Word Up

"...I was, hot steppin in my Nike Air sneaker/You didn't know I was an emcee beater?.."

Cornelia Renz

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to Berlin. I met him for a drink on Brick Lane, and he told me what it was like there. "The whole city is just like a giant shoreditch...but better". My first thoughts were that being like Shoreditch could not be a good thing, and that surely he meant that being better meant it was even more pretentious. In fact, he told me, it was not. In Shoreditch everyone is trying to be someone or something they are not, constantly trying to trump the next guy on who's jeans are tighter, who's hairstyle is more bohemian, and who's New Era hat looks more out of place with the rest of their charity shop outfit than the next. According to my friend this was not so true of Berlin. "Its still all pretty underground over there...people are a lot more friendly and open to each others style and creativity". Either way, I'm not sure if the labels of 'underground' or 'a giant shoreditch' lend any credibility to anything, other than the guarantee of finding at least something in the haystack of self-appreciation that goes a little further than simply stroking its own ego.

Cornelia Renz is one Bavarian artist out of Berlin who fits such a description. Her work is inspired by her Catholic upbringing, and show a comic style reflective of carnivalesque, nightmarish medieval wall panels and the Mexican Day of Death. Check out more of Renz' huge and beautiful works at the Goff+Rosenthal website.

Word Up

"...Cos you can feel it in your throat/I'm bout to let my mind float/get your third eye poked/fuck game, I assemble dope-ness/a nigga thats, fresh as the 'fess/studied this rap shit, no need to mic test..."

The Birdsnest

So 2008 is supposedly the year of the Dunk. I was born in the year of the rat, one year before the birth of this shoe, and 22 years later we find ourselves in the year of the Olympics, and quite rightly Nike have released a series dedicated to the games. While the American B-Ballers are hoping to re-create the success of the Dream Team, here in the UK we're hoping to snap up a couple of medals in sailing, rowing, and maybe even archery! The glory is endless. However, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for new and exciting dunk colour ways this year, and although there's been an endless supply of releases, I haven't been totally convinced by the creativity behind some of the design. This Dunk Hi Supreme however might just go some way to resolving that. Not because of its supposed "feng Shui" inspired octagonal colour detail, which to my mind seems a little misplaced on an all black shoe, and looks quite untidy, but because of the materials chosen. Simple, solid and bold.

Perhaps even better than the Hi Supreme is the all white Quickstrike's, also available in the four other colours of the Olympic ring logo. They have a luxe finish which is just extra fresh for summer, with the quilted leather on the side panels and heel really giving the simple white on white classic an extra dimension and feeling of quality. You may not find an all white shiny shoe the most exciting dunk release this year, but trust me, when it comes to a classic shoe, sometimes its the classic colour ways that rep it to the fullest. (get em here)


Then again, you could always cop the Olympic Gold Edition's. You mugs.

Word Up

"...to the white folks who watched he was a revoloutionary thug/and to the black folks he was just a crazy nigga..."

"Now I'm Sitting on The Couch Thinking WHO'S HOUSE IS THIS?"

I love looking through old family photos, especially ones on my mum's side, because the aunties and uncles, cousins and grandparents are always so mysterious looking, even as children. The photo's even smell old, like your grandma's fur coat, warm and musky. And the eyes that stare back at you seem to tell so many half told stories. At family gatherings the mutterings of older cousins do little to lift the sepia toned muddle of fact and immigrant aspiration. And so eventually you begin to lose interest in the meaning behind the photo, the story or the facts. The mystery behind the eyes of those children is only mystery to you, and no one else. To your mates, its just one ugly looking old baby, not the baker or the butcher, gambler or mafioso. Those old photos are so stilted, so far withdrawn from their reality they look strange to us now, in the age of the camera phone and the web cam, where every moment is a photo opportunity. They are so carefully arranged, with a stiffness, and rarely display any backdrop other than that of the photographers studio.

