History never starts or stops, but every era has a distinct starting point…Welcome to mine! On December 1st, 2010, 120 guest of The World Famous Tony Williams, gathered in a privately owned theater in Dallas, Texas. The occasion was an intimate presentation of the soon to be released album, “King or The Fool”.
The center piece of the evening was a “live” painting rendered spontaneously by renown native Cuban-American artist, Rolando Diaz. The work on canvas was inspired by the songs of “King or The Fool” and ultimately would serve as the album’s cover art.
The event, also, was to encourage support for the grassroots effort of the non profit, Traffick911, a team of passionate people driven to stop the sale of American children into sexual slavery. The painting was auctioned off to a generous bidder with 100% of the proceeds donated to Traffick911,
With your support , we can help Traffick 911 to build a safe house for girls, as young as ten, crying out to be rescued from sexual slavery.
Masters of Ceremony..Steve Picket and Frances Jaye..
6 hour flight to Seoul to ride a bus for an hour.. to board a charter (which we’re about to do) to fly an hour to Yangyang, Korea. i’m tired about 11 hours ago via web
This was my tweet yesterday while sitting in the lounge at the small airport waiting to board the 18 seater plane that flew us to Yangyang last nite. As a matter of fact it was just after I took this picture….
Joi Starr is such a sexy... I mean silly girl!!!!
as a matter of fact it was just after I had gotten up from eating, because I remember tweeting and thinking “Man, I got tha ITIS!!”…
Joi Starr thought the side of fish was so hilarious and a photo was definitly in order. I ordered the bugoghi (I'm sure i'm spelling it wrong) which is a marinated thinly sliced beef dish and my favorite Korean meal. It was quite delectable which surprised me for airport food.
It’s hard to imagine that some corporate shirt could have the swag to loosen his tie and let the team have some fun on the job, but the higher-ups over at American Apparel seem to know what time it is. I knew this was a cool store when I got a call from a friend in Montreal a few years ago saying, “hey.. I’m in this American Apparel store and they’re playing your song “Dreaming Of Your Love”, (an obscure 2007 release of mine that featured on Kanye’s Can’t Tell MeNothin Mixtape). Earlier this year the company went on a mission to find the next ‘face’ of American Apparel underwear and intimates. A contest was launched and you can go to their website to view over 1300 submissions of butts. After deliberating over the top ten selected by the public, they’ve decided on the top two, which are kinda nice, however, I know of a few of you that obviously didn’t know of the contest…
This probably won’t be the first video I release from The World Famous Tony Williams: Finding Dakota Grey project. I still have to reshoot “Still Got Love”, the first shoot bordered on disaster (according to one Kanye West, lol) as well as shoot a video for the “Nightmares (remix)”, both of which will probably be released first and second. The “King or The Fool” video shoot, however, was a G.O.O.D. time and I have lofty expectations for the final product. Here are a few stills from the shoot directed by myself and Count Justice.
"I'll show you a game.. you're in school... only two plays, just one rule...."
I just wanted to thank everyone that hung out with my cousin Ricky and I in UStream World while we got tattooed Wednesday, it was a blast. If you missed it you really missed some kool stuff like like Ricky holding back tears, lol!! My man Lee Maxwell over at Heart & Soul Ink in Waipahu hooked the tats up. For mine, he took an illustration originally drawn by illustrator Francis Vallejo (who, by the way, did the cover art for Finding Dakota Grey) and embellished it nicely!! Ricky chose to have Lee interpret the popular illustration of Jesus pulling the man (depicted in Ricky’s likeness) through his struggles. Anyway, here’s the UStream link if you still wanna witness the fun and excitement.
Lee Maxwell hooking up the now famous "King or The Fool" playing card tattoo
I remember arriving at a studio session and pulling into the driveway and finding some producer type friends of mine outside cranking some sounds in the car. They had just installed c.d. players in their cars. That was a long time ago, but I still remember how ridiculous I thought it was. I had never seen anything like that before. Not in a car. I remember, like it was yesterday, telling them that, “you guys have gone over board with this one, how can you drive and it not bump and scratch (as if it were a record)?” Anyway, it was several months before I upgraded my car’s cassette player. Now, fast forward to the popularity of cellular telephones being used by the masses. “You mean they’re gonna charge me by the minute … there’s nobody I need to talk to that bad?.” Once again, months went by.
