The American demonization of Muslim culture finally gets an appropriate push-back via Bahraini artist, Mohammed Kanoo. Dubai's Meem Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit (May 15th-July 5th) by Kanoo titled Fun With Fen--a series of digital prints that depicts famous American celebrities like Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie, Amy Winehouse, Will Smith and others in traditional Muslim garb. Something to really think about, especially regarding the current state of Middle Eastern diplomacy and tolerance.

Is someone snatching your prized sandwich from the office refrigerator? Or maybe a pesky roommate at the apartment or school? Fear not as the clever designers of The. have created a series of anti-theft lunch bags that are guaranteed to fool the food thieves. The bags are printed with blotches that resemble mold. Refrigerator warfare at its finest!

Faithful República contributor and professional photographer, Be Heard, recently embarked on a visually stunning visit to Morocco, North Africa. Here are a few snapshots of the trip--a quiet look into a culturally-rich universe that few are fortunate and brave enough to visit and capture. Fans can check out more of Be's work here.

Hip-Hop renaissance man, David Banner, is currently using his star power to encourage artists and creatives to control their own music and content. His 2M1 Movement is calling for two million people to donate $1 dollar to create their own pipeline and opportunity outside of record labels and distribution conglomerates. Mr. Banner makes several points concerning the intrinsic devaluation of current "urban" music and culture. He points out how "free" albums and mixtapes contribute to the devalued state of urban culture and product.

Although we're not exactly sure about the case of race relations down in the American state of North Carolina, the following commercial for The Red House Furniture Store certainly raises our brows. If the jingle alone doesn't blow your mind, just wait until it gets to "black" or "white" furniture. And to think--all this time and historical tension--and racism will ultimately end with the purchase of a brand-new couch or bed. Epic!

Music and sound enthusiasts should know that today, May 23, 2012 marks the 78th birthday of Robert Moog (2005), father of modern electronic sound. The New York City-born inventor pioneered the electronic instrument market--one of his most famous creations being the Moog synthesizer. Google is paying tribute on their homepage via an actual flash-based version of the machine. Users can play, record and even embed their own custom sounds. Check it out and then find out more about Moog's instruments and legacy at Moog Music Inc.

If Google and National Geographic had a baby, surely The Map of Life project would be it. The online platform project allows users to research animal species and their locations on the globe. While not exactly complete (more species are continuously being added) the interactive map will serve a very crucial role in helping researchers work together says Yale researcher, Walter Jetz:

[It's] something to help us all collaborate, improve, share, and understand the still extremely limited geographic knowledge about biodiversity.

It's not often we focus on any new Streetwear brands here at República. In other words, you've got to be pretty interesting to impress us. Enter Deadline Ltd a New York City-based apparel line that draws its inspiration from early and late 90's Hip-Hop music and culture. We're talking H.N.I.C. snapbacks, Boyz N The Hood font and No Limit-inspired graphics. With all the bland, clean-cut couture in recent Streetwear, we can appreciate some great urban sensibility. Word is bond son!

The Original Home of Afro-House + Latin Soul (WEPA) hits Brooklyn, New York City this weekend with the first in a series of open market jams at the Dekalb Market. Expect food, art, goods and tunes!

Saturday May 19th, 6-10PM [FREE] 

138 Willoughby Street (Flatbush Ave.) Brooklyn, NY 11201

International purveyors of all things cool and crazy, Vice, recently sat down with renowned movie and music video director, Brett Ratner (Tower Heist, Rush Hour, Redman, Public Enemy, Madonna) to give viewers an intimate look at the man behind the blockbusters. Filmmakers and fans alike will find the interview quite interesting, as the manic visionary drops infinite gems about how he got started by watching Brian De Palma and Al Pacino on the set of Scarface, hanging around the original Miami Vice series, linking with then-record label creator, Russell Simmons and tons of other amazing side stories. Worth the watch!

Presenting Young Wonder, a savvy crew of young (and probably underage) "Tumblr girls" (post-modern internet hipsters) with the brains to match their creative brawn. The gals travel around covering the latest and greatest in underground fashion, music and general cool-cat mayhem in a well-photographed, vintage-filter aesthetic. Check them out. No fake IDs necessary.

Digital interview magazine, The Avant Garde Diaries, presents their latest piece on snowboarders Circe Wallace and Nicolas Muller. The beautifully shot interview-slash-shred session is very nice on the eyes. The insightful thoughts about snowboarding and society are also quite nice on the brain. We digs it!

Online comic strip site, The Oatmeal, presents reasons for why Serbian-born inventor, Nikola Tesla, was the greatest geek who ever lived. A bunch of them include Thomas Edison's sabotage of his great work (referred to as douchebaggery) and a slew of inventions and ideas that were mooched from him by other dudes (not cool, bro). Check out the full page of details and illustration goodness here and do yourself a favor and research Mr. Tesla. Those that don't know will be amazed at what they find!

