Polaroids taken with Impossible 600 & Spectra Film

The woman polarized here above sounds just as mesmerizing as she looks, trust me.

Meet STEFANIE CALLEBAUT, frontlady from SX, a Belgian indie pop band stirring the national and international music scene with their magnetic, melancholic and dreamy pop tales.

Not familiar with SX? Let me be so kind to introduce you real quick…

It was somewhere in 2011 when a video hit the net that quickly went viral. The song that accompanied the video was as hypnotic as the girl with the cute freckles chanting the lyrics.

Exhibit:

This track and accompanied video was the official breakthrough moment for SX, a band that included Stefanie Callebaut (vocals and keyboard) , Benjamin Desmet (keyboard, guitar) and later on joined by drummer Jeroen Termote.

With Black Video SX  reached the audience they were trying to reach ever since they started out in 2009, participating with different music competitions. After winning the Vi.Be On Air competition and officially backed with the support of Belgian national radio Studio Brussels, SX went on a fast speeding rollercoaster to (inter)national stardom.

Not much later SX hit the road opening for bands like DEUS and touring with YEASAYER through Europe.

A year after Black Video, SX released their second single called GOLD

With that single, the band announced their debut album called ARCHE (Greek for ‘origin’) which they showcased in the Brussels Planetarium in front of small select crowd that was treated to a visual and vocal dream ride.

Exhibit:

SX describes their music as etheric, wavy dream pop influenced by MGMT but also heavily inspired by soul influences like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock with a touch of the magnificent 80′s.

That’s probably the reason why it wasn’t hard for me to love SX. I’m not easily drawn to Belgian music, it’s mostly too rock or too bland electronical for me and you knòw I need some soul in my music.

SX is both sensual as it is futuristic and with her background in jazz music, Stefanie definitely has some soul in that voice of hers, a voice that contains the heaviness, darkness and power of Grace Jones from time to time. Other times she even reminds me of Róisín Murphy for some reason and even Kate Bush comes to mind…

Definitely check GRAFFITI, the 2nd single released from ARCHE.

Now that you’ve learned your SX basics,  it’s time to tell you the (short) story behind this Polaroid.

CONVERSE, never not in the mood for throwing a nice party, announced a GET DIRTY evening in TRIX ANTWERP to celebrate the launch of their ‘Well Worn’ collection.

Touring all through Europe with the GET DIRTY tour, CONVERSE stopped in Belgium and served Black Box Revelation, Dewolff and SX to a very hungry crowd.

Exhibit:

Tickets sold out like Lucky Luke draws his gun. Faster than his shadow.

CONVERSE invited me to have a chat with Stefanie and take a few Polaroid snapshots while I was there, an offer I was happy to accept. I arrived at the Trix venue 30 minutes late, after a hectic work day where I got stuck in traffic.

I can count on my one hand the times I’m late for an interview, so I was really stressed out and I looked like a total mess, but the SX tour management was super relaxed about it and quickly Stefanie came to say hello.

Stefanie is a very laid back girl, she comes from the same area I come from (West-Flanders) so we got along pretty fast and chit chatted about different things while we took the Polaroid shots. Although we never met before, I felt she could be the type of girl I could hang with.

The tour manager told me to ‘set things up’ and get ready for the shoot. I smiled and told him that there was no set up and that I just needed to grab my Polaroid cameras and find a wall. He was very surprised I actually came just to take a Polaroid picture. I’m used to that reaction.

I explained Stefanie that I needed two different expressions from her and after some contemplation we were ready to snap away.  (Don’t mind my fluffy hairdo, I looked like my day; hectic and all over the place.)

Exhibits:

I might come across  like a total freak but doesn’t she look like the perfect mix between Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Schiffer?!  Anyway, I also had the opportunity to ask Stefanie a few questions and this is what she told me…

A POLAROID STORY x SX

How did you meet Benjamin and how did SX become an actual  band one day?

“Benjamin and I have known each other for a very long time. We grew  up in the same environment and were surrounded by the same people.  We were both very passionated about music, played in local bands and had our own ways of experimenting with music. During the summer of 2007 Benjamin and I first started jamming and experimenting in his
studio. I was really impressed by the way Benjamin could create a good story. Above that he has the great talent of being able to always have  an awesome visuality on music, this translation you can see in our video’s. Though our musical backgrounds are so very different, we had an instant magic going. We share the same vision. From that day on we kept on meeting at his studio and bit by bit we went from creating only spheres and melody’s to writing story’s that translated themselves in songs. By 2009 our cooperation got some more configuration in the name ’SX’. A year later, in the beginning of 2011, Jeroen (drummer) joined SX. “

You state that your musical core comes from soul, gospel, jazz. Which artists did you listen to growing up and who do you consider to be your biggest inspirations and why?  

“Ever since I was very young I had a great passion for Gospel and Soul music. Artists such as Magnolia Jackson and Nina Simone inspired me because they were so ‘raw’. Later on I discovered artists like Rachelle Farell, which I consider one of the best female singers in the world, and Bobby McFerrin who triggered me to start experimenting and to never
stop trying to cross borders with my voice. I also studied Jazz music for four years, so most definitely Miles Davis
thought me the art of improvisation. Never the less I’ve never stayed on one side. The past few years I’ve been listening a lot to hipper stuff like Ariel Pink, Blood Orange, Kendrick Lamar, next to the classics like The Beatles, The Doors, Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac…”
 
Where were you when you first heard ‘Black Video’ on the radio. How did that feel like?

“I was working my evening job at a local pub. It gave me a very astonishing feeling. Especially because we never intended it to be played on the radio. I will never forget the excitement I felt. It was very surrealistic, yet very real. It was the beginning of a whole new era, full of  SX.”

What changed the most since releasing your first single with SX?  

“The biggest change was that we were asked to play live a lot, and we got to play loads of cool festivals. We were used chilling in the studio and all of a sudden we got to learn to chill on stage. “

You toured extensively the last few months (year) and you toured with Yeasayer. How does the rest of the world respond to the SX? How was tour life in general for you and the band?  

“One of the coolest things about being a young band getting to tour with bigger bands is the fact that every gig you play there are so many people there who get to discover your music. Nobody expects a thing from the support-act. You get to be the underdog. Personally,  to me it’s one of the greatest feelings you can get. The discovery. With Yeasayer we had a great connection and vibe going. We felt really at place and felt really lucky we got the play for the best audiences every day. In general we’ve learned a lot from touring this much. Each time we come home from a touring journey we feel like we’ve grown so much as a band.  We love to travel, so for us getting to see the world trough our music is one of the greatest things.”
 
For Arche you travelled to Atlanta to work with producer Ben H Allen. How did that collaboration go? How was it working in Atlanta, one of the most important cities in the music business? Any interesting studio anecdotes?  

“We had a great connection with Ben H. There was an instant ‘click’. We felt he felt SX.  
Though the music was already there and we would travel to ATL just to do the final mix for the album the collaboration was very intense. We would work from day till dawn to get the sound right. But as we knew the work he did for MIA, Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Deerhunter and even Puff Daddy, we were convinced he’d work his magic. He had a diversity we were searching for with SX… We worked very hard, learned so much and got to know lot’s of people. For example Usher’s engineer would drop by from time to time to check up on our work. Atlanta really is  ‘hiphop’s center of gravity’.”

What is the meaning/inspiration behind the album visual?  

“The album artwork represents an “arche”, an idea, a first principle from where we can lift of. On our album visual you get two core elements, the horizon and the golden sphere. We see the horizon as a tension line, something to be discovered. We imagine going to that horizon with our music, standing on it and getting new impulses. In that place new creations are born. One of those creations is represented by the golden sphere on the “Arche” album visual. But it also represents what creation is, crossing borders, outpacing time. It even forced us to call our music magnetic. ”
 
What has been the most surreal SX moment since you released ‘Black Video’?

“Hard to say. Ever since Black Video got discovered we’ve got to surf a wave full of surreal folds. Still we have a very realistic way of being, so most of the time we only feel the surrealism when we seek for it. Let’s say hitting the number one chart, touring with Yeasayer, getting to play full house concerts and having Ariel Pink comparing me with a crossover between Neil Young and Minnie Mouse are some of the heights we’ve got to experience these last 2 years.”
 
Which song is your absolute favorite to perform? 

“Depends on the mood and vibe I’m in while playing a show. As every song is one of my babies I’d like to treat them all equally. Never the less I can’t deny sometimes I’d like to embrace one song and feel a bit angry about the other. But the next show it would be the other way around.”

How does the future for SX look like? Other producers you are dying to work with? What’s in the pipeline?

“We hope to be able to keep on doing what we’re doing. That is writing music and being inspired. To have the opportunity to keep on growing as musicians and unfolding ourselves as individuals. When it comes to collaborating with other producers I think we will focus on that when the time is right. First the music and the rest will follow. The future is in the pipeline! “

You told me that Dries Van Noten & A.F. Vandevorst approached you and with the bands rising popularity  comes a few photo shoots here and there.  What’s your take on fashion? Is it important for you? How would you describe your style?  

“Yes, last year we were nominated ‘Best New Artist’ at the ‘Music Industry Awards’. For the award ceremony Dries Van Noten gave me the opportunity to choose an outfit from his latest collection. A great benefit, I love his approach!   
I’ve never really leaded myself when it comes to fashion and trends. But I do have a great passion for the relationship between human body, shape and fabric. In high-school I studied art. Each week we had a 4 hour course of figure
sketching. That’s when I discovered my fascination for the shapes of a human body. During this period I also took a 4-year evening course in sewing. That’s where I learned to design and fabricate my own clothes.  When It comes to my style I like to approach my clothing in the same way as we approach our music. Looking for tension lines and touching
borders. But at the same time trying to keep it real, pure, raw and classy. Less is More. Abstract with a glimpse of the future.”

