MotherGreen & H.K.M Origins Contest

It's contest time kiddies! I know times are a kinda hard on some folks, and with that in mind we at MotherGreen & H.K.M would like to give a lil something back for all of your support. I've had some people straight up ask me "What exactly IS MotherGreen?". Well I'll tell you...but first I want to hear your ideas. I mean sure we have a mission statement on this very site however there are a few graphics we use which speak directly to the origins of this company. We've compiled a few questions to see how much you know about MG&H.K.M. If you can be among the first three supporters to answer correctly you'll get a prize consisting of two promo T-shirts from us as well as a copy of one of our favorite books "How To Be A Gentleman" by John Bridges.

And now for the questions...

1. Where does the Flo-Master shirt graphic originate from?

2. From which movie does the term Mother Green & Her Killing Machine originate?

3. The phrase on the "Gamma Ray" T-shirt (front and back) come from what rapper?

Now if you can give me the answers to ALL THREE questions and not be a member of our immediate family (Gamar I'm looking at you) you can win the Grand Prize. Winners will be announced at the end of 1 week (seven days from now). Send all answers to admin@mothergreen.com

Happy Hunting!

Old School Mondays

Lets spread a little love as we go into September yall. This is the month to restart and refresh. The babies are heading back to school and the parents are taking a long breath. Take some time today to love someone close to you and make your love known.

Whodini - One Love
One of the all time great groups that don't get enough love in my opinion.



LL Cool J - I Need Love (Live on Apollo)
Another legend showing and proving that he ladies always loved Cool James.



Freddie Jackson - Nice and Slow
On the low I'm kind of a big Freddie Jackson fan. I love dude's work.

Rain on MJ's Parade?

I'm a little sad. I learned this morning that there's a 70% chance of thunderstorms for this Saturday August 29th. If you've been hiding under a rock for the past two weeks on that day Spike Lee and DJ Spinna will be holding a Michael Jackson celebration in Prospect Park (too many folks for Ft. Greene). This is an outdoor event that the whole Borough is trying to hit up. I'm sure being that Spike Lee is the host there will be cameras on deck. I'm hoping we can do a thunderstorm later on in the day after 5, sort of like Sunday.

In the meantime here's a video to get you hyped for Saturday's epic event.



For the record I'm still made I never saw him in concert.

The Foreign Exchange - House of Cards (feat. Muhsinah)

For some reason I didn't cop the Foreign Exchange album Leave It All Behind. I'm still digesting the first one honestly. It didn't hit me well on the first listen and maybe that's why I haven't purchased the new one. While the first record was hip hop driven and this new one is apparently singing heavy (led by Little Brother's Phonte) I still had my issues.

Then comes this video. I'm on Amazon now looking for the album. Well done guys.

Rasu Jilani 120 Seconds

This is my brother Rasu co-creator of CDTBK. He's a very intelligent brother with great ideas and I consider him an asset to the Brooklyn scene. CDTBK is my family so check the joint.

Is Jay Z due for a dip album wise?

I remember a conversation regarding Jay-Z a few years ago (probably around Kingdom Come) with my good friend Vicky (lover of Kool-Aid). What's funny is now that I think about it the same way that Prince fans have been known to drink the purple Kool-Aid Vicky was always heavy on that Jay-Z drink. Well it seems it's Kingdom Come time once again.

Vicky told me that if you look back at Jay's career every OTHER album he takes a dip. They aren't necessarily wack albums but they fail to live up to his previous piece of work. Lets take a look.


Resonable Doubt - No doubt a banger.


In My Lifetime Vol. 1 - Ehhh he's trying to get the Bad Boy fan base and it's not his best.


Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life - 5 Million sold. He basically hit on all fronts with this one. This album was an event.


Vol. 3 The Life and Times... - Vol. 2 only...not so much. Tried hard and didn't work.


Dynasty Roc La Familia - This is more of a compilation album so I'm skipping it. Good though.



Blueprint - Some say it's his true and only classic. 5 mics in the source (or whatever). Crazy record overall.


Blueprint 2 - Post Ether Jay-Z, not a pretty sight.


The Black Album - Ahhh this was his chance to go out on top. PSA is on this album. BANGER (with a few missteps)


Kingdom Come - ...well I'm sure Dame liked this album. *smh*


American Gangster - Dope "concept" album. Has an official hit with Roc Boys. Solid record.

Which leads us to Blueprint 3. He's do for another dip and early reports are stating it should really be called Kingdom Come 2. I hope for Vicky's sake this isn't true. And I didn't think it was...til I heard Reminder.

