(Artist Spotlight): Take a hit of that PIFF!

Mix jersey club music with synthesizers, an 808 beat machine, some autotune, and some other "influences" and you are just starting to understand the wildness of Chad PIFF. He is probably one of the most abstract artist I've heard in a while considering the group of guys he runs with I shouldn't be too surprised. He is closely affiliated with the Wyld Stylaz but he has a style and a sound all his own. Chad is a guitarist, producer, a singer, rapper and yet you'd be wrong if you tried to categorize him as a single one of these. I've met him a few times and he is one of the coolest guys you'll meet. He'll hand you a business card and hand you a wine cooler in the same motion. I have seen him work in the studio and he does his own thing once he is in the booth. He gets in his zone and makes good music. I have heard a lot of different tracks from him and seen his growth and development of his own style. With sounds reminicisent of Kanye circa 808 and heartbreaks, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne and DJ Frosty (lol) Chad is a diverse dude and a guy you can't help but know about if you from Jersey. And if you haven't heard of the guy you soon will. I had the chance to listen to his most recent mixtape Malls ans Diner and I can't say too much except its pretty dope. I got a review coming soon for it and I'll have it at the bottom for download so you can decide for yourself. I say it about every artist I mention on here.. and I will continue to. I can't emphasize it enough. GET FAMILIAR!!!! So folks just understand you need to know this man. Essex county's own Chad PIFF. ENJOI!

Chad's fan page: Chad PIFF on Facebook
Chad's Twitter: @ChadPIFF
Chad's Mixtape: Malls and Diners
Sb: listen to the mixtape and then listen to it under some sort of influence(mine was a bit of alcohol)..it gets that much better lol

Stay RURF
Sdot

Hip-Hop vs. Rap (Just Thoughts Not a Thesis)

vs 

I know I’ ve been slacking and this is my second post...but bear with me people. What I had to get off my chest before me before I reach an intense slumber; was the difference between hip hop& rap. Like my boy Charles G Clark said on his blog The Wacko Monologues  rap for most, like all music is a getaway, an escape from the worldly pressures that plague us daily. So when compared to music one has to actually think about, most responses would contain some sort of justification claiming that they’ve gotten enough learning or done a great deal of thinking during the day so why would they want in their music? That’s why I believe the perfect way to explain hip hop is like a career or business trip; something that challenges, while still having total admiration and fun-like emotions toward the genre. Hip hop in essence for those who realize what im talking about is not jus food for thought but, the escape, and all other things wrapped up in one. So much so (whether right or wrong) any TRUE hip hop head might just want to fight in defense of their music...

-Teen Gohan aka Hudini 

Big Ben & Roger Goodell....C'mon Son!!!

I was glancing over ESPN.com which is my 3rd home after Facebook/Twitter and Youtube and read an interesting blog post by Jamele Hill. It was regarding Ben Roethlisberger's latest off the field turmoil and the slippery slope of race Commissioner Roger Goodell is on right now. Let me throw out 3 names for ya! Mike Vick, Plaxico Burress, and Adam 'Pacman' Jones. All 3 BROTHAS were suspended from NFL play by Mr Goodell before being actually charged for their respective off the field crimes. All 3 suspensions were warranted and deserved. However, Big Ben a NON-BROTHA has now been accused of the same crime (sexual assault) twice in the SAME YEAR and has two pending cases. So I have 2 questions. 1-What is the commissioner waiting for? 2-If he was a BROTHA, would he be suspended already? The longer the commissioner waits the more race is gonna be thrown around. Its 2010 and issues involving race and pro-sports arent going anywhere. Im not calling the commissioner a racist. I'm just saying the longer he waits to punish Big Ben the more people are gonna make the assertion that White players are given the benefit of doubt over Black players. Its not rocket science. Get on with it cuz Lord knows Roethlisberger deserves it!!!

Letter After T, Before V
'U'

TO THiNE OWN SELF BE TRUEEE!!! PLEEEAAASEEEE!!! [PART 1]

Listen, within the past couple of days I've been doing a lot of 'soul searching'..(I mean what college kid hasn't been w/ the end of the spring semester/beginning of grind time quickly approaching LoL) & what I didn't realize up until yesterday morning was that whatever decisions I had been struggling to make were all nonsense: in reality, my mind had been made up about certain matters and apparently I was simply in search of confirmation..like, "am I really doing the right thing?!"...duh! of course I was! because it was what I WANTED TO DO! Keep up kids, I'll try not to confuse you...what I'm basically saying is, life is too short to second-guess yourself or keep yourself in a situation that hinders who you truly are when you have full control of getting out of it. Feel me? Okay lol...so now that I'm done w/ my mini-diary entry lol I can proceed to the inspirational aspect of this potentially dope post : ) 

I have a friend, Briana, who has the sweetest tat..."To thine own self be true" on her shoulder...and this is what encouraged me to make my latest decision to get rid of something that just wasn't allowing me to BE MYSELF....after a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders via professional email, I go to class where we're discussing two pioneers within their own right: Pierre Cardin and Patti Smith. I'm gonna leave you w/ 2 links to read first...then after this Business Law test.....come back w/ the fashion flip LoL...lot's of love.