We are so submerged and bombarded with images of ourselves and our surroundings that we begin to create a sense of celebrity within ourselves. I recently watched a documentary on how Football has changed since the 1950's. They did this by specifically comparing two matches, an FA Cup final from the 1950's, and the FA Cup final from two years ago. When a player scored a goal in the present day his reaction was a well rehearsed act, so aware of the hundreds of cameras pointed in his direction. In contrast the goal scorer of the 1950's leapt and bounded with complete inhibited joy, like an eleven year old schoolgirl playing netball. His internal sense of his own captured image was zero, despite being a famous footballer of the time.

We all do it. At Christmas or birthdays when your dad or your girlfriend whips out the camera for a quick snap. We immediately, and a lot less subtly than we lead ourselves to believe, switch into model mode. We all remember that one photo of ourselves where everyone told you they reckoned you looked like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, and bam! you're tilting you're head at just the angle to set off that slight eyebrow arch, and when the pictures come back from Boots you look like you'd spent the whole night auditioning for a Bollywood movie.

And so it was to my great amusement that I recently unearthed this ridiculous picture of myself as a toddler. I stared and stared at it, thinking who's house is this? My rapper pout towards the camera, the tricycle, the zebra print, the woman behind me lifting the baby, the greenness of the trees through the open window. This was a photo taken without preparation or rehearsal. There was no "everybody say cheese..". Yet some how it looks completely unreal, so stilted and strange. I looked at myself in that photo and saw the same look in my face I'd seen in those old pictures of my family, that sense of mystery in my eyes. I realised later that the woman behind me was my babysitter, a friend of my parents, and a bit of an 80's lesbian. So perhaps the face I pull in photos now is in fact not me trying to look like James Dean. Perhaps its just the face of a child that says "listen, the tricycle is cool but if the lesbian tries throwing me out of the window too I won't be pleased".

Ben G Amsterdam

Dunk Hi from 'Gentelman's Pack'-Ben G Amsterdam. Nice as hell. Got that winter thugalicious flavour. Easy jet tickets just to cop these would let the kicks pay for themself. Check out the rest of the pack here.

Word Up

"...I'm far from broke, I got enough bread/ and mad ho's/ ask Beavis, I get nothin' But- head..."

Big L

Huarache

This is the kind of re-issue that Off Tha Cuff likes. In my opinion these should be in constant rotation. I'm not entirely sure of the colour ways, I personally prefer the cleaner, more crisp whites, blacks, and blues when it comes to a running shoe, especially when the design is as busy as on the Huarache's. I had a pair of these when I was a kid, and I remember going out and playing football in them for hours. Inevitably the toe completely came away from the shoe and they quickly began to fall apart. Not long after I'd got them I was already asking my mum for a new pair of trainers. "Have you been playing football in them?" I said I hadn't, and she beleived me! A couple days later she marched me down the shops and, using all her motherly attributes, convinced the shop they had sold us a faulty pair of shoes, so they gave me a brand new pair for free! Those Huarache's never felt so good. I think I managed to spin that one out a couple more times before the shop and my mum got wise to it. But what can you do, that inner sock makes them so comfortable to have a kick about in!

The Roll With The Hole

The last time I felt the unforgiving urge for food at some un-godly hour, I found myself somewhere I stumble upon all too often these days. This place may seem like a normal bagel shop, where the little beauties come rolling, warm and soft out of the oven, and are then sliced and ceremoniously stuffed with anything from salt beef and cream cheese to chocolate and peanut butter. But my suspicions force me to suspect this Brick Lane bagel shop was in fact built on ancient ley lines that seek to remove all normal sense of thought and behavior. The realist in me quickly persuades my suspicious side that this lack of sensibility among the bagel shops occupants is more likely due to the crack epidemic of the 1980's. However, my brief flirtation with the idea that a druid once built this place in exact alignment with Stonehenge tells me I fit in perfectly with the other clientèle. As I wait impatiently, for mash head after absolute mash head to deliberate over the relative merits of sausages and/or bacon, a man asks me politely for a cigarette. I oblige, and watch as he crumbles the tobacco up in his hand. My assumption was that this was for a spliff he might later roll. "Enjoy the zoot" I said. He replied with complete nonchalance "No, no, I only smoke crack and heroin, weed makes me paranoid". Go eat a bagel on brick lane, they taste of alternate reality.