The irony of it all is that I’ve always considered my self to be cutting edge, but as I reflect I’ve never been quick to embrace some of the most prolific technological advancements. A couple of years back I recall my manager and publicist hitting me over the head with the fact that I needed to start a blog. “…but what would I talk about … and why?” Well, two years and almost 200 posts later, tada! It’s funny how we all embrace advancements at our own speed. I can look at my own inner circle and for example, Don C. aways has the latest PDA, the latest this and the latest that, his whole stunt game is to have stuff before anyone else. In fact, Don C. was the person that bought Common an iPod about a year and a half ago because we all got tired of laughing at him for showing up at the studio with a Walkman disc player and a handful of loose cd’s. I’m not sure if Common has a laptop, even YET!
So as we dive head first into the year 2010, I would like to go on record and announce that, with the constant urging of my publicist, I am finally on Facebook and Twitter- two more things to consume my time and attention in the name of staying cutting edge. Another thing to learn the nuisance of…I mean nuance of. I was up till 3 a.m. trying to navigate these things and if you see me wandering around looking lost….. I can’t believe what I’ve gotten myself into. The sick thing is that I can’t wait to get back to it.
Find me on Twitter at @TWFTonyWilliams (I think thats how you do it)
USA Today, recently, put out a 64 page special edition paper entitled ,simply, Ali. It has essays from President Barak Obama, Billy Chrystal, Charles Barkley, Howard Bingham, Kareem Abdul-Jabbbar, Sen. Orrin Hatch, and Reshida Ali. It ,also, has interviews with Muhammed and Lonnie Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Angelo Dundee and more. This is a must have collectable. I purchased one , while waiting on my plane at LAX yesterday. If your favorite newstand is all out, just click here to order one.
If, by reading my previous post pertaining to artist and music, you’ve discerned that I am a self-proclaimed music guru, you’re right! It’s what gives me the most pleasure about writing these post. You see, “What Is Hip!” according to The World Famous Tony Williams is all about my expert views on what you should be listening to, thinking about, as well as laughing at (notice the no LOL here, after all, I am an extremely close relative of Kanye, so you know that I know).
I, first, learned of Nikka Costa in 2001, after seeing her “Everybody Got Their Something” video from her 2001 album release by the same name. I knew immediately that she was the whole package, a funky, edgy, soulful rocker! Simply stated, a Rock Star! Today, I find it intriguing that when the question comes up about which artist I’m listening to and constantly checking for, people don’t know the name Nikka Costa when I mention her. In fact , she’s one of a handful of artist whose project I will purchase, sight unseen.
Nikka Costa makes really good “real” music that ,also, happens to be really soulful. If she wasn’t already, after seeing the NPR interview with Farai Chidaya (the last youtube clip on this post), she would be my girl, definitely! When asked about her take on “white female” artist that “play with the black vernacular” and their music being embraced by fans and radio, Costa references those before and after her, from Teena Marie to Duffy and Amy Winehouse (definitely check out this interview, if just for the subtle snub of Christina Aguilera). She goes on to say that with the recent success of Winehouse, people finally are accepting a movement that she’d been perpetuating, since the early 2000’s and that the unfortunate reality was that “black people aren’t making this type of music anymore.” This statement pricked my soul… a knife straight through my chest.. but please don’t take that out of context. You see Nikka Costa, simply, was confirming what Nelson George wrote in his 1988 book“The Death of Rhythm & Blues”, in which he attributes the demise of a cultural treasure to the fact that black folks simply don’t attempt to preserve their history. like grandmother’s walnut credenza that was passed down from her grandmother, shiii… we sold that shit in a garage sale for $35 when grandmother died, last year. It ended up in an antique store in SoHo where it sold for $3,500 and now it sits in the living room of some young white stockbrokers upper eastside apartment. Costa goes on to add that this has been a trend, since the early rock bands that where “biting” blues artist and states that the world could use more music like this out there (regardless of who’s performing it) and she’s right! The world needs more really good “real” music and Black music needs a few more Nikka Costas.
