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RUNAWAYT H E M A G A Z I N E

THE HUMAN EXPERIENCEPHIL SHAW: MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY’S HARDEST HUSTLER

MARTA BEVACQUA: FROM PARIS WITH LOVEIT’s TIME FOR PLUS TO BE EQUAL

A GOAT NAMED SOSA

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ISSUE #005

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We are all human beings; we are Homo Sapiens. We are Bipedal Homi-nids, descended from beings that evolved over time from slouched, knuckle grinding apelike beings with feet that looked like hands, to tool wielding and dead burying omnivores that were lucky enough to become the next dominant species. From those humble beginnings we have become, from our own investigating and observations, the most dominant, violent and intuitive creature to ever roam the Earth. We have split atoms, gone to the moon, cured diseases, and recreated the natural beauty the planet offers. We have manipu-lated time with the inventions of photography and television. We have the seen the stars. The accomplishments of our species are

profound, significant and immense.

Yet at the same time. We have destroyed ourselves and our world. Our culture, history and lives. We have harmed the very entity

that gives us life, beyond repair. The dichotomy of being a human being on this planet at any given time can range from living in

absolute poverty to looking out over the immense cityscapes that are a modern metropolis.

At its core, The Human Experience is about being. The essence of be-ing Homo Sapien is to be. We are all born Human but each of us must decide to truly become a Human Being. To exist in any given space at

any given time. To feel pain and ecstasy; sorrow and mourning; to know the joy of creating life and representations of it. To under-stand the concepts of death and the mortality of life itself. Being a Human Being is not easy. We are constantly faced with dangers to

our existence big, small and from all imaginable angles.

This issue is about those feelings, those sentiments. The essence of being human today in the chaos that is the modern world. Cre-

ation, innovation, determination, pride, pain, division and identity are all only fractions of what makes us human. These are however,

some of the aspects of the Human Experience that we elected to create, describe and present to you.

Here’s to waking up everyday and choosing to be.

Eric Bonner Creative Director

Runaway Brand Media

RUNAWAY CONTENT

JAKOB WAGNER

HOW THE YOUTH CAN HELP THE WAR

MUSIC’S HOTTEST SHOOTER

MEDIA INDUSTRY

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

GOAT NAMED SOSA

PLUS IS EQUAL

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25

27

47

53

67

73

RUNAWAY STAFF

LASALLE SMITH

JACK McNEIL

JUSTIN BISHOP

CHRIS ALSTON

HOLLIS McNEIL

IBY AMEDU

ERIC BONNER

MARVIN AGYEBEN

ESTEBAN RIVAS

TIFFANY MORRISON

KENDRA CARRUTHERS

EVAN BELL

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PICTURE TAKEN BY DREW HAYS

10

JAKOB WAGNER

PHOTOGRAPHERD Ü SSELDORF, GERMANY

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German born, adrenaline made. Jakob WaGner is no stranGer to adventure When it comes to his photoGraphy. From a younG aGe he Was a student to his surroundinGs, venturinG into GraF-Fiti as early as 12 years old. Jakob exempliFies hoW reaches the pinnacle oF the human experience. there is no vantaGe point too hiGh, no location secure enouGh to stop him From Get-tinG his perFect shot. venturinG to all corners oF the World, his port-Folio is beyond impressive and stands

out From his peers.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY LASALLE SMITH

“The most important aspect of my work is to match the right spot at

the right time”.

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Many of your shots are from these insanely wide angles, and have the ability to mesmerize the viewer with then the photo, what is your source of inspiration for such large shots?I was always fascinated by man-made structures and traces within the landscape seen from above since my first scheduled flight almost 15 years ago. During my first gas-ballon flight in summer 2013, were I take the photographs for my “Above the Ruhr” project I focused on heavy manufac-turing and chemical industry combined with the texture of the urban areas in the Ruhr district, Germany’s biggest urban and industrial area. After finishing this project I thought it would be a good idea to focus on my next aerial photography series on the graphical agricultural structures in the German countryside.

What is some of the gear you utilize when you are on a project?The gear I use is nothing special, only a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 with Canon Lenses like EF 24-70/2,8 L II, EF 85mm/1,2 L II USM and EF 70-200mm/4 L USM. Most of my postproduction I do with Lightroom and Photoshop.

What part of landscape photography enthralls you the most?I think it is the variety of possible subjects what fascinated me, furthermore foreign cultures and faraway countries have always excited me and traveling provides me with a lot of inspiration. The most important aspect of my work is to match the right spot at the right time. Light and weather are the main actors in my sceneries.

How do you mentally prepare yourselfto shoot these landscapes?When I plan to travel to a city I have never been before, then I prepare myself with an extensive web research about the place, weather conditions, possible shooting locations, position of the sun, local tips and everything what could be important. Weather Apps, rain radar, Google and Street View are a really big help for me by researching in advance. Furthermore I have to decide in advance of every photography project individually which sort of Equipment I need. I never carry everything possible with me, I always try to carry only the bare necessities to stay mobile and flexible.

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Describe your most ideal setting to shoot in.That’s depending on the motif and scenery, most of the time the weather and light is very import-ant. I really like bad weather situations with dark and threatening clouds. The most important aspect of my work is to match the spot at the right time. Light and weather are the main actors in my sceneries. Sometimes I return many times to one spot, to get the shot with the right balance between weather and light.