PiERRE CARDiN

PATTi SMiTH NY TiMES

JAM OF THE WEEK: It was Beautiful

I was doing some browsing the other day. I check a few blogs ever so often just to see what's what with folks in my age bracket and that I know or know of (they are posted to the right). One of those blogs is The Award Tour ran by pretty cool guy by the name of Phil. So he had series of post called Californication and as I was reading one he mentioned a guy by the name of Dom Kennedy with a link to one of his songs called Hard Work... which I thought was pretty dope. So I did a bit of musical research via Youtube and stumbled across his mixtape. So you know I'm a fan of new music (new to me at least) so i downloaded the mixtape and came across the reason for today's post. "It Was Beautiful" has the most mellow melodic beat I have heard in a while and it's funny because I feel like I can't listen to anything else its been in my head so much. So I thought why not let the Visions fam get mesmerized by the beat as well. So here's my Jam of the Week. ENJOI!




SB: Big shoutout to Phil for this gem. I'm a big fan of the blog and the brand. Been trying to get a shirt or a hoody for the longest but it's always sold out lol. I want to get in touch with him to see if I can't do a collaborative effort to make a logo and maybe even a line for VOQ.. Who knows..But yea Check him out.

Check out His Blog: The Award Tour 
Follow him on twitter: @OnAwardTour

Another SB: I may end up doing a mixtape review on this Dom Kennedy so look out for it.

Stay RURF
Sdot

Allota Alliteration for Spring Sports

Sweet Sixteen. Elite Eight. Final Four. Top Two. Yea.. you know what Im talking about.. MARCH MADNESS!!! Well the most exciting time in college basketball has begun folks. 64 for teams go in.. only ONE comes out a winner. I am not a fan of TV all together and I don't often watch college basketball (I'll catch a game if I'm at a friends apartment or something) but I always love filling out a bracket and trying to determine who is going to win it all. SO This year I started a group on ESPN.com with some friends. Some friendly competition (with the chance to win 10,000 dollars via the site lol). I today my bracket took a couple huge hits because Marquette and Notre Dame lost today but my final 4 is still alive and well. I chose Pitt, Kentucky, Duke, and Kansas going to the Final Four with Kansas taking it all. So I'm excited to see how the bracket turns out! That's it for now folks. ENJOI!

Fill out your own Bracket here for fun: http://bit.ly/cMCeqb

Stay RURF
Sdot

LIl Wayne Vs. Weezy

"Dwayne Carter Inmate No. ...."