Last but not least; If I say Belgium, which 3 words pop up in your head.

“The Belgian coast. Rene Magritte … and The Red Devils!”

After my time with Stefanie we said our goodbyes and me and Aicha waited for the SX to perform.

All I can say is the following. Stefanie is a legit animal on stage, a beast!

Her voice and energy is raw and the entire performance is everything the SX claims to be; sensual, enticing, hypnotic, magnetic, dark and extremely powerful.

Here are a few impressions of the performance for you to enjoy:

Exhibits:

Definitely check this live performance of ‘Black Video’.

Exhibit:

SX recently openend for VAMPIRE WEEKEND in Paris.

The future is very bright for this Belgian band…

Special shout out to Stefanie Callebaut for being a true gem.

Last but not least special thanks to CONVERSE for the lovely opportunity.

Love,

OUNI

(Additional shots in this story by Aicha Candeesha. Edit by Ouni)

PS:

You can see the SX perform at the following dates:

18/06 Werchter Boutique, BE
21/06 La Fiesta Du Rock, BE
21/06 Fiesta de la Musique, LUX
06/07 Rock Werchter, BE
12/07 Rock Herk, BE
14/07 Cactus Festival, BE
03/08 Ronquières Festival, BE
10/08 Lokerse Feesten, BE
24/08 OLT Rivierenhof, BE

taken with Impossible PZ 600 Silver Shade Black Frame Film

I know this might look like I crossed one of my own lines and ended up in bed with a rapper that looks suspiciously familiar to Kendrick Lamar.

The individual who is looking in my modest Polaroid lens is indeed KENDRICK LAMAR, but about the sleeping part… if you know me a little bit, you would know I try to stay away from those type of clichés as much as possible, but don’t worry I’ll spill all the juicy details behind this Polaroid later on.

Are you familiar with Kendrick Lamar? I sure hope so.

KENDRICK LAMAR, in an earlier stadium of his career also know as K-DOT is a rapper or maybe I should say poet, hailing from Compton California, a city haunted by a pretty violent reputation, plagued with gang wars and to add bad to worse,  hit by a heavy crack epidemic in the 1980’s. It’s the city from N.W.A and Dr Dre, artists who have put Compton on the map through their lyrics and meanwhile epic songs. Although murder rate has decreased in the last years, Compton still isn’t exactly a walk in the park, carrying the title of 8th most dangerous city in the United States. (according to FBI crime reports from 2010)

When Kendrick was 8 years old, he ended up visiting the set of Dr Dre & Tupac Shakur’s ‘California’ video set with his father. (Apparently this set was nòt the ‘mad max’ inspired setting we’re all familiar with, but a video setting on the street, that has never been used.) Kendrick’s father, a man who carried his own demons from a street life on his shoulders , warned his son that there is more in life than blocks, corners, repping streets colours and joining gangs.

Kendrick states that he doesn’t recall a lot from that day he visited the set of Dre & Tupac’s ‘California’ video, but believes it made a deep impact on him as a kid. A small decade later Kendrick dropped his first mixtape.  That mixtape drew the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment , an independent record label located in L.A. , who took the then 16-year-old Kendrick under their wings and stood by him from one mixtape to the other, patiently waiting for him to grow into the artist Kendrick became today.

The first time I ever heard from Kendrick Lamar was when I read on Vashtie Kola’s  blog (Vashtie is a New York video director and all round creative) that she directed a video for an upcoming artist called Kendrick Lamar. The video was for a track called A.D.H.D. and when the video officially came out I saw this relaxed but determinate looking cat, doing his thing for the camera in a remarkably modest way, performing a lyrical yet melancholic song with an ease that stood out.

Exhibit:

It took me a few more months to download Section.80 the album that accompanied A.D.H.D. After a first quick listen I came to the realisation that Kendrick Lamar definitely stood out in flow, content, look and feel and I remember that I really loved the track ‘Blow My High’….

Exhibit:

… but for some reason I left the album for what it was. I  always went back to playing that single song without really exploring the rest of the album any deeper.

My focus channeled itself back to Kendrick Lamar when a song called ‘The Recipe’ hit the net.

Exhibit:

You see, I’m a big Dr Dre fan and his Chronic album was probably one of the main sparks that lit up my love for hip hop so many years ago and I’ve been impatiently waiting for Dr Dre to release new music and all of a sudden this track called ‘The Recipe’ drops from the sky featuring Kendrick Lamar accompanied by a Dr. Dre sounding like he never left the game in the first place.  I just adore that classic Cali hip hop vibe that the song was oozing.  I missed that sound in music for a long time. Maybe it was out there somewhere, but it sure didn’t reach me.

When I read the story behind the track I learned Kendrick Lamar drew Dr Dre’s attention via a track called ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’. It got him the exclusive spot in the studio with Dr Dre and the opportunity to work with him on Dre’s long anticipated Detox album. (Is it éver going to come out?!)

Exhibit:

I remember wondering what was so special about Kendrick that made Dr Dre choose for this specific artist to help him on his album ànd to offer him a spot as an artist represented by his Aftermath label, where Kendrick would join Eminem & 50 Cent.

Another few months later one of my readers tagged me on Facebook in what turned out to be the official album cover from Kendrick Lamar’s major label debut that got leaked on the net and it was like I was struck by lightning.

Exhibit:

Here I was doing my little Polaroid blog for almost 4 years now and Kendrick Lamar’s album cover for his first major label debut via Dr Dre’s Aftermath label was an old Polaroid that depicted 3 men sitting at a table with a little baby on one man’s lap staring straight into the camera.  On the white part of the Polaroid was the handwritten title of the album, called ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city , a short film by Kendrick Lamar’.

(The m.A.A.d stands for both My Angry Adolescence Divided but also “My Angels on Angel Dust)

I immediately understood what he wanted to say with that cover.

A Polaroid picture is an instant moment in life captured on film, it’s pure, it’s honest, it’s real and it can say a lot in an effortless way.  It sounds probably unbelievably stupid but I suddenly felt really connected to Kendrick Lamar as a person, just because of that album cover.

Thàt same album cover triggered me so hard it made me go straight back to Section.80 and made me re-discover tracks like Hiipower…

Exhibit:

and Money Trees

Exhibit:

…and when Good Kid, m.A.A.d City was officially  released I immediately downloaded it and listened to it, but again I picked out a few tracks that I re-played over and over;

Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe

Exhibit:

Backseat Freestyle

Exhibit:

Swimming Pool (Drank))

Exhibit:

…but I never really,  like REALLY listened to the album in a whole.

Looking back I think it might have something to do with the fact that I was a bit distracted by too much trap, trill & swag music.  Straight out party music, nothing to deep.

To come to the point, I think I didn’t go deeper into Kendrick Lamar his music because I forgot to actually LISTEN to music for a little while, which is a shame really, especially since I’m a storyteller myself and I didn’t make the time to listen to another storyteller and growing up as a kid in a city like Compton, Kendrick had a few interesting stories to share. The second part of his album title says ‘a short film by Kendrick Lamar’ for a reason.  Kendrick tells his story so vividly it’s almost if his lyrics come visualize in front of you when you listen to his music.

Now. Let’s go to the story behind the Polaroids.

In 2013, two A Polaroid Story features will be published exclusively in THE WORD Magazine first and a more elaborate version on A Polaroid Story.Com later, a collaboration that I’m very happy about.

2013 kicked off great when it comes to artists coming my way and so it happened that I agreed with the team of  The Word to try and feature Kendrick Lamar who was scheduled to perform in the Ancienne Belgique venue in Brussels in early February.

Now you probably think that getting an interview with Kendrick Lamar would be pretty easy for a respected magazine like The Word? Ha. I thought the exact same thing.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of hip hop artists don’t even bother to do some Belgian press when they hit Belgian soil, because the Belgian market is simply to tiny for them to waste any energy on this or that magazine.

But still,  I was kinda surprised when I heard from my contact over at The Word that the feedback from Universal wasn’t looking good.

Anyway, I’m used to getting my content by myself so I was already preparing  to do exactly so.  So while doing my research and sending out some pitch mails to the general ‘info@xxxxx’  most labels & managements have but never answer to,  I received an excellent tip from one of my readers from New York who goes by the name ‘Imagination Detonation’ who was so kind to send me an email address from someone in Kendrick’s close entourage.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I call my readers ‘troopers’ for a reason.  They RIDE with me!

I send out another pitch mail with my requests to the mail address I was tipped about but again it remained silent. Honestly? I can’t even recall anybody responding to any of my mails over the last 4 years, but I also learned along the way that they are being read, so when I end up talking to the right person whenever I try to get an artist on Polaroid, I have a few steps ahead, because they already know who I am because of the email.  It makes the process a tiny bit easier, so I keep doing it even though it feels completely useless since most of the time my mails remain unanswered.

So that’s why I think it was no coincidence that the day after I send my pitch mail, Universal suddenly allowed The Word magazine to have a 5 min moment with Kendrick Lamar.

The night before the concert I look at my Instagram feed and I notice that I’m followed by somebody from Kendricks entourage, more importantly, the person that I send my pitch mail to.  It’s not a guarantee for a Polaroid, but it definitely means that they have read my mail and saw my work and keeping an eye on me, so that’s one step ahead…

I was granted 5 minutes with Kendrick Lamar. With a bit of luck and the right attitude I could make that into 10 to 15 minutes. I do this blog for a few years now, I had once 2 minutes with Mark Ronson and I ended up with the most extended interview in the history of this blog. I know if do my research, and prepare well I can get more out if it.