Walk us through your upbringing as both a hard worker and a photographerMy interest in creative expression started early. At 12 I started to draw and two years later I dis-covered graffiti, I started with nightly (illegal) lettering in public urban areas and improved my graffiti skills right up to large scale commissions. I lent a camera, to take photos of the art works of my friends and mine, to be documented as a graffiti artist. I quickly realized what great poten-tial the photography had and I started to use it as an new artistic form of expression. After some years of experimenting with analog photography technics and video art, I was then beginning (at the age of 17) to realize that I wanted to be a photographer. During experimenting I found that with long exposure at night, things you can not see with the naked eye, could be visualized. That fascinated me and I started my “Nightscapes” series.

Describe an an experience that helped define you as a photographer.In December 2011 there was a heavy winter storm over West Europe and we had serious turbu-lences while landing in Glasgow. There was a moment when the machine suddenly sagged down several times, it was a horrible feeling to be at the mercy of the forces of nature. It is unbelievable how great it feels to be back on safe and solid ground after such a horrible trip.

20

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How has traveling and experiencing all of these different places impacted you?Through my work as an photo assistant, I had the fortune to visit all these thrilling places like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Manila, Quito, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and many more. I used every minute of my rare free time to take photographs for my personal projects like the “Nightscapes” series.Foreign cultures and faraway countries have always excited me and travelling provides me with a lot of inspiration. Music, exhibitions and the work of other creative folks also influence my work, but that happens on a more subcon-scious level.

Are most of your vantage points acheived on skyscrapers? Planes? Helicopters?The most of my aerial photographs are taken from normal passenger planes, because I had the fortune to work as photo assistant for a few renowned pho-tographers while they were working all around the globe. This job included a lot of time in airplanes, what I couldn`t have afforded otherwise. A very few are taken from a helicopter which is unfortunately very expensive. The best way to take aerial photographs under perfect requirements is a gas ballon flight. From a gas-ballon you are able to shot in all cardinal directions and you fly very slowly which gives me the opportunity to select my subjects deliber-ately, furthermore you have the possibility to fly several days at a stretch. They could fly higher (up to 9.000 meters) and further than hot-air balloons, but were more dangerous as they were usually filled with hydrogen gas.

That must be one hell of a adrenaline rush.- LS

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HOW THE YOUTH CAN HELP THE WAR

L

A PIECE BY BEN SPENCER - RUNAWAY UK

2015, fourteen years since ‘the war on ter-ror begun’. NATO has gone backwards, the terrorist count has increased. Still, ISIS only have thirty-thousand(est) members, Taliban, sixty-thousand. NATO wields approximately 2.3million soldiers. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, people have spoken, Trump, has spoken, sadly, no one has a viable, complete answer. The government are saying not to wor-ry, the media are saying panic and the public are responding variably, good and bad. The youth have a majority in terms of progressive, positive responses. Sporting the unity that has run throughout the west after one of its allies has been savagely attacked whilst maintaining a peace before attack approach towards the political aspects of the situation. The UK is shaken. The attack was too close to comfort to ignore the sense that the war is boiling over to red alert. Sadly, the media is manipulating the mood and feelings of the public to the worse. Islamophobia is evermore prevalent following the attacks in the French capital – a student from Kingston University, London, has received an unwelcoming aura travelling to university via the underground. A pregnant women refused to sit next to her and another flinched when she attempted to grab a tissue from her pocket. The youth generally do not project the negative reactions and ideolo-gies which is why collectively can make a real positive impact. Education, similar to the gang culture in Chicago, extremist groups utilise the vulner-ability of some youth exploiting feelings whilst offering a ‘home from home’ in their organiza-tion. The youth of the west could push towards the infiltration of the education systems of countries that are susceptible to extremist group exploitation. In addition to the concept, actively spreading knowledge, of how absurd extremist group practices are and how joining them is moral and ethical suicide, shouldn’t need to be explained. Strong epicentres for knowledge on the war are VICE News, Mehdi Hasnan and YouTube accounts Owen Jones, journalist for

The Guardian and Kyle Kulinki, host of Secular Talk. The youth need to shift the ‘blame’ for the Paris attacks and end the ignored oppression that occurs. Similar to how black people are oppressed in the US, Muslims are under simi-lar unreasonable scrutinisation in France. De-spite the fact only 30% of US citizens are black, 60% of prisoners in the US are black. 7.5% of French citizens are Muslim, 60% of prisoners in France are Muslim. The government want an easy job explaining indiscretions. The youth need to actively address the issues that the government and mainstream media exude and eradicate their countries respective ridiculous negative profiles that have been assigned to various minorities. Iraq doesn’t have the typical patriotism that the west has. The citizens represent their respective religion which can differ from vari-ous parts of the country. Iraqi soldiers are get-ting trained by US funding, billions of dollars. Extremist groups are attacking training centres and raiding the camps after Iraqi soldiers flee. ISIS have stolen 2300 armoured Humvees and 6 tanks. The youth should try and uncover the roots of funding that bolster the extremist groups. Conspiracies over weapon trading exist and opium drug barons have been uncovered across the middle east as ‘sponsors’ for the rad-icals. 453 British servicemen/women died during the Afgan war. At the very least, twen-ty-one thousand Afgan civilians lost their lives. One life is not worth more than another, Don-ald, we need to understand the consequences of our forces. Imagine your household is being oppressed but not getting killed by an extrem-ist group, it’s a better scenario than your family member being killed by an airstrike. Are we really surprised people are joining the radicals? Watch Jeremy Scahill’s ‘Dirty Wars’ documen-tary. Bernie Sanders is prevailing in the De-morcrat party and Jeremy Corbyn leads UK’s Labour. Both under strict mainstream media scrutiny. Talk about the taboo’s of current con-versation, collude, read and recite information and stay optimistic.-BS

