Listen Clothing

	BRING THAT BEAT BACK RED by RIFF RAFF In the early 1970s, many Black radio stations switched to playing disco. There was a backlash against disco by many in the African-American community. Hip Hop arose during the 1970s, from block parties in New York City. These popular parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk, disco and soul. The early DJs at the parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs — realizing that these were the most danceable and entertaining parts — and extending them, using an audio mixer and two records. At the time, this technique was common in Jamaica, and was known as dub music. It spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the godfather of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc. buy now > >
	BRING THAT BEAT BACK by RIFF RAFF In the early 1970s, many Black radio stations switched to playing disco. There was a backlash against disco by many in the African-American community. Hip Hop arose during the 1970s, from block parties in New York City. These popular parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk, disco and soul. The early DJs at the parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs — realizing that these were the most danceable and entertaining parts — and extending them, using an audio mixer and two records. At the time, this technique was common in Jamaica, and was known as dub music. It spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the godfather of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc. buy now > >
	COLLAR by NUNCA The history of Brazil begins with the arrival of the first Indigenous Peoples, over 8,000 years ago, into the present territory of that nation. Brazil was a colony of Portugal, exploited mainly for brazilwood at first, and later for sugarcane and, in the 18th century, for gold. During this period many natives were exterminated, pushed out of the way or assimilated, and large numbers of African slaves were brought in. Brazil is today South America's largest economy, the world's ninth largest economy, and fifth most populous nation. The origins of the first Brazilians, are called "Indians" (Índios). buy now > >
	CHANT DOWN BABYLON Babylon was a city of ancient Mesopotamia, the ruins of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province; Iraq about 80km south of Baghdad. In the Bible, the name appears as (Babel), interpreted by Genesis 11:9 to mean "confusion", from the verb balal, "to confuse". buy now > >
	Escola de Samba "Samba schools", which started off first in Rio de Janeiro in 1928, have evolved around the centerpiece event of the Rio Carnaval. The schools parade down a lane lined with grandstands, thousands of members per school dressed in coordinated costumes, dancing a rehearsed samba routine to original music. Each school's presentation has a central theme, such as a historical event, a famous person or a native Brazilian legend. The samba song must be developed around the theme, and the parade organised by each school must detail the theme through costumes, paintings or papier-mache sculpture. Each samba school rehearses all year round for this event and all its members take part in the rehearsals, whether experts or not... buy now > >
	CRIME PAYS Héctor was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico to Pachita and Luis Perez, and raised in the Machuelito barrio of the city. He was inspired early in life by his musically-talented family. His grandfather Don Juan Martínez was a singer of controversial songs, which often went from vocal conflict to physical confrontations. His uncle was a well- known tres player in Ponce. His mother Pachita was well known among her family and towns people for her beautiful singing voice. His father Luis supported his wife and eight children by singing and playing guitar with trios and big bands. In 1967, he met Salsa star Willie Colón ... buy now > >
	SPACE IS... #3 Sun Ra (Born Herman Poole Blount; legal name Le Sony'r Ra; born May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, was an innovative jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy", musical compositions and performances. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Ra developed a complicated persona of "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism as he preached "awareness" and peace above all... buy now > >
	FELA 7 Musician and activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti created Afrobeat, the infectious fusion of American funk and jazz with traditional Yoruba and highlife music. Through politically-charged lyrics, electrifying stage performances, and his counter-culture lifestyle, Fela preached against social injustice and corruption. Troubled by the political and economic corruption of Nigeria and the repressive governments of sub-Saharan Africa, Fela built a commune called the Kalakuta Republic, which he declared immune from Nigerian law, and created his own political party. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Fela took to calling himself the "Black President." Fela's status as a pan-African icon has continued to grow. Black President is a critical multimedia exploration of the influence and artistic legacy of Fela. buy now > >
	COLLECTOR Sound recording is the mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. Acoustic analog recording is achieved by a small microphone diaphragm that can detect changes in atmospheric pressure (acoustic sound waves) and record them as graphic sound waves on a medium such as a phonograph (in which a stylus senses grooves on a Record). The first practical sound recording and reproduction device was the mechanical phonograph cylinder, invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. The invention soon spread across the globe and over the next two decades the commercial recording, distribution and sale of sound recordings became a growing new international industry, with the most popular titles selling millions of units by the early 1900s. buy now > >
	FUNK INVASION Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American performers blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Like much of African music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands also usually have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "shots". Influential African American funk performers include James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton, The Meters, and Prince. Notable 1970s funk bands included Parliament- Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, The Commodores, and Kool & the Gang. buy now > >