Word Up

"With hip-hop guidelines I state I never liked authority/
When sales control stats I place no faith in the majority"

EL-P

Word Up

"The beat be tryna sex me and marry me/I'm talkin' white picket fence and a family"

Vast Aire

Its Sideways for a Reason

On Brick Lane, Where I live, The creative soul clashes with stock market traders.

Raise It Up

When it comes to the delicious in between-meals-snacks that Off Tha Cuff has been serving up for your momentary auditory pleasure, Detroit City has been the narrative thread holding it all together. So what better way than to round off november with this classic joint of the week from S-to-the-V.


This had everybody geeked back in 2000, and still puts any dance on smash. R.I.P J-Dilla, keeping the eargasm alive from beyond the grave.

You Scratch My Back...And I'll Sell Your Kicks...

There may be a divide between those who seek to collect because trainers are their passion, and those to whom kicks are just another part of a multi-faceted hunger for materialism, and subsequent source of exhibiting their individualism. However, in the collaboration, there may be room for common ground. While some may cite the pairing of time-honored sneaker manufacturers with more underground urban labels as a misuse of traditional branding, its clear design collaborations such as the pictured Puma Clyde hi and ALIFE are mutually rewarding. This was highlighted by SneakerFreaker magazine, issue 10, on reviewing the cultural significance of the release of the Nike Supreme SB Dunk lo. "Nike seek to give their product cachet, but it was teaming up with Supreme that the SB Dunk hit the jackpot. Nike's power enables Supreme to produce high quality shoes. Supremes relatively underground/uber cool status gave the project the cultural cachet it needed." What this offers the consumer, is a kind of no strings attached affiliation with the product, an open relationship of sorts. The collaboration proposes to us the opportunity to feel comfortable with a brand we know, yet the borrowing of more cutting edge design allows us a brief flirting with exclusivity and individualism, without the 'commitment' required of a classic shoe. And it is the way in which these collaborations benefit both design parties that might seek to reconcile the hardcore collectors with the part time admirers. The afore mentioned can be geeked on every stitch of detail, while the latter can buy into a slice of sub-culture. Reflection on what design and any collaborations that may be birthed from it is no better summed up by Kosaka and Hommyo of UBIQ. "(collaboration)is one of the best ways to collect the diverse ideas of many different people, but I believe in collaboration when it is part of the creative process." Off Tha Cuff agrees.

I Know What I like, And I Like What I Know

We all love trainers, yet it seems the relationship we have with our kicks is not always enough in the eyes of true sneaker heads. Those that manifest a bond with their footwear seem to fall into two groups. There are those that truly collect, always on a mission to find the next rare edition kicks to tick off their list of personal desire, trawling through piles of deadstock, and who are willing to pay almost any price. Then there are those that recognize the importance of having a fresh pair of shoes in near constant rotation. This second type generally select their styles based on the movements of the industry, always ready to splash the cash on the latest re-issue or new colour way. There is a divide between these two groups, where passion and dedication is often replaced by the fickle nature of trends. Personally, I'm not sure I fall into either of the above categories. I feel I've been around long enough to know which models I like best, and more over, suit my style. I don't care how rare those lo Dunks are, only the hi's make it onto my footwear floor space. There are those that would surely wretch at the idea of my personal collection being made cheifly of Hi top Vandals and Air Max 1's, with a sprinkling of Jordan 1's and the occasional Blazer. The sneaker has become more than a shoe; it's unquestionably a culture. However, it's ascendancy to cult status is as much due to the boundaries of style and design being constantly pushed and prodded, as it is to do with our hunger for rarity and exlusivity. But thats just my opinion. And as Method Man once said, "Opinions are like assholes, everyboddy gotta have one".

