Rihanna will be bringing her ‘Last Girl On Earth’ Tour to Australia during February and March of 2011, complete with full band, dancers, acrobats, set changes and outrageous outfits. Ticketek pre-sale for the near two-hour show runs from noon Wednesday Aug 18 until 5pm Thursday Aug 19. Tickets on sale 9am Friday August 20.

Rihanna’s ‘Last Girl On Earth’ Tour 2011 Australian dates are:
BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE FRIDAY FEBRUARY 25
NEWCASTLE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE MONDAY FEBRUARY 28
SYDNEY ACER ARENA FRIDAY MARCH 4
MELBOURNE ROD LAVER ARENA MONDAY MARCH 7
ADELAIDE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE THURSDAY MARCH 10
PERTH BURSWOOD DOME SATURDAY MARCH 12

At 28 years-old, Marques Houston is already a 20-year veteran of the entertainment industry. Bursting onto the scene at 8 years-old as part of R&B trio Immature, Houston had toured the world and made his film debut even before hitting his teens. The California native would go on to produce and star in hit movies including You Got Served while continuing to add to a music catalogue which is now eight albums deep. His latest musical effort is a nod to that longevity and announces his arrival as a respected entertainment veteran who has made the evolution from Immature to Mr. Houston.

Rhyme & Reason recently caught-up with Marques Houston to discuss life as a child sensation, avoiding the pitfalls of fame and fortune, turning 30, and whether or not we will ever see a sequel to You Got Served…

You’ve been a working musicians since the age of 8. When you look back on your childhood, how do you remember it?
When I look back on those days it was all just a learning experience. I was young and having fun, a kid getting to do what he loved to do – sing, dance and entertain – being so young and traveling the world and stuff like that. It was just great. If I got to do it all over again I wouldn’t change a thing.

So you never felt as though you missed out on a normal childhood?
Oh no, not at all. I still got to do things as a child. I still went to school for a bit, played basketball, had my childhood homies that I kicked it with, did a lot of neighborhood stuff… so I was a regular kid. I never allowed the industry to turn me into something irregular.

So many people who experience fame and fortune as a child seem to struggle with the transition into adulthood. You appear very well adjusted. How did you avoid the pitfalls of early success?
I take it as a job, just like anybody else who goes to work everyday, does their job, then comes home – that’s what I do. I’m not being an entertainer 24 hours a day. Most of the time when I am at home relaxing with my family and friends, I’m not being an entertainer. When I’m in the house I’m cooking or just chillin’ or watching a basketball game. A lot of my life is being regular. I’ve never allowed the industry to get to me, or the fame and the fortune, because it was never about the fame and the fortune, it was always about doing what I love to do – doing music from my heart and enjoying myself.

So when you look at someone like Lindsay Lohan who has fallen victim to fame and fortune, do you sympathize with her situation?
It’s a very sad and unfortunate situation. Some kids can’t handle the pressure of being so young and so famous, so they turn to drugs. For me it was never really pressure, I really liked it. Sometimes I think conditions are a little bit different for Hollywood actors; being young and a Hollywood actor and experiencing that major success with cameras always in your face at such a young age – like a Lindsay Lohan – sometimes you can’t get away from it and you don’t have time to just sit and think. So it kind of takes you there and maybe she felt like she had to drink or do drugs to get away from it all. I never felt like I had to do that. My life was never as publicized as some of these younger kids that I see. I feel sorry for them. I’ve always had my privacy with my girlfriends and stuff like that. My life was never a big public thing. I only put out in the public what I wanted to. I’ve controlled what my life is to people and I feel like once you lose that control over your life it’s downhill from there.

I was a fan of the House Party films back in the day and, of course, Immature appeared in House Party 3 and House Party 4. What was the vibe like on-set, surrounded by the likes of Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, TLC…
Back then Bernie Mac was just the guy on the set, the cool uncle. He was like our uncle on the set. He wasn’t THE Bernie Mac back then. It was crazy to see his career evolve and him become such a huge icon, as well as Chris Tucker. When we first did the scene with Chris Tucker, I think that was like his first movie he’d ever done. I remember being on the set with Chris Tucker and he was just like, “Man, y’all are like my cool little brothers.” He was like a comedian coming up, so it was cool to be with people that talented at such a young age. We would terrorize everybody – we would go around feeling on all the girls – we were just like the terrible three. We were just having a great time. It didn’t even sink into my head that it was acting and that we were going to be in this big movie or anything like that. To me, we were just having fun on the set.

