From July 31-August 1, for the first time in history, the International Human Beatbox Convention came stateside. This year, the weekend long convention, traditionally held in London, was hosted in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn at one of the city’s newest music venues, Littlefield.  Now in its sixth year, the event brings together beatboxing artists from across the globe to take part in workshops, panels, film screenings, live art, breakdancing, DJ's and showcases centered around the celebration of one of the most unique vocal art forms. 

No doubt the weekend long convention in it’s entirety was a true hip-hop lover’s dream, but perhaps the most exciting, climactic event of the weekend was the historic, first ever American Beatbox Championships on Saturday night. Competitors worked their way through three online video rounds, and were whittled down from 65 competitors to eight for the Grand Final. 

An all out mic-to-mic battle, the contestants wielded their weapons, an arsenal limited to their mouth, lips, tongue, voice, nasal passage and throat, to produce their own unique combinations of drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds.  There to judge the epic championships were some of hip-hop’s elite: Parrish Smith of EPMD, Jarobi White of A Tribe Called Quest, Swiss Chris, drummer and musical director for John Legend, and beatbox legends Rahzel and Kenny Muhammad.

The night started off with a solo round, where each of the eight contestants got the chance to express their unique talent.  A truly diverse arcade of technique, rhythm, sound, and execution reverberated from the stage.  Experiencing the broad spectrum of style between the artists evidenced how much the art beatboxing has evolved from its early days.

In round two, the competitors were asked to do a two-minute routine incorporating pre-selected cover tracks.  They could choose from any or all of eight covers by artists ranging from Missy Elliot to The Ramones.   Possibly the most entertaining performance was delivered by the highly charismatic The Human Drum Machine, who worked the mesmerized crowd into a state of frenzied enthusiasm with his take on The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop.”

Round three separated the best from the rest. Competitors were asked use one or more acapellas from a predetermined list to put together a vocal track of no more than two minutes in length. The track was played back on stage and the artist had to create the music to go with it.  A few contestants bit off more than they could chew by attempting to recreate legendary songs with epic beats that were simply beyond their skill level.  The upper echelon of artists proved their adaptability and creativity by transcending the ability to impress by simply freestyling.

While the judges tallied their scores during an intermission, the crowd was entertained by some awesomely innovative performances.  Judge Chris Swiss wowed the masses with a solo drum performance that was just as impressive visually as it was audibly.  Conversational murmurs were silenced as the stage lights were extinguished and the glow-stick style drumsticks of Swiss Chris flashed to the beat of his ferocious drumming.

Following Swiss Chris was a very different kind of performance: Akim Funk Buddha Beatbox Theater.  Akim Funk Buddha made a name for himself in the early ’90s as part of Zimbabwe Legit, one of the first African Hip Hop groups to sign with a major US label.  On stage at Littlefield, he opened minds with a bizarre display of boundless performance art that fused meditative throat singing and high-energy hip-hop rhymes with a blend of break-dancing and interpretive dance.  Accompanied by another vocalist and a talented female dancer, slow spiritual echoes from a Tibetan drum turned into a raucous rhythms and crowd surfing by the end of his performance. 

As the intermission came to an end, the evening’s host, Hasan Salaam, returned to the stage to call up all eight contestants.  The final four artists advancing to the final round were announced.  The judges were dead-on: HeaveN, B.Flow, Maximillian, and FriScO were clearly the cream of the crop. 

FriScO and B.Flow went head-to-head in the first semifinal battle.  Hailing from the Bay Area, as his name suggests, FriScO’s uncanny electronic bass octaves and pitch perfect laser sounds were nothing short of brilliant.  It’s hard to fathom how anyone could generate such robotic, complex sound effects with their mouth. The producers of Star Wars could have saved a lot of money if they hired FriScO instead of a team of sound designers with state-of-the-art equipment at their disposal.  What B.Flow lacked in skill he made up for with personality.  His stage-persona made the face-off feel like a true battle, not just a performance.  The judges asked for a second 45-second sudden death round before they made their decision. This time FriScO stepped up his game by putting a little more competitive spirit into his act, and came out the unanimous winner.

Maximillian and HeaveN were up next.  Maximillian pulled out an ingenious cell phone skit that was hard to top.  While HeaveN’s aptitude and talent for the art of beatboxing may have been equal or greater than Maximillian’s, he failed to exude a sense of personality, and didn’t connect to the crowd, or the judges.  Maximillian advanced to the final without the need for a second sudden death round.