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MUSIC'S HOTTEST SHOOTER

This is the story of Phil Shaw. Chicago’s golden boy photographer who has undoubtedly proven to have the recipe for success. He went from shooting local

talent, to capturing some of the biggest artist in the industry, all in the matter of one year. In the blink

of an eye he has hustled his way to outstanding achievment and in 2016, he shows absolutely no signs

of slowing down. For one day, Phil let us into this creative process; shedding light on everything from

his equipment, to his networking skills.

27INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY JACK MCNEIL

“I started a year ago”

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For Phil Shaw, taking photos was never a lifelong passion, nor thought of as a career option. Growing up in Evergreen Park, IL, Shaw experienced life near, but not quite in Chicago, until 2013. That was the year Shaw began tak-ing classes at Columbia with a focus not on photography, but video editing. Shaw, who went to Evergreen Park High School, was known as the typical stu-dent who often preferred having fun and joking around with others. We all can try to think back to our high school years and imagine that kid who spent most of their time being a “class clown”, almost seemingly thinking school was place for laughs, not education. Phil wasn’t that student though. Despite his antics, he was an academically smart student who almost always had his hand in things happening around the school. “I had a heavy interest in anything tech; camer-as, computers, HTML, graphic design, video editing, etc. It took a few classes and a very short amount of time for the Dean and other higher-ups in the faculty to see that I excelled in that criteria. By junior year, everyone, knew I was getting incentives under the table for designing web sites, doing video work, and editing for the school. Ironically enough, I never did anything with photography, ever”.

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That was before the fall of 2013, when Shaw would begin his 30 minute com-mute into the city to attend Columbia College, which he absolutely loved in the beginning. He was surrounded by artists & other media creatives like him. Making that commute into the world of Chicago’s huge, yet small, creative scene has changed Shaw’s life trajectory. Never considering himself a photographer, Shaw went to school at Columbia College with the concentration as a film/video editor. In this new downtown atmosphere of his, the first thing he noticed was the change in music. Upon go-ing through the mainstream to underground music phase, the first artist he heard about was Chance The Rapper. Like so many artists popping off in Chicago now, Chance serves as a staple piece and pioneer in the community, affecting not just other musicians, but artists in many fields. Before Shaw was the photographer that he is now, working among big-time mainstream musicians like A$AP Rocky and publications like Complex Magazine, he was your average concert goer. In 2013, he recalls buying Chance the Rapper tickets that turned out to be fake. . Coincidentally the same day, he found out that Taylor Bennett, Chance the Rapper’s little brother, had just announced a show a month later.

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Shaw hadn’t heard Taylor’s music much at the time, but knew the family connection and wanted to attend the concert. He went to buy tickets in person and ended up meet-ing Taylor’s manager. That was his “break” into Chicago’s music scene, which at the time seemed so large to Shaw. “I accidently met Taylor’s manager, and after discussing what my major, concentration, and capabilities were, I was offered to be on their street team. I was very much excited, I definitely thought this was the biggest opportunity for me. That’s when I bought my first cam-era, the Canon T2i.” Then he started doing something that not many people were doing for that scene, creating the ultimate hype videos for Instagram. “I was basically just editing clips and making promo videos for Taylor and other artists to start. It was hot because I was the only person doing it in Chicago in that market, so I got around. Still hadn’t picked up my camera yet”.

“IT W

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He then started joining more street teams and doing more editing, promotion, recap video work for Taylor and even other art-ists like Alex Wiley. To break into the main-stream aspect of the music industry, you have to earn credibility with your portfolio, so Shaw saw an opportunity to boost that when Taylor opened for Iggy Azalea at Il-linois State University in October of 2014. After Shaw shot for Taylor and Iggy that night, his ceiling was raised. Once that ceiling was raised and he had a more established artist on the portfolio, he covered his first big rap shows: Wiz Khalifa on the Blacc Hollywood tour, as his last three shows were in Chicago. Shaw used his portfolio, (which mainly consisted of Iggy Azalea, Taylor Bennett, & a few others), and emailed the right people to push for cre-dentials for that show, and after he shot Wiz a few times, “Obtaining press passes to shoot shows became a chain reaction”. (Insert photo of Wiz)But even after a few big shows, Shaw still had interest in doing what he was going to school for: shooting and editing music videos. “I wanted to shoot for King Louie, but he sor-ta said I needed some experience, a music video portfolio, and I just didn’t have that”. After getting denied by some artists for music vid-eos, he thought of primarily taking photos, rather than video, as another option. Shaw had already had a photo portfolio of a few big artists, and wondered how much further he could go with that. He soon would be-come a pioneer photographer in his own field.

