My favorite artist during my early adolescent years was Busta Rhymes. In spite of my parents’ consistent and stern disapproval of his lyrical content (which, in turn, prompted me to listen even more), “Woo-Hah!!” was the first cassette single that I broke through excessive listening.

You see, like many Brooklynites, I grew up in a household devoid of cable television, so for me to successfully retain content, I employed one of three tactics:

-spend way too much time in the barbershop, post-Ceasar
-Ralph McDaniels (VMB on Saturday night)
-The Box aka Channel 39 on UHF.

More often then not, I turned to The Box to not only watch videos (there were no genre filters, which made the viewing experience wack juice), but to occasionally order them. For those who don’t remember, The Box famously positioned themselves as “music television YOU control”- which in today’s context, really isn’t the control we’ve grown accustomed to (just another testament to how far things have come). In any event, this antiquated form of access spurned irrational behavior such as paying $11 to request “Woo-Hah!!” twice, its glorious mind-bending remix featuring ODB, and then waiting attentively and for the videos to play simply so I can record them on VHS.

If there are any adolescents reading this now, you’re probably wondering – what the HELL is wrong with this guy? And for good reason.

Earlier this month, Spotify officially launched in the US- a service I suspect to be a game changer for the music enthusiast. With the old adage of “consumption up, profit down”, Spotify has essentially created a perfect storm of discovery, active participation, and curation that will no doubt change the way people engage in music. I’ve been using the service for several months now and despite the persistent empty room, I’ve reconnected with songs (rare joints, indeed) that I’d normally find/listen to on YouTube without the pressure of having to qualify a purchase.

I tend to think of Spotify, Turntable.fm, and the forthcoming cloud invasion as the The Box’s desire for total viewer control coming full circle. All those minutes waiting in front of the TV and parents’ dollars wasted on one video (one video!!) are now, in essence, spent refining my tastes and discovering new ones by virtue of the people who’s opinion I value the most.

True control finally realized, and a wealth of culture for those who choose to digest it (brands and people alike).

{SUITS STILL SUCK!}

Salsa in the 70s. Punk & Hip-Hop in the 80s.

New York City is undeniably responsible for spawning the modern world’s most definitive art forms. The aforementioned movements (for all intents and purposes we won’t refer to them as simply genres of music) were all byproducts of social expression in its most pure form, became organically popular, than through engineered ubiquity reached critical mass. Such was the cycle all beginning with the most simple of ideas. (Note: no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t edit the post to wreak any less of “V For Vendetta”. My bad.)

And that’s the heritage of this city. At least until recently.

In this information-starved, everyone’s-quick-to-assign-titles-to-themselves-because-nobody’s-looking landscape that we live in, something got lost. Ideas have been reduced to mere chatter because there’s too many being spread around without discerning taste. Collectively, a lot of media + marketing professionals in New York have forgotten what matters, only seeking out what’s “now”, regardless of its origin. Too many “tastemakers”, not enough people to adhere and fill the void.

Where has that left us? Micro is seemingly becoming the new macro, and “local has inherently become the new global” (according to world-class trend forecaster Marian Salzman).

That being said, I’ve been paying more attention to the “un-obvious obvious”- the contributions of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances- and have come to the conclusion that it’s a good time to be here. In New York City. Unless you’re in the Bronx.

(Just kidding.)

For the first time in a long time, individual efforts are becoming more fluid and running parallel with each other, and the right people are crossing paths more often- all signs of a (dare I say it) cultural boom that will define a generation of Millenials looking to set standards and reconcile them with traditional standards of success. All of the people in the image above are more than colleagues of mine; they’ve made sacrifices so that they can contribute to culture, and I know this because I know them and peep game. You should as well, because they are the ones- in my humble opinion- who have stepped it another level, meditated like a Buddhist, and will continue giving everyone proof that these are the times to value being here.

Over the next few months, their efforts will be chronicled here in efforts to shed light what. it. is…

SUITS!

(Sickamore, Mel D. Cole, Maluca, The Kid Daytona, Uproot Andy & Geko Jones, GFCNY, Zandile Blay, 13th Witness, Sherlen Archibold, Willis The Barber, Kenji Summers, Outasight, William Yan, RTNC, ArtekNYC, LV The Stylist)