Kind of a sleeper, can’t even lie.
Brand Spotlight: Moral Fabrix [Boston]
What’s the word, folks? Coming off a heartbreaking, agonizingly painful week in the city of Boston, where an unspeakable and unfathomable tragedy occurred and put an entire city on lockdown, I’m back on the keyboard to shine some light on a new, fresh Boston-bred brand that’s set to blow: Moral Fabrix.
Founded by Brooklyn-born Haven Prescott, Moral Fabrix was initially incorporated in 2002, but was dormant until 2008, when things started to take shape. Heavily influenced by street and skate wear, the brand boasts a selection of tees, 3/4 raglans, hoodies and the highly talked about OG Robot snapback, complete with a smooth, creamy faux fur cheetah print brim.
Linking up with my Karmaloop affiliate Marquise Corbin, the brand needed to get some product shots squared away for their digital lookbook, viewable here, and decided to put a bearded boy in front of the Boston skyline and let the flash do me just. For additional brand info, including the online store, be sure to slide over to the official site – www.moralfabrix.com.
The brand itself is creatively different than what’s saturating the market today – dope designs, highlighted by a series of characters, including the Robot and stuffed animal crew, has a Kid Robot x Kaws feel, and the quality of the garments themselves are top notch. Whereas some brands stick to tees and others stick to high prices and hype items, Moral Fabrix provided high quality DTG prints (direct to garment), so your print will never fade, bleed, or be relegated to yard work duty after a few wears. And not to name drop, but how many local brands to you see sponsoring pro athletes? Well, Moral Fabrix has already been responsible for dipping both Baltimore Ravens’ cornerback Chris Johnson and the Cleveland Browns’ top wide out Josh Gordon in gear, so there you have an added bonus.
Be sure to check the photos and lemme know your thoughts on the next thing to stand out in Boston (more than already seen or heard).
Throwback Sleeper: JR Writer – “Someone Like You” ft. Jae Millz
Throwback Harlem shit off Writer’s Block 1. Enjoy!
Dichotomy of a Player
“Once a player, always a player.” – Anonymous
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone refers to another as a “player”? Smooth, attractive, heartless, juggles girls and usually leaves them heartbroken and vengeful; someone whose purpose is only to serve as a prevalent reminder that guards should stay up, right?
The ideology of a “player” is a touchy subject, mostly examined thru a biased lens, as the people who typically speak on it have been wronged in the past by someone that came almost as “fake” or just in the arrangement for their own pleasure, coupled with other side pieces, other interests, other agendas. That’s not always the case. In some cases, those that have, occasionally, been mislabeled with the male equivalent of the Scarlet Letter, aren’t heartless, predatory, or even promiscuous. Sometimes, they’re just looking for a better option.
Everywhere in the world, there’s a man who has a beautiful girl hooked on his every move, sitting on the edge of her seat, awed and amazed by a man (and the opposite holds true). Out of seemingly nowhere, interest is no longer kept, departure is made, and that beautiful girl has her feelings cast aside, her pride wounded, her eyes filled with tears. Was it something she did or was it that the coldblooded, stupid prick just had enough? It’s possible, but maybe – just maybe – it wasn’t the time, nor the situation, that could make this player, this scourge of a man commit. Moving on.
When people hear the term, they automatically gravitate towards relegated the labeled to the “do not touch” category. To insist that someone is incapable of achieving something due to what their past consisted of is a slight to the potential of a person. Not every “player” is doomed to eternally leave a trail of flings strewn about in his wake – it just takes the right woman and a desire to settle down and live in the moment of enjoying someone else’s company and attention without lusting and striving to have it from everyone.
Saying that you can understand the mind of someone without really ever hearing their thoughts and feelings, their motives and reasoning, is bullshit. To say, “Well (s)he reminds of me of [insert past hookup] and I know how it’s gonna be” with someone you haven’t taken the time to know leads only to missed opportunity, albeit a potential disaster. Everyone in life has a match, somewhere, that can bring an abrupt halt to the games, the cheating, the inattentiveness that dooms relationships.
What really changes a person’s perspective is reflection on lessons learned from what’s happened in the past, right? Sure, being an attractive, successful, passionate person is what most aspire to be. But to be desired can prove overwhelming for those that aren’t ready to settle into focused attention and emotion from one person. People can’t change each other, no matter how hard they try. The people that change do it by themselves, with the end goal being a more stable and healthy person, emotionally and mentally. You can try to change a dog into a pigeon, but you know damn well that shit isn’t gonna happen. Personal growth and reason trump wishing and hoping, but you can’t force it on anyone.
