July 3rd-8th in Brooklyn

They will have Live performances by Saul Williams, Earl Greyhound, Pure Hell, Whole Wheat Bread, Janelle Monae, The Dallas Austin Experience, Tamar-kali, John Forte, Game Rebellion, The Objex, American Fangs, The London Souls, Peekaboo Theory, Sabatta, Apollo Heights, FunkFace, The Echo Jinx, Jesse Nobody, The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores, Sweetie, Chewing Pics, B L A C K I E, Elevator Fight, The Freshmen, Shinobi Ninja, Maiysha, Joya Bravo, DJ Rich Medina, DJ Prince.

The festival will also feature Skate and BMX demos & contests, a skate clinic, movies and more. Don’t miss it!!!!

Check out the full schedule here!

Look out for the super limited Ben Franklin action figure, Frank151 edition. Complete with interchangeable ‘F’ caps and matching apparel. December 2020.

Photos via Geekadelphia & Flickr

Willie Isz are a duo comprised of rapper Khujo alongside producer and vocalist Jneiro Jarel. Willie Isz are groundbreaking, psychedelic, and straight fun. Jneiro Jarel rose to musical heights after winning Red Bull’s Music Academy many years ago, and traveling to South Africa with over a dozen other aspiring artists. There, he connected with King Britt, who expressed quite an interest in Jneiro’s music. Other Jneiro collaborators of have included Rich Medina and DJ Kiva, among others. In the past couple of years, Jneiro linked with Khujo (of the legendary Goodie Mob) Goodie to create the force that is Willie Isz. Last summer, the group toured Europe to festival crowds that were amped out their minds for the new sound Willie Isz created.

Now out on Lex Records, their album Georgiavania is a journey in sound that draws as much from Prince, Tricky, Jimi Hendrix and Sun Ra, as it does from T.I. and of course Goodie Mob.

The South has always been a hotbed of creativity, where people aren’t afraid to meld styles and make them their own, which is why Frank has always pushed up our southern roots high, and this album is a great excuse for us to do so.

Buy Willie Isz Via Amazon.com

Download Willie Isz Via Itunes

Shout Me Out - TV On The Radio

A convicted European drug trafficker dubbed the “Mafia’s foreign minister” will be deported to Italy after his capture in Caracas in a joint operation by Venezuelan and Italian police, authorities said Tuesday. Salvatore Miceli was caught at a Caracas hotel on Saturday, Venezuelan police said. He will be deported to Italy “in the coming days,” Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami told reporters. Miceli was one of Europe’s top five drug traffickers, said Capt. Antonello Parasiliti of the Carabinieri police in Trapani, who led the Italian police operation to arrest Miceli in Venezuela. Parasiliti told The Associated Press by phone interview that Miceli worked as a middleman between Italy’s and South America’s organized crime groups, leading fellow mobsters to call him the “Mafia’s foreign minister” and “the chicken that lays golden eggs.”

Via AP

Photo via Friends of Ours

 

President Michelle Bachelet’s government fired four high-ranking members of Chile’s PDI investigative police for alleged ties to a prostitution ring that exploited underage girls.

Among the officers forced into early retirement is Hector Soto Candia, the PDI’s erstwhile inspector-general, who was in charge of probing allegations of police involvement made by one of the victimized girls in October 2007.

The PDI chiefs in Santiago and the coastal city of Valparaiso were also ousted.

Via LAHT

Photo via National Symbols

Drake, the artist with possibly the biggest internet buzz someone’s ever had without an album, has come with a brand new video. The video is directed by Kanye West, for the song that blew him up, Best I Ever Had. The second girl that comes busting through the banner looks remarkably like Rihanna (no surprise), and this video seems to be just what hip-hop needed: a Porky’s movie in music video form. Should be a hit…

Drake “Best I Ever Had” from kwest on Vimeo.

Check out Drake wearing our own Toronto Tempers FDL cap below (from back when he visited Frank’s Chop Shop in April).

DoubleDown has a history in street wear that dates back to 1997. That means they’ve been around longer than Frank, a feat in it’s self. As of late, they’ve re-emerged with a new crop of product that challenges the consumer to think a bit. Their new wears are Polos that have a crack vial as their logo, an ingenious idea indeed. The hang tag has a little questionnaire on it that asks the consumer to check the boxes that describe the effect crack has had on their life. We’re all about clothes that have a message, and Double Down comes through with some right here.

Check the first paragraph of their press release:

New York City, (28 May 2009) – Not giving a Mother &*$% is Job #1 here at DoubleDown.  While digging through the crates for those juicy styles you love, the question arose:  Why are we not dealing with the major issue that touched all our lives?  C-R-A-C-K.  Rock, Base, Jumbos, Red Caps, Woolas…and it goes on.  Never being ones to back down off a good idea, the brain trust set to task.  After years of development…and several martinis later…the fruit of our labor is unveiled.

Check out the shirt below, and a picture of the (nicely designed) inner hem after the jump…

Check out DoubleDown on the web here

Read the rest of this entry »

Damn those sample clearances. According to XXL, the second coming of Only Built For Cuban Linx has been pushed back to September 8th due to sample clearance issues. The highly anticipated 4th solo album from Wu Tang member Raekwon was to drop on August 11th.