Let’s talk about your latest album – Mr. Houston. It’s quite a formal album title. How does that reflect where you’re at in your career at the moment?
Doing the Mr. Houston album was a statement, just allowing everybody to see the maturity and me growing in this industry. When you get to a certain point in your life people do respect you and call you a ‘Mr’ – and that shows a great deal of respect – and I have a lot of respect for the industry, I have respect for music, and I have respect for all of my fans, so we share a mutual respect and that’s all that is. It’s a statement album telling everybody that I’m a ‘Mr’ now. I’ve grown in this industry for 20 years and I’ve done it all, from singing to acting to dancing. People started calling me Mr. Houston about a year before I started recording the album, so I felt like it was an appropriate title. All the titles for my albums come from real life situations.

This is your eighth album. Does the writing and recording process get easier from one album to the next?
Oh yeah, definitely. The writing process gets easier, the recording process… I just don’t like the studio. I’m not a studio rat; I’m not one of those people who stay in the studio forever. I like to get in, do my thing, and get out. I can record a full song in 2 hours.

You’re also preparing to release your ninth album later this year. Having just dropped Mr. Houston, why is there such a sense of urgency to release more material?
I fell like, nowadays, you’ve got to keep your product out there, keep your face out there, ‘cause there’s so much music and so much talent out there that if you take a step back people can forget about you. The world is onto the next nowadays. I feel like, as an artist, you’ve got to keep up with yourself, keep yourself relevant and keep putting out music so that people understand that you’re an artist who is here to stay. You’ve just got to secure your spot.

You’re heading towards a big milestone next year – turning 30. Are you looking forward to hitting the big three-o?
Actually, yes! I’m definitely looking forward to being 30. I’ve been wanting to be 30 since I was like 24 [laughs]. 30 is a cool age. I’ll be 29 next month and then next year is the big three-o. I’m definitely looking forward to being 30 and just living the 30. I’ve seen a lot of people die and, not to change gears and get all sentimental, but I’ve seen a lot of friends of mine go and seen a lot of people who didn’t get to make it to 30. So hopefully I’ll make it and that’ll be a great milestone for me to be able to say that I’ve been in the industry for so long, since I was 8, which is a great thing. I’ve been blessed with a great career and I thank God everyday.

Outside of music, you experienced major success as a film producer and actor with You Got Served back in 2004. There have been constant rumors of a sequel to the film. Are we going to see another installment of You Got Served?
No, I don’t think there’s gonna be any more You Got Served films, but you’ll definitely be seeing my face soon in more television and film.

Do you prefer acting over singing?
It’s not what I prefer… I think singing is a part of me; it’s always going to be a part of me and a passion that I love. I think acting presents another challenge and it’s where my career is starting to shift [towards] because I love that as well. I don’t love one more than the other, I just love them differently. I think acting is more challenging personally, but I think the music industry is more challenging than acting.

‘Mr Houston’ is now available from digital retailers and will be released physically on July 16th.

Check out the video to Marques Houston’s hit single “Case of You” below:

Hip Hop icon Lil Kim has postponed the Australian leg of her tour due to visa problems. She was set to perform at The Sydney Entertainment Centere in Sydney on July 9, and in Melbourne on July 10, at the Esplanade Hotel. The dates will be re-scheduled for approximately two months from now.

Kim stated; “I love all the fans in Australia and I’m excited to be making my first trip down there to perform. I’m disappointed about my visit being delayed but I promise that the wait will be worth it.”

Interview by Dominic Di Francesco

Kevin ‘k-os’ Brereton is proof positive that creativity is fluid. The Canadian is part recording artist, part producer, instrumentalist, song-writer and stage performer. His sound marauders between hip-hop, electro, pop, rock, and even folk, as if the concept of genre was non-existent. And with four albums and two platinum plaques to his credit, k-os is very much the poster boy for free range artistry.