You can’t save a ho, especially when she’s not ready to stop the hopping she’s doing. You can’t change a dude who doesn’t wanna stop what he’s doing either. It’s not an overnight process, but if you decide to take on the risk, knowing the potential for failure, make sure you know what you’re getting into. If you can change someone’s perspective and give them what they need and more, inevitably you could win them over. Some, however, are lost causes.
Why do some dudes have to do what they do? Any number of reasons: insecurity, necessity for attention, big egos, money, narcissism, fear of commitment. But the psychological aspects of it are way too much to look into without us sitting down and sharing a drink or smoke, and it’s too in depth to be put into words when your attention span is as short as dude on Game of Thrones.
Some things in life are so desirable that it’s worth taking the risk of putting yourself out there, not knowing what the possibilities are. But that dude that everyone considers undateable, untameable, unable to be with one person, could just be waiting for the one that he wants to be attentive to, to laugh with, to bond with on a different level. Not all players are cold, unavailable, or distant. They’re closer than you think, just looking for the right person to help put their jersey in the rafters and chill.
Cali Love: Stud Life
Ahhh, once again it’s on. The homies at Modesto, CA-based Stud Life came thru and dipped me out in two of my official new favorite tees.
Streetwear is such a loose term that I’m not really comfortable using it to describe this brand. They’re a little more inituitive as far as NOT recycling commonly used graphics, although I couldn’t blame brands from trying to reinvent the wheel.
Stud Life is a life I live, so I’m fitted appropriately. Check them out and get fresh from one of the doper West Coast brands that I’ve linked with – Stud Life Brand.
Who is Saving These Hoes?
I have a God’s honest question – what self-respecting male is out there, cape on, eyes open, actively looking a save a ho? Anyone know why you can’t/shouldn’t save a ho? Take five seconds and I’ll wait…alright, good. For those who said, “Hoes don’t act right” or “Because she’ll sneak around and get piped down by your boys”, you’re both correct. Your prize? Keeping a little self-respect and saving yourself the aggravation. There’s a reason everyone knows, or should know, that you can’t turn a ho to a housewife.
Now let’s be clear on something off the bat – not every woman is a ho and not every ho is a woman. Scary shit, right? But dig a little deeper. We all have the ability, if not the tendencies, to be a ho. But there are varying levels of hoing. The same way you hafta manage your primal instincts and in some cases, your thirst, you have be able to recognize what situations are gonna make you appear ho-like. Ladies, if you meet a dude in the bar or club, you’re vibing and he asks you to come home with him, use a checklist -
- Are you sufficiently drunk enough or attracted enough to leave with this dude and not be crying the morning after on some “Do you still respect me?” shit?
- Is this dude friends with or cool with your exes?
- Do you want a little more from this or you just looking for some sex? (Note: Just because a woman is sexually active doesn’t make her promiscuous.)
- Is it only you and him or is he bringing his boys back? (Note again: If he brings three of his boys back and says, “Nah, they’re cool”, make sure they have tickets for that train.)
Fellas, here’s your checklist -
- She’s cute, right?
Guys, if you already know the track record of the girl that you’re hitting, examine your situation and assess whether or not this chick has the capacity to stop acting like a patient in a dentist’s chair with the extra wide spreading. If she’s notorious for being in the club EVERY. SINGLE. WEEKEND and leaving with a new dude every time, you needa avoid that situation and set your radars elsewhere.
Wait…why am I coaching you dudes like there’s some benefit in it for me? Nah, fuck that. Lemme get back on track.
The dudes out there saving these perpetual pipetakers are dudes with a God complex. If Jesus himself couldn’t injure her hips to stop her from spreading, what leads you to believe you’re gonna convince her to abandon her daddy issues and come with you to church on Sundays? Let’s be serious (if not blasphemous) for a moment – Mary Magdalene was a ho. That was in Jesus’ time, so of course it’s gonna still exist. Know what else was around in Jesus’ time? Wine was. Wine/liquor and hoes go together like college and walks of shame. Liquor and loose women walk hand-in-hand down the road of life. If you wanna don that cape and attempt to interlock your fingers with a reformed (or in your eyes, reformed) ho, by all means, do what you must. Don’t think for a second you owe her a thing, although she may tryta convince you, like “I CHOSE YOU! I coulda had anyone!” Well, ho, you already had everyone, but this dude was the only one tryna make you love him.
I’m not out here saying that there’s no future for a ho. Well, I am, actually. There’s no future in hoing. There’s a future in reforming yourselves, ladies, and not falling head over heels once you got your heels over head, dig? I love you ladies, I swear I do. But love? Nah, no loving you bedsore-ridden, sprained hip flexor having smuts. And if you’ve been in three or more Facebook relationships or break up on Facebook once a month – yeah, I’m definitely talking about you.