As many of us have heard Dwayne Michael Carter Jr (or Lil' Wayne to all his fans) was sent to jail this month for a gun charge conviction. I'm not one to be big on posting about the larger artist (I like to leave that to the other 6 million blogs that do it) but I felt that I should do a post not on him going to jail, or that he won't even be missed with the features and work he put in before he left, but on his decline as a lyricist and supersaturation. Lil Wayne has come up and taken the Hip Hop game by storm. He resurrected his career and has become one of the (if not the) hottest artist in the music (let alone Hip hop) game. He has been featured on songs with people from Madonna to Jay-z, from Keri Hilson to Eminem and the general public has accepted his hotness as law. Yet there is a divide, or dilemma if you will, on his part.  In my opinion Weezy hasn't been the same artist since about early 2007. Now many would argue that I am out of my mind and has gotten better. I would beg to differ. I would say that he has become more widely accepted or in other words hotter and attained dare I say "God MC" status. Let em quickly define that for you... when someone has God MC status they are virtually invulnerable to scrutiny, anything they release will sell and be a hit and there impact on style and culture is too vast to encompass. If you look at all the the guys that are tatted up from head to toe or have dreads you can understand what I mean. Lil Wayne had progressively sold more albums each time just off of merit. Tha Carter III sold 3,000,000 records world wide which is almost unheard of in this digital/internet pirating era. Yet my problem is with the quality of  his music. I would ask any Lil Wayne "fan" to listen to anything he released from 2005-2007 and then listen to 2008-2010 and then tell me who is legitimately better. In my mind I would say the latter. Tha Carter II, Dedication, Dedication 2, and the Drought 3 was the pinnacle of Mr. Carter's lyrical and artistic prowess. At that time he was the best rapper alive. Now he has traded that for the tittle of "the hottest rapper alive" which are 2 completely different things Another way he as shown this is with the creation of Young Money entertainment (or syndicate as I call it). With the Addition of Nicki Minaj and Drake, Lil Wayne has set himself up for success even in his absence. Pumping out loads and loads of "hot" music. One thing I would hope is that Jail would help give him that 2006 Wayne edge rather than the "hotness" of the 2009 Wayne. I can say in favor of the newer Wayne is that his mixtape No Ceilings was a bit reminiscent of the Wayne that the true hip hop heads could rock with. So for now we will deal with the plethora of features that will come our way due to Wayne's literal absence. He is gone physically but his presence in the game will probably be as strong as ever. Well I'm done with my rant for now. Don't think of me as downing any of Lil Wayne's accomplishment. I was a fan(emphasis on was). My Itunes library is stacked with Wayne (I was even one of the 3,000,000 who bout Tha Cater III). Its just that I am not one that will easily just accept what I am given and I can't particularly accept the new hot wayne. In other words I love hip hop so I got to send an SOS for its sons and lost souls. ENJOI!


SB: Figured I'd let you tell it which intro was better [not hotter better] (What a difference 2 years can make)


Tha Mobb (Tha Carter II)


3peat (Tha Carter III)


Stay RURF
Sdot

OKAY!! i'M ON DECK..i'M UP NEXT: A Proper Introduction From Yours Truly, Farasha xo

Greetings VOQ Fam & Friends! Mr. Bell set me up VERY nicely with that intro [thanks sweets!xx]...but it's only right that I start off with personally telling you a little about myself before I start jumping right into giving you what you want...

I go to school at LiM in Manhattan for Fashion Merchandising. I intern for Men's Sales at Diesel USA. & I officially intern for the Fashion Dept at NYLON Magazine...so w/ all that said..i'm in NYC...EVERY...DAY LoL...grinding and soaking in inspiration in literally every form; always keeping my eyes and ears peeled for the latest news and trends. Because i'm so easily inspired by so much art and entertainment...i'm known for expressing myself very candidly in FB stats and Tweets on the regular. I flirted w/ the idea of blogging, so as to channel all these thoughts into 1 place where you all can check up on things i love, hate, and question...& when I got the invite from the boys....it seemed like the right green light. SO HERE I AM!!! Ready to offer for my insight on music, news, and fashion...for the LADiES...and maybe the gents too ; )

Do I have a love affair w/ exclusive kicks? Yes. Do I support classic hip-hop/real music? Yes...but...I'll leave that to Sdot and Hudini....You will find that what I really adore is premium denim and leather, and hot accessories bc I feel like as long as one has on quality jeans and the right accent pieces, the world is a better place lol. Therefore, most of my posts will delve into the latest trends in those areas-as well as parties, store openings, & lots of other things of that nature.

Hope you all are ready for an abundance of style insight, shout outs to people i support, and recounts of my crazy and hilarious life as a girl who's just tryna make it!! VOQ Thanks again for putting me on deck. Lots of Love... NOW LET THE FUN BEGiN ; )

Behold.... A Lady

I have been thinking for sometime that Visions has needed more of a feminine touch. I mean the testosterone levels here have been pretty high. So I was thinking why not introduce an X-factor in to the mix. Some lovely young lady to help diversify the image of Visions of Quest. We don't just totally want to be geared just toward men so we need to expand those horizons. I know plenty of people that I could have chosen to join us here at Visions. Even fewer that could add that special touch of pizazz. So as I caroused through Facebook and I took a gander at twitter. I saw one of my good friends was looking to become a blogger. In my head I'm thinking "She would be perfect. A: She's a girl. B: We need more fashion, female, and other news related stuff (She's stylish). C: We need some one with desire to blog (she does). and D: she's pretty awesome". So with all that in mind I was thinking why not extend the invitation to this lovely lady. She is already like family. She is the Godsister of Visions own Hudini. She is lively, well spoken, cool, and pretty damn fly so it's is only right that I bring her to you guys I think she is a pretty dope young lady and I know you will to. So with no further delay I would like to present to you all the newest member at Visions of Quest.... Farasha <3 .... ENJOI!

