To read the interview & check out the whole issue online, click here.





Make sure to check out the previous issues as well!





Street | Talk Official Trailer from Street Talk on Vimeo.
JESSE BOYKINS III PART ONE from TONE on Vimeo.

One of my favorite photographers and huge inspiration, Brazilian artist SEBASTIÃO SALGADO is a true master of capturing the human spirit on film. His book, THE CHILDREN was my first reference I turned to when I started going back to drawing a few years ago. His collection of photographs of refugee children from all around the world is one of the most powerful visual documentations of the effect of war and trauma on children.In the introduction to Migrations, he wrote, "More than ever, I feel that the human race is one. There are differences of colour, language, culture and opportunities, but people's feelings and reactions are alike. People flee wars to escape death, they migrate to improve their fortunes, they build new lives in foreign lands, they adapt to extreme hardship…."
His images speak without words...about terror, loss of innocence, the horrors of war and the beauty of the human spirit that- even while faced with the harshest conditions- can transcend the shadows of the past and heal the presence. This piece, inspired by one of the photos from his book, THE CHILDREN, on the left was one of my first pieces I exhibited (I donated it to a fundraiser for Emergency) a few years ago...I was at an early phase of experimenting with my style and media. After buying the book, I would keep on returning to these images and stare at these children's telling eyes...many of these kids were born and spent their entire life in refugee camps. (e.g Rwanda, Lebanon, Croatia, Afghanistan, India, Mozambique, Sudan, or Kurdistan). I believe that Salgado's photographs have the power of changing someone's life (a quality I think every artist would love to own). Someone told me that at his show of THE CHILDREN, they displayed the photos as giant, larger-than-life size prints and the power of these images made many attendees burst out in tears. 


I love these futuristic beaded pieces individually designed & hand-crafted in the workshop of London-based BROKEN FAB. Check out more on brokenfab.com.
I just discovered this Melbourne-based band, Temper Trap while blog-surfing. Much like their fellow Aussie band the Empire of the Sun, or the new US groups MGMT and Passion Pit, these guys have been putting out some quality pop music. I'm not surprised that they have been compared to U2 or Coldplay, you can definitely hear their influences, but Temper Trap got their own sound locked down. They just dropped a new album this month, called "Conditions".Lichiban :: "RE:GENERATION: Earth Spirit Rise" mural-LES, NYC from Lichiban EV [Electric Vision] on Vimeo.
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Dam-Funk - Toeachizown (Double-CD Version) 2/CD with 6p. folder, $16.98
London fam, Kevin (also editor of the upcoming site thewhorington.com), Craig and Mike of STREET TALK UK came through my studio last month for an interview for their new New York City interview project sponsored by UK streetwear brand, BOXFRESH (their community site will be hot!). These guys are some of the coolest cats I know! They also got to interview the gorgeous songstress N'neka and Chelsea gallery owner, Jonathan Levine among others. I just got the behind the scenes teaser trailer for their project.Street Talk NY - Behind The Scenes... from Mike Osaer on Vimeo.
Site is coming soon www.streettalktv.co.uk. Follow StreetTalkUK on twitter here
JOHNNY VOLTIK "Higher" live from Lichiban EV [Electric Vision] on Vimeo.
JOHNNY VOLTIK "Sunshine" live from Lichiban EV [Electric Vision] on Vimeo.


The Voices of New York (VONY) movement is evolving beautifully. VONY's founder, Suzie and I have been given an opportunity to talk about our work at Rise Up Radio - WBAI-FM, New York a couple of months ago (This was actually my second time at the radio. Back in December, I had a chance to talk about my solo show the Secret Lives of Samurais on this dope program). The show this time focused on education and on some of the flaws inherent in the public educational system, and it touched on some less serious tabloid stories. We came in at the second half of the show discussing the alarming phenomenon of the reduction of funds from art education and how VONY tries to counteract the negative effects of this by creating and implementing mentoring workshops that encourage creativity at an early stage of child development. I believe that art, among other things, is the foundation of culture, and it is the voice of a community; hence it has a powerful political potential. So if you take away the arts, you practically undermine a community's (and of course the individual's) creative power for self-determination and expression. This is why I think as artists it is very important for us to give back and nurture the next generation of visionaries to create, dream and believe in their vision...to have a VOICE! Big shout out to our lovely hosts TastyKeish & the boys Digo and Divino for having us on the show and doing a great job with the program. Thank you!
This show is going to be a blowout...the line-up is crazy. I've been waiting for BILAL's much-anticipated album to drop..Expect the unexpected, his new album is completely AMAZING! Also check the EPK for Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra to get a feel for his new project.Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka EPK I from Plug Research on Vimeo.
This is sooo good...an oldie and probably my favorite mixtape from West-coast sound wizard, Gaslamp Killer (check an earlier mix I posted here). A part of the Brainfeeder family housing artists such as Ras G, Flying Lotus, Samiyam, Gaslamp Killer is known for his trippy concoctions made of experimental hip-hop -jazz- psychedelic kraut rock-soul sound bites that draw inspiration on anything from Turkish funk, Jimi Hendrix, Lonnie Liston Smith , Thunder Cat, Beth Gibbons, Kraftwerk to Pharoah Sanders... GK is a breath of fresh air.




Big shout out to the YOUNITY crew-Toofly, Alice Mizrachi, Shana Louallen, Diana Mc Clure, Yvette Devito, Samia Grand Pierre for doing such an amazing job with the show.Wednesday, October 14th
( Shana Louallen at gallery come visit! )
4:30-7:30PM
Friday, October 16th
( Toofly at Gallery Come visit! )
6-10PM
Saturday, October 17th
( Toofly, Yvette Devito, and Stephanie Land at gallery come visit! )
4:30-10PM
Wednesday, October 21st
( Shana Louallen at gallery Come visit! )
4:30-7:30PM
Friday, October 23rd
( AM at gallery last chance to view! 4:30-6pm )
The 3rd Annual CMJ Kickoff Party 




Here is a dope new freebie from BK artist fam, this charming THEOPHILUS LONDON.
Jaylib – Raw Addict [Stones Throw] /// Quasimoto – MHB’s (Instrumental) [Stones Throw] /// Blu – Local Legends (Prod. Flying Lotus) [White] /// Hezekiah – Looking Up Ft. Bilal (Prod. Theo Bark) [Soulspazm/Rawkus] /// 88 Keys & Bilal – M.I.L.F [White] /// Flyherro – You Know What [White] /// Hudson Mohawke – Polkadot Blues [White]