Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Obey!



I kind of grew up on the MTA in New York City. I mean, I was always travelling with my mother and, when I got old enough to run on my own, I would dip onto the trains with my boys during the Summer months just to soak up some AC and explore my ever expanding world.

Anyway, I really got to know Manhattan once I went to my 1st high school out there. It was on those streets that I got introduced to alot of things, 1 of which was the artwork of Shepard Fairey via his "Andre The Giant Has A Posse/Obey" campaign. The stickers were everywhere son and they just caught my eye. The image was familiar, but was definitely NOT WWF approved.  He also borrowed slogans from 1 of my favorite movies, "They Live!". How cool is that? Back then I used to peel dirty stickers off of crosswalk signs and lamposts ... I have quite a collection of vintage stickers ... lol.  I've still got some exclusives.

Today, Shepard is a world reknowned artist and clothing designer (the "Obey" brand is his) and he's the guy responsible for the super cool Soviet Bolshivek Era propaganda inspired Obama posters (pictured below) that everybody now regenerates copies of with pictures of themselves and what not. Homie and his experiment in "phenomenology" set off all of that guerilla marketing shit that Hip Hop labels and streetwear/skateboard brands swear by kid.  See, it all starts with the streets! Never forget that.

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