Credit his creative transcendence to an enlightened childhood where he split time between the island backdrop of Trinidad and the cosmopolitan bustle of Toronto; where he was reared by his Jehovah’s Witness minister father to “strive for something beyond the banal”; where a former NBA star sponsored his exploration of the arts.

It’s clear k-os dodged the clichéd back-story of your average “hip-hop” artist.

Rhyme & Reason Magazine recently shot the breeze with the Canuck about the parallels between hip-hop and religion, his fateful connection with retired ‘baller John Salley, his thoughts on fellow countryman Drake, and the reason he likens will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas to a “dancing monkey”…

On your latest album you reference growing up as the “son of a minister / the Bible-thumping commissioner.” What was it like growing-up with a minister living under the same roof?
It was amazing because, as Bob Dylan says, all great art is stories of people who are either running away from God or running towards God. People tend to look at the Bible as a religious thing but I look at it as an epic tale, kind of like a Zen book or a Buddhist book of stories about people who have gone through life. They are stories about people who have followed those types of realities. So my dad was always drawing examples from people who decided to follow a certain path and people who decided to run away from a certain path.

It was pretty primary for me, it wasn’t this thing where you had to be well behaved; my dad had Jimi Hendrix records, Miles Davis records, as well as he had Olivia Newton John records – that was my father. So yes, my dad was a minister but at the same time he had a very wide spectrum of pace and music, and he kind of used religion as a way of saying, “You always have to seek the highest ideal.” It wasn’t really just about serving God or going to church on Sunday, it was about trying to strive for something beyond an earthly, regular, banal kind of reality. The way my dad put it was pretty cool, actually. I’m just doing my own take on that by becoming an artist. I took all the information he gave me and built upon it.

What’s your relationship like with religion at this point in your life?
Hip-hop is my religion at this point. The guys I look up to, the other ministers, the other religious heroes are people like Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, The Fugees… These are all people who I look up to, who are kind of like the prophets of hip-hop. Hip-hop became my religion when my parents separated for a bit when I was going into the ninth grade. My dad wasn’t around until maybe the eleventh grade, so in between the ninth and eleventh grade hip-hop became my teacher and my father and that’s when I gravitated towards it.

As far as commercial or fundamental religion, my idea is that everybody at some point in their life needs something to teach them. Even a kid has training wheels on their bicycle before they can ride alone. I see religion as training wheels. It’s just an idea you that might need before you have the experience to have your own ideas about the world. Religion is the training wheels of philosophy; you lean on it a bit until you’ve had enough experience to decide how you want to live your life.

I haven’t been able to verify this, but is it true that former NBA star John Salley was your first manager?
That’s correct. The Toronto Raptors were in the first year of their franchise and he was a player who had won a couple of championships, so they needed and wanted someone who was experienced [on the team]. A lot of times when you get guys who have championships, they become leaders of the team and they help guide the younger players. That year, Damon Stoudamire and different dudes were young and fresh out of college, so John Salley was a lot of people’s mentor.

He had gotten a demo tape from somebody. These dudes who had given him the demo tape had taped over my demo tape. So he listened to the demo tape and thought it was okay, but then in the last two minutes came my song and he really liked it. So he called these guys up and was like; “Yeah, your tape was alright but what’s that two minutes at the end?” John said it took them a-week-and-a-half to actually come out with and tell him, “Yeah, that’s this guy called k-os. We taped over his demo tape. Here’s his number…”

I was away on tour that summer and I came back and my mom had this long story about John Salley calling. Of course I didn’t believe it but then I finally spoke to him on the phone. He said, “I’ll be up there in September and I’d like to sit and talk to you about your music. Me and my wife, we’re philanthropists of the arts; we give away money to the arts that we like and we’ve chosen you. But I’d like to talk to you first.”

So he came back to Canada and we had great conversations and it turned out that he grew up in the same religion as me, which was so ironic, and that’s it. For a couple of years he basically fed me, made sure I had musical equipment, paid for my studio time, and just gave me a lot of advice about the American music industry – which was priceless and invaluable. So he was a great mentor to me.