When I get to an artist independently I have much more means to play with. When I get to an artist via an official way like a label, everything is a lot less free and therefore a lot less interesting aswell, so then I always try to get an interview to make the encounter more rich even if they told me in advance an interview wouldn’t be possible.

So, I spend my entire weekend listening soaking myself into  Kendrick’s music, reading tons of interviews, watching a shit load of videos and ended up with a dozen of questions I wanted to ask him. I tried not to think that it could be a waste of time, but if you have been reading my stories for a while now, you know I hate what-ifs and ìf I had the chance to interview Kendrick, I wasn’t planning on asking him about his favorite food or colour, ya bish. Meanwhile, my respect and admiration for Kendrick grew only stronger while doing the research.

Universal scheduled my meeting with Kendrick Lamar at 18h00. I was waiting outside in the rain for my friend, Leo Van Dijl who would assist me for this occasion and would provide the visual exhibits for this story.  It was cold and rainy but that didn’t stop the die-hard K-Dot fans who were already queuing in front of the entrance, 3 hours before the concert was scheduled.  The show was completely sold out.

Exhibit:

While we were waiting, a 35 to 40 year old man approached me and asked me if I was also waiting for the Universal representative.  I told him yes and asked him what medium he worked for. He worked for De Morgen, one of the bigger and better newspapers in Belgium. He asked me what medium I worked for and I answered him: “My own, it’s called A Polaroid Story.” He nodded polite but didn’t seem familiar with me or my work at all.

I suddenly received a text message from my contact at Universal telling me that there is a 20 minute delay in the interview schedule and that my 5 minutes would be reduced to 2 minutes and that the Polaroid would be taken in the tour bus.

Exhibit:

When I receive texts like that, I just shrug. 2 minutes? We’ll see about that. And tour bus? Ok, it’s not ideal, but I’ve been in tour busses before and I know what I can expect. I immediately briefed my assistant Leo on the circumstances we probably had to work in which are; bad light and barely enough space for a decent photo angle. In that way he knows what to expect and he can already anticipate on getting the best results. It’s always a risk working with new people, since they might get starstruck or become intimidated and forget to take pictures or are not assertive enough to work in difficult circumstances or don’t behave appropriate but it looked like Leo had his game on lock.

The journalists from De Morgen gets the ok to go into the tour bus and I’m being instructed to wait in front of it. Behind me the row of Kendrick fans is getting longer and longer. Doors are only being opened for another hour and it’s freezing outside.

Exhibit:

After approximately 15 minutes the tour bus opens and it’s my turn to go in. I passed the journalist from De Morgen on my way in the bus and he told me while raising his brows: “Good luck with him, he was laying down the entire time.”

Remember that I told you I did my research? Well, while doing so I read one interview and watched one video where Kendrick was indeed laying down in a bed or a sofa during the interview because he was tired, so I smiled to the journalist and answered him:

“Oh well, he has done that before so I’ll manage.” and I stepped inside the bus.

Exhibit:

So the minute I got in the bus I went into showtime modus. I took off my jacket, and introduced myself to Kendrick’s tourmanager Retone who immediately said:” I did receive your email.”

Bingo. That’s one step ahead. I totally ignored the fact that Kendrick was laying down on the tour bus sofa, his head resting on a pillow and covered by a blanket and asked him how he was doing.

While I was grabbing my Polaroid cameras he told me he was sick. I asked him if his voice would be ok for the concert and Kendrick answered me that it was going to be fine, he was just not feeling to well.

I tried not to get distracted by the weird circumstances, reached down next to Kendrick and explained him what my blog is all about and showed him who I already featured.

Exhibit:

When I asked him if it would be ok to take some Polaroids he said yes, but he wasn’t really planning on lifting himself up, so I told him ok, well, I’ll try to take pictures from the angle you are laying in, but then I’ll just have to come really close if that is ok?

He agreed.

I first did a little test shot.

Exhibit:

After the color test shot, I took my Polaroid camera with my Black & White film, aimed my camera and was ready for round two. I had to try out some different angles to find the right pose, since he was laying down after all, but he didn’t mind my directions

Exhibits:

After the shots were taken Kendrick said something like: “You’ll see, the shots will be legendary, this is a unique point of view and laughed.”

I felt that even though he was a bit sick, Kendrick was in good spirit and I decided to give it a shot and asked him and Retone that ìf they would be down for interview after the show, they could always contact me and gave them my card.

It was time to  wrap everything up and to say my goodbyes and shake some hands.

Exhibit:

Right before I left the bus Retone asked me if I had tickets to the concert. I said no and he replied that it would be taken care of. I didn’t have any tickets because I’m a legit queen when it comes to missing out on much wanted concert tickets and even though I had 5 minutes with Kendrick Lamar that wasn’t a guarantee to get in the venue so that was a very nice gesture from them.

Also, when I turned around and left, I heard Retone telling Kendrick in the back that my blog was really interesting and that I  featured many big artists before him. It kinda made my day.

I think I spend approximately 10 minutes in the tour bus. That’s definitly more than 2 minutes right?

So with my name on the Kendrick Lamar list, me and Leo walked in the AB venue ready to see Kendrick Lamar perform.

We weren’t granted a photo pass, so again, we had to work with what we had and we tried to be as much front row as possible so we could at least grab some decent pictures to accompany this story.

Belgian artist COELY was responsible for the warm up:

Exhibit:

Not much later and right on time Kendrick Lamar entered the stage supported by his DJ and warmly welcomed by the Belgian crowd.

Exhibits:

He was wearing a Maison Martin Margiela cap and dressed very modest in a simple t-shirt and jeans.

Exhibit:

I read in an online review after the concert that Kendrick Lamar his concert was ‘ok’ but not that special. I couldn’t disagree more actually.

His concert stood out in a ‘less is more’ kind of way. Kendrick Lamar doesn’t need fancy lights or 10 hype men yelling and running across the stage. All Kendrick Lamar needs is his mic and when the dj starts playing the beat he will deliver and tell his stories.

The Belgian crowd knew his lyrics by heart, immediately filling in the words for Kendrick when he was testing the crowd how much of a fan they really were.

I was very impressed by his performance honestly. He talked to the crowd from the heart and he engages with them when needed. He spits his lyrics instead of yelling them out in the mic. He doesn’t run and jump from left to right on the stage all the time, he takes time to stand still at different positions of the stage so people can actually look him in the eye. Kendrick Lamar is the living proof that hip hop concerts can be more than average, or ‘ok’.

He might have been sick that day but you definitely couldn’t tell and you could see that the energy of the crowd was charging him up like a battery.

Exhibits:

When Kendrick left the stage his final words were something like:

“If one day this shit becomes bigger than me, I’ll remember to always come back here.”

Exhibit:

I’m not sure if that was a ‘finale gimmick oneliner’  but I really wanted to believe what he said. Time will tell if he will come back to Belgium or not although I think he would be perfect for a festival. And trust me, I’m not a fan of hip hop artists on festivals, but I think Kendrick could handle it.

After the concert I noticed some chicks who were trying to get backstage, and persuade a security guard to let them in the backstage.

I wondered if I should do the same, then again I already had want I wanted. I had my Polaroids and that’s always the main goal. All the rest is icing on the cake. So sneaking in backstage, pushing for an interview didn’t seem appropriate at this point, especially since they already put me on the list and squeezed me in their schedule. I know when I need to back off.

I decided to wait 15 minutes to see if they would contact me for an interview. They didn’t.  I truly believe it wasn’t meant to be to have the interview and that I needed to see him in concert first. I know I’ll have my time with him one day.

I walked out the venue as a bigger fan of Kendrick Lamar and realised I witnessed the rise of the new king of west coast rap.

I took the train home, pushed play on ‘m.A.A.d city’ …

and lìstened.

The next day I received an email from Kendrick Lamar’s camp, telling me it was a bit too hectic after the show but that they are looking forward to read the feature…

I hope they like it.

Love,

Ouni

Special thanks to LEO VAN DIJL for the additional pictures & Jack Sommer for the excellent tip that got me on the right track for this story. Also thanks to The Word Magazine & Universal for the efforts.

Polaroid taken with Impossible Project Spectra Silver Shade Film

Talking about an instant surprise?

Your eyes ain’t lying, this is indeed Thomas Wesley Pentz, aka DIPLO.

It’s practically impossible to be unfamiliar with this trouble maker, but I’ll be more than happy to spill the beans about this character for the very few people who do not know the man polarized here above.

If God really is a DJ, than Diplo must be quite divine.

‘Diplodocus’, however keeps it real and prefers to describe himself as ‘a random ass white dude, founder of smoothie wolf & feeder of the streets since 1885.’

Diplo is a DJ, a 3 time Grammy nominated producer and founder of a label called Mad Decent, born in Tupelo, Mississippi off all places. He grew up in Florida but started out his DJ career when he moved to Philadelphia where he met DJ Low Budget. Together they started to organize parties called ‘Hooked On Hollertronix’ and made quite the name for themselves. The New York Times picked up one of their mixtapes called ‘Never Scared’ and labeled it one of the best albums of 2003 and that was probably the first ray of spotlight that Diplo was ever given in his career and we all know that this was only the beginning.

Diplo really distinguished himself because of his love and interest for ‘Baile Funk’ and released two mixtapes called ‘Favela On Blast’ and ‘Favela Strikes Back’, which is also the way I first got introduced to Diplo.

Then one fine day, Diplo met M.I.A. in the London club Fabric, which was a very important landmark in both of their careers. Diplo started working on M.I.A.’s music and  together they released a first mixtape called Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1.

One of the tracks on the mixtape was ‘Bucky Done Gun’ which really launched M.I.A. her career in a huge way.

