left early in season one to search out Mance Rayder, but never returned. The scouts he left with returned (and turned into wights), but Benjen was nowhere to be found. Surely George R. R. Martin wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave his location unanswered.

Speaking of missing, Gendry wasn’t seen this year at all. After being set adrift in a rowboat by Davos Seaworth for fear he would be sacrificed by Melisandre, the guy has simply been absent. It’s especially infuriating because, as Robert’s true son, he has the most legitimate claim to his throne

Rickon, along with Osha, split up with Bran after last season. I get that he doesn’t have many lines, but he is still a Stark and could potentially be Lord, or King, of the North.

Finally the saddest missing person isn’t even a person. Nymeria was last seen in season one after Arya sent her away for fear the Lannisters would murder her after defending Arya from Joffrey. All the deaths in the series don’t quite compare to the sadness in the eyes of the dog after Arya threw a rock to get her to leave.

So where the hell are all these characters?

Ygritte | A Slam of Ice and Fire || Spoken Word

Ygritte - A Slam of Ice and Fire || Spoken Word



BY: Alice Moran/The Second City Inc

ALL GONE 2013 | BOOK

Now that we're in 2014, it's time for a new All Gone book for 2013 to be released.

All Gone 2013 showcases the finest things street culture offered throughout the year, and includes the most desired and hyped products that came out in 2013.

Published by La MJC, the book should be available for pre-order in the coming weeks.

Sneakers: The Complete Limited Editions Guide by U-Dox

Books don't get the respect they deserve these days, but if you're one that loves the feel of an actual hardcover, and are a sneakerhead, this is a book for you!

Creative agency U-Dox recently completed its latest project, a book entitled Sneakers: The Complete Limited Editions Guide. Published by Thames & Hudson, the 256-page tome features over 300 of the best and most coveted limited edition sneaker releases from the last decade from 15 different brands, from Nike to BAPE to Saucoy to Adidas and it represent 100 of the finest in sneaker collaboration history.

Sneakers is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com and is set to drop on April 1st from London’s U-Dox creative agency.