You started DJ’ing a few years back. Does that experience behind the decks change or affect your perspective when you head into the studio to create your own music?
That’s a very intelligent question - one of the best ones I’ve heard in a while. I think Dr Dre said it the best. When he was a DJ he used to listen to a record for five seconds and if it didn’t catch him he’d move onto the next one and that was it. As a DJ you learn that people respond to music very quickly. So what I took away from that is that the first four, five, six seconds of a song gets people. When you’re a DJ, you start playing stuff and people start losing their attention, they go start buying drinks, they stop dancing, the floor clears, and you’re like “Oh man, that was a bad choice. Milk was a bad choice!” [laughs]

Drake seems to have stepped up as Canada’s latest hip-hop ambassador. Do you have a relationship with Drake?
Yeah, I just toured with Drake across America. He’s kind of like a brother to me, a younger brother. He grew up listening to my music and he respected me. He’s definitely a prodigy and I’m super proud of him. I’m proud of our country and I think he’s going to take the world by storm. I’m happy to say that, not only am I a friend of his, but I’m also a huge fan. So I’m super ecstatic about his being born into the world as a musician.

Rumors of a k-os/Drake collaboration have been floating around for the longest time but we’re yet to hear the goods. Should we expect something from the two of you in the near future?
Me and him have a song together, we’re just trying to clear it. The song’s called “Faith” and we did it a while back. I’m dropping a mixtape on July 23rd and hopefully that song is on it. There’s a lot of politics behind him right now because he’s got so many people wanting to control how things happen. It’s not really his say. I’m sure if it was up to him he’d just say, “Yeah, do it.” We’re just trying to go through the proper channels to clear the song. Ironically, like I said before - “Milk was a bad choice!” – and my mixtape is called The Anchorman and it’s kind of based on that movie. That drops for free download on July 23rd and hopefully that song with Drake – called “Faith” – is on that mixtape.

Vocally, musically, and even physically, I can’t help but draw comparisons between yourself and will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Is that a comparison you often get?
Yeah, but I’m way smarter than him, though. He’s good. He’s probably a bit more talented than me as far as his production. He’s probably a little more savvy as far as his selection of sounds in appealing to the mainstream, so he’s got a more successful pop career. But I’m a little bit smarter and my lyrics are little bit deeper than his. It’s a good comparison. We know each other, that’s why I can say this stuff – so I hope he reads this! But I’m like way smarter than that guy. If we were in a zoo, he would be the dancing monkey and I would be the lion or something [laughs].

K-OS TOURS AUSTRALIA THIS AUGUST:

Tuesday 3rd August
Prince Bandroom, Melbourne
www.ticketek.com.au
www.princebandroom.com.au

Wednesday 4th August
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
www.moshtix.com.au

Interview by The Journalista

Hip-hop should be so honored to have rapper/lyricist/storyteller Styles P in its corner. For years now Styles P [aka The Ghost] has blessed rhyme lovers with his vivid flows and verses. On his latest mixtape, Ghost Dub-Dime, his street-wise lyrics continue taking listeners on a gritty journey through life with its grimey emotions of swag, dirty deals and struggles of day-to-day living.

And now, in extension to his beautiful street rhymes, Styles P has added the title of “Author” to his hustle palette. With a fresh book deal under Random House, his first novel Invincible [accompanied by its equally explosive soundtrack - featuring appearances from Sheek Louch and additional LOX fam] has just landed on store shelves and is the first of many fictional street tales to come from the urban griot.

Has your wordplay and delivery changed or advanced any since your last mixtape Phantom Empire?
I always switch it up. My style paints a picture. It just depends on the day and what my mood is, and what’s going on.

Your first single “That Street Life” seems extremely personal - like you’re letting us into your personal life. Is that accurate?
Yeah. It’s about my swag and being fly. I’m just talking about the real things; some personal issues and the industry. It’s all from a street point of view.

We hear a newcomer by the name of Tyler Woods on a few tracks. How did the two of you start to collaborate ?
That’s my man. He first did a song with Sheek (Louch) and I liked how it sounded. I have him on “That Street Life” and a couple singles on the soundtrack for Invincible.