Check out the album cover for OB4CL2 featuring Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. Daniel Hasting, creator of the first cover, kept it funky by adding some purple flava, a homage to the infamous “purple tape.”

Photo via Asia Finest

Album cover via Miss Info

DJ Trackstar of St. Louis always comes with heat. Check out the new goods…
 

1. Classified/Royce da 5′9″/B.o.B.-Hip Hop (They Call It)
2. Statik Selectah/Styles P/Talib Kweli-The Thrill is Gone
3. Clipse/Kanye West-Kinda Like a Big Deal
4. Crooked I-Slaughterhouse is a Big Deal
5. Pangea-Taste For Blood (Charles Hamilton Nudge)
6. Cory Gunz-Caliber
7. Big Sean/Kanye West-Glenwood
8. DJ Drama/Ludacris/Willie the Kid/Busta Rhymes-We Must Be Heard
9. Lupe Fiasco/Matthew Santos-Shining Down
10. Rockwell Knuckles-See N Say
11. Jay-Z-Death of Autotune
12. Royce da 5′9″-(DOA Redemption)
13. Nino Bless-Fuck the Rap Game
14. Family Affair-Vivid Imagination
15. Curren$y-16 Switches Spitta
16. Phat Kat-F.A.N.S.
17. Elzhi-Deep
18. Pac Div-Pac Div
19. Wale/Peedi Peedi/Black Thought/Tuphace/Young Chris-Hot Shyt
20. Tech N9ne/Crooked I/Chino XL-Sickology 101
21. Camp Lo-Get Em Lo Gang
22. Dreamer/B.o.B./Big Rube-Ordinary Day
23. Shaun Boothe-Unauthorized Biography of Jimi Hendrix
24. Slaughterhouse/M.O.P.-Woodstock Hood Hop
25. Sha Stimuli-Follow the Leader
26. Royce da 5′9″-Gun Harmonizing

Our dude DJ HIROnyc has a new party poppin’ this Friday. If you’re in NYC, check it..

In honor of 4th of July this weekend, we are releasing a new colorway of our traditional F cap style. This soon to be classic F Cap is done in an ATL colorway, but still has the traditional green under-visor with the metallic silver quote from Ben Franklin. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either do things worthy reading or do things worth the writing.” Act fast because there is a limited quanitity in the USA! $50 each while supplies last. The hat is available now on our site.

A city man who reportedly grew marijuana at his apartment and packaged his illegal drugs in McDonald‘s Chicken McNugget boxes is facing criminal charges.

Alfano, Neumann and another man were waiting in a car near North Elm Street and Norwood Street for Brandner, to come out of Gentile’s home, when Torrington police officer Quinn Sullivan saw their Hyundai Elantra, according to police. Sullivan was in the process of checking the passengers’ identification when Brandner came out of the apartment. The officer looked inside a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget box Brandner was carrying and found the marijuana, Brandner reportedly just bought from Gentile. A search of Gentile’s home yielded a seizure of 4.8 ounces of marijuana found in a plastic bag under Gentile’s couch, a large plastic bag containing marijuana plant stems, packaging material, a glass pipe containing burnt marijuana, a digital scale, a purple grinder, a pot containing marijuana plants, two cell phones, rolling papers and $89 in cash, according to court records.

Via New Haven Register

Photo via Photo Bucket

U.S. authorities detain thousands of people each year solely on the basis of religion, race or nationality despite efforts by senior law enforcement officials and the government to stop it, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

An ACLU report said racial profiling was often applied to immigrants from South Asia and to North Africans suspected of being Islamic militants following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda militants.

The report, submitted on Tuesday to the U.N. Committee to End Racial Discrimination, said profiling could involve harassment, detention, arrest or investigation.

Via Reuters

Check out John Symms blog here. Read about his experiences with Dopium and his new found street cred.  If you haven’t done so already, make sure to pick up U-God’s latest album, Dopium. Don’t let your street cred down.

Dear Diary,
I’m sorry that I haven’t written in you for such a long while. I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve barely had enough time to stay extreme, let alone update you with my reflections on Lost and The Office. Yes, I’ve been busy, but I consumed an unusual (for me) type of published media the other day, and it was so cool that I felt I had to find the time to tell you about it.

I went to a U-God show in New York City! It was a private release party for his new album, Dopium.

Our boy Mister Cartoon has designed these Nike sneakers that will release this Thursday in LA…

Never released publicly, the original Mister Cartoon Air Force 1 was only available to select friends and family of Los Angeles’ most celebrated tattoo artist. Immediately acknowledged as an instant classic, die-hard collectors paid upwards of $3,000 for the limited pairs that made it outside. Comprehensively re-worked by Mister Cartoon for this release, the new look AF1 again employs laser technology to provide the gritty graphics reflecting its city of origin.

100% of the proceeds from this release go towards the Lance Armstrong Foundation in the fight against cancer, with a retail price of $150. The Nike Sportswear x Livestrong x Mister Cartoon Air Force 1 will launch at 11:59pm on July 2nd exclusively at The Last Laugh in Los Angeles, with a wider release on July 4th celebrating the first day of the Tour de France.

The Last Laugh
129 East 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

We know the Brooklyn Hip-Hop festival was almost two weeks ago. So what, this is DJ PREMIER. Check out a true NY King rocking the crowd. Young’ns, make sure to take notes.

Frank’s got new friends in Berlin….