The Issues

After coming within close proximity to so many potentially aggravating political topics this week, off the cuff believes it may be time to go back to considering the real issues, like "turning kids into slaves just to make cheaper sneakers, but whats the real cost, cos the sneakers dont seem that much cheaper. Why are we still paying so much for sneakers when you've got little kid slaves making them? what are your overheads?"

The Shemagh

People love wearing these, but do they know anything about what they represent? Vote. I'll give my views later.

OBEY The Neck

I don't hate many things in life. Though I mildly dislike certain aspects and angles of life, even the things that cause me considerable discomfort rarely breed within me to the point of hatred. Today However, I found a new thing that I hate, that somehow had been there all along, breeding among my internal insecurities and fickle falsehoods aquired throughout my breif 23 years on planet Cuff. The thing I hate, is the necks on t-shirts. I hate it when they are too big, when it looks like I'd been trying in vein for hours on end, hopelessly poking my head through the sleeve holes, stretching and contorting the material to get it on, and ending up looking like a 10 year old that's put on his dads t-shirt. When this ridiculous cotton lasso is finally hanging limply around my collarbone, I could just as easily hoola-hoop my way into the rest of it. Whats more frustrating is that shops love to hang the t-shirts on hangers, taking them off, putting them back on, all the time stretching the neck over an over again. I just don't understand it, you wouldn't wear a pair of jeans if the waist had been all stretched out and contorted, so why would you wear a t-shirt that makes you look like you bought it in the wrong size. And if you do want the neck to be a little more snug, you have to buy it in a smaller size that doesn't fit the rest of you. My good friends at Gloria's recently held a party for the release of some of OBEY's exclusive and limited edition products, including some of the American line of new T-shirts. And you know what, they had L and XL sizes with normal sized necks! OBEY t-shirts may now provide a new staple for Off Tha Cuff, so if you like your tee's to fit properly, and have a soft spot for the artistic vision of Shepard Fairey, OBEY's got what you need.

UBIQ

Alright, back to the shoes. Pictured are the UBIQ Fatimas, a shoe so nice I'm trying to get my hands on a pair as we speak. UBIQ is a Japanese Label, that so far has seemed to remain in the anonymity of my consciousness. In fact, Sneaker Freaker magazine recently called them "an obscurist's delight", when reviewing the release of the all leather version of the Fatimas you see to the left. Obscure is perhaps an over-zealous word I would prefer to replace with subtle, something often associated with the flawless simplicity of Japanese design. The silhouette of the shoe is a perfect marriage between the hi top fatness of a basketball shoe, and the more streamlined retro appeal of a vans or converse model. UBIQ have clearly sampled heavily on many of the elements of a Puma Clyde hi-top on the upper, and Vans Chukka boot on the sole, but like all good sampling, they've made it so much better. Look closely at this particular shoe, and everything works. The colour way is rich and effortless, from the black suede dominating the upper, to the sparingly added stitching, turquoise corduroy detailing on the tongue and heel, and the charcoal grey laces setting it all off. They also have a second layer wrapping around the very top of the upper, that folds down to reveal a check pattern, seen on a couple of this years Air Max 1 releases and a whole load of Stussy garms, and you wouldn't expect anything less from the Japanese than to add at least one element that immaculately appeals to the fashion victim in us all. But that really doesn't detract from what this shoe offers. Not only is it like a Puma Clyde, Chukka boot and Pointer Mathieson all in one, it seems to have taken the best elements from all of them. However, while it might be tempting to keep simplicity at the heart of design, especially when you get it so right, it is worth noting that simplicity can also be the foundation for a more expansive creativity. I would hate to see a shoe this nice begin to start looking like you could pick up a pair at Muji, alongside some equally simple, stylish, yet ultimately boring underwear and office supplies. But for now, these are dope, no question.