Yes, the novel Invincible - you’re a fiction writer now!
Yeah, I always wanted to be a writer (of books) and also a director and producer. Being a rapper takes a lot of time and it’s difficult at times, especially along with being a father and other things. But I set my mind to it. If you wanna get around to everything you wanna do in life, you just gotta get busy. I’m fortunate that it’s happening. Invincible is the first book in the series. It’s available in Barnes & Noble stores.

What is Invincible all about?
Well, I’ll just say this; it’s about a good, solid dude trying to live the right life [when] he gets a mystery letter from someone who wants to kill him. I can’t tell you much [more] without giving it away.

Is the art of storytelling with rhymes different from telling a story through novel/book form?
I respect the authors more. It’s much more difficult to write a novel because when you’re rhyming it’s in your head.

What can you share bout the soundtrack to Invincible?
Yeah, it’s crazy. I got Sheek Louch, ‘Kiss, Tyler Woods. It’s 14 tracks and sounds like you’re reading a book.

When are you, Sheek and Jada going to bless us with a new LOX album?
We’re working on the LOX joint [now] and I feel good about that.

‘Invincible: The Book’ and full-length soundtrack by Styles P are available exclusively at stylesp.net. ‘Ghost Dub Dime’ the mixtape is available at e1music.us.

“Had you entered any village on Earth at around 3,000 B.C., the first person you met would probably be your ancestor,” notes Jotun Hein – a statistician at England’s Oxford University. It is a scenario that highlights just how interconnected we all are as a species. Those shallow roots of the human family tree also form the concept behind Distant Relatives, the celebrated collaborative album between reggae artist Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley and rapper Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones.

Damian, the son of iconic reggae artist Bob Marley, phoned-in to Rhyme & Reason Magazine to discuss the lineage between hip-hop and reggae, forging a relationship with Nas, the myriad plights troubling their ancestral homeland of Africa, and the possibility of a follow-up to this chart-topping Distant Relatives project.

Can you explain the concept behind this Distant Relatives project?
The whole Distant Relatives concept is Nas and myself being distant relatives, all human beings being distant relatives, reggae and hip-hop being distant relatives. We’re just trying to show the common ancestry between our people and, especially, between the two genres of music.

Exploring that ancestry inevitable leads to discussions of Africa and this album raises awareness about many of the issues affecting the continent. What do you consider the biggest challenge facing Africa?
There’s no one challenge, really. There are a lot of different challenges and every one of them is as important as the other. Definitely, we know that education is something that would be very instrumental in overcoming these problems. Just in general, it would be great if Africans could start ruling their destiny and benefiting from their own land, resources and things of that nature. In terms of the problems of Africa, I don’t think that is something anyone is oblivious to. I think everyone is aware Africa has severe problems in all different forms.

With Africa as the focal point of the Distant Relatives album, how do you see this project affecting change in Africa?
Change starts with awareness. I don’t really have all the answers where that is concerned, but with this project we hope we raise some kind of conversation so that people can get together and really discuss some of the things that can be done. Like I was saying earlier, whatever can be done towards education, whether it is building a school or scholarships, books, whatever the case may be. Any contribution towards education is always something good.

Have you visited Africa?
I’ve been to Ethiopia and Ghana. It was great to finally reach these places I had heard so much about since I was a child. It was a great experience to actually go and see it in the flesh.

Your music has always had a sense of social responsibility about it. Do you feel a responsibility as an artist to highlight humanitarian and social issues through your music?
No. Really, as an artist my only responsibility is to entertain people, you know what I mean? It just so happens that that’s the kind of person I am, that those are the things I like to talk about. That just has to do with my personality. I really don’t think it’s the responsibility of an artist to have to highlight anything.

Your father certainly had that same consciousness to his music. Do you approach your own music with the intention of continuing your father’s work and legacy?
Yeah, definitely.

When did you first cross paths with Nas?
We first met in 1996. He was out on tour and my brothers and sisters were also on that tour. I had gone to watch a couple of shows and met him backstage briefly. It was just a brief introduction at that time.