	JAMROCK...MUSIC IS MY WEAPON Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning either the "Land of Springs," or the "Land of Wood and Water. Then the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. Following a series of rebellions, slavery was formally abolished in 1834. Jamaica attained full independence by leaving the federation in 1962. buy now > >
	RUDE BOY Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry, on March 20, 1936, in Kendal, Jamaica) Perry's musical career began in the late 1950s as a record seller for Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system. As his sometimes turbulent relationship with Dodd developed, he found himself performing a variety of important tasks at Dodd's Studio One hit factory, going on to record nearly 30 songs for the label. He soon found a new home at Joe Gibbs's Wirl records. Working with Joe Gibbs, Perry continued his recording career, but once again. Perry broke ranks with Gibbs and formed his own label, Upsetter, in 1968... buy now > >
	STREET STORIES by RIFF RAFF for LISTEN CLOTHING Richard Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known by stage names Slick Rick, MC Ricky D and Rick the Ruler, is a rapper. Originally from South Wimbledon, London, England, he moved with his family to The Bronx in 1975 where he met B-Weezy who taught him how to rap. Rick's characteristic eyepatch was acquired after being blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant. In a VH1 special, it was revealed the broken glass was caused during a holiday dinner gunfight. He is best known for a series of rap recordings during the 1980s, including "Children's Story" and "La Di Da Di". Once he gained a degree of wealth, he earned a reputation for wearing an enormous amount of gold and diamond jewelry, including many large necklaces with giant pendants, bracelets, huge rings on each finger, and gold teeth. buy now > >
	JUDAH JUDAH "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered" In Christian tradition, the lion is often assumed to represent Jesus. The phrase appears in the New Testament Book of Revelation 5:5; "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." buy now > >
	LISTEN Icon One of the biggest ways we as Humans influence one another is by expressing and listenning to each other. To Listen is to share our lives with the world. LISTEN is for everyone, we have created the LISTEN LOGO with a purpose. The LOGO is to remind everyone how important is to LISTEN to each other. The mission is to unite our amazing world full of cultures with a simple word LISTEN... We are all ONE buy now > >
	LISTEN LOGO - BLACK One of the biggest ways we as Humans influence one another is by expressing and listenning to each other. To Listen is to share our lives with the world. LISTEN is for everyone, we have created the LISTEN LOGO with a purpose. The LOGO is to remind everyone how important is to LISTEN to each other. The mission is to unite our amazing world full of cultures with a simple word LISTEN... We are all ONE buy now > >
	LISTEN LOGO - GOLD One of the biggest ways we as Humans influence one another is by expressing and listenning to each other. To Listen is to share our lives with the world. LISTEN is for everyone, we have created the LISTEN LOGO with a purpose. The LOGO is to remind everyone how important is to LISTEN to each other. The mission is to unite our amazing world full of cultures with a simple word LISTEN... We are all ONE buy now > >
	SELA RIDDIM The Lion Comes Calling At Selassie's second stop, in Kingston, Jamaica, the airport was mobbed by 2,000 members of a minority Negro cult called the Rastafarians, who worship Selassie as God and want the Jamaican government to send them "home" to Ethiopia. Prime Minister Sir Alexander Bustamante, 82, has discouraged such repatriation, saying wryly: "We must protect them. They would just get out there in the jungle and be trampled by elephants and eaten by the lions." Undiscouraged, the Rastas showed up at the airport waving placards reading "Hail to the Lord Anointed" and chanting "Selassie is Christ" and "Welcome to our God and King... buy now > >
	OLD SCHOOLIN Run-D.M.C. (or Booya) was a major pioneering hip hop group during the 1980s, founded by Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and the late Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell. The group had an enormous impact on the development of hip hop through the 1980s and is credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music. The three members of Run-D.M.C. grew up in the neighborhood of Hollis in the New York City borough of Queens, USA. buy now > >
	JUDAH JUDAH "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered" In Christian tradition, the lion is often assumed to represent Jesus. The phrase appears in the New Testament Book of Revelation 5:5; "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." buy now > >
	RAT RACE Oh, it's a disgrace To see the human-race In a rat race, rat race! You got the horse race; You got the dog race; You got the human-race; But this is a rat race, rat race! buy now > >
	SONG & DANCE The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon Basin of South America. The area, also known as Amazonia or the Amazon Basin encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.2 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers, located within nine nations: Brazil (with 60 percent of the rainforest), Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations bear the name Amazonas after it. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world... buy now > >
	FUNKENSOUL To talk about Funk and art “funky Art”, I have to talk about The Art Ensemble of Chicago, an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's AACM in the late 1960s. The Art Ensemble is notable for its integration of musical styles spanning jazz's entire history and for their multi-instrumentalism, especially the use of what they termed "little instruments" in addition to the traditional jazz lineup; "little instruments" can include bicycle horns, bells, birthday party noisemakers, wind chimes, and a vast array of percussion instruments (including found objects). The group also uses costumes and face paint in performance... buy now > >
	YARD PARTY In Jamaica in the mid-50's, a fledgling recording industry saw the birth of what became known as Ska. Created by fusing Boogie-Woogie Blues, R+B, Jazz, Mento, Calypso and African rythyms, Ska became the first truly Jamaican music and by the 60's all the vocalist were swarming to the studios to record their songs to this infectious new beat. The core musicians playing on most of these sessions saw the opportunity to play this music live to the public. Tommy McCook, Rolando Alphonso, Johnny Moore, Lester Sterling, Don Drummond, Lloyd Knibb, Lloyd Brevett, Jerry Haynes, and Jackie Mittoo began working together in 1963 and formed The Ska-talites in May 1964. buy now > >