This is splendid.

Shepard Fairey’s HOPE and CHANGE promoting Obama as a candidate became iconic pretty much as soon as he put them out. In fact, he did such a good job that they were adopted by Obama and his team, and the HOPE one even got stuck up in the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian. Like all good iconic images, pretty soon people started to subvert it and a slew of parodies flooded the internet. This was one of my favourites:

Anyway, disappointed by his leader’s performance, Fairey has gone punk on himself and come up with this in support of the occupy movement:

Send stickerobot an S.A.E. and they’ll send you some for free.

My friend Moises drew my attention to a new version of one of my favourite songs yesterday, by one fo my favourite singers. I first heard it as a kid sung by Dianne Reeves on a blue note compilation album of the same name:

Anyway, it’s always good to hear Erykah again. She made me considerably happy doing my university days with her pay-it-every-day first album Baduizm, and has since come up trumps a couple of times with absolute bangers like Green Eyes and Woo but I have to say this left me feeling a bit more ‘meh’ than ‘woo’. It’s nice and all, but it’s just not quite doing it for me. Anyway, see what you think, it’s a good excuse to post up a load of good versions after the jump.

I was lucky enough to get to see her live in Rio a couple of months ago and I’m still thinking about it nearly every day. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen in my life. If you ever get the chance to see her, grab it. I’ve never seen so many happy grinning people in one room.

 

Love how her dad, samba legend and most Carioca man in the universe, Martinho Da Vila ambles on half way through this one. more after the jump.

There is more to hip hop than shouty bravado and promises of violent retribution for perceived slights, it’s just hard to find it sometimes. Thank you Akala for carrying the torch.

This girl is the freshest new rapper I’ve heard for years. Straight out of Birmingham with a tremendous squeaky flow and wicked little singy bits. If only the kids nowadays knew how to produce hip hop might be back in business.

and check her here from about 1min50secs

 

We are pleased to announce our 17th issue fronted by Amsterdam-dwelling British duo, The London Police. Our exclusive interview and photos provide a unique perspective on their life and work, and offers something special for fans and newbies alike.

Issue 17 also sees VNA chat to the always amusing Goldie about cooking ‘cliffy chicken’, music and his art, alongside Shoreditch shutter bomber Malarky and Mexican miniature maestro, Pablo Delgado. On the international tip, we caught up with Ukraine’s own mural-masters Interesni Kazki, Dutch tattooist Angelique Houtkamp and from the USA, graffer Else ICR and photo-real maestro El Mac.

And of course we top it all off with shots of the latest street art from some of Toronto, Amsterdam and of course London’s grimiest walls.

Once again we’ve created a delicious limited edition screen-printed version too. As usual, 80 of these will be available exclusively at the launch, 20 in our online lottery and 50 will be sent out surreptitiously to stockists around the world.

Space is limited for the event, so please RSVP to: rsvp@verynearlyalmost.com

Pre-orders will be available from 30/11 on our website to arrive on your doorstep on December 9th.

I filmed an invite for my friends’ gig today in the favela. It’s much nicer than you’d think up there.

Click CC for SUBTITLES
Estrella Navarro Holm is a very nice lady, she also happens to be Mexico’s champion freediver and good friends with my cousin Luke. Here’s a little film I made with her on my holidays. It’s shot in 3D, which I’m working out now. The music is by Craig Armstrong, and I have absolutely no right to use it at all, so I hope nobody notices. Go and buy one of his albums on itunes or something. He’s the tops.

film by Charlie Inman
charlieinman.com

Big love and thanks to all the following, without whom none of this would have been possible :
www.estrellanavarro.com 
www.facebook.com/freedivingstar
www.bajaspearfishingadventures.com 
Free Diving Security and Boat Service by Patrick Puhlmann
www.buceolibre.com.mx
Free Diving Security Direction by Manuel Gonzalez, AIDA Mexico Manager
www.freedivers.net
Equipment asistance Free Diving Security and additional camera by German Obaya
www.lukeinman.com 
studioscalavera.com

Estrella Sponsors: www.costabaja.com, www.swisstime.com.mx, www.thermtech.net

These guys are tops