hope in the air hope in the water

| Go with the fro |

 

“ That's why her hair is so big, it's full of secrets ” 

“it's better to burn out than fade away”

K U R T   C O B A I N   1967 - 1994

KING OF GRUNGE

Icon of 2012

Frank Ocean, for me, deserves icon of the year with regards his input to both music and fashion. He conveys effortless cool vibes through his evocative songs and fresh style. His vocally soothing and anecdotal lyrics are what his debut album, 'Channel Orange' comprises of, and it has recently been named best album of the year according to The Guardian. It's hard to argue with this nomination, as after just one listen the accessible album is extremely addictive. Favourites of mine are 'Forrest Gump, Thinkin Bout You and Pyramids'. Along with his music, what fascinates me are his ideas and attitudes on life and love. Having come out as bisexual over the summer, after much speculation, this was claimed to be an r&b breakthrough. For a genre that is considered quite homophobic, this news of a successful and talented artist was something that needed to happen, to develop and open the minds of fellow RnB artists. Ocean is an evidently creative guy who aspires to write a book or even design an arena, as he has recently stated. He believes in using his strengths to become the most versatile person he can be. The Orleans native knows his stuff when it comes to fashion too, with his statement style, you'll hardly ever see him without his signature head band. Below is a compilation of some of his best outfits from this year.

Saying Frank Ocean is an all rounded guy is probably an understatement. I can't wait to see what unpredictable endeavour he masters next.

After only coming across the artist known as GoldieLocks a while back on London Red Bull Studio. Her music really appealed to me. Intrigued to who this 'GoldieLocks' was, I did a little research and found that unfortunately Sarah Akwisombe (the girl in question) is not making music anymore but has finished...which is quite disheartening in a way. GoldieLocks created fun mixes of electronica and rap, you can't beat that combo. So, being the creep that I am I found Sarah's well established website that she now runs on a regular basis. The site focuses on woman and entrepreneurship, her speciality is fashion. Sarah strives to succeed and that's clear.


When I asked her on twitter why she would give up what seemed to me as an accomplished music career, she replied "It made me sad and negative", though not losing her love for music she states "It just made me bitter to constantly see talentless people become successful, plus it's a declining [music] industry and I want to build an empire and make money and music didn't have those opportunities. Well, it did but they were all dying out or you had to make crap music to get them." It gets you thinking how hard it is to make it in music, without making shit music. Cause lets face it the majority of popular music is shit. I can't figure out why this is.. Is it because most people have shit taste in music? The mind ponders.

I really admire Sarah Akwisombe as a young woman and a musician (as cringe as that sounds). Sarah is clearly successful. For me, It's the fact that she is a multitasker, she blogs, she runs a business, she runs a fashion website, and still is extremely talented music-wise. This girl is frank, doesn't do the whole bullshit thing, she's willing to give advice on how to succeed, with the experience she has gained from mistakes. Mistakes, you may ask? If you call having your music used for Nike and for Marc Jacobs runway, working with Tinchy Stryder and Example mistakes then yes, plenty. And they're just to name a few. 


The creative Brit has done a lot since the age of 19, now the 26 year old has made it from the grime music scene to running her own business which encompasses fashion and economic success (with a little emphasis on female achievement). She's in the know and has the originality to go with it, that's why I think she's someone to look up to in life. Whether it be to her highly informed website or her lyrics which deal with modern day problems, take a little time to check her out.
http://www.sarahakwisombe.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GoldieLocks/11091960302?sk=app_2405167945