Detroit-bred MC, Danny Brown, was given the documentary treatment thanks to Pitchfork. The eccentric phenom was tailed in his hometown for a few days. The following is what transpired--urban scenes that give viewers an insight into Brown's wild mind and raps. Detroit, what!

We stumbled upon this documentary on the European-born architect, Costas Kondylis, thanks to Thirteen and their series Treasures Of New York: Building Stories. Needless to say, we were rather impressed with the story of an immigrant architect who struggled to find artistic identity in the midst of pressure and compromise from real estate forces. Definitely worth a peep!

Watch Treasures of New York: Building Stories on PBS. See more from Station Promos.

The following is a black-and-white short on the assembly line process of building bicycles in 1945 (Yep, post WWII). The film, How A Bicycle Is Made (courtesy of the British Council), showcases how Raleigh's popular cruiser was born from drawing table inception to customer use--back when bicycles were intended to provide relaxation, health and happiness--now we've got iGadgets and cumbersome technology for that, no? Right.

Street artists JR and José Parlá have joined forces to recently install murals in Havana, Cuba. The project, part of JR's "Wrinkles Of The City", fuses his large-scale photography with Parla's texture and typographic work, resulting in some rather stunning (and fitting) pieces for the famous Cuban capital city.

The following is a thought-provoking speech delivered by political activist and former United States soldier, Mike Prysner. He goes on to explain how the institution of racism is pivotal in enforcing war and fooling the masses into dying for oppressive causes. As if it weren't any more clear, the speech exposes how the poor are sent to obliterate other poor people on a sadistic global checkerboard for the elite. Good morning Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and the list that goes on...

Minnesota-born graphic designer and illustrator, Jay Roeder is a huge Notorious B.I.G. fan. How big? Big enough to come up with a series of 55 different illustrations based on Biggie's infamous "Juicy" track. Here are a few of our favorites:

Vice and Heineken team up to bring us a series dedicated to the architecture of nightlife. Discotecture: Episode 1 focuses on five young designers from different disciplines that converge to create their vision of an ideal venue. Peep the project as Mark Van Iterson (Heineken Design & Concept Manager), the team and different venue owners breakdown the values of conceptualizing and manifesting good design.

Hunter Walk, the director of product management at YouTube recently wrote a piece for Fast Company and their Co. Exist division that asks Can Online VIdeo Usher In A New Age Of Empathy? According to him, yes! He points out several examples in his article, including one about a a boston woman who started teaching English via her kitchen and now has over 30 million students that watch her lessons from across the globe! Peep the entire piece here.

The power of the moving image to bring people together is having a global effect that’s never been seen before. Now that we all have access to the same media, can it connect us more strongly?

Pizza lovers avoiding gluten now have a mainstream chain to flock to thanks to Domino's. The popular chain is now offering its customers gluten-free pizza crust. According to their press release, the company partnered up with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) to help empower the gluten sensitive community with the information they need.

By Rainey Cruz

After reading yesterday's valid editorial by Señor Burroughs on the ethics of Jay-Z owning an NBA team, I couldn't help but to think about the flip side to that coin and about many more instances where the underworld and the modern-day mechanics of our American society countlessly rendezvous.

I mean, first of all, we're talking about a nation whose very inception was built upon one of the most demeaning institutions of all--Slavery. Fact, our nation's forefathers were baron's of flesh.

Washington, Jefferson, you name them, even Lying-ass Abe (because we all know the real story doesn't merit the "Honest" nickname). Then came the Industrial Revolution and all the environmental and labor swindles. Fast forward even further to the Prohibition Era and you'll find beer and alcohol barons.

Trace down the immoral line of our history and you'll find nothing but "dope" dealers and hustlers of the enterprising kind--families with inherited fortunes--quintessential "old money" based on anything but ethics. They are our Rothschilds, Morgans, Fords, Rockefellers, Carnegies and Kennedys, among others.

And what now? We're offended because a former drug-dealing Carter (Jay-Z's legal surname) wants to play on the crooked Monopoly board and own an NBA team? C'mon son! Nobody questions a white David Stern's inheritance of a predominantly black National Basketball Association, or at least not enough of us do! And why exactly aren't we? Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Jay, or rooting one-sidedly for black ownership, I'm simply requesting that all spades get called out if that's the game we're going to play.

Let's point out every person of financial power with an unclean background, not just crucify one. Besides, the drug dealer talk got old already and unless we're going to really get into Reaganomics and the CIA-specific plot that introduced a profitable "War On Drugs" to America in the first place, we're only bringing knives to the gunfight. Real talk.