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PH

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November 2014 marked the making of a spe-cial relationship: Vic Mensa. After hearing about Vic’s manager, Cody, Shaw spotted him at a PartyNextDoor show that he was shooting at. After talking with Cody, Shaw kept his number handy. Later in the month, Vic was playing a huge show at the Metro (11/28/14). “I emailed Cody about shooting the show. I didn’t text him because I didn’t want to really bother him. Cody called within sec-onds and said “get over here, we need video”. So Shaw got on a train and bus and rushed over there. He met Vic for the first time there. “I texted him two days later and shot him in the studio, November 30th, 2014. This was before he signed, before Kanye, before the UMAD era, we were just having fun. We had bottles, not really drinking them, but just throwing them around on some experimental shit. We took dope footage of that night. All fun, all cre-ative vibes”. It’s safe to say Vic had grown com-fortable with him. “For a while, I was spending a lot of time in the studio with Vic & the SAVE-MONEY squad, shooting, editing, plotting, -- hell, doing homework there. The studio is the perfect place to just get things done. Some peo-ple go to libraries, I went to the studio.” This past year since then, Shaw has been featured on Complex Magazine many times, seeing his social media presence double in that time. I personally met Phil after the Pitchfork Af-ter Party show. It was my first SAVEMONEY show and I was just hanging around after, in shock that all the artists were just hanging out. Shaw was taking photos of Chance in a Bulls jersey on this beautiful Summer night. Since then, I followed Phil on Instagram and Twitter and have seen him at several shows in the meantime. Most recently, I saw Shaw at a Raury concert on November 12th, almost a year after Shaw shot for Vic and launched his official dive into the world of event pho-

tography.

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Shaw came from just outside the city and, without the notable mentoring from one individual, has found a way into the biggest musical events in Chicago. Most recently, he shot for IHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball that featured Shawn Mendes, Nick Jonas, Selena Gomez, and many more top artists. Right now, Shaw is still growing, but is at a point where promoters, companies, publishers, and artists reach out to him to shoot. When not approached, he is able to reach out to artists and their team straight up if he wants to shoot with them. How can you say no? Multiple artists have collabed and credited Phil’s work - not to mention pho-tos of his have ended up on Complex’s Insta-gram, an account that has 900k+ follow-ers. Shaw has the portfolio of a professional shooter but doesn’t work for a blog, media production team, or company. His work flow, combined with his networking abil-

ity, has been the perfect mixture for Shaw to get himself to where he wants to be. He has a unique ability to capture moments that fans are simply dying to see, which makes him a must follow for any music fan. (insert photo of Lil B/Taylor/Vic, etc) That being said, Shaw has nev-er put himself in one corner. He enjoys working with multiple artists & always keeps his schedule an open book to keep up with his shooting life-style. “All of this has been an experiment and it still is. I grabbed the camera and just want-ed to expand in the music industry without a plan. Everything’s impromptu for the most part. I don’t know where I’m going today--or what I’m shooting tomorrow, I didn’t know I was shoot with J Cole, I didn’t know I’d be with Niykee Heaton celebrating her 21st birthday. I didn’t know I was covering Lollapalooza until two hours before. Everything I do is approved

and done spontaneously it seems. ”

His open-minded mentality has also led to shoot-ing different genres as well. He’s shot for Imag-ine Dragons. “I’m making my dream a reality, even though I had no idea what my dream was a year ago”. Shaw also shot for Jack and Jack, a duo with a 10 million supporter following who started their careers from vine. He doesn’t re-strict himself. “I want to cover anything and everything. I don’t want any limits to what I’m

doing”. I asked Shaw whether he can compre-hend his progress over the past year. “I know my 16 year old self would be geeking out, but I’m on the grind mode so much, I don’t notice my own accomplishments until someone else is excited about them.” Excited or not, Shaw does notice a gravitation to what he has been doing: event photographer. “I can tell you I’ve changed a lot of people’s perspective. I’ve seen a lot of street type photographers who’ve moved towards the music industry after seeing what I’ve done. They are hitting me up and asking for credentials or how to get them or where/how to start. They used to shoot the city and now they want to shoot music. All these homies I know are gravitating towards the music industry. I know I can’t speak for all of them, but I know I’ve influenced a few”. Shaw is on his grind. Despite “being on my grind” possibly being the most overused phrase in human history, Shaw has progress to show to suggest he really has been, and is on his grind. From starting with doing promo videos for Taylor Bennett in 2013, Shaw has built a portfolio impressive enough to be a hired photographer for MTV, let alone doing it on his own. Shaw does freelance shoots for models and friends, but his main focus has always been music & event photography, and I’m sure if you go to a few Chicago shows, you’ll see

him there.

“No

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When I asked him what was next, he said, “Now I have goals; I want to tour, to travel, to work with more artists, to freelance with the top companies, to release a photobook. I want to help others now”. The fact that he didn’t have clear goals before and made this much progress in such a short time makes me wonder what he can accomplish now that he has goals. Shaw doesn’t attend Columbia college anymore because his career goals don’t align with the need to go to school and pay $30 thousand a year to do so. In his field, you have to make your own market, and for Shaw, it appears he has really made his own market and brand. Known for music photos despite not being associated with a Magazine, newspaper, or a specific artist, there’s no telling where Shaw will end up this year. Going by his networking skills, talent, and work

ethic, it’s hard to bet against him. -JM

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A PIEC

E BY

TIFFA

NY

MOR

RISON

WHO IS TO BLAME?