Exhibit:

This was the beginning of a very fruitful collaboration and romantic relationship with M.I.A. for about 5 years.

With his eyes on more producers work, Diplo build a studio called ‘The Mausoleum’ a video studio, recording studio, record label office, gallery, and event space in Philadelphia.

Through M.I.A. Diplo met producer Switch, who he ended up creating the Major Lazer project with and with whom he released the first Major Lazor album called ‘Guns Don’t Kill People….Lazers Do’ and the accompanied ‘Pon De Floor’ single & video that stirred quite a few reactions.

Exhibit:

Major Lazor is a collaborative project that combines the best of Jamaican music culture like dance hall & reggae with current electronical beats, making it an entire genre on its own, but most of all a guarantee for pure, uncomplicated fun and a decent excuse for all ladies to ‘get in line and show off their bestest wine.’

One of Diplo’s highlights in his career is probably the hit single ‘Paper Planes’ he co-produced with Switch for M.I.A.

Exhibit:

Switch decided to leave the Major Lazer project, which didn’t stop Diplo to pick it back up and continue the project with new band members Walshy Fire & Jillionaire.

The first track from the second Major Lazor album called ‘Free The Universe’ was the following song that blessed everyone’s radio station and mp3 player all around the world. It came with a pretty amazing video as well.

Exhibit:

Another stand out single from ‘Free The Universe’ and a big hit in Holland & Belgium is ‘Watch Out For This’  which is a collaborative track with the Flexican & FS Green from Amsterdam, Holland.

Last but not least, I have to mention Diplo’s work on the ‘Reincarnated’ album from Snoop Dogg which was accompanied by a very interesting documentary.

Exhibit:

My personal favorite DIPLO productions are the following:

Dancehall percussion with The Black Lips

Heavy drums for Azealia Banks

Speed Merengue with Maluca

Reagga beats with Robyn

Swampy sounds from down south on ‘Sarah’ from Diplo’s first ever solo album.

My all time favorite and the track that brought Usher back the place I like him the most

I’ve always been a Diplo fan. Probably because I like culture and spice in my music. I’m not the biggest fan of boring house or flat techno beats, but add some musical Harissa to it and I end up loving it. Diplo is a master in transforming sounds from bland to outstanding. I admire his constant search for subculture movements in music and showing it to the world through his music, videos and documentaries.

With his label ‘Mad Decent’ Diplo is creating a musical movement, giving artists that lack the ‘major label proof’ stamp a platform to create and release their music for an audience that is craving for the unconventional rather than the next boring and standard pop tune. Out of the norm yet very current is what Diplo does best.

Last, I would suggest to check this documentary which gives a short yet honest portrait of Diplo, the man, the dj, the truth!

Exhibit:

Now. This was a more than intricate introduction, don’t you think? Want to find out the story behind this Polaroid?

Here we go.

I met Diplo already twice doing this blog, how odd is that?

No, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember me.

I’m quite forgettable.

I met Diplo when I was in Miami about 3 years ago when I ended up at a Belvedere party in the W hotel.

Exhibit:

After Diplo finished his DJ set at this rather tasteful garden party during a sunny afternoon for a dozen of the happy few sipping on expensive cocktails, I politely waited for him at a spot I calculated he’d probably have to take to leave the party.

I remember approaching him, asking him for A Polaroid, when a woman (I think a publicist) was really giving me a hard time about me taking the Polaroid. I also remember Diplo being super nice and friendly and apologizing and telling me to come to his Mad Decent party he was throwing later that day. Fun fact, while we were talking, we were interrupted by a stunning Kelis passing by, saying; “Hi Diplo” with that sexy, grainy voice of hers.

I ended up snapping both Rye Rye and Kelis at that Belvedere party, Diplo however I had to let go.

A year later I met Diplo again, at a party called Party & Bullshit during Bread & Butter in Berlin and it turned out that Diplo was a surprise guest. This outdoor party was totally packed and there was no way in getting close to him, besides, I left a very important element at home, which was my Polaroid Camera. I didn’t expect to come across any artists that night so I left it at home.

At the other side of the DJ booth I noticed ZEB also known as Jahan Lennon, a guy I vaguely knew via Theophilus London and who is signed to Major Lazer.  He was bored out of his mind for some reason and I decided to talk to him. I was a bit drunk, I tend to be more social when I’m in that kind of state. He told me that he was tired and that he wanted to go to the hotel but that Diplo had the key to their room or their car (not really sure anymore)  and since Diplo was kinda busy, he realised he wasn’t going to leave anytime soon.

I needed an excuse to approach Diplo, then again I don’t really know why, because I didn’t have my Polaroid with me, but as I said I was drunk, so I told him that I bet that I could make Diplo come to him so he could leave. Zeb or Jahan or whatever looked at me like I was totally nuts and said: “You’ll never get there in the first place  and it will never work, look at him, he is all over this Asian chick.”

It was true. Diplo was indeed having intricate conversations with a model looking Asian girl.

I looked at Jahan and told him; “You’ll see” and squeezed my way into the crowd and arrived in front of the dj booth in only seconds where I soon was swarmed by a sweaty, jumping crowd. I had to draw Diplo’s attention (you know, because of the Asian chick and all) so I decided in my drunk state of mind to take an empty coke can and just throw it at him.

Uhu.

That’s what drunk people do, what can I say really?

Diplo looked up and I yelled in his ear that we met before in Miami and that I wanted to take a Polaroid picture of him. He said; “Where is your camera” and I told him that I didn’t have it on me. Diplo laughed and then I said that he really needed to come to the other side of the DJ booth because his friend Zeb aka Jahan wanted to go home. Diplo replied that he would come asap.

When I squeezed myself back to Zeb aka Jahan and told him Diplo was coming,  I remember him looking at me slightly impressed. Then again, I was drunk, so it might have been quite the opposite. Who knows? Minutes later Diplo came to give the hotel key and Jahan was relieved he could exit the party.

Right before they both left, I asked to pose for my disposable camera and I recall Diplo looking at me while lip syncing to his “Look At Me Now” track playing in the background while posing for my disposable camera. I have to say, it was super arrogant and bossy at the same damn time.

Exhibit:

2 years later, anno 2013 Major Lazer was booked at my all time favorite venue, the Ancienne Belgique and I jumped on those tickets like dogs on beef because I knew this could be the only opportunity in perhaps a very long time to snap the man on Polaroid. Besides. I’m a big Major Lazer fan and I never went to one of the Major Lazer gigs, which looked like a total blast!

I was so caught up with work that I only began working on the story 24h before the concert, which is, of course, extremely late. I wasn’t planning on letting Diplo out of the country without snapping him onPolaroid so I had to pull out all the emergency stops and go public with my request. I started to mail and contact all the people in my network that might be tied to Diplo.

One lead let to another and I contacted Stijn Maris, a Studio Brussels radio host and a true fan of this modest, little blog. He advised me to contact Warner Belgium to get anything going. I told Stijn that my contacts with Warner are not really tight and that I never really ended up working with them for this blog so Stijn was so nice to send a mail in my behalf to Warner and gave me that extra push in the back by kindly urging the label to help me with my request.

Only seconds later Warner replied that it would be rather difficult but that they would do their best. The contact at Warner also told me that they would not be present at the concert but that a colleague would be on location and that this person would pitch my request to Diplo when they had the chance.

It was something to start with, but I know from experience that I can’t rest assure in labels… Plus, I  never really worked together with Warner on a story, there is no real relationship like I have with Sony, so I had to be extremely lucky to have this person  – who doesn’t know me or my work – selling me to Diplo.

Anyway, I kept looking for angles and created a tiny little buzz on the internet, letting everybody and my readers know that I was on the hunt and Diplo was my prey.

This led to this nice stunt from Coca Cola Belgium who picked up my ‘A Polaroid Story’ hunt for Diplo and made these cans for me to push the hype around it a little bit. (and draw attention to their current ‘Share A Coke’ campaign)

Exhibit:

OUNI x DIPLO.

Sounds fly doesn’t it?

Anyway. Me and Aicha – who yet again assisted me on this story – arrived nice and early at the Ancienne Belgique venue and managed to easily take a spot front row in the venue. I wasn’t sure about a Polaroid, so I wanted to go home with at least a few good shots of the concert and a front row spot is much-needed in that case. While waiting for the evening to begin I decided to research the contact I was given from Warner and came to the conclusion that we met before while I was working on the Nnekka story.

This contact was a former intern at Sony and I remember her telling me that she was leaving Sony to go work for Warner. I quickly asked my contact at Sony to give me the mobile number of her former colleague. Minutes later my contact at Warner confirmed that she was indeed at the AB venue and that she would try to make something happen after the concert. It’s always a step ahead when somebody knows your work, so I was super excited about the prospect of a Diplo Polaroid.

The night officially began with DJ CASHMERE CAT opening for Major Lazer.

Exhibit:

CASHMERECAT doing the grand opening. #majorlazer #diplo #apolaroidstory vine.co/v/b26a6LjIDHr

— Ouni (@OunitsukaTiger) May 7, 2013

When Cashmere Cat  finished his set, it was only a matter of minutes before Major Lazor aka Diplo, Walshy Fire, Jillionaire and 2 dancers entered the stage and entirely shredded the place into sweaty little pieces.

It was total madness from the very start and the audience knew they were up for pure, uncomplicated fun, beats and  entertainment with a Major Lazer dresscode that went from costumes to tanks,  to well… nothing.

Exhibit:

#LEGGO vine.co/v/b26rFVTb51u

— Ouni (@OunitsukaTiger) May 7, 2013

Weeeeeee @diplo vine.co/v/b26DMnivUQm

— Ouni (@OunitsukaTiger) May 7, 2013

Here are a few extra concert shots from that night.