Follow Farasha on Twitter: @HAUT3_PiNK

"VI" is the magic Number

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" That's how I screamed... today (Like I was a girl who saw a mouse) when i found out the latest in Jordan Brand news. Now there are a handful of things that could get me this excited. Meeting Kanye West, marrying Serena Williams (or Jessica Biel), getting a pair of Grape Vs for under $300, and what I found out today! Two of the most sough after pair of Jordan's are going to be together in one pack. The Jordan VI Black/Infrared and the Jordan VI White/Infrared will be in a pack released in June. I got this information from 3 very reliable sources The Hood Nerd, Sneakgeekz, and Flight Club Korea (I know its in Korean but you know what it's saying lol). So with that being said I had to post this.. My Jay game is pretty on point as of now but this will just add insult to injury (I will quite literally be killing the sneaker game). I will have this pack just like I got the VII pack and the Space Jams and every other pair of kicks I wanted. This literally made my day so of course I had to relay it to the lovely readers of our blog. No actuall pics yet of the upcoming release but I will hit you with picks of the OG releases so your mouth can water as much as mine did. ENJOI!

Black Infrareds

White Infrareds

Sb: I know my some post may seem a lil redundant but I will always place emphasis on things I love (I love VIs which are Jordan's. I love Jordan's which are sneakers. I love sneakers which are almost as close to my heart as my my love for women lol). I will have more music and we got a special surprise as it pertains to a new addition to the Visions family so stay tuned...

Follow these guys on twitter (You should already be following @Visionsofquest):

@TheHoodNerd

@SneakGeekz

Stay RURF

Sdot

Hi my names Sidanii and I'm a Sneakerhead.. "Hiiii Sidanii."

Sooooooo Yea.. I picked the shoes I was going to get guys. Instead of 3 I got 4 pairs (yea I got it bad lol). My money was right and I just felt like "hey I want them so Im gonna buy them" and I did. I got some feedback from folks. Some unanimous others up in the air but when it came to it I felt like what I was copping now was a no brainer. I won't babble on (get it Babylon lol..yes I'm very corny) because I know you want to see the kicks. So without further adieu here are my new kicks. ENJOI!

 I decided to go with...

 The Huxtables

The Aqua Hoop Structures

The Motorsports

and The Pacmans

My name's Sidanii and I'm addicted to Kicks

Sb: I'm not really a drake fan by any stretch of the imagination but this beat is sick and the rosetta stone line was dope. This is my jam of the day.

Stay RURF
Sdot

Yes, I Hung Out With Redman AND Method Man

Its not everyday you get to attend a concert with Legends or Trend Setters. Its not everyday you get to meet two of your heroes. Well I can say I did both in one night. Last week thanx to some networking and connections with my buddies over at: The Blackout 4Ever I got to meet 'Doc' & 'The Cal'. This video was live, real, not scripted, and very HOOD! After these two icons tore it up live @ The Mezzanine @ Penn State University they shared their insight on their illustrious careers, advice for aspiring artists like myself, and tons of other things. Was there weed yes (TONS)! Was there liquor yes! Were there groopies yes! Was there a tour bus full of ghetto dudes left & right yes! But besides all of that, before & after the interview I got to pick the brains of two of my heroes and reasons for why I picked up a mic in the first place. Enjoy the video!

Sidebar: Me & Red definitely grew up like 10 minutes from each other in Newark/EO lol & gave he me mad props for pursuing a career of my own along with Meth; And the white Coogi Jacket shoulder is me behind Redman, and I know! I know! maaad ghetto camera/interview work but hey dont judge lol



Letter After T, Before V
'U'

Paved the Path: ...Mars Blackmon style

“I ain't Martin Luther King. I don't need a dream. I have a plan.” - Spike Lee

From sneaker culture to racism, self hatred to the black experience in America, Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee has done it all and captured it all on film. He made influential movies such as Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, the former in which the American Film Institute heralded as one of the 100 greatest movies of all time. The man has been nominated for numerous Academy Awards, and has even won an Emmy. But, regardless of his accomplishments Spike’s true gift is how he displays and portrays the African-American plight through a camera lens. He taught us what it truly means to be black in this country, and that even though we might have a “strike” against us from birth. And that the only real excuse for us not making it in this world is the one manifest as a result of our own fear and incompetence. Not having a steady father figure in my life has left a void, but watching Lee’s films helped at least filling a part of that emptiness, in raising this Africa- American young man.

“Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It's been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.” - Spike Lee







-Hudini The Magic Man aka Teen Gohan