What was your first impression of him?
He was cool. I liked his music and was familiar with his music, so it was an honor for me to meet him. At that time it was just a brief handshake and a hello. It wasn’t like we had a conversation, so I didn’t have a real impression of him at that time. But when he came to do some work on the Welcome to Jamrock album – when we did “Road to Zion” – that was really when we were able to have a conversation for the first time.

So how did your relationship escalate from collaborating on “Road To Zion” to now releasing a entire album together?
We always had the intention to do some more work and he invited me to be on one of the tracks on his album Hip-Hop is Dead - but it didn’t end up making the album. We spoke about trying to do some touring together back in those days, so we always had the intention to want to do some more work together. This particular project really came up because of our managements teams. They came up with the idea of us to do an EP based on Africa. That’s where it all came from.

What is a studio session like with Damian Marley and Nas?
Good vibes. We have a respect for each other and we’re mindful of that. We have great respect for each others opinions, so we just kind of stayed away from doing anything that everybody wasn’t excited about - or really, I should say we went with what everybody was excited about. For example, I would be in the studio and I might come up with a few jams and a few melodies or a few chorus ideas, and whichever one of those ideas I would see Nas liking and feeling excited about would be the ones that we would focus on and go into deeper. We didn’t force anything on each other.

Nas is regarded as one of the sharpest minds in hip-hop. Was it intimidating to be standing in the recording booth with him trading line-for-line?
Not intimidating, it was a very encouraging experience. The mere fact that Nas considered to do an EP - let alone an album - with me would mean that he respects me also. It was encouraging for me to know that my lyrics are being regarded highly by someone who I regard highly when it comes to their lyrics.

Is this Distant Relatives album a one-off project or will the two of you be heading back into the studio to record another album together?
Well, we have a lot of ideas right now for doing another one, but we haven’t started working on it, so I can’t really say.

How would you describe your connection with Nas at this point – having gone through the process of creating, touring and promoting this album together?
I would say we’re friends – and that’s something that’s actually one of the really good things that I’ve benefited from the experience of this album. Being able to be a fan of someone and then get to know them as a friend, that’s pretty nice. It’s a great thing.

Aside from Nas, you have worked with other hip-hop artists including the late Guru [of Gangstarr] - with whom you collaborated on Jazzmatazz Vol. 4. Were you surprised to hear of his passing earlier this year?
I was shocked to hear about the passing of Guru. I have a great deal of respect for Guru and the Gangstarr movement. He is a Hip-Hop legend. I did two projects with him; one for the Child of Babylon album, which was like a Bob Marley hip-hop remix album, and of course the track you’re talking about from his album. It was a great pleasure for me to be invited to contribute to his album and I send out love and strength to his family.

Collectively, your siblings have collected a swagger of Grammy Awards over the years - including three of your very own. Is there a competitive spirit amongst you all?
No, it’s more like inspiration than competition. When I see my brothers doing well it inspires me to want to do well also. It inspires me to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to get my thing together.’ Also, we very much work as a team. On this album Steven sings on a few tracks and he also produced a couple of tracks. He’s always produced my albums over the years, so we really build as a team.

You mentioned earlier that Distant Relatives was also made to show the ancestry between hip-hop and reggae music. What do you see as the similarities between the two genres?
They have a very similar spirit. They both really come from honest expression; neither genre holds punches – they say whatever they want to say, whether it might be something that will be seen as positive, negative, controversial, or whatever the case may be. It comes from very honest expression from people who are from the streets. If you check the beginning of both of these cultures, Hip-Hop has a lot of Reggae and Jamaican influence in its roots. In that sense they had a very similar beginning.

How often do you get to go back to Jamaica?
Not as much as I would like to.

Over 70 civilians have been killed in Jamaica over the past month as authorities hunt a local drug kingpin. What is your take on the situation?
It’s very unfortunate to see that that’s what’s going on right now. A lot of people have passed in the last few days. It’s very unfortunate to see that level of violence that’s going on there now and hopefully they will overcome it soon.

The world’s football power houses have taken to the pitch in South Africa. To celebrate, Nike Sportswear has joined forces with The Atrium in Sydney to present the Nike Sportswear Colab collection. This year, Nike Sportswear worked with established and emerging artists from six countries to create alternative National Team Kits that flip the script on the classic football kit.