The music industry as a whole has progressed a tremendous amount since the invention of the radio

and television in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s. Now, the controversy is whether that’s a good thing or bad thing. During the Cold War, people had used radio

for a source of information as well as an escape from the current reality before them: the Depression that suffocated the United States. Music brought happiness

and meaningful messages even in the worst of times. The franchises had realized since there was such a huge audience within radio, they could use this to

their advantage. Listeners had not caught on at first, but slowly radio stations were starting to integrate

advertisements within their broadcastings for a vari-ety of big companies. When TV was invented, the ad-

vertising industry shot through the roof, circulating around all types of media forms. Today, advertisement

is everywhere we look (honestly, it really is). This isn’t because it’s necessarily “liked”, but it is needed in order to bring money to stations, TV channels, billboards,

newspapers, etc.

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.

The music industry has the same kind of con-cept with its artists. Music is becoming very difficult to be “people’s choice” due to the fact that there are only five companies regulat-ing the music industry itself. The dominat-ing companies include BMG, Sony, AOL Time Warner, Vivendi Universal, and EMI. These powerful corporations are not run by cre-atives but instead run by a group of business men and because of this the music industry is all about what makes the most money in-stead of the actual art and emotion that music should be giving us. There are millions of artists posting videos on YouTube and putting their music on SoundCloud, iTunes, etc. in hopes of having their music and their story told/heard. Lately, instead of com-panies picking true talent they are picking ones that grab attention (such as Niykee Heaton, Iggy Azalea, Riff Raff, etc) because this is what they think the youthful gener-

ation likes. Why is this you say? It’s because as a mass audience we have given them attention

for their crazy, childish behavior that these artists portray. Honestly, I can’t help but blame

us as part of the reason for why the music industry is at such a downfall. Not saying all of the music coming out currently is garbage, some artists are doing their thing and doing

it excellently as well as creatively, but we as the audience should have higher standards.

We should WANT to listen to a story when we listen to music, meanings behind the words, and incredible vocals or musical talent being

shown in order for someone to reach the level of “fame”. Currently, it doesn’t matter at all what is being said in the song, as long as the

beat is catchy it’s a “banger”, as we say. The cor-porations have grasped this new concept that

we have been feeding into and they are using it; taking the attention away from the truly

remarkable artists we have yet to know due to

Now, back to the five companies reg-ulating the industry. How does this affect the industry exactly and how does it affect the artist? Well, for one, it’s extremely difficult to get noticed as an artist if you are not signed to a big, well-known record company. Being signed to a huge corporation has its positives and negatives, as well as being an independent artist. These corporations treat the artists that they deal with like a bag of lays, just a product. If the artist sells, then they will keep them around, and if they don’t sell they get dropped immediate-ly and end up being in debt. Even when you do sell, you can still end up in debt because in order to draw the most at-tention there is a lot of money that needs to be put in before you even make anything back or breakeven. The cost for quality records, music videos, etc. has sky-rocketed, especially when you’re with a record label with big money. They will take advantage of their resources which is a plus but also a negative because it really shows once the bills for production come rolling in. This process is in hopes to find the next “Michael Jackson” or let’s say, the next “Big Thing”. Realistically, one out of every ten artists actually end up breaking even and profiting off of their talent. The push for unioniza-tion is at an all-time high within T.V., radio, and touring. Radio shows, in particular, are not as grounding as they once were. Now, most DJ’s don’t even pick their own music to be played. They could absolutely despise a song they’re playing on their radio station but normally when one song is played every hour on a station it’s because a music company paid some big bucks to get that promoted as much as possi-

ble. This restricts radio stations from playing songs by independent artists because they can’t afford to pay the big bucks that the huge corporations pay to get the coverage they need for their own music. Clear Channel owns about 1,200+ radio stations with the same type of music on every single one. If that’s not diminishing our mu-sic variety I don’t know what is be-cause that’s just flat out ridiculous. No channel should be able to own THAT many radio stations. When peo-ple complain saying, “all music sounds the same”, it’s because of these stations brainwashing us to only one type of music. What is really hot? What the radio says is hot? Because there is so much underground music that is beg-ging to be surfaced and is just as in-credible and even more unique than anything we’ve ever heard, but ISN’T getting the attention it should be due to this system. MTV is also the reason for the weak variety of music and the strict control on artists. There is an enormous amount of connections to be made once you’re on MTV, but what is the price exactly? There is a specific image MTV gives and they will not do anything to ruin that image, no mat-ter how incredible the artist. If you’re not attractive and willing to be in as little clothing as possible, you’re gone. Because of this, the music taste for MTV Jams is very bias. Women need to be willing to show their “assets” and they need to be skinny while men need to be muscular and if not that then they need to be surrounded with wom-en. I can’t think of any music video on MTV that doesn’t show either gender as anything but with this criteria, narrowing their number of artists down to a specific type of music as well.