Exhibits:

There is an old 2 Many Djs track called ‘Theme From Discoteque’ and in the song you can hear the following quote:

“Do you know where your teenager is at 5 o’ clock in the morning?”

Anno 2013, the question should be “Do you know where your teenager is at 10 o’clock in the evening?” and the answer should be: “Probably at a concert or festival Expressing herself while bumping her booty to Diplo tunes.”

In all the years that I have been doing this blog, I have never seen the Ancienne Belgique with so many bare-chested men and soaking wet women like I saw that night. My skin tasted and smelled like cheap cava because of the ‘champagne shower ‘Walshy Fire treated the front row audience.

It was probably the most fun I had on a random Tuesday evening in a long while.

When the concert was done, everybody left the venue all soaking wet and the smell that was left behind was quite memorable. If Major Lazer would ever release its own perfume, then I suggest the name MAJOR STANK would be highly appropriate.

While I was waiting for my contact at Warner to come and pick me up, I noticed that the bar of the Ancienne Belgique venue was emptying rather quick and I started to worry. Because I was starting to have doubts about a possible Polaroid via Warner I decided to hustle on on my own and asked my troopers to draw some attention via Twitter which ended up in these funny results.

Exhibits:

However, still no reaction from Diplo.

Not much later, Aicha and I found ourselves back outside on the streets in front of a closed venue.

A total case of ‘Should I stay or should I go now?’ presented itself.

If we stayed we mìght have a Polaroid but we would miss our train and the ride back home would be with the first train in the morning at 5AM and we would be obligated to sneek into the sold out Major Lazer afterparty to kill time.

If we went home, we would be in bed on time and ready for work the next day, but no Polaroid.

Still in doubt, Aicha noticed a tall guy waiting around the tour bus and asked me if we shouldn’t approach him and ask him to help us. Doing this blog, I developed a very interesting quality, which is spotting individuals in entourage who surely will NOT help you. I can’t really explain it, but it’s a vibe they have. This dude had that vibe, so I didn’t even bother but Aicha tried anyway.

The man answered rather cold that if we wanted a Polaroid we should keep on waiting outside because Diplo would come out eventually. The man wasn’t really chatty or social for that matter, so we let him be and didn’t try to pursue him to get us inside because he wouldn’t do it anyway.

While we were waiting in the cold and I was slightly frustrated being outside waiting for a Polaroid like I used to do when I just started this blog, I received a text message from my Warner contact telling me that Diplo and company were still not coming out and that she was about to go home.  This meant that the only thing we could do was wait in front of the tour bus untill Diplo came out of the venue. Very APS 2009.

Only tree minutes later, the whole night turned around in our favour, because a door opened from the side of the venue and a familiar face from my hometown Ostend named Koen walks out with a friend of his.

We started talking and it turned out that they were heading back to  Antwerp with a car. I immediately begged the boys to hang around for another 30 minutes so we could drive back home with them and told them that I was waiting for Diplo to snap on Polaroid and that he would normally come out any minute.

So Koen his friend Marcus then asks me; “What do you need? A Polaroid? Jesus, we’re not going to wait for thàt, let me take you there so we can move on.”

I was like; “Take me where? Inside? Can you get me inside?”

Marcus told me; “Sure I can.” while he took his keys, opened the door and escorted me, Aicha and Koen straight to the backstage.

While going upstairs to the backstage area I told Marcus; “Who are you and why don’t I know you?” Marcus told me: ” I could say the same about you.”

Turned out that Marcus is the Ancienne Belgique programmer and programmers come with keys that lead straight to backstage areas.  No muss, no fuss.

So me and Aicha ended up in the backstage where we noticed Diplo chatting it up with a few people from Warner.muss

When they were done, I approached my contact at Warner – who by that time recognized me  and realised I got into the building on my own-  immediately introduced me to Diplo and like I suspected, snapping a Polaroid was ‘A OK’  for the very charming Diplo.

He was still a bit sweaty from his performance but he was extremely chatty and super nice. I hardly remember what he said, because his toned upper body distracted me. (Just being honest here.)

Exhibit:

I tried to focus and told him that I needed a different expression for every Polaroid, but that he was free to do what he felt like doing. I started out with a test shot before I moved on to the real deal.

Exhibit:

When I came to the last picture I decided to grow some balls for once and told him that it is very interesting that he is preaching to women all over the world to twerk and ‘express yourself ‘ but that he should give back to us women by posing in front of my Polaroid camera,  shirtless.

Diplo smiled, didn’t hesitate for a nano second, shrugged and took of his ‘Free The Universe’ tank, while telling me that he should put his stud face on and looked straight into my camera with complete confidence.  I’m sure the female readers of this blog will enjoy the following exhibits. You can thank me later.

Exhibits:

This is the first shirtless Polaroid I have captured since the making of this blog. Quite memorable I must say. Sure, Method Man was shirtless in the room when I met him, but he ripped a hole in a towel with his teeth (no lie) and put it over his head, which ended up covering his torso.

So this, my dear readers, is pretty unique. (But don’t expect me to make a habit of this.)

I guess that’s why I love Diplo so much. Not because he took his shirt off, but mainly because he doesn’t really give a fuck what anybody says or thinks, he just does what he feels like, a characteristic which clearly comes back through his entire career, criticized by many, loved by more.

It was all a bit of blur, I don’t even remember thanking him, or shaking his hand or whatever, I was in a mental high that we pulled it off to get Diplo on Polaroid even though things were not in my favor that night.

As Aicha, Koen, Marcus and myself went back outside, the boys were doubting to go home and showed some interest to go the sold out Major Lazer after party, a gig that none of us had tickets to.

I had been so distracted upstairs that I barely managed to say a word to Diplo, let along ask him to put me on the guest list for the after party at Mr Wong or even ask him for a picture together. (Damn!)

I was so grateful to Marcus for the Polaroid opportunity he gave me, so I told them that I would get them in the club as a token of my appreciation.  Marcus seriously questioned my skills to get in a club I’d never been to before and didn’t have àny connection with but I told him to shut up, watch and learn.

I managed to get in Mr Wong with a group of six, easily.

How? I’m not going to kiss and tell, but all I can say that the after party sure was worth the lack of sleep I experienced the next day. ( bare with the sound, the heavy bass killed my poor Canon G10)

Exhibit:

At age 35, Diplo is a musical taste maker, a hit maker and a  rump shaker with an impeccable taste in worldly musical flavours and a specific talent to blend and mash up genres that come straight from the barrio, catapulting them to the top of the charts.

Untill this day, Diplo worked with global artists like Beyonce, Robyn, Shaggy, Usher, Santigold, M.I.A, Gucci Mane, La Roux to name a few and probably many more are waiting in line for him.

With his Mad Decent label, Diplo is stacking up unconventional talent like Baauer, Zebra Katz,  Riff Raff and others, while raising a big middle finger to major labels that weren’t interested in those type of artists, being scared of taking risks.

When the day comes Diplo leaves music, I’m pretty sure he will be an excellent documentary or film maker, showcasing hidden treasures and subculture movements from all over the world.

Diplo is the (naked) truth.

Love,

Ouni,

Special thanks to Willy Dopa, Stijn Maris, Warner Belgium, Aicha, Koen and last but not least, MARCUS for your help and contributions (small or big) to turn this story into a happy ending.

Just a little teaser for my next APS feature.

Dying to find out who this might be? It’s a big one….

If you really want to find out, I suggest you grab yourself a copy from THE WORD magazine where you can find a small preview from the story I will release pretty soon…

Place your bets!!

Love,

Ouni

(shot with Impossible Spectra Black Frame Film)

Meet Devonté – Dev – Hynes.

I’m extremely happy to have this UK born producer, writer, musician, singer ànd book author featured on this little blog.

Not familiar with this talented individual?

Let me be so kind to give you a modest introduction.

The first time I ever heard of Devonte Hynes was because of the following track he produced for Theophilus London.

Exhibit:

However, before that Devonté Hynes walked and mastered different roads in his own musical journey.

Born and raised in Essex, UK, Devonté got into music through his older sister who played the cello. Young Dev, inspired by his sister followed her footsteps which led in playing the guitar, the synth and the piano. Starting out with Test Icicles, a dance/punk band and moving on to writing songs for Florence & The Machine & The Chemical Brothers, Dev Hynes embarked on his real first solo project as Lightspeed Champion releasing his first solo album called ‘Falling Of The Lavender Brigde’ an album and title partially inspired by Devontés severe insomnia.

Exhibit:

Not to keen on limiting his personal music evolution, Dev Hynes ceased Lightspeed Champion and his new project called Blood Orange was born and with that, an album called Coastal Grooves, consisting a more sexy electronical sound that makes you wonder if it wasn’t transported straight from the wavy, spacy and dreamy 80′s.  For the artwork of this album, Devonté was deeply inspired by 80′s transsexuals and gay culture during that era and even worked on producing a more androgynous voice, which makes you sometimes doubt if the tracks on Coastal Grooves aren’t actually sung by a woman.

Personal favorites are:

CHAMPAGNE COAST

SUTPHIN BOULEVARD

and my favorite, I’M SORRY, WE LIED.

Can’t forget to share this other dreamy summer track CENTURY GIRLS, another collaboration with Theophilus London.

Exhibit:

One thing led to another and when Theophilus London called his friend Solange Knowles to ask if she would do some vocals for a track him and Devonté Hynes were working on, a new chapter for Dev began.

When Dev met Sol something clicked in such a perfect way that the two ended up working together on Solange Knowles her next musical endeavor. When Solange her ‘True’ EP came out with a series of tracks which Dev Hynes produced and co-wrote, a new synergy did as well and seeing Sol & Dev  work and perform together makes me think of those magical collaboration from back in day like Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross.