Each kit available at The Atrium will include either a pair of Nike Sportswear footwear and/or apparel item. Unique twists on iconic silhouettes including the Air Max BW Gen II, Dunk High AC and Nike LunarLite Chukka Woven provide plenty of options to express team pride.

Read on for further details on the Nike Sportwear Colab collection and in-store pictures from The Atrium…

Six Collaborations with a “State of the Art” Twist

Six Collaborations spawned from Nike Sportswear’s desire to celebrate the beautiful game of football in a way that connects to the national team fans who dwell at the intersection of sports and culture. This year, Nike worked with established and emerging artists from six countries to create alternative National Team Kits that flip the script on the classic football kit. “We wanted to include the kinds of apparel and accessories that would be in a footballers bag,” “They would be the same colors of on-field uniforms, but with the artists’ twists,” says Jarrett Reynolds, Nike Sportswear Apparel Design Director. In order to accomplish this, the Nike team asked artists contribute a badge, mascot, print and an alphabet in their handwriting style.

England Artist: James Jarvis While British graphic artist James Jarvis is best known for his playful illustrations and contributions to the designer toy phenomenon, he takes his sports seriously. At first glance, his interpretation of the England crest stays true to the national archetype, but up close the designs are all Jarvis: his heraldic lion flashing a trademark googly-eyed grin. Jarvis drew from medieval woodblock prints for inspiration, and the “10” on the chest is traditionally reserved for the most beautiful players of the game.

Brazil Artist: Nunca Inspired by Incan symbolism and a primitive style of graffiti called “Pixação,” Sao Paolo street artist Nunca crafted a unique Brazilian kit that connects the people of the favelas to the sport they hold dear. Five stars within the otherworldly, eye-like crest symbolize Brazil’s five championship wins, and Nunca’s hieroglyphic handwriting and pattern (lining the hoodie) connects the kit to the ancients in a modern way.

Netherlands Artist: Delta Graffiti artist Delta, aka Boris Tellegen, has created a geometric world with his art that is a colorful reflection of the constructivist movement that brings to mind both block-like cities as well as pixelized digital environments. A rabid football fan, he was especially excited to play with the colorways on The Netherlands’ new kits. His artwork for the assortment is an extension of his blocky visual language: The boxy mascot is a simple-yet-dynamic running man, the crest is a cubic puzzle of numbers, and the font is unlike anything before it – heavy as concrete, but somehow agile through its italicized forwardlean.

France Artist: So Me So Me, nee Bertrand De Langeron, is an acclaimed illustrator as well as the art director of Ed Banger records, one of the world’s most cutting – edge labels. Since 2003, his album art and music videos have come to embody the eclectic world of Ed Rec, adding complimentary visuals to their innovative sounds. His contributions to the France kit exhibit his pop art sensibility and tongue-in-cheek style. The colorful mascot and crest feature a simple character that’s a parody of the stereotypical Frenchman – complete with a tilted beret and manicured moustache. The pattern lining the hoodie on the AW77 is a brick-like repeat in vibrating red, blue and black and the hand-written font features rounded edges, adding to the kit’s playful vibe.

USA Artist: Mister Cartoon Calling himself “Mister Cartoon,” this Los Angeles street art legend has had a strong relationship with Nike for many years. His detailed black and white drawings are highly sought after in the music world and beyond. When presented with this project, Cartoon jumped at the opportunity to work on a uniform that would represent the country he loves. His eagle mascot is tough as nails, with a halo of stars and a look in his eye that says, “Don’t mess with the U.S.” On the crest, “USA” is written in Cartoon’s modified version of old English and scrolls remind wearers of the visual language of tattoos art.

South Africa Artist: Kronk Kronk is an emerging designer/illustrator from Cape Town. His work is colorful and whimsical, a collision of rock poster rebelliousness and wry pop culture references. His contributions to the South African team kit are the most intricate of the collection, with an insanely detailed crest embroidery, a bubble lettered font, a kaleidoscopic illustrated pattern (lining the AW77 hoodie), and a cartoonish mascot who seems to be in constant motion. Is he a footballer breaking away on the pitch or a fan blowing a horn in the stands? They are one in the same in Kronk’s mashed-up world.