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The corporate structures then create venues for artists. Big venues are ex-tremely difficult for independent artists as well because a lot of the times the only artists that get to perform are the ones that have the biggest promoters, which directly correlates with the booming music corporations. There is also pricing structures within the venues that cause huge chaos to an independent. Most of the time, in order to make ticket prices affordable, independent artists have to pay out of their pocket due to the fees that sites such as Ticketmaster put on the artists to even post the tickets on the website. With a corpora-tion, they pay for this in order to get prices to a reasonable medium without overselling the artist for what they’re worth. Because the corporations are doing so much “for you” as the artist, they expect you to conform to their needs. What does this include, you say? When an artist acts as a spokesperson, they get even more successful. This raises the question as to if the artists are making music for themselves or for the public? Back in the day, when television and radio first came out, the music played showed compassion and thought and created vivid messages for us such as “peace” which impacted and united the public as a whole. Now, artists are being forced to write music they don’t even really like. Take The Weeknd’s new album, for example. The difference in his music is night and day, due to the constant push to turn “pop” for corporate compa-nies who seek and want his talent. Do you think the Tiesto and Martin Gar-rix 7 up commercial is a coincidence that it occurred when the “EDM” genre became popular? I think not. Artists everywhere are being succumbed to this “franchising circle” within the music industry, even their lyrics relate to cer-tain foods or places in order to create advertisement. There are even certain agencies, such as The Kluger Agency, that specialize in getting product place-ments in song lyrics and music videos for costly prices (ranging from 50,000 to over a million dollars). The music corporations eat this up because it is nothing but revenue to them and when it comes down to it all they care about is the income they’re getting, not the quality of the music or even the artist.

To be honest, the only real artist giving a name and hope for independent artists right now is our one and only, Chicago-bred, Chance the Rapper. Just within a few short years,

he has managed to turn nothing into history by rapping on the streets of Chicago to just recently being the very first independent artist to perform on Saturday Night Live.

He has come out with multiple varieties of music, showing that he appreciates music as a whole and does not see one genre of music the only type of music he can pursue. He is the

definition of a true creative, showing more and more of it as he climbs the ladder of fame. Lately, it seems like there is nothing that will stop this man from giving back and show-

ing the public what a true independent artist can give that a corporate managed artist can’t. Artists such as Chance are what give me hope that the music industry will eventu-ally get back on track and WE will be able to decide what we like, not the corporations.

Variety is what is so beautiful about music and we should not let this remarkable privilege slip through our fingers. We need to bring the music choice back into our power, into

our own hands. Step out of your comfort zone, I’m sure you will not be disappointed with what you find. -TM

MARTA

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INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY LASALLE SMITH

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

BEVACQUA

PARIS IS A CITY OF PURE MAGIC. THE CITY OF LIGHTS HAS BIRTHED SOME OF THE

MOST INFLUENTIAL INDIVID-UALS OF ALL TIME, AND

MARTA BEVACQUA DOES NOT FAIL TO KEEP THAT

TREND ALIVE. HER UNIQUE VISION HAS LED HER TO CRE-

ATE AN ART FORM THAT IS TRULY UNIQUE TO HER

VERY ESSENCE AS A PHOTOG-RAPHER. BEFORE ATTACK-

ING THE NEW YEAR WITH A FULL HEAD OF STEAM, SHE

TOOK A MOMENT TO SIT DOWN WITH US AND LET US

INTO HER MIND.

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Building off of that, models to me, are an underrat-ed aspect of the creative world. Especially to many people in the general population. How do you use photography to defeat these stereotypes as not only a woman but as a person?Just trying to create beauty. Beauty can be many things, it doesn’t have to be always positive. Beauty in the sense of something that gives emotions. At least, I try to do that…

Honestly, what’s it like to be a photographer in Paris? Regard-less of the projects, just being a photographer in Paris is nothing short of amazing. You are at the pinnacle of your field. What’s

it like?I love this city, I love its atmosphere. I feel inspired just walking

around. And that’s the main point. I don’t care so much about concurrence or other people. I mean, I even get inspiration from them. I just love the city, that’s all. And it’s full of opportunities

too. There’s movement also.

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You and I are both part of a generation of creatives and people with elevated tastes (no matter how ridic-ulous some people act). There will come a time when our generation will be written about in text books or reborn and relived through in documentaries. What do you think our affect on culture will be moving forward?Never thought about that. I don’t like to think about me as a future big artist or something like that. I mean, I am quite a simple person. Yes, a creative, an “artist”, if you want. But I just do what I like most (and I’m al-ready very lucky for that) and doing my job. That’s all.

As I went through your website there were a couple of images that really reminded me of the artist Bjørk. How do you find inspiration for these shoots to model these concepts and ideas that are presented to you?From music too, obviously. And from books, movies, other artists’ works. From everywhere. Even from a special light I see through the window, or a plastic bag flying in the Parisian sky in a cloudy windy day. Inspiration and ideas are just every-where.

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“The Silence of Dew Drops” is one of my favorites, it’s really exemplifies the essence of nature, beauty, and exotica; what was your creative inspiration for that shoot?A story of a wild woman in the jungle. The atmo-sphere I feel when thinking about dew drops on leaves in the jungle, with silence and waiting atmosphere. The idea just born from a feeling, an atmosphere in my mind.

What camera do you use to shoot with?Canon 5d mark II

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What’s next for you?Many travels, many projects .-LS66

A G

OA

T N

AM

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SO

SA

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On the heels of the release of Bang 3 (parts 1 and 2) I take a look at maybe the most under

appreciated artist active in music today: Chief Keef

A Piece by Eric Bonner

I’m going to preface this by stat-ing that I am in fact a Chief Keef fan. I hope to one day meet, Kanye West, Virgil Abloh, Rick Owens, Rai Kawakubo, Pusha T and Chief Keef. The first time heard his music, I hated Chief Keef. I thought he was what was wrong with hip-hop, I thought his flow was garbage and I thought he was a one hit wonder. At this juncture of my life, hip-hop was only about the message the lyrics could present to me. I did not see the bigger picture, understand symbolism or how artists with their entire essence could represent something larger than themselves. Those initial feel-ings about Keef could not have been more wrong. Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa and Yeezus himself are all from Chicago, but there are three songs that you can play in any club/bar and everyone will know and sing as if they were programmed by nature to do so: Don’t Like, Love Sosa, and Faneto (and probably Hate Bein’ Sober too).