Exhibit:

Definitely watch this video for Black Cab Sessions.

Since then, Devonté worked with Sky Ferreira, just finished working in the studio with the former Sugababes aka Mutya,Keisha & Siobhan (check out this random ‘Swimming Pool’ remix he did with the girls) and even Jessie Ware was spotted working with him.

This should give you a pretty good idea of what Dev Hynes is all about no?

Now. This is the story.

I first met Dev Hynes about two years ago in Paris when my friend Lefto was Dj’ing for a Theophilus London concert in Paris. When I first saw Devonté in the flesh, he was wearing a white ripped bleached jeans, a simple white t-shirt  and a baseball cap. While we were hanging at the backstage during rehearsals Devonte was very silent and he was mostly texting on his phone. I didn’t have my Polaroid camera with me that day because I wanted to just hang for once and not grab content all the time. Bad decision when I think back, because there were some pretty interesting moments that I could have captured that day.

Anyway. I think I told him I thought his guitar riff on Flying Overseas was brilliant and that I would buy it as an alarm tone on my phone so I could wake up to it every morning. What can I say. I’m quite the conversation maker. #not

Don’t get me wrong, I did mean what I said. I’d still love to have that guitar riff as my wake up alarm. It’s just so….soothing.

At one point we had to leave the venue to grab some food and we all jumped into a black car with tinted windows and a double seat in the back looking towards each other. With ‘we’ I mean Lefto, Dev, Theophilus and Theophilus manager called Knoxx, a slick Denzel Washington look a like, but slightly younger and thinner.

Now here comes the moment that is engraved in my memory till eternity and a momentum I associate with Devonté Hynes for ever and ever. I hope I can describe it as vivid as it exists in my memory.

So Theophilus asks his chauffeur to put on a song and to put the volume ùp while we are driving to the restaurant. Seconds later the speakers of the car are blasting out Wiz Khalifa’s ‘On My Level’ and the minute Wiz starts his first rhymes of the song the – untill then – extremely silent Devonté Hynes gives thé best Wiz Khalifa impression (accent and flow inclusive) I witnessed in my life. I know this might sound unbelievable cheesy, but for a split second I thought I was in a rap video.

By that time I didn’t know Devonté was such a hip hop head, so it totally came as a surprise and I would be lying if I say I wasn’t fascinated by his impromptu performance especially because he was so gòod at it!

After dinner at ‘Hotel Amour’ we all returned to the venue Theophilus London was playing. Lefto asked me to provide some footage for his tour video while he was on stage. Here is that little video about the Paris trip to give you an idea.

Exhibit:

I didn’t really speak to Devonté after the concert I think. Or barely.  I do remember the promoter of the concert almost lost Devonté’s guitar in a cab while we were returning back to Hotel Amour where everyone was staying. I also remember Devonté and his face when he heard that his guitar might have been lost. He was not amused and he looked slightly sick in the stomach.Luckily for him (and the promoter who broke out an anxiety sweat like you’ve never seen before) the guitar was tracked and returned to his worried owner.

I remember Devonté going up in an elevator to his room and that was the last time I saw him. We should have gone all together to Le Baron that night, but to make a long and somewhat annoying story short, me and Lefto ended up alone and went for a nocturnal walk in Paris instead and watched the lights of the Eiffel Tower ‘shine bright like a diamond’ at the Basilique Du Sacré Coeur.

But, to my big surprise, I don’t know exactly when, but not that long after Paris, Devonté started to follow me on Twitter. With the rise of Instagram, he also started to follow me there and from time to time he dropped me a note or a like. I know it sounds lame the way I write it out, but it is what it is. Besides, that’s how people communicate and reach out these days. Show some love and double tap that gram!

Time passed by and I kept track of Devonté and his activities via Social Media right upon the point Solange released her ‘True’ album and she embarked on her European tour in january 2013.

There were only a few countries she played in Europe and Belgium wasn’t one of them, so if I wanted to have a chance to capture Solange on Polaroid, I had to travel to Amsterdam. But of course, the concert was sold out and I had to think of ways to get in. (what’s new?)

So, after some brief consideration, I decided to DM Devonté, since he was touring with Solange and explained him my request for A) a +1 on the guest list and B) a possible hook-up slash tip to have Solange ànd him on Polaroid.

To my big surprise Devonté replied very quickly and told me he was going to put me on the list +1 and he transferred me the email of Solange her management so I could pitch my Polaroid request the official way.  He also gave me his number and told me to text him right after the concert so we could hang. Just like that, ‘Simple come Bonjour’!

I did email Solange her management, who quickly transferred my request to Solange her Roc Nation publicists, but unfortunately my official request for a quick Solange Polaroid remained unanswered, even after a polite reminder. Then again, what’s new? I’m so used to not have my mails answered that it doesn’t even bother me anymore. #shrug

My only chance was therefor trying at the concert directly via Devonté but  from experience I knew that this is not a given so I decided that it was in faith’s hands whether I would go home with a Polaroid or not.

So me and Aicha who assisted me for this story travelled to Amsterdam and when we arrived at the venue we were indeed on the guest list. (Always a tricky moment, telling the lady at the guest list you are on the list via an artist, because if that specific artist didn’t do what they promised you, you look like a complete idiot and if the concert is sold out, you can simply return home

We entered the cosy Bitterzoet venue and it was totally packed. Because of a huge train fail in Holland properly called ‘The Fyra Fail’ travelling to Amsterdam took us about 6 hours that day so we were extremely late and had to piss off quite a few concert attendees while me and Aicha were squeezing ourselves all the way up the front row. At some point I was completely blocked by a bunch of angry-looking women but Aicha managed to push herself all the way front row where she could grab the following exhibits for you guys:

I really loved Solange her performance. It was modest, classy, pure and she comes across very genuine and down to earth when she interacted with the audience. Vocally she sounds extremely fragile but in a good way.

Here is a video snippet from when she performed ‘Losing You’ at end of the concert, a little cameo of her son included.

Exhibit:

After the concert, I texted Devonté and minutes later he was back in the venue and we finally met again. I told him that I always regretted that I didn’t take my Polaroid camera with me then in Paris and I asked him if he was down taking a Polaroid. He said something like: “OMG, yes, I’m finally going to be on your blog! “

Yes, I do admit that his statement kinda made my night.

While we were going upstairs the venue looking for a decent wall to take the picture Devonté told me that he was leaving right away to the next tour destination and that Solange was sick. I translated that as secret code language that a Polaroid probably wasn’t going to happen, and since I know when I shouldn’t be pushing for a Polaroid I didn’t ask or hustled towards a Solange Polaroid, because I felt that it wasn’t meant to be. Besides. I was really happy to have Devonté on Polaroid and I knew there would be other opportunities to catch Solange.

We walked to the smoking area of the Bitterzoet venue upstairs were it was quite crowded and I had to take my Polaroid in front of a small crowd of chain smokers. I prefer to take my Polaroids slightly more intimate but I didn’t have any choice so I made the best of it. We decided to take the Polaroids on the Chesterfield that was standing in the room.

As usual, I told Devonté that I ask every artist to give me two different expressions. I also told him that I was going to take an extra shot with my other Polaroid camera that I brought with me.

Devonté was totally down for it, (the camera loves him and I think vice versa) I aimed my Polaroid camera and:

Exhibits:

After we took the Polaroids, we chatted a bit more and Dev told me that his pose on the second Polaroid was inspired by a visual that apparently is in the inside of a Michael Jackson album. If you follow Dev on Instagram, you probably noticed that MJ is one of his many inspirations.

Not much later Dev was warned by his band members that they were about to leave. We said our goodbyes and that was that!

I was super thrilled when my Polaroids from Dev came out and since this started out as Solange story but evolved in a story about the mastermind behind Solange and that I didn’t really have the chance to talk with Dev, I decided to text him and asked him if it would be possible to do a little Q&A for this blog.

Months passed, I was busy, he was busy, I was busy, then he was even more busy but in the end I loved how he kept his promise and I found the answers to my random questions in my mailbox only a few days ago.

So, here it is, all the questions I wanted to ask Dev and some other random stuff I was just curious about.

A POLAROID STORY x DEV HYNES

Flying Overseas was the first song that introduced me to Devonté Hynes the producer and to your world and past music ventures in general. What does that song mean to you?

“Hmm, well it’s funny, because that chorus was written in my apt when I was living in Brooklyn, and it was the further to being ‘overseas’ that you could imagine. But that was a very particular time for me, I did the ground work to a lot of songs I home dear to me around that time period, just thinking nothing would really happen to them or anything, and they ended up running away and having lives of their own.“

Looking back at the Solange True EP and how warmly it was welcomed accompanied with quite a few amazing reviews, what was your biggest lesson as a producer making the EP? What did you learn out of that experience collaborating with Solange?

“Well, I learnt how to collaborate. Because even though I had done in the past, I never really felt fully comfortable, but with Solange I have such faith in her, and trust here judgements musically 100% that I learnt how fruitful, a real collaboration could be.“

True is co-written by you and the latter of lyrics are about the end of a relationship you experienced. Was it painful to have Solange sing out your grief or rather healing?

“Neither really, luckily I’ve moved past that emotional state.. I think?”

You told me in Amsterdam that you didn’t really like touring. Why is that? How has tourbus life with ‘True’ treated you so far?

“It’s been great actually, I’m not really cut out for tour life. That’s all, but it’s been fine, I end up missing recording and writing, that’s where I belong. But I love all the musicians in the band, and this whole venture has been a learning experience also.”

If you had to make an eternal choice between piano, guitar or a Roland TR-505 what would you pick and why?