Old School Mondays

Here goes a couple of old school joints for your listening pleasure.
;

Thanks for watching PEACE

Anti Art - Art

Recently I was surprised with a ticket to go to Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School from my wife. It completely threw me off only because I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean the normal kind of routine can take it's toll on a person but this was out of the ordinary and truly a breath of fresh air. I had the opportunity to sit next to 2 very talented people at the bar. One brother was exceptionally nice when it came to paint brush and ink, the other used a uniball pen which amazed me at the amount of detail he captured. I enjoyed it and even though my sketches are a bit on the rough side and the next time going I will be mentally prepared to put in some work and have fun. I saw people using water color, pastels and colored pencils. Here are a couple of pics I took that day but I also have pictures that I grabbed off their blog. After going through their site its cool to know that these classes take place through out the country. It made me think of my experiences in school. Being surrounded by talent pushes you harder to improve your skill, steel sharpens steel.

These are pics from their blog, they use different models at each event and even have themes for role play.

Alien dress upA little bit of Girls and Guns never hurt anybody
Wolverine & Mystique X-Men role play

As you can see the room gets crowded pretty quick so it's good to show up a bit early to get a good seat. This was an different event from the blog but it give you a feeling of the room.

This was my seating since I got there 10 mintues after opening.

I don't usually drink PBR's and now for certain PBR's do not chase Hennessey very well.

Peace and a Happy Birthday to our brother Alyasha from the MG Fam!!

10 Deep 2 Hot

The MotherGreen Team (minus Mahdi) got together at the 10 Deep Presents party. The designated place was in the Brooklyn neighborhood of D.U.M.B.O. This was hottest party in the city by far literally. We ran into a bunch of friends throughout the night. The young man Scott of 10 Deep was a gracious host we wish the whole 10 Deep nothing but success. He was outside often and I don't blame him. I felt like I was in the back of Debo's pigeon coup sweating like a slave © Smokey. It was entirely too hot and TOO MANY DUDES!

After we departed the party the plan was to head to Grimaldi's for some pizza and conversation. However waiting for certain family members who shall remain nameless we just missed their closing time. It was like the scene in Do The Right Thing when the Brownstone owner told Buggin Out he was "born in Brooklyn".



After that disappointing revelation we walked past restaurant after restaurant being turned away until we found a Mexican spot. That's where the drunken banter and all around good times hit a zenith. The following are pictures from the whole night.

Photos by Saviour and myself. (except the Bugging Out pic above)

Jay-Z - Run This Town OFFICIAL VIDEO

Once again...you be the judge.

Ohana - Hawaii to New York pt2

If you've missed the last edition to this I'll bring you up to speed. This segment is basically what inspired/inspires me and helps with my train of thought behind these particular pieces of work for In4mation. It is a lot of fun thinking and working on them. This whole experience has been an epiphany for me. Now I realize that doing things by hand will set one person apart from the others. There are a lot of people that know how to use a computer and the programs along with it but this isn't about their skills on a computer. This is about taking things back and the ability to do so. Not to mention nowadays a lot of the graphics you see are cut and paste and are basically saying nothing at all. All flair but no balls behind it, better yet no brains behind it. I appreciate and respect a persons train of thought when it comes to their art but to see dumb dumb work basically gets me disappointed in those who call themselves graphic designers.

So to start this off I had to go deep into the works of Jim Phillips and Rick Griffin. You've probably seen their work but when it comes to pen & ink they are truly a part of the elite now and especially during the 60's. These are the covers to the books that helped educate me.

Just a few examples of the kind of art I'm talking about. Only one of these is by one of these two artists.

This is one of my favorites. A lot of people may not remember M.A.S.H. the movie let alone the tv series. I swear that was the only thing on tv late at night.

This is really the piece that made me realize the difference in how people create nowadays. So I stopped to think how can i make this relate. I used to love how the goth, punk and skin girls all used to rock this style (or something similar) in high school. Raunchy but sexy I say, so I took it back and decided to redraw this piece and do it all in stipple (all dots no lines).

So far every girl I know loves it. They say it's sexy with out degrading women.

Now this piece only got sampled. It was a great piece sure to strike up conversation. This took so many turns because it started out as a dog walking a man and then it morphed into this dominatrix thing. I just took it even further to make it the lion and the lamb but perverted old man style.

Definitely bummed it didn't make it's way to the stores but it happens!

This next piece is more of what you would've seen back then. I remember that Rhandy and I were discussing the idea of taking it back to the days when this kind of art flooded the old surf/skate scene.

This type style was also inspired by the psychedelic era. It just doesn't have that tripped out feel.

This one if more type treatments and just playing around with it.

This one I have nothing to do with but it's such a good one I couldn't resist to put it up. Rhandy did his thing on this one. Pretty funny and it triggered a bunch of ideas as well.

Looking forward to breaking down next seasons art in the future. For more of the In4mation fall preview check it out here. Peace