The face-off between Maximillian and FriScO was truly a historic beatbox battle.  After FriScO kicked things off with yet another World of Warcraft-esque performance, Maximillian retorted with a mockery of FrisCo’s style, posing the question “Sound-effects all day, how bout’ beats?”  Initially scheduled for one round, the judges called for the face-off to go additional two rounds.  The panel asked that in the final round FriScO refrain from solely sound effects and Maximillian avoid his uber-fast pace.  Both competitors brought their A-game, making it hard to pick a winner.  FriScO dished out a distinguishable, unique style all his own throughout the competition.  His magician-like talent and originality went unmatched.  Maximillian served up a completely different style.  His lightning quick beats and creative brilliance as a performer carried him to the final.

While the judges struggled to make their decision, the venue was forcing the event to wrap up. The electricity of the opinion-bursting crowd intensified.  After much consternation and back-and-forth haggling between the judges, FriScO stood victorious. 

BOXCON 2010 proved to be an amazing experience for all who attended, and a testament to the art of making music with your mouth.

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Check out this interview with up-and-coming emcee, Gilbere Forte, who does things like rap over Freelance Whales. Video below.

Gilbere Forte' x Beyond Race Magazine Interview (Buzzworthy Spotlight) from J.G. Figueroa on Vimeo.

Photo by Dave Austria

There’s no industry that embodies change more than the fashion industry. Every fashion designer tries to create something new and different that makes their brand stand out among the many others fighting for their place at the top.  Every once in a while, however, a fashion concept emerges that attempts not just to introduce a new design element, but instead to change the landscape of the whole market. This is what Zoptopz is attempting to do with their unique curled and crimped baseball caps.

It’s only been twenty years since the baseball cap became a fashion accessory, thanks to Spike Lee and others who championed the movement. However, the baseball cap in its current design is now over fifty years old. Spotting an opportunity for innovation, Zoptopz, founded in Baltimore in 2009, launched its unique baseball cap products after several years of prototyping different baseball cap brim shapes.

According to the Zoptopz folks, the baseball cap in its current form has exhausted all the possible ways it can be innovated - worn backwards, forwards, flat brim, curved brim, lots of embellishment, little embellishment.

Zoptopz provides cap-wearers and designers with a better canvas to realize more creativity and innovation from their baseball caps. Furthermore, the founder created Zoptopz on the belief that if customers are going to be spending over $30 on premium caps, they should want something that really stands out as a fashion item - not something developed over sixty years ago.

Zoptopz introduced its product line for the Spring 2010 fashion season. The first release included 4 distinct brim shapes: Kurl, Krimp, "M", and Wave. Each of these brim shapes were produced in eight different fabric colorways: white, black, red, pink, purple, white with a black skull print, black with a white skull print, and a houndstooth-like black and white pattern. Caps are produced with a one size fits-all free size cap. All caps are lined on the inside with a purple polyester stretch satin lining, although a very limited number of early release caps are lined in red. All caps have a silk-screen printed inside seam ribbon tape and a hologram sticker.

The Zoptopz style is a collection of musical and artistic collaborations that leans on the urban, street, and hip-hop inspired culture of the brand’s own Baltimore streets, with screaming funk beats and wild rock infused riffs. The products are targeted at the urban wear and streetwear markets that includes hip-hop fashion, skate boarders, snowboarders, DJs and musicians, and general consumer market.

With national exposure from athletes like MMA fighters, trick shot basketball players and artists like rappers, rockers and dancers, Zoptopz has an eclectic variety of followers that show the
diverse appeal of the brand. Within the first month of product release, the company had already gained a following in the hip-hop music industry, with several notable performers and artists supporting the brand including F.R.L., JaVion McVadian, CLABO, Tionne Williams, DJ Alex Chang, A Clever Con, and many other hip hop artists. This summer, Zoptopz plans on adding several more top artists to their roster of sponsors, with a particular focus on emerging artists. Zoptopz has also entered into sponsorship and marketing agreements with fighters and brands in the mixed martial arts (MMA) industry. The company announced plans for sponsorship of individual MMA fighters in early April 2010, with Jacob and Joey Kirwan of Ferocity MMA being the first sponsored fighters.

The company sponsored Beyond Race Magazine's SXSW Emerging Artist Showcase in March 2010, and a number of the musicians and artists that performed there subsequently sported Zoptopz caps or otherwise endorsed the company's products. It continues to sponsor events such as the World Series of Flip Cup, Honfest in Baltimore, and other events, and participates in fashion industry confabs such as the semi-annual MAGIC tradeshow in Las Vegas.

”Zoptopz is all about a feeling,” says Ron Schmelzer, Founder and CEO of Zoptopz. “We see the brand fitting more of a belief or attitude, rather than a physical notion. We believe fashion is all about showing your individuality and uniqueness and not following the crowd. We like to tell people to crimp their style, and we believe that Zoptopz provides the perfect vehicle for doing that.”