“Oh man. I actually don’t know. I mean, a big thing about me is my disdain at guitar being my main instrument and how I’ve always strived for piano to take the lead, I learnt piano years before I took on guitar, (before all of that it was the cello) but some reason guitar comes a lot easier to me. But I write with piano, I can probably count on one hand the songs I’ve written on guitar.“

In an early interview you said that meeting people who you admire doesn’t really interest you, however after long thinking you decided that you’d might want to collaborate with Charlotte Gainsbourg (good choice btw)
 and…. Eminem.  Anno 2013, are those people still on your collabo wish list?

“Yeah! But I really don’t have a wish list. They’re all people I love and would jump at the chance, but there’s no one I’m like striving for.”

You are big hip hop fan, which current hip hop song are you into at the moment?

“Bitches Love Me” is still amazing.”

You are inspired by visuals, movies and pictures when you want to write music. Which picture, visual or movie blew your mind recently or are you inspired by at the moment?

“I’m currently doing some scoring work for a film, not sure how much I can say, but when I saw the rough cut, it blew me away. I also actually really enjoyed ‘Place beyond the pines’.”

So tell me about Mutya,Keisha & Siobhan. (MKS) How did they end up with you and what can we expect from that collaboration on a music level? Are you making their entire album or just a few songs?
Is it challenging to work with a girl-band?

“They requested and I accepted. I’ve been a fan of those girls since I was like 13.. I feel so honoured to work with them. The main song we’ve done. Is one of my favourite songs I’ve ever worked on.”

After watching a slightly weird but interesting (5pt) interview-turned-counsel-session with you & a Dutch platform called ‘FaceCulture’  it turned out that you suffer from insomnia in a rather serious way.
Do you still have issues with sleep to this day? If so, does it affect with your music?

“Yes, I seriously never sleep, it’s awful. I should see someone actually, ha.”

What’s the biggest misconception about Devonté Hynes?

“Probably everything!”

 Do you still have ambitions to release a comic book? Where does your love with the Peanuts comics come from? Why Peanuts?

“I’ve actually released a few comics back in the day, one day I’ll go back to it. I started painting again recently.“

In 2008 you once doubted in an interview in the back of a van if the concept of groupies even exists. We are 2013 now and you evolved tremendously as an artist in your career,  you’ve seen faces, places. Do you still doubt that?

“No.”

What’s your favorite French song?

“Ooh. That’s tough. Right now it’s ‘l’hippodome’.”

If I say Belgium, which 3 words pop in your head?

“Vaya con dios“

And there you have it.

With that final answer Dev easily outshined évery artist who ever answered that question since I started this blog.

I’m not going to lie, I’m super happy to have Dev on this blog, I believe he is a great musician and a really nice guy in general.

According to an interview Dev Hynes did for Interview Magazine, Dev suffers from synesthesia which is, and I quote: “a neurological condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived by one or more additional senses. In Hynes’ case, his sight and audition senses are linked, causing him to literally see sounds. He describes his experience as viewing moving pictures, with tone, pitch, instrument, the spoken voice, and volume all having their own separate color qualities.”

With that in mind, you can only imagine that the future is sounding bright and colourful for Do, Re, Mi, Fa, SoL, La, Si, Dev.

Love,

Ouni

Special shout out to Aicha for the additional shots and video!!

Yasss. It’s Victor -Vic- Crezée.

Also known as Lil’ Vic, Vic ‘Cray’ Zée, White Boy Wasted or even Haring Arie, a nickname Vic claimed for himself referring to a notorious Dutch criminal with a golden heart who lived during the roaring sixties in Amsterdam.

Vic is a DJ, hailing from Amsterdam who likes to refer himself as, and I quote; “That disease who plays at your little party.”

Yeah…he comes along with plenty of confidence that boy.

Not familiar with ‘The Mayor of Leidseplein, Entertainment Area’?

Let me be so kind to spill some beans about one of my favorite DJ’s. (don’t be jealous now)

Being introduced to Snoop Dogg by his older brother at age six and growing into Wu Tang Clan later on, young curious Crezée set foot in an Amsterdam record store called FatBeats one fine day, craving for more knowledge about the music his brother introduced him to.

While hanging in the record store, Vic Crezée met DJ Edzon (also co-founder of Patta) who took young Vic under his wings and thought him everything he needed to know about the craft. Fatbeats granted Vic the nickname ‘Knowledge God’ because he schooled himself so thoroughly.  After his DJ ‘defloration’ on a weekly hiphop radio show Victor took on the name Lil’Vic and toured the nation with JAWAT!, a Dutch rapper, while juggling school.

Peep this video for more info about Vic’s early career elaborated by…his parents. 

Those crucial first steps took him on a musical road trip all the way to DJ residencies in venues like Bitterzoet, Jimmy Woo and Paradiso hosting different parties like Woo Riddim, Bassline, White Boy Wasted & Live At The BBQ.

Boys become men, so one day Victor transformed from Lil’Vic into Vic Crezée, better known as White Boy Wasted.

Exhibit:

Although rooted from hip hop, over the years Vic Crezée broadened his horizons while exploring house and UK bass, which makes him a very versatile DJ, blending sounds and songs you may or may not expect.  Check out this Boiler Room set to get an idea what Vic is all about.

Exhibit:

Let’s not forget the everlasting love affair Vic has for R.Kelly aka ‘Kells’. An affection he displayed with the release of a 4 part mixtape series called ‘The Robert Sylvester Kelly Story‘ entirely dedicated to R.Kelly.

Talking about mixtapes, Vic is also responsible for recording quite a few of them, like the ones he curated for Patta, SLBMG and ‘Het Grote Gedoe’ with FaberYayo.

Did I mention he even lays down a couple of raps on tracks from time to time? For my international readers, he raps in Dutch, so you’ll probably don’t understand a word, but if you are curious hit the song below at 3:44.

Exhibit:

This is the part of the introduction my male readers probably are going to grunt over but I simply hàve to mention that Victor Crezée is not afraid to flaunt in front of the camera. Modeling for Patta or shooting for the Dutch L’Officiel Homme doesn’t really scare him. Quite the opposite really.

Exhibit:

Patta Lookbook.

(image credit: Patta)

L’Officiel Homme

So, now you probably want to know why I love Vic Crezée so much to feature him on the blog?

Not because of his flawless face and his stale green eyes. That has absolutely nothing, and I repeat – nothing – to do with it.

Neither does the fact that the way Vic moves behind the decks is far away from the nerdy moves most male DJ’s have when they do their thing. No, I swear, that has absolutely nothing to do with it what so ever.

Look, I’m the type of girl who enjoys different types of music, but if I go to a party, shit needs to pop! Most of all, I like an eclectic, vibrant set with old-school hiphop & r’n'b mixed with some dirty house here and some filthy bass there, flavoured with the latest fresh tracks climbing the charts and some soulful classics to top everything off. Vic can do all of that.

I confess, the first time I ever saw Vic Crezée…. I kinda rolled my eyes. I thought he was so full of himself. I remember him playing at a basement party hosted by Flo from A Cut Above and during one of his sets, Vic was actually combing his hair. With a comb. You know, the greasy way.

I was like….whut the FUCK is this guy doing?

But you know what they say, there is a thin line between love and hate so I ended up loving Vic Crezée, mostly because he knòws how to rock a party. I ended up at a couple of parties he played in Belgium, Holland and Berlin and I have to admit that Vic managed to rule them all, every single time. Simple as that.

So when the time came that I had to look for a (international) guest for my A Polaroid Story Expo Finissage Party I decided to look a little closer to home instead of booking a full band from South Africa (Remember that?!) and needless to say, my choice fell on Vic Crezée. He was joined that night by Haunted Vip – AJ OMO and my dear friend Nosedrip.

Exhibit:

That brings us to the (short) story behind the Polaroid.

I picked up Vic Crezée and his charming manager Mo when they arrived in Ghent after their road trip from Amsterdam and we took the Polaroids displayed here above outside the gallery where I was having my very first expo.

Vic admitted he had a rough night the night before, but having a little experience in front of the camera, looking a little rugged didn’t real stress him. What can I say, the fella could have deep dark craters the size of Sedan hanging underneath his eyes and still look interesting.

I just aimed my camera, did my usual countdown and Vic basically….worked it.

Exhibits:

After dinner with Mo and Vic and a quick ‘fix up, look sharp’ moment in the hotel me and Aicha entered Club 69 where I hosted the party hoping for a great night and I was thrilled to see the cosy 69 club packed like a can of sardines. I always think nobody will ever show up when I throw a party so I was mad happy to see so many familiar and unfamiliar faces.

After an excellent warm-up by Haunted VIP & AJ,  Vic Crezee took over and all I can say is that he sure lived up to his reputation of ‘White Boy Wasted’ that evening. Then again, I was giving my best impressions of ‘White Girl Wasted’ that night and all I can remember is that everybody was having loads of fun and everybody was dancing like crazy.

Exhibits:

(image credit by Club 69, for more click here )

I had to escort Vic into a cab straight after his set because his friend Vodka got the best of him and when I came back in Club 69 my homie Nosedrip kept things sexy with a UK Bass set to finish the night.

Exhibit:

The next morning after a much-needed breakfast at the hotel (yes I had breakfast with Vic & Mo and yes they both look decent and clean in the morning) we said our goodbyes and the Dutchies took off back to their beloved Amsterdam.

So for anybody who’s wondering how Vic Crezée is really like, I have to say that I don’t really know.

Maybe the following description might come in handy for the ones who are dying to find out more:

“Haring Arie is impulsive, quick-tempered, suspicious, strong with fast flying fists, endearing, proud, easily offended, cheerful, flirty, honest but by his own code, he would go through fire and water for his friends, but not many friends are worth the effort, Haring Arie is…a jolly good fella.”