Usually an appointment-only store, The Atrium will open its doors daily from 11.00am – 6.00pm from Friday 11 June – Sunday 27 June. The Atrium: Shop 5, 591 George St, Sydney (enter via Eager Lane off Sussex Street).

In a market saturated with urban music compilations, it has become virtually impossible to differentiate one release from the inevitable next. Thankfully for RNB Superclub, they boast one of the strongest urban brands in the Australasian market, helping their latest release RNB Superclub Volume 10 stand-out amidst all the clutter.

This is the thirteenth compilation from the team behind the largest urban clubbing brand in the southern hemisphere; a series which has so far netted more than 400,000 sales. No small feat.

There is no faulting the skills of the seasoned DJ G-Wizard and DJ Def Rok as they preside over this two-disc set, although their track selection is terribly predictable for the most part, featuring usual suspects The Black Eyed Peas, Ne-Yo, Ke$ha, Pitbull, et al.

Void of exclusives and surprises, Volume 10 is designed to serve the very fundamental purpose of a one-stop collection of the most popular urban tunes from the past year or so. And as a snapshot of the urban music landscape circa ‘09, RNB Superclub serves listeners extremely well. Unfortunately, there are a half-dozen other compilations on shelves providing that exact same snapshot – just from slightly different angles.

In an almost stagnant urban music market, it would be great to see RNB Superclub use this amazing platform to serve listeners with a more tailored experience by incorporating some form of exclusive content into the mix. And while RNB Superclub Volume 10 fails to do that, hopefully Volume 11 will act to enhance the urban music scene rather than just sustain it.

During a 2008 holiday to Paris with his wife, Aussie Jarrod Kimber unwittingly took the photo which would become Diddy’s cover for his forthcoming album Last Train To Paris. Read on to hear this quirky story in Jarrod’s own words:

I’ve had to keep a secret for a little while now, but finally I can reveal all.

Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy, or Sean Combs, whatever you prefer to call him, has released a new album.

Last Train To Paris as part of the group Diddy Dirty Money.

So far everything is going along normal.

Diddy is a big recording star, he makes albums, all is good with the world.

But then something got fucked up, I got involved.

Interscope emailed me repeatedly, and then called me, they wanted one of my photos for the album cover.

Who was I to argue?

Especially as they were going to pay me.

So I gave them my picture, and then I had to wait for the Album to get made.

For some reason I never asked where on the cover the photo would go. I assumed the back cover with some writing over the top, I like my photo and all, but I never really saw it as front of an album cover material.

Apparently I was wrong.

Now if you think I am making all this up, and I just photoshopped a photo that appeared on my blog a long time ago, let me point you to wikipedia, a site where people call my photo whack, or site that asks you to rate Diddy’s album against Enrique’s.

You might be thinking, wait a minute, how did Interscope and Diddy find this photo, well they found it right here.

Obviously I am not a professional snapper or anything. This was taken on a holiday while waiting for my wife (who can be seen under the G) on a small camera. The only artistic part of it was me seeing the cool red right and going up and down the escalator a few times to get the right shot.

How they decided to use the photo for the album cover you’d have to ask them.

This is the most random thing to ever happen to me, I mean I went on a fucken holiday, put a photo on my blog, and over a year later that photo ends up as an album cover for fucken Diddy. One thing it has made me do is start uploading my other holiday photos on flickr.

It is an audaciously arty cover for a star like Diddy to make. An out of focus shot of a “train station” in Paris. It also doesn’t have his name, or Jay Z’s name, or even mine.

I can see why some of his fans might see it as whack. It isn’t really a cover aimed at the majority of people who buy Diddy records.

I’m not going to pretend to be the world’s biggest Diddy fan, I’m more a Jay Z or Kanye sort of chap, but I always liked his producing of Biggie’s work.

Now I’m a bigger fan, I shall talk about his career by saying Post Jrod or pre Jrod when discussing it with people.

Anyway, I can’t talk now, I only just found out that people really take album covers seriously, so I am off to troll the internet and see just how whack my photo is.

*By designed I mean took a photo.

Original photograph by Jarrod Kimber [below]: