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contents

sneaker peekers

cheaper connections

bigstar johnsoncover story

soigne: street elegence

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S N E A K E R

PEEKERS

WITH

REZOLUTION

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Sneakers sneakers on the wall, Vsion Magazine got them all.

When we drop its uptown fresh,Cav the issue, cava the step.

Welcome to yet another edition of Sneakers Peekers with your Kicks-Ville General REZ.

In this months issue I present to you 2 pairs of Licks that might just make you wanna slap yo momma! Both uniquely ill with structure, colour and most importantly, comfort, these are ‘Must-Haves’ for the up coming sea-son. With winter peaking, the swag gotta compliment the Kick, what better

to rock than the latest greatest Adidas Originals.

If you have yourself either a pair of Superstars or Supershells, you might wanna put them away for this one...

With a pigskin package of colours including Vapour Pink, Vapour Grey and Pale Nude, the simplest & smoothest Adidas Originals will have you feel-ing like the streets can’t fail you now and forever! Tell your wallet, tell your momma, tell your daddy & even your granny that the Adidas Samoa is

dropping on the 21 st of May! Calling all the OG’s to the floor now!

The second pair on display would be the ever so classic boom bap rap Kicks from the archives of Adidas Originals. This sneaker defines the essence of classic and redefines the ‘old school’ look for the new school kids.

The late great back from the grave Riviera OG sneaker is the pinnacle of Winter-Meets-Steeze. Coming in only one colour, the real OG’s will know what to copp to complete their outfit with these Licks. These kicks have already dropped world wide, they are guaranteed to take you back in time every step you take forward. Available on the net so get to the ordering!!!!

Remember, Van Damme wouldn’t be famous without his kicks! So be great, and get your pair!

REZ signing out.

ADIDAS RIVERA

OG

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ADIDAS RIVERA OG

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ADIDAS RIVERA SAMOA

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Thank God (or whoever you pray to before you hit the hustle) for the mobile phone. This invention has

played an integral part in everyone’s life so much so that you can give out one of your kidneys but you can NEVER!!!! give your mobile phone to someone else. I mean our organs are less important com-pared to this “thingy mebob”, and with reason.

The mobile phone has transformed from a source of communication to becoming the bearer of many things, from relation-ships to fire songs (I mean the whole “so far gone “was written on a blackberry). But it’s so useless without data, it’s like having an Xbox with no games. Well the big guys in parliament finally woke up and are targeting to have 80% of mo-bile broadband coverage by 2019 around Mzansi.

CHEAPER CONNECTIONS

BY THE SCRIPTER

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The mobile phone has transformed from a source of communication to becoming the bearer of many things, from relation-ships to fire songs (I mean the whole “so far gone “was written on a blackberry). But it’s so useless without data, it’s like having an Xbox with no games. Well the big guys in parliament finally woke up and are targeting to have 80% of mo-bile broadband coverage by 2019 around Mzansi.

According to telecoms Minister Siyabonga Cwele the 4G/LTE coverage around Mzan-si stands at between 35% and 53%. He also added that a new telecoms policy is to be finalised in the next few months that would reduce barriers to entry and increase growth in the industry. Well why would I care you ask? Understand this, South Africa Buys a lot of data to sustain the country at a very high cost.

According to a World Bank report re-leased in February, South Africans paid around $14.10 for one gigabyte of data, the fourth highest out of 17 African countries, compared to lowest-rated Cameroon, where the same bundle cost around $2.10. So Government is trying to reduce costs by increasing inclusive growth within the telecoms industry by opening entry barriers to open access broadband networks. This means as time goes on the “MORE DATA AT A CHEAPER PRICE” dream will be a reality.

SIDE NOTE:

“Major tele-coms firms in South Af-rica include the conti-nent’s top

mobile phone operator MTN, Vo-

dacom and unlisted Cell C. The five main firms

in the wire-less broad-

band market account for more than 70% of the market.”

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Having won Vuzu’s “The Hustle” BigStar Johnson has been able to pave a lane for himself that no other South African hip hop artist has. There’s a lot of scrutiny when it comes to individuals winning

music competitions, as many believe that their careers start and end on the show. However in “The Hustle’s” case it was a different kind of breed of musical competition, as it had the survival of the fittest kind of nature to it, which is what one would expect from a strictly Hip Hop show. This would result in the contestants constantly having to stay alert to anything the judges: AKA, Tumi Molekane and Khuli Chana would throw at them and BigStar consistently showed them as well as

the other contestants that he was ready for the challenge.

Hustling to the

Throne: The BigStar

Johnson story.

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Having won Vuzu’s “The Hustle” BigStar Johnson has been able to pave a lane for himself that no other South African hip hop artist has. There’s a lot of scrutiny when it comes to individuals winning

music competitions, as many believe that their careers start and end on the show. However in “The Hustle’s” case it was a different kind of breed of musical competition, as it had the survival of the fittest kind of nature to it, which is what one would expect from a strictly Hip Hop show. This would result in the contestants constantly having to stay alert to anything the judges: AKA, Tumi Molekane and Khuli Chana would throw at them and BigStar consistently showed them as well as

the other contestants that he was ready for the challenge.

Hustling to the

Throne: The BigStar

Johnson story.

By Omphemetse Manana

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Hailing from Kempton Park, which boasts notable artists of its own such as Shane Eagle, Priddy Ugly as well as Wichi 1080, BigStar stated that “While doing the show, I don’t think I was deal-ing with it (the pressure), I just focussed on what the challenge was, but vele being from The East (rand) we’re used to battling and doing cyphers so I wasn’t new to that type of environment”. This was very evident in how he was easily pinned as one of the favourites to win the show, simply from his demeanour, talent and ability. However with the pan-el of judges, it would be hard to easi-ly impress a panel with over 25 years worth of experience collectively, some-thing that BigStar admits too “funny enough Tumi was the ni**a I hated the most, because if T wasn’t feeling you, he wasn’t feeling you; he didn’t care, he had nothing to prove and I think a couple of times he would be like: you’re lucky you made it through today”. With the likes of Nasty C, Riky Rick, Cassper Nyovest and many more of the South African artists being independent,

BigStar Johnson faces a different kind of challenge having won a competition and receiving the various benefits that come along with it, such as the deal with Vth Season, which boasts a roster with the likes of AKA, Tresor and Yan-ga. It’s perceived that he might have it easy, however its evident to anyone that watched “The Hustle” that BigStar John-son not only has the talent to be in the game but the persona and attitude as well. BigStar does admit however that having a label is major advantage for an artist “one of the things that Vth Season has shown me the difference between and an artist who’s entirely alone and an artist who has a team behind them”. n the current state that the South African hip hop scene is under we, as fans and observers, have been able to see the difficulty they face with the likes of Cass-per Nyovest complaining that his songs aren’t being played on radio and Riky Rick stating that he will only release his music on his own platforms.

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. This is then where the PR and market-ing experts come in handy as they are able to deal with any media related is-sues, which is their job, so one can’t fault an artist for having the right people for the job, can they? “Even with My Year, my latest single, I didn’t really feel the joint too much but they told me to relax as they felt it was fire enough to go to the people and they said they’ll handle the rest”.

With many, including myself being excited about the possibility of a “You Can Get It” remix after AKA stating that he wanted to be on it after hearing it on the show, which inevitably prompted an immense amount of excitement, however that hasn’t materialised yet and looks highly likely that it won’t happen anymore, Big-Star provided a reasoning for this which was “I think, if everyone is honest, we can say that the song wasn’t necessarily the strongest track. So it was a matter of if he’s gonna jump on a track that’s not that strong or is he gonna jump on a track that’s gonna change everything, you know what I’m saying?”

?” However those of you who might’ve given up on the prospect of a Bigstar and AKA collaboration can cheer up cause BigStar exclusively told us that they’re working on something, “I think I just needed a single after “You Can Get It” that was more me and the col-laboration with AKA is coming soon, we’re actually in the process of getting it started and I think that track is gonna be a game changing track. People just have to be patient for but something crazy is gonna be dropping this year”. However the work is solely based on that for BigStar as he plans to release another single before the AKA collab-oration, having already released the up-tempo hit “My Year” with Aewon Wolf earlier on this year, “ I think my next single is gonna be closest thing to everything I’ve wanted to do on a track, with all my singles so far its al-ways been one element. With this next single, it’s just gonna be me, if people mess with it, then they’re messing with me, if people don’t mess with it then they’re not messing with me”.

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With the abilities this man has, one can already expect it to be a full on musical experience.

The transition into almost instant fame and recognition for Bigstar Johnson, is definitely incomparable to any other artist because of his unique journey, which even started before “The Hus-tle”, as he went into The Hustle house practically unknown and rose out as one of the most talked about prospects and artist on social media. “The craziest thing about this is the whole transition, because I was basically a guy, from my hood teaching kids how to play instru-ments here and there, I had just grad-uated. So I was literally just a normal ni**a, you know what I’m saying? Then all of a sudden my name was every-where. Went people went crazy over my verse on that first episode on twitter, I was surprised that so many people were feeling my rhymes”. Bigstar states that his family has been constantly support-ive of what he’s doing which is essential these days as there are a lot of negative stereotypes of families non-support of artistic dreams.

Sticking to his “normal person” ways BigStar also admits that he sometimes forgets that he is known, “it’s a crazy transition, because sometimes I forget. People just greet you on the street and you can forget that people know you. People will wave on the freeway and I’m there like: okay, why are we waving?”

However anyone that might still believe winning a competition is the easy way to success or a fluke have a surprise wait-ing for them as the skill and craft that takes years to master, a point raised by BigStar himself: “I think its true what you’re (me) saying, even when Big Sean said it, people just saw The Hustle and thought I started writing last week or something, it’s impossible! There was a challenge where I had to freestyle the whole thing; that comes from the skill of rapping for years you know. It hasn’t been a hustle in front of everybody’s eyes for 10 years but the craft, has been building and I’ve been working on my craft for 10 years”.

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Well as Birdman would say, “you better put some respek on my name” which is term that would be the most relevant to BigStar Johnson. BigStar, proving to be the nice peaceful human being that he comes across as states that he isn’t one for beef and all that and rather believes in collaboration, “I’m an artist who’s very pro-collaboration because I feel that Hip hop as a culture survives from working together”. With many artists releasing albums and mixtapes after a couple of singles Big-Star feels that he isn’t under pressure to release one yet but is currently working on both an EP and Album, his reason-ing for not releasing either one of them yet is that “ there’s a lot of things that people don’t know about the game, with regards to artists who drop albums ear-ly. There are a lot of them who did that last year and are still struggling t go gold or platinum. You need the build up (to an album)”. His EP is set to drop in next couple of months and the album either late this year or earlier 2017,

, he did point out that his projects will be something to look forward to because “musically people can expect a different type of sound, a lot of us young guys are not afraid of the international cats and their quality of music, so with my album I’m really going for a cross-over, I’m really going for a really open-minded type of sound because everything right now is kinda sounding the same”.

From a personal point of view, I’m al-ways humbled by how artists I interview seem as normal as can be, however in BigStar Johnson’s case, its almost un-real. This is a man that entered a com-petition and through that competition, he’s basically been labelled as the best South Africa have from those who aren’t already in the hip hop scene, however despite all that he accomplished such as the label deal, the money and the spot-light, he embarrassingly seems humbler than me, a 2nd year university student from nothing but a normal upbringing.

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However I think that is one of his advantages, as he isn’t stuck in a cloud of ‘I can do whatever or people will love me regardless’ as he knows what it’s like to be a fan

and observer, therefore has a greater ability to truly connect with the average hip hop consumer. In my opinion, that alongside his demeanour, talent and abilities is

the reason why he can a great artist. With my last and somewhat signature question being who BigStar would rate as his top 5 MC’s in the SA game, it wasn’t shocking

to see the names on that list with them having been there before on other people’s lists. He did claim that he would’ve put himself but he’s just a humble guy.

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However I think that is one of his advantages, as he isn’t stuck in a cloud of ‘I can do whatever or people will love me regardless’ as he knows what it’s like to be a fan

and observer, therefore has a greater ability to truly connect with the average hip hop consumer. In my opinion, that alongside his demeanour, talent and abilities is

the reason why he can a great artist. With my last and somewhat signature question being who BigStar would rate as his top 5 MC’s in the SA game, it wasn’t shocking

to see the names on that list with them having been there before on other people’s lists. He did claim that he would’ve put himself but he’s just a humble guy.

BIGSTAR JOHN-SON TOP 5 LYRICAL

EMCEES

1. Kwesta (until someome does some-thing better than “They Don’t Wanna Rap

No More”)2. Tumi Molekane3. Nasty C (first time entrant)4. Proverb5. AKA ( “got the perfect balance”)

Make sure you follow him an get his latest single “My Year” on:

Twitter: @BigStar_Live

Facebook: BigStar Johnson Live

Instagram: @BigStar_Live

iTunes: https://itun.es/za/eSMabb

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SOIGNE: STREET

ELEGENCEBY OLIVER ZONDO

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Its 11:15 I’m on a bus coming from UJ’s APK campus, it’s unusually sparse as I look around to see more emptiness where laughter and conversation usually sit. I Take a Seat on my way to a meeting I’m not quite sure will hap-pen, as the overzealous twerp I am, all the time thinking I could be working on my combos. I get to Braam and it hits me “I never got to ask him how to get to City Var-sity” where we were meant to meet for the interview. The reason I never did was simply cause of the fact of communication being bad Between I and Gape – Someone who happens to have done well for himself being the owner of a Street Elegance brand (although he didn’t want to give a name to the style of clothing Soigné makes, but then again I’m an overzealous twerp) so we’ll call it Street Elegance, it’s got a nice ring to it. His Phone has been off the whole morning and it keeps sending me to voicemail. So I ask around. As I’m busy getting thrown off course by a kind stranger I finally receive a call from him telling me the meeting is on and then giving me the proper directions. I finally get to City Varsity, where Gape is completing his first year in Multi-media Design.

“Kinda like how a songwriter ap-proaches a produc-er for a beat that complements the lyrics, when I go to a fabric shop it’s like me going to a producer”

The interview starts and we hit it off immediately, dabbling in a few topics before getting into the questions. He speaks on his creative process, how he works on an idea for a piece before going out to look for the material that matches the idea “Kinda like how a songwriter ap-proaches a producer for a beat that complements the lyrics, when I go to a fabric shop it’s like me going to a producer” he puts it. Again, on how his previous designs were inspired by his Dad, more specifically his Dad’s love for the sport of Horse Racing.

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The conversation leads to us discussing how up and coming brands in South Africa forgo the idea of craftsmanship and quality, “a lot of people copy and paste bruh… a lot of people don’t really consider quality. For me that’s like number one on the list” he says. Quality is something many brands dedicate epic man hours and years to accomplish, although time is not always on the side of the few brands that seek relatively swift im-pact. Similar to what Kanye West was trying to explain to Sway as to why he chose to collaborate with Nike, which was the cause of his frustration, as oppose to going independent. Kanye collaborating with an already es-tablished brand like Adidas means: impact, quality, awareness and cred-ibility all in a short space of time. Soigné has been able to get a few of these right having managed to spark the interest of high profile individu-als such as Siyabonga Ngwekazi and Shelton Forbes and it’s certain the quality of Soigné products have been at the heart and centre of its con-tinuing success, I guess Gape “got the answers Sway”. From observation what sets Soigné apart from any brand catering to the street fraternity are the stories it tells through the selection of fabrics which fea- ture bold prints and patterns with striking colours and a metic- ulous attention to detail. He is well on course to developing a signature “where, when you see the item, it doesn’t even have to have the brand logo… you can tell by the aesthetics that it must be this brand (Soigné)” he also added “what inspires me is fabric selection, besides any- thing else that’s what distinguishes me from other people (brands), well before design”. With Soigné’s cat-alogue of statement pieces each item falls part of wide range of erratic designs confident enough to stand on their own. “I’m not competing with anybody but myself bruh, I don’t wanna lie People want to be greedy bruh I don’t expect my customers to wear Soigné from head to toe… nah. Just maybe come to me when you need a Jacket, go to Stlya Gang if you need a shirt go to The Unicorns if you need a cap, you know what I mean?” Gape said as he was further explaining how his products are good enough on their own.

I guess Gape

“got the answers Sway”.

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1 Explain the meaning behind the name Soigné? I had a brand back in the hood with a couple of associates, and it kinda didn’t work out. Even with that, I was the brains behind it, so I told myself I can’t stop cause n*ggas are slacking.So I went to So Africa College and while I was there we had a project where we had to come up with our own brand. And I was going through fashion terms and came across Soigné, once I got to understand what it means, it actually explained how I want to see the clothes that I make: elegant stylish designs. The main thing is the elegance ‘cause I’m trying to find the balance between the street and the formal guy. I told myself “I’m going to make clothes that fit the description of the word – Elegance.2 What direction do you see your brand taking? First and foremost I want to say I cannot tell the future and my mind changes all the time. Hopefully it would something that reflects the core values of the brand – Authenticity, Quality and ‘Not Suc-cumbing To The Market’. If something is in trend it doesn’t mean I’m going to follow it, I’m trying to be an alternative to what’s already out there. 3 Your designs are always limited, could you perhaps tell us what in-formed that decision?There should always be an anticipa-tion of what’s of next from Soigné. I like keeping things fresh and by limiting the stock I make sure people itch for more.

…So you not thinking mass market? Nah, hell no. Then how are we going achieve uniqueness and individuality? Rather there’s one other person that owns a particular piece or you the only one in the neighbourhood that has it. In the future that is what I want to do with Soigné. There is no way I can have a range of maybe caps or jackets and you not finding anything you like, there has to be something that you like. And that’s the reason my stock is limited I don’t expect to my cus-tomers to buy everything, but I know there is a piece that you might want to buy. And the one item that you find dope has to be the one you relate to4 What do you think contributed to Soi-gné’ quick rise to prominence, was it your personality or was it strictly product based, as I know you have a big personal-ity?I don’t want to be synonymous with the brand. I don’t want when you see Soigné see you Gape. I’m a creative in my own right and Soigné is its own entity. It’s like I work for the brand, I’m not the brand. When I design for Soigné I have to be in the frame of mind of that story I’m trying to tell with Soigné. On the flip side I’m an individual and I sometimes create stuff for myself which people would then come and want to buy from me, cause of I have always been popular. So in essence I guess both my personality and the quality of work I put out influenced the success Soigné is enjoying. I always stand out through both my craft and my personality. People don’t just buy the product they buy the person.

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5 What inspired the eccentricity of the brand, which is reflected in the bold prints and striking designs aesthetic we see in Soigné products?The man in the mirror bruh. That sums it up.6 Your Brand’s slogan is “Live By Your Own Rules” How important is this man-tra to you?This derives from my personality. I always ask why, and who are you to tell me. I question why the fashion industry dictates the cycles of release of new collections. Why should we let the next man control what we do with our craft? This is my art and I express it however I want to and I could take it out whenever I want to. I don’t even need to compete with anybody bruh. I don’t even try to be different I don’t even try to think ahead I just sit back and ob-serve patterns to see what everybody else is doing and I chose my own path. My mom would always say, whenever I defy her, “Akere wena you live by your own rules” not knowing that it’s my brand’s slo-gan. Its who I am. 7 How do you source the material you use for your products? ... and how easy is it? To be honest it is not very hard.I don’t plan this, it’s just having an eye for cool stuff. Usually every month I’d go to dif-ferent fabric shops to see what they have and look at their exclusive - limited stock that the next person can’t get. And by the grace of God I always find something that I’m going to use, and its something that’s never planned.

8 When are you due to release your new collection?Hopefully at the end of April.

9 Are you gonna increase your product range anytime soon?For now Soigné aims to focus on these areas: head gear and torso (caps, shirts and jackets). But we’ll be doing pants and formal suits sometime in the near feature.

10 The pop-up shop is fast becoming for new way for brands to sell their products, have you considered going down this route? Nah, I haven’t. I think if you work hard enough and you do cool stuff it can never be unrecognized. That’s only if you pro-duce undeniable sh*t. You don’t need to do a pop-up shop as long as your customers know where to get your products.

“I don’t even try to be different I don’t even try to think ahead I just sit back and observe patterns to see what everybody else is do-

ing and I chose my own path. My mom would always say, whenever I defy her, “Akere wena you live by your own rules” not knowing that it’s my brand’s

slogan. Its who I am.”

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He (Gape) told me a story of how he met a guy that liked a Soigné cap he was wearing so much so the guy traded his one for the

one Gape was wearing and I remember Gape telling me “the mere fact that a person is willing to give up a brand that’s popular and has been in the game for long and traded it in for a plain cap from a brand that is barely 2 years running. If a guy can do that then it must mean the dynamics are changing.” South African brands are penetrating mainstream culture and Soigné

is one of the brands which are spear-heading this movement.

Meeting a person so unapol-ogetic and confident (almost bordering on arrogant) about their talents and their craft might be a bit unsettling for certain people. Especially if it’s someone who questions the very fiber of society with a defiant air that challenges both societal and sartorial sta-tus quos as Gape continues to do with Soigné. I was pleas-antly surprised to witness that under that tough exterior lies a kind person as during our interview a beggar happened to come to our table asking for some change and instead of dismissing him, Gape dug into his pockets and pulled out a few coins to give to man in the most humble and sincere way

I have seen.

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