We live in a society based on thieves, hustlers and "dope" dealers, a place where "he who is without sin" rarely gets a fair financial shot at owning his very own sports franchise.

Italian designer Emanuele Magini presents his ode to a laid-back (or creative, depending on how you look at it) game of soccer via his Lazy Football soccer chair. The design is comprised of a metal frame chair with a wide net at the bottom that allows sitters to simultaneously attack and defend for points. Fans can holler at the Italian furniture-maker Campeggi who carries the quirky chairs.

By Richard Burroughs

I think the point of Phil Mushnick piece about Jay-Z is lost in the hoopla. I'm not even going to say he made sense but he "could have said it another way." Phil Mushnick spoke his mind on the temerity of a major league sports organization allowing an admitted former crack dealer (remember now, when he was selling crack, that ish was completely ruining lives...so I guess ruining the lives of black people gets a pass if you're black and go on to make music and clothes and live a life that other black people are fond of?), who has rapped "niggas, hoes and bitches," along with gun talk and drug talk across his whole rap career, to own a piece of an major league sports franchise.

Jay didn't go from former crack dealer (and if you've ever lived in a hood where crack was sold, you know it's the other things that go along with "selling crack", like for one, protecting your money from stick-up kids), to some sort of humanitarian with a life dedicated to helping and serving people selflessly. He went on to become a huge rapper by glorifying both his negative past and many of the negative conditions suffered by black people. He has influenced a generation, many to strive for success legally, but he's also influenced many to seek out ways to "stack paper" that's illegal and to repeat misogynistic words and actions. Youth are impressionable and although proper parenting is crucial, there's waayyyy to many ways for kids to hear music for a parent to even get close to adequate monitoring of their kids music consumption.

Phil Mushnick has obviously harbored issues with the Nets allowing Jay-Z to become an owner of the team and this was him putting the situation on blast. The word Nigga spoken/written by a white person is immediate controversy, but the underlying question remains. Should a person who created such exploitative, negative situations by selling drugs and selling and advocating harmful messages to black people, be rewarded with ownership of a sports team? History is rife with the dirty getting clean. Many a person started out illegal and then wanted to get legitimate. Only thing is Jay-Z went legal with his main product (music), yet it was still being harmful to the black community. People can't be above reproach and although Jay-Z has been a legal businessman for quite a while now, had a reading from his book at the NYPL, done major deals with Live Nation and a bunch of other business, he still has a history, both past and recent, that may not be appropriate for ownership in a business that is "supposedly" in the business of providing family entertainment. That was the point and I think it's a valid point to raise.

--

Richard Burroughs is a marketing strategist, event producer and free thinker, living in Brooklyn NY, who moonlights (and sunlights) as a DJ and is frustratingly writing his second novel. Facebook.com/Richardburroughs and @dickburroughs

West Coast-based MC, ScHoolboy Q was recently on New York City's Hot 97 FM declaring a personal PSA against the use of "Lean" aka "Sizzurp" aka "Purple Drank" aka highly-addictive-and-bad-for-you codeine and promethazine. Q gave listeners a first-hand account of the awful withdrawal symptoms of the drug and even talked about how he's been pleading with fellow music peer, A$AP Rocky, to get off the stuff too. It's pretty real and the message is pretty clear--kids, don't do drugs that hurt you!

The following is a look into the civics behind communities and skateboard plazas. The town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the U.S. serves as the case study. Brick By Brick: A Documentary on the Bethlehem Skateplaza covers the ins and outs of a plaza and how it has generated both local and possible national attention--a great example of how the building of a park can directly affect some of the socio-economic factors of a town.

Part 3 of our profile on Congressional candidate, Clyde Williams, takes place at a local hardware store where two generations--a father and son duo--come together day in and day out to keep the family business thriving and food on the table. Check out the conclusion to our series as Clyde gets a two-for-one special on issues concerning business in the neighborhood from Luis Minaya and Luis Minaya Jr.

Yesterday's airing of Teen Jeopardy asked a milestone Hip-Hop question only to receive an unfortunately incorrect answer. The board (and Alex Trebek) asked, "This Roc-A-Fella introduced us to a Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" to which one of the contestants responded with "LMFAO." Okay so maybe he was thinking of LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem, but that answer still deserves an adamant WTF?  Someone cue the real songand the Annie theme for this kid please!

