Bossman75

Malik Isaac Taylor 1970 - 2016 "Straight from the heart, I represent hip-hop.." - Phife Dawg I woke this morning to the sad news that Phife Dawg, founding member of  A Tribe Called Quest had passed away. I hadn't really considered myself a big fan of ATCQ until this moment. I say that because outwardly I'm more vocal of other artists, but their influence on me is undeniable. Trailblazing and iconic are words often used to describe the group and their contribution to hip-hop. I was moved by the Rapaport documentary  Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest ,   and you can bet I'm able to rap along to every track on The Anthology . Our generation has lost another seminal talent, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans. I've been planning on  writing a music post ever since Kanye West dropped (read: fumbled) The Life Of Pablo , but after all the attention that garnered I figured I'd keep building before s...

Exploring lust, love and appreciation of the female form, Paramour brings classic literature to the modern conscience, telling stories of illicit love through evocative imagery. Having discovered the work of Glaswegian born artist Nick Smith on Instagram, I believe it was 32C that caught my eye, I learned of his debut solo show Psycolourgy  that featured re-worked images of iconic artworks the likes of  Mona Lisa ,  Son Of Man ,  Van Gogh, Scream, Campbells Soup  and  Girl With The Pink Earring.   I was then delighted to read on  VNA  that he is returning to the  Lawrence Alkin Gallery with opening night already upon us.   I find his pixel art fascinating in the same way as work by the Miaz Brothers whereby only when standing back can you see the image clearly. And yet Smith's new body of work entitled  Paramour offers even more. Inspired by erotic literature  Paramour  employs Nick Smith’s signature ‘co...

My (American) father's side of the family are descendants from Wales and Ireland. My (South African) mother's side are descendants from England, Scotland and Holland. With that kind of pedigree you'd think the blood in my veins would be 100 proof. And yet I have a general dislike of the taste of most alcoholic drinks, not to mention a low tolerance threshold. That was until last St Patrick's Day when I gave a pint of Guinness another chance and now it's my drink of choice. Following that I also discovered I could take shots of Jameson without immediately vomiting. (That's only happened on my last Birthday after getting through an entire bottle.) This post isn't just about my capacity (or lack of) for alcohol, it's about St Patrick's Day. As the one national holiday that is celebrated in more countries around the world than any other, St. Patrick’s Day is the day when everyone wants to be Irish .  This was certainly true of my teenage se...

"Socks, they are a serious business." No, really. Why would your consideration for socks be any less significant than that of the rest of your outfit? I'm on record as having previously said I didn't fully comprehend the whole sock trend (nay phenomenon) but that wasn't entirely true. But I honestly didn't know there were rules to wearing socks. Growing up socks weren't of any obvious importance and just something your parents bought you. Family photos show that mine were predominantly basketball socks which looked great paired with cowboy boots and cut off denim shorts, and were also ideal for catching snakes with at the creek. Well I did grow up in Texas in the late seventies after all. Then I moved to the UK and as I got older socks became something more to consider, especially as they now came out of my hard earned paper round money. Into my teens and Argyle socks better known as diamond socks by the ' chuffers ', were the most pop...

Without a shadow of a doubt I owe a lot to my best mate Mel  and I don't just mean the quite literally unmeasurable amount of beers he's bought me over the course of our friendship. I mean merits like his influences in music and art which I wholeheartedly trust and appreciate, and as a fellow Gooner there have been many visits to the Emirates together some of which have been spectacular. Those are just a few physical things but more importantly his honesty and positivity in our friendship have meant so very much to me. In testament to his kindness and generosity he surprised me on my fortieth birthday with a very special gift. First a little background... Some ten years ago Mel put me onto a then fledgling band called The Duke Spirit . Our memories are understandably foggy on the exact details but it we think it was at the Barfly in Camden that we first saw them. I've spent some of this morning reading reviews of that gig online and many are really negative of the band...

My recent posts have been art related thanks to the scintillating array of exhibitions that have kicked off 2016, however there is plenty more going on in my life that I'd like to share. Tomorrow I have a friend visiting from Germany and when he visits we always grab a burger. I'm fairly rubbish at suggesting eateries as I view him as a burger connoisseur of sorts, but this time I think I've done a good job. Before we eat however we have some time to kill and fortunately the guys at Beach London have something special brewing that goes extremely well with burgers. Beach London and Camden Town Brewery present: ‘ Beer at Beach ’ Coinciding with their installation at Craft Beer Rising, Truman Brewery, Camden Town Brewery have teamed up with local Shoreditch design and illustration gallery, Beach London, on an exhibition celebrating the process of making beer. Beach and Camden have invited a diverse selection of illustrators, designers and artists to illustrate ea...

The artist line up at Lazarides Rathbone is something like the squad at Barcelona. The best players in the World at the top of their game. This week, Lazarides commemorates ten years of exhibitions with a spectacular group show titled Still Here opening to the public on 12th February. The gallery owner and once upon a time photographer for Banksy, Steve Lazarides has come a long way. This celebration coincides with the announcement of a new investor, as well as a name and location change in the imminent future. "Firstly, no-one can ever pronounce the name so we're changing it to LazInc. Secondly, we're moving to Mayfair. We've spent years working from a position of isolation, and now it's time to challenge the status quo from the inside." - Steve Lazarides Private View: Thursday 11th February, 6-9pm Exhibition runs: 12th February - 24th March 2016 In February 2016, Lazarides will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a group exhibition from the gall...