A few weeks ago, I received this video in my comment box along with a very brief explanation that simply said, “You should blog this video,” from some guy by the name of Ryan Lewis. That’s it. No other explanation at all and no I don’t know who Ryan Lewis is. Of course, at this point, however, my interest had been piqued and I was soon deep into his mini film. Upon first view, I’ll admit I didn’t know what to think of Ryan’s production, only that he made some really good use of some beautiful stop motion photography and I sensed that he was attempting convey some profound message. I just didn’t know what it was. At any length, I was further intrigued to perform due diligence on this cat and found that Ryan Lewis is actually a very talented, versatile and well rounded artist which is what persuaded me to honor the request and “blog this video”. You see, Ryan Lewis is , not only, a very skilled and creative photographer, but he’s also an audio producer… he makes beats, designs album covers and promotional fliers for artist as well… my kinda cat!!
I viewed his video for a second time on Thanksgiving morning, I awoke to my usual morning of getting straight to business- logging onto my laptop and grabbing my mobile, simultaneously. It was time to clock in- log onto my blog, check my email, glance through my text messages etc, get my day going with a cup of freshly brewed organically grown fair trade java and a whole world brought to me via cyberspace. After viewing, Ryan’s video, while, responding to more than a dozen well wishes for Thanksgiving, it dawned on me that while, I seemingly was more connected to the world, I was less connected to those who impact me most. Furthermore, I realized and actually came to grips that some of my connectivity was simply fake, I was no more than psuedo-connected to the vast majority of people with whom I was connecting, chatting, texting, emailing! I accepted the fact that I knew no more about my cyber world than what it’s citizens wanted me to know. It was jolting to think that I interact with people on the daily whose voices I would never recognize, not to mention, whose faces I would not, either; I share my views and opinions just like I am doing now with complete strangers more than I do my closest friends and family members. All this connectivity brought to us courtesy Myspace, Google, Gmail, Starbuck’s , etc., has silenced us, often has kept us so busy trying to connect that we have not connected with those closest to us, our loved ones. Just like getting a card in the mail, or jotting down a note to a friend, or sending a letter to someone you love, plain old fashioned face to face communicating is becoming rarer and rarer as we become more and more intrigued, entranced, even, swallowed up by our cyberworlds. So on Thanksgiving, I put my cyberworld to the side for a few hours and gave thanks for being able to give and receive an actual hug, to laugh with my neighborhood, to sit down to dinner with friends and talk, to really connect with those who are important to me, the plain old fashioned face to face way, no waiting for a signal, no logging on, no dialing up, no texting, no transmission errors, no avatars. I could be experienced by the living, the breathing, the actual and moreover, I could not be silenced, I was present and loving it, thanks to God and thanks to Ryan!
Earlier this year while touring Europe, we happened to swing through the U.K. and while in London the folks at Juice Magazine “holla’d atcha boy”. Juice, an upstart glamour mag that will remind you of King, released ists first issue back in Dec. 08/ Jan. 09 in hard copy. As I understand the most current issue which features your’s truely is still on the presses but the magazine has reeleased an exclusive digital issue. Click on the “Juice” logo below to check out the Tony Williams interview that starts on page on 18, as well as a fashion spread on page 34. The issue also features an interview withe Rita G, “the Kanye Killer” from the Flashing Lights video as well as some London hottie pictorals..
< Tracing the evolution of HARLEM WEEK, now thirty five years old (1974), is very simple— it began as HARLEM DAY, a one-day tribute that was so astonishingly and unexpectedly successful that more days were needed to showcase the community’s rich economic, political and cultural history, to say nothing of the current, ever increasing artistic talent in Harlem. Above all, HARLEM DAY—in its unique way—was a day of encouragement and fellowship for New Yorkers in general and Harlemites in particular, many of whom had struggled for some years to see a positive future for Urban America.
…so these cats over at Contexture Design are really into creating things that emphasize simple, elegant and sustainable design. They’re ideas are usually inspired by reclaimed materials with historical, cultural or environmental significance. Check out what they created from these cassette tapes.
So peep!! this ibum (Tomomi Sayudo)chair will photocopy yo ass, when you sit in it!! Fo real, it’s got a scanner on the seat of it that scans the ass that sits on it and then, without notice, a printed copy appears from the underside. Thas yo ass!!
Tracing the evolution of 
What is Hip! 
