mid summer, paris

mid summer, paris

the temperatures are dropping below 60 degrees probably to compensate for the canicule that swept up paris just a few days ago.

i am wearing flannel and a jacket in my new office, which is actually a converted warehouse.  the doors are open and i am not sure if they can close.

the offices belong to les pain surprises, an artist collective made up of a label (or two, not totally sure yet), a burgeoning clothing brand, and a film production company.
 it's run by few 23 year olds who hit it big first by throwing crazy surprise parties, then signing the electronic group jabberwocky, who proceeded to blog tf up.  peep an article in Elle France on the crew.  

and here is a lil summer playlist they put together featuring a few of their artists.  

i am not working for them, persé, as much as i am working in their offices.  it's a very loose internship, but a cool environment to be a part of.

reading list:

ta'nehisi coates rolling stone interview -- pretty sure we're right on the cusp of a waves of hip hop generation writers, and i am stoked for it.  on the hunt for a copy of coates's recent book.  

• side note: previous article linked me to a pusha t interview in which he makes a case for biggie as the g.o.a.t.  this quote stood out in particular:

When Ready to Die dropped, it was still a competitive race for Big. You could have arguments about who was better with the Wu-Tang fanatics or the Nas fans. But by the summer after that, he left the pack in the marathon. We all said, "No one's better than Big." It was a wrap.

•  in addition, pusha comments that he:
  
  wrote all of [the Clipse's 2006 LP] Hell Hath No Fury trying to be Big. The whole thing, every line, every fluctuation in my voice, I was trying to sound like Big. On "Keys Open Doors," when I say, "Make your skin crawl/Press one button, let the wind fall/Who gon' stop us?/Fuck the coppers, the mind of a kilo shopper" – that's all Big.

cool.  i highly recommend you peep hell hath no fury for another listen.  that album was a neptunes-produced classic that flew under the radar during the kanye vs. the field mid-2000s.

brief interviews with hideous men, dave wallace - read this with sound mind and/or with drink/cigarettes nearby.  peep 'octet' for something particularly chewy and flavorful.  watch out though.  like, watch out.

tale for the time being, ruth ozeki - she gave a reading of this at stanford a few years ago around when it came out that was fascinating.  i stumbled on a copy in english at the library in my neighborhood and have been enjoying it immensely.  a layered novel about a semi-fictionalized (?) version of the novelist named ruth who discovers a japanese teenager's diary on the southern canadian coast.

summertime '06, vince staples - a different kind of text, but worth a listen.  vinny is a remarkably observant kid with a melodic voice and tasty production throughout the album.  'jump off the roof' stands out.