I know a little about a lot. That’s the psyche of a journalist. I look at people who know a lot about one thing with awe.
I’m definitely light years away from being in the same journalistic league as David Remnick, but this statement couldn’t resonate more with me. I might be able to tell you the capital of Peru, the name of the man who assassinated Martin Luther King or the location of a good breakfast spot in New York’s Lower East Side, but I still spend most of my life feeling that, ultimately, I know fuck all about fuck all. I like this quote for making me feel like my lack of specialist knowledge is a sign of my ‘journalist’s psyche’, as opposed to the result of ‘too much time spent on Twitter and watching reruns of The Hills’. So thanks for that, David.
The best thing about travelling – aside from the adventures, and the meeting new people, and the food and the fun and the laughter – is the perspective that you gain on your home life while you’re away. Before I went to L.A. I was stressed to the point of tears. Finishing my degree nearly finished me off, then I immediately started a very intense internship, and then I moved house three days before my flight. Needless to say that by the time I got on the plane, I was pretty much a mess.
Luckily, L.A. was exactly what I needed (previous posts here and here explain why), not least because it made me realise how fucking lucky I am to be 22 and living in London. It’s hard to articulate exactly why this city feels like such a good place to be right now, but it does. I think it’s to do with the fact that so many people are making money doing work that they love, or at least trying their absolute best to. Strong NY-LON connections and lots of shared cultural references mean that young Londoners have adopted the entrepreneurial mentality of our New York counterparts, but have modified it to suit our naturally less manic pace of life.
The commercial explosion of the urban music scene has obviously been important too – suddenly, making a living out of music seems viable if you’re willing to work hard enough. Ironically, the same goes for the recession. When trying to get a ‘job’ seems like a generally futile mission, you have to think of more ingenious ways to make money. Like a lot of my friends, I decided a while back that freelancing seemed like the best, and most financially fruitful, option. Luckily, my theory seems to be working out quite well so far.
My inner history geek (just done a History degree and I’m still nerd mode, allow me please) is compelled to relate this to historical research which shows that economic depression often gives rise to periods of intensive creativity in urban environments. That seems to be exactly what has happened in London. And I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
DELS makes hip hop that he describes as “raw and honest”, and which I’d also describe as thoughtful, refreshing, imaginative, well-executed and unexpected. He also conceptualises phenomenal music videos like this one, for his new single ‘ShapeShift’. Produced in collaboration with the sickeningly talented us design studio (the team behind this very website) this pretty much blows every other contemporary UK urban music video out of the water. DELS recently signed to Roots Manuva’s Big Dada label, so expect more high-calibre music and visuals from him in the near future.
Where to start? The past week has been a blur of pools, beaches, shops, cafés, restaurants, hotels, warehouses, rooftops, hilltops, margaritas, bellinis, vodka tonics, vegan food, junk food, hip hop, death metal, UK funky house (inexplicably), dogs, cats that like to climb into bags, car rides, taxi rides, bus rides and walking in a place where no one else walks.
L.A. is like nowhere else. It sprawls out further and wider that any city I think I’ve ever visited, or at least it feels that way. Every destination requires a twenty minute car ride, and every neighbourhood feels completely different from the last. The city strikes a strange balance between clean and dirty living – in the day it’s egg white omelettes and acai shakes with spirulina boosters. At night it’s flowing alcohol, drunk driving, and house parties galore (a necessity in a city where all clubs shut down at 2am). Things get done noticeably more slowly than in London, and no-one seems to be overly stressed. The pace and style of life has taken a little while to adjust to, but after seven days I can say that I definitely like it. I like it a lot.
Taking the hazardous practice of drunk shopping to new levels, Freak City LA is a vintage clothing shop that also hosts regular jams in its huge warehouse space on Sunset Boulevard. After dancing like a crazed maniac for about four hours, I wandered upstairs to the club’s shop and ended up walking out with a polo Ralph Lauren crew neck and a vest by the brand’s own label, LA Rap (see below). Genius concept – the sales assistant could’ve talked me into buying the whole shop, such were my levels of inebriation – great selection of retro clothing and one of the funnest, sweatiest, most raucous parties I’ve been to in a long time as well. Oh, and they serve free booze. Can’t go wrong really.