Capitalizing on Steve Jobs' impact on technological culture (and even pop culture, really) as we know it--Magnolia Pictures present a full-length feature on a 1995 sit-down interview that the Apple guru had with producer Robert Cringely. The result is The Lost Interview, a candid portrait of the visionary during the time that he was exiled from Apple and the ideas that, in the end, still proved to captivate the modern world. The movie hits selects theaters on May 11th. Until then, check out the trailer:

Harlem-based Hip-Hop phenom, A$AP Rocky, drops the video to his first and buzzing single, Goldie. Shot in Paris and littered with gold, naked women, and fancy attire, there' s really no question about how all the "trill" teenage fans are going to gravitate to this one. Oh yea, and the tune's got a really hypnotic instrumental that'll hook most listeners. Adults too. Enjoy!

The Soho Gallery For Digital Art in New York City is hosting a rather interesting exhibit this month. The Art of Apps will feature the work of some of the most innovative and visually captivating interface designs for the iPad and iPhone. Visitors can expect to see apps like Path, Behance, Paper by FIftyThree, Mixel, Piictu, Cameo and Tweetbot.

Opening: May 14th 10AM-6PM

Soho Gallery For Digital Art
138 Sullivan Street
New York, NY

RSVP: ArtOfApps.splashthat.com

We came across this local Kickstarter and just couldn't resist the pitch. Imagine that Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing) and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill) work at a Martin Scorsese (The Departed)-owned deli and that's kind of what this project's about. TryBoro Productions wants to make their dark comedy-meets-slasher-meets-gentrification, Shankman's, come to life (and budget) and they need your help to do it! Peep the pitch and decide if you want to help them reach just $10K more to fund their wild indie flick.

Here's a crafty lesson in skateboard cinematography courtesy of Tony Hawk's RIDE YouTube Channel. Filmer Josh Martinez breaks down how to effectively use the dolly shot to spice up any skate video or montage. He also shows us how he built his highly-efficient DIY dolly utilizing only a few hardware store essentials and some skateboard wheels. Proof, yet again, that skaters aren't just a bunch of know-nothing slackers!

Part 2 of our profile series with Democrat and Congressional candidate, Clyde Williams, continues as he explores more of the Washington Heights and Inwood community. This time he takes a seat with local restaurant owner, Dulce Martinez.

Swedish furniture-maker IKEA is taking a creative stab at the world of photography via the KNAPPA Cardboard Digital Camera--a recyclable camera designed by Jesper Kouthoofd. The device is made out of one piece of folded cardboard that is secured by two plastic screws, a single circuit board, camera sensor and integrated USB slot. Oh, and did we mention that they're free and available at IKEA locations in conjunction with a promotion for their new PS Furniture Collection? Sweet.

With the electricity of election season in the air, here's a profile on an interesting candidate that's running for an equally interesting congressional district in New York City.

This three-part series follows Democrat, Clyde Williams and his plans for the communities of Harlem, Washington Heights & Inwood--better known as Uptown Manhattan or District 13.

Check out Part 1 as Clyde heads up to the Northern tip of the island and gets an insiders look into the community and its history via local entrepreneur, Leopold Vasquez.

The Highbridge Library Council in conjunction with the YUCA Arts Program and several other community organizations are hosting a New York City-wide skateboard design contest that coincides with this year's Highbridge Community Fair. The competition is open to middle and high school students who can submit digital samples of their work via email to: arseno2007[at]gmail[dot]com. The contest deadline has been extended to May 5, 2012--keeping in mind that a physical submission of the board design must be delivered by May 11, 2012 to the Bridge Builders storefront (156 West 164th Street, Bronx, NY) between the hours of 10am-6pm. Good luck!

This years Highbridge Community Fair will take place on Saturday May 19, 2012 with part of the street being sectioned off specifically for skateboarding.

[Click to enlarge]

Graphic Designer, Julian Burford, presents a series of popular foods in the form of iOS app icons. The work ranges from Campbell's Soup cans to Oreo cookies to cheeseburgers. They're pretty clever and extremely well-executed. Kudos on the food-o!

Pop icon, Jay-Z, is back at it with another digital deal, this time it's with Facebook and the beta release of his game app, Empire. Loosely based on the rapper's humble beginnings and rise to fame, the RPG-style franchise allows players to make their own "come up" via decisions involving music, family and money. Add another notch to the Brooklyn mogul's belt. He's competing with Super Mario now!

With student loans in the United States accumulating to over $1 Trillion USD there's very little room left under the rug to hide the reality. The increasing cost of higher education coupled with the terrible job market has become the perfect storm condition that hass allowed student loan debt to rise higher than American credit card debt. That being said, Representative Hansen Clarke of Michigan has just introduced H.R. 4170, the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012, in the House of Representatives--legislation designed to lend a helping hand to those struggling under massive amounts of student loan debt. Folks interested in the bill and its details can check it out in its entirety here or visit SignOn.org to learn more about spreading the word.