Zoptopz’s location in Baltimore provided a unique opportunity to launch their brand. The city’s emerging and growing music and arts scene with events such as Artscape, Honfest, and other opportunities to showcase local talent, as well as the fact that it is a stone’s throw away from influential east coast fashion centers like New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta and Miami has helped the company garner attention.

Zoptopz filed for design patents in early 2009 as well as 3D trademarks and intellectual property protection on a range of design and functional elements. Some of these patents were granted in early 2010. The first Zoptopz products were launched at the MAGIC retail convention in February 2010 with subsequent appearances at the SXSW music, film, and interactive festival in March 2010. Zoptopz products are sold through retailers, specialty boutiques and outlets, and their online store.

You can find out more about Zoptopz on their website or view their Facebook and Myspace pages online.

It should come as no surprise that a writer can shape or deeply affect the mindset or opinions of others, but this is especially true of young adult writers. Youthful minds are evermore impressionable, and adolescents turn to books and art to make connections within themselves and with the world at large. Matthew Tobin, or MT, Anderson successfully engages with his audience, yet his literature is anything but juvenile. Rather, his eloquent fiction offers social and political commentary on both the modern world and important eras of the past, as he creatively offers uncensored truths in the form of adventurous narratives.

Growing up in Massachusetts, Anderson read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, but then turned to Virginia Woolf as a teenager. She astounded Anderson by showing him that “we really could represent the transient motion of thought in writing.” Of his early reading, he explains, “We are just learning the narratives that make sense of our lives, so it’s an important moment for us.” Later, Anderson would try to recreate this moment for his readers.

For many years, he was the fiction editor of 3^rd bed, a journal devoted to surreal and absurdist writing, and he published his first novel, Thirsty, in 1997, at only twenty-four years old. Anderson conjured the idea for the book after a series of dreams about vampires. In one dream, he was in a church parish hall watching people eat casseroles when a little girl asked her father for more food; “suddenly, somehow, I realized that the casseroles were made of human flesh.” Anderson used vampires as a metaphor for aggression and thus initiated another theme of consumption, which would run throughout his nine novels, most noticeably in the post-cyberpunk journey Feed. When it comes to the behavior society expects of males, Anderson says, “We learn that we have to bite...and sometimes, to suck.” 

As a white man, some of his writing also touches on heavy race issues. His highly esteemed two-part series, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing; Traitor to the Nation, focuses on a black male in Anderson’s beloved hometown of Boston, where revolutionary history is still very present. In the first book, white men in the College of Lucidity—a prestigious research group trying to prove the validity of Eugenics—observe, instruct and experiment on young Octavian and his African mother. As the American Revolution progresses, Octavian is enslaved and stripped of all material possessions, including books and his precious violin, and his mother dies of smallpox. He joins the ranks of soldiers fighting the British, hoping to win his own freedom, and eventually manages to escape his merciless masters.

By way of an experimental structure, Anderson delves into the history and philosophical ideas of this era in American history, which required a hefty amount of research. He chose to explore race issues because he believes that “all of us are involved in the complicated systems of race…None of us can separate ourselves from the system and judge it from an Olympian, dispassionate position. I’ve written about race in Octavian Nothing because I am part of that complicated system of racial relations and tensions, as we all are.” He goes on to say that to understand a city like Boston, you have to understand slavery "because our fortunes were made on the backs of a burgeoning textile industry that relied upon cotton harvested with slave labor.”

Anderson does not romanticize this era in history nor the Baroque period; he quite honestly expresses his love for Baroque, but is quick to point out its inherent double nature, citing the period’s “emphasis on grace, on linearity, on clarity, and yet it is a time marked by incredible brutality and squalor, too.” He goes on to explain: “The salons and country house parties of the novels that I love could not exist without the plantations that funded them, the plundering of the New World. The courts of kings that we see reproduced in modern illustrations for the tales of Cinderella and Snow White were also places where people were pissing in the corner of the ballroom and where beauty was marked by rubbing whale-fat and zinc on the face. So you have this epoch that is at once the real Age of Reason, the age of fairy-tale beauty—and also a period of extreme squalor and cruelty. I find that juxtaposition fascinating.” 

Honored with a plethora of awards for excellency in young adult literature, the prolific Anderson set to work on shorter, lighter adventure books because, after the lengthy and intense second Octavian novel, he admits that he needed a "break," although to most it probably doesn't quite seem like one. This year, he offers The Suburb Beyond the Stars, a sequel to his earlier book called The Game of Sunken Places, as well as Agent O, or, The Smell of Danger, a sequel to Whales on Stilts. When asked about his need and desire to write, Anderson aptly states, “Writers of fiction write, I believe, because we’re malfunctioning. We have to re-process things that others simply move through. We have to create and manage a small world because we can’t deal with the overwhelming chaos of the large one." Good thing for that.

words by Amy Dupcak [www.no-alternative.net]