I was at a south loop bar one cold Thursday night in the middle of a harsh Chicago March. On the two TV screens that were in the bar, we had just seen the Bulls blow a crazy lead to the Lakers and lose to a bum ass squad led by all time Chicago fuccboi, Carlos Boozer. We were salty. The crowd in the bar mulled around and started to mingle and dance after blowing a huge lead to that fuccboi. What happened next I was not prepared for, at all. At 10:45 on the dot, we all heard the same thing, “GANG. GANG. GANG. GANG IN DIS BITCH.” The club went up to a place I had never seen before. It went to a place that I did not even know existed. Guys and girls, big, tall, ripped, skinny, any and everyone started moshing and it was nuckin futs. Guys took their shirts off and just went at it, no holds bars moshing like they were at Riot Fest or something. Three guys fell on broken beer bottles and sim-ply did not care that they were bleeding. I watched 4 iPhones literally just get stomped into oblivion. I ran to the wall and stood up on a couch and embraced the mayhem. It was beautiful. I felt like Bill Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, I just had to take it all in. It was Chaos Magic (shoutout K-Hole). It was beautiful in a way that I still can’t quite describe. And it was all because of Chief Keef.

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Chief Keef became a thing outside of the southside when I was a junior high school. It was meteoric to say the least. I heard him for the first time in my friends car as spring break was just be-ginning. I had recently gotten dumped by the girl who, at 16, I thought was the love of my life; I was in a shitty mood. They decided that hearing Keef for the first time would turn my mood. They threw on Don’t Like. I hated it. I got mad and turned it off. I thought that was gross. Later that night I would be drunk for maybe the 3rd or 4th time in my life; Don’t Like would play again and my life would be forever changed (Shoutout Olivi-er and Kevin). From then on we played that song every day from what must have been April until the day we lost our last football game of the year in the November around Thanksgiving. It was around that time that we had taken to playing Love Sosa and Hate Bein’ Sober as well. Chief Keef made up a large part of the soundtrack to my senior year of high school. It really is wild reflecting back on Chief Keef’s rise to immense success. He is the same age as me, 20 years old, and what he has accomplished in his life outshines mine by a wide margin (Not saying I won’t catch up). Aside from the re-cord deal, three albums, over ten mix-tapes, the mansions, cars and even a Kanye West/G.O.O.D. Music remix he introduced and awakened an untold number of youth to the traps that are some of Chicago’s incredibly un-merciful and rough neighborhoods. It was with his violent raps of murders, drugs and reckless abandon regard-ing these two activities that brought a spotlight to places like Englewood where Keef is from.

You may be thinking, “Awh yeah, Bitch-es really do love Sosa. I did really hate being sober.” The thing is, Finally Rich is not even his best shit. Back From the Dead is maybe the best Chicago mix-tape ever. The only thing that may compare to that complete of a proj-ect would be Acid Rap by Chance the Rapper. However if you really dig into to Keef’s catalog, I do not think you will be able to find a more consistent artist. I truly believe that at the age of 20 Chief Keef has mastered his sound and his subgenre. He keeps putting out banger after banger, a trap anthem, then he will release a celebratory up beat track about being the man, and finally he will release a dark, brood-ing track about murders and killings. You may not like the formula or the subject matter but the dude knows what he is doing. It also helps that he has the G.O.A.T. Young Chop at his back and what appears to be an un-limited amount of beats from 808 Ma-fia, Zaytoven and the other G.O.A.T. Metro Boomin. But, if you are some-one who is familiar with Drill music and familiar with Keef’s sound, name a song that he has made that he hasn’t murked in true Keef fashion? I know a lot of people who would make the argument that Keef hasn’t produced a great song since Finally Rich, but if you were to ask someone from Chica-go, they would call Faneto the track of the city and that’s been running on repeat for almost a year straight now. Earned it and Bouncin’ are both now attracting a cult following that hasn’t been seen since Faneto. All in all Keef comes with the heat, the bars and the goods.

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Keef is not without his critics, his raw, violent music has ruffled more than a few feathers. He cannot step foot in the city of Chicago thanks to outstanding warrants for his arrest. He recently has had a string of hologram concerts cancelled in Chicago, Hammond, Indiana and Los Angeles. He has actually become the poster child for what many view as the root of gun violence in Chicago (Not Chiraq as Spike Lee would have you believe). However anyone who would point to Chief Keef as the cause of the deaths would be ignorant to the systemic failures of the city of Chicago in providing for its residents (Not the time or place to get into that one). I won’t sit here and pretend like his music does not glamorize and depict murders and drug trafficking, not that any film has ever depicted that before. But you cannot dispute his energy and passion for his subject matter and we cannot disregard how raw that energy is. It is this energy that took off and opened the minds of millions of Americans to music from their ghettos. It is not long after the explosion of Chief Keef and the Chicago Drill scene that Atlanta and Trap music ascend to new heights. Now Future is currently G.O.A.T.ing with Drake and #Free-Gucci is a bonafide movement. To call Keef a catalyst isn’t really fair, he was the first and the best of a group that has created sonics and vibes that went from the deep underbelly of American Ghettos to being rapped by Kanye West and Drake at New York Fashion Week.

Drill is in essence a 21st century, American version of Punk Rock. Violent, tough and not safe. Chief Keef is to Drill what the Sex Pistols and the Ramones were to Punk, and he is only 20 years old. He has had two mansions, he lives in Laurel Can-yon, CA. He went from Englewood on Chicago’s Southside to the hills of Los Angeles, his style is raw, his sound is authentic and original. Keef never gave a fuck and he probably never will. He is one of the best examples of a true artist we have today and he makes some fucking awesome music. Keef is a G.L.O.A.T. and based on what Bang 3 Pt.1 and Pt.2 were he ain’t done turin’ up yet.- EB

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PLUS IS EQUAL

A PIECE BY JACK McNEIL

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The Plus is equal campaign that sent shockwaves through the nation was one built on the idea of representation and respect for “plus sized” womens clothing in stores and media markets. Lane Bryant, the clothing designers known for their plus size clothing,, makes the claim that the media plays favorites with ultra-thin women in ads and plays a negative role in women’s health and confidence. To start, the media representation of women’s clothing have historically been showcased by models who weigh 23% less than the average women, and could even be considered anorexic, according to Plus Model magazine. The Lane Bryant ad features six ladies dressed up, smiling, and confidently strutting their stuff. Appearing in Vogue, the ad had plenty of shock value partly because of the con-trast to the rest of ads that appeared in Vogue. While the models are considered “curvy”, the sizes in the Plus is equal line(14-32) represent 67% of women in America, yet are underrepresented across the spec-trum of media, claims Lane Bryant. The aspect of the women smiling in the ad show the confidence level in the women’s size, showing that they can wear larger sizes than are normally shown in ads and still be happy and con-fident. One of the keys of the ad is the hashtag used on it, #Plusisequal. The use of the hashtag suggests a larger conversation, a social movement of sorts to support the idea that plus sized women are not to be looked down upon by the media or clothing companies.Lane Bryant’s audience is everyone, raising awareness of the media’s role in body im-age, but targets women especially. The ad had two rollouts. First, Lane Bryant put out an ad of silhouettes with the tagline Plus is equal. Once the internet started buzzing about what could be next, Lane Bryant published their official ad along

with a TV ad to go along with it. This is the first time that a campaign has been so visible and mainstream that’s goal is eliminating the inequalities for women trying to buy their size for clothes. This idea of an average sized woman not believing strongly in her appearance is the result of many societal symptoms, but the constant saturation of media doesn’t help. As of the now, size six is con-sidered plus for the modeling world. In the real world, 14 is the average size. Arguments are made for the fact that modeling is an artform and isn’t sup-posed to represent average, but the facts are simply that average sizes are grossly misrepresented. That narrative is what led to Lane Bryant’s campaign, with a message of empowerment and ownage of whatever size you are. The ad is one step into battle against the now immediate, almost natural idea that thinner is better. This idea of thinner being better, and sometimes the only way, doesn’t just affect the mental state of average or “plus sized” women, but the industry churning out these perceptions as well. Georgina Wilkins became a model at age 15 and was told if she could lose a few inches off the hips, she could be the “next big thing”. She was told by her agent she looked great after not eating for 48 hours. All this led to an eating disorder that lasted eight years. Not only are eating disorders a plague in the model-ing industry, but the lone sight of these commercials, can lead to eating disor-ders in consumers. A study done by busi-ness professors at Villanova University show that ads with thin models make the consumer feel worse about them-selves, but better about the brand. In a 1999 study by the Kaiser Foun-dation, kids between the ages of 8-18 spend almost seven hours with media usage(TV, electronic devices). In that time, kids

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will see plenty of ads about food, and just as many ads about beauty. In the Unit-ed States, media consumption plays a role in consumption, leading to the U.S. being number one in obesity, all while 20 million girls suffer from eating disorders. To put that figure in context to other diseases, 3.5 million people have autism in the U.S. While the funding for research on eating dis-orders is nowhere near the funding lev-els for other diseases(28,000,000 to autism’s 140,000,000), the number of girls suffering from bulimia between the ages of 10-39 more than tripled between 1988 and 1993. With that in mind, the public is pret-ty aware of how vanity can affect the number of girls feeling unempowered, and even sick. 70% of people in a National survey think encouraging companies to use more average of plus sized models in their ads would reduce the number of girls suffer-ing from eating disorders in the country. The other aspect of U.S. culture that makes this issue hard to have a productive conversation about is the ultra-capitalist nature of the United States. France out-right banned use of ultra-thin models, but in America, citizens pride themselves in tak-ing part in a free, capitalist society, mean-ing companies can express themselves how-ever they want, and if it leads to an eating disorder, it’s a lack of personal discipline on the consumer’s part, leaving little re-sponsibility for the company. So the idea of restricting or limiting freedom of speech through use of tools in advertisement is a hard sell in the United States. In today’s society, that difference of philosophy that business can do anything and don’t have moral and legal obligations to watch out for the consumer sometimes is the differ-ence between a liberal and a conserva-tive.-JM

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