For all things Crezée, check his Soundcloud here.

Love,

Ouni

PS: Thanks again to everybody who came to my first APS expo and everyone who showed love at the finissage.

Will definitely be continued…

Meets Dr. Kaps also known as Florian Kaps aka one of my personal heroes.

Florian is the founder and CMO of a company close to my heart called THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT and the personification of the ultimate rescue operation for instant photography called POLAROID.

It was around 2008 that Polaroid, – the company – decided to abort its own child and caved in to the rise of the digital camera and therefore decided to close their Polaroid film factories in Enschede Holland.

Instead of at least trying to rebrand their own iconic product, this company distanced itself from the very same product that made them big in the first place. I remember reading this in the newspaper asking myself If I was part of some very rare bread of people who still use the Polaroid camera anno 2008 or that Polaroid was more loved by its consumer than the company suspected. I also remember a ridiculous collaboration with Lady Gaga and wondered how on earth this once iconic company could loose track like that.

A year later, in 2009 I started this blog with a little push from the Belgian chief editor from HUMO magazine and with the sad knowledge that one day I might run out of Polaroid film, the very basic element of this blog.

Remember this? It’s still in the ‘About A Polaroid Story’ Section.

“Since Polaroid stopped producing films, the final question will be the following: Who will be the final artist in the series that is caught on Polaroid? Only time will tell… For now, enjoy the ride. “

Sure, I thought about using Fuji Instax film, then again, this blog is named A POLAROID STORY, not A FUJI INSTAX STORY, so I decided to be stubborn and stick to my concept by using only original Polaroid film, although that meant that I was making this very hard for myself. Then again, what’s new?

I was very excited to read in the newspaper one day that a certain Dr. Florian Kaps gathered a small team of former Polaroid employees around him and decided to buy the old Polaroid factory in Enschede (the only place in the world where you can still find the complete production machinery) and would make an attempt to create new and unique instant film.

In 2010 the first Impossible film was released in the world, and although I loved the entire project, the film as it then existed was too fickle and unreliable for me to work with.

At that time the film was so temperature and light-sensitive that for my specific cause using the film was simply not interesting. How come, I hear you ask? Well, let me explain it in this way. If I had to choose between expired but reliable Polaroid film or new experimental Polaroid film while I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to shoot for example…. Jay-Z , I had to pick the expired film, because the risk of a Polaroid-Turned-Bad  at the time was simply to big and you know that I don’t have that much opportunities with huge stars and therefore I always had to stick with the reliable expired film. It takes too much of a hustle to get close to a certain artist, to risk the fact that my film would fail once I’m in front of that artist.

However, I kept experimenting with the new Impossible Film and over the years I noticed the quality getting better, and better and better. The first time I really tried it for this blog was with this ODD FUTURE story.

Since then, expired film started to cost me more and more on Ebay and it was also getting harder and harder to find. Meanwhile, Impossible Film kept on working extremely hard to optimize their film.

Anno 2013 I can officially state that Impossible Film has made an enormous improvement in both black & white and colour film and since a few months I use the film for this blog with total confidence.

I think it’s so admirable what Florian Kaps did and in a way we have something in common.  We both try to do something Impossible with Polaroid film and we both succeeded in one way or another.

(Of course, I didn’t manage to collect 4,7 million euro of investment money for my cause, but hey, I’m getting there!

I met Dr. Florian Kaps not very long ago at SMETS PREMIUM STORE in Brussels who officially sells Impossible Film in their store and organized a super fun event to celebrate Polaroid with an accompanied press launch.

SMETS is one of the biggest fashion buyers in the BENELUX and offers 3000 square meter of high fashion, design, accessories, a restaurant,  a wine bar and a cocktail bar. (Yes, take that Colette!)

I was very honored and extremely excited to be able to meet Florian Kaps and exchange my Polaroid experience and love for instant film with him in person.

I thought that it was only right that he should be Polarized amongst all the other artists that I feature here, because he is truly a hero for me.

Dr. Kaps battled against all odds, collected several millions in order to see his ideas come to life and he saved one of the greatest inventions of photography from a sudden death just because he believed so much in instant film.

After the official press launch he took out a moment for me and I had the chance to snap my personal hero on Polaroid.

Exhibit:

I had the chance to explain my future goals and expectations that I have with this little blog to Florian and this resulted in a first official collaboration with THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT and I truly hope the beginning of a prosperous partnership.

You never saw a banner before on this blog, but for the next 3 months, you’ll see this Impossible Project banner sticking proudly to the right corner of my blog.

I started this blog almost 5 years ago and I paid every damn penny myself to keep this blog going. The Polaroid film, the APS parties, the APS expo, all the trip expenses while I was hunting for Polaroid stories (hotels, trains, cabs) you name it, I paid for it from my own pockets.

To keep this blog running, I have to start looking for the right partners to team up with, so I’m very happy that I’m teaming up with a company that values ‘striving to do the impossible’ just as much as I do.

Love,

Ouni

ps: Shoutout to SMETS for the lovely event. Small SMETS x APS event recap soon!

Wishing all my readers in the world a lovely Easter Monday!!

You know I tend to keep some Polaroids off the radar from time to time right?

Well, since it’s Easter and all, I’d thought it might be the perfect occasion to dust off these never before seen Polaroid shots from Jessie Ware & A$AP Rocky and share them with you guys. (a digital gift, from me to you

An unlikely pair for some, however, matching up those two Polaroids shouldn’t really come as a surprise, especially since both artist officially teamed up on Jessie Ware’s ‘Wildest Moments’ remix for the US release of her ‘Devotion’album.

Listen to the remix here 

(and enjoy your days off!)

Love,

Ouni

ps:

I’ve been rather quiet during March on here. There is a lot of change coming up for APS but don’t worry, it’s only for the good.

I’m preparing the APS festival season, a new website launch late 2013 and I’m working on getting money together to tour with the APS EXPO. This is a solo dolo project, so it takes time…

You can expect some brand new stories very soon. Don’t forget this month one story will be exclusively released in The Word Magazine first, and online later, so stay frosty for it, caus it’s a good one!

A little #FYI

I’ll be hanging at the fabulous SMETS store tomorrow to snap some Polaroids from you and yours for a SMETS in-store event in collaboration with THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT.

SMETS is one of Belgiums biggest concept stores and offers 300 square meters of high fashion for men & women, beauty, design and food. Definitely worth checking out!

SMETS invited two international bloggers to host the evening, the sweet Sabrina Meijer from AFTERDRK (NL) and Laetitia Wajnapel from MADEMOISELLE ROBOT (UK)

Exhibit:

If you are in the Brussels area and crazy about high fashion & Polaroids,  don’t hesitate to discover SMETS and their amazing SS/13 collection, enjoy some beats & bits and have your Polaroid taken by yours truly.

Confirm your presence via –> brussels.event@SMETS-STORE.COM

FB Event Page –> on.fb.me/15hxwSf

See you there!

Love,

Ouni

Yeah… I know, I know.

I was bummed myself, but clearly as you all can see a Rihanna Polaroid was not meant to be.

So no long intricate introductions on Rihanna and her musical repertoire but straight to  the story it is.

You ready?

First of all… this story would not have happened without British high street fashion brand RIVER ISLAND.

It was only a few months ago when I found out that none other that ‘Bad Gal’ RIHANNA teamed up with RIVER ISLAND to design her very first clothing collection.

I immediately knew that if there was a launch or interview possibilities of àny kind that I simply hàd to work my way in. Wherever or whatever, me myself and I had to be there.

So it was only less than a few weeks ago when I stumbled over my friend Amélie who takes care of all  River Island PR matters in Belgium and I asked her if there was ànything she could do for lil’ old Ouni.

Amélie and myself go way back, so she promised me that she would look into it and get back at me.

Only a week later I received a mail that she managed to squeeze me in on the international press list and that I was officially invited to London to witness the launch of the RIHANNA x RIVER ISLAND collection during London Fashion Week.

I was ecstatic! Don’t get me wrong, after my experience at the  MTV EMA’s , my expectations for a Rihanna Polaroid were very low, but I was looking forward to the event entirely. River Island, Rihanna, London, the whole thing had my name (and this blog) written all over it.

And so it happened, less than two weeks ago I hopped on the train from Ostend direction to London. Of course, things wouldn’t be normal if everything went smoothly. I don’t do smooth very well. For some karmic reason I am a walking Murphy’s Law disaster. So it didn’t really come as a surprise when I found out that my train suffered from an 18 minute delay.

No biggie, delays are as common as the air we breath here in Belgium, then again,  this meant that I would miss my connection in Brussels to Lille Europe, aka,  I would not be able to jump on the Eurostar to London.

Terrified by the thought of not being able to even arrive in London, knowing I was super close to a possible Rihanna Polaroid let along a great night out I called Amélie who was on her way to Lille Europe herself and explained her the situation.

After an excruciating long hour I found out that Amélie managed to swap my tickets in Lille Europe and that I could take the next train to London. Praise the lord!

A 18 minute train delay turned into 5 hours of waiting in cold railway stations, because that was the time that I had to wait before I could take the next train to London. This meant that my plans of a relaxed London arrival, a little nap in the hotel room, a nice bath and an extended ‘shine bright like a diamond’ make-up session went down the drain.

Slightly bummed and inwardly cursing why the hell those things always seem to happen to me, I spend the next couple of hours writing out my next story who will be featured in The Word Magazine in the Lille Europe waiting room.

While working on another story, I realised the situation could be worse, because if things went another direction I’d probably ended up going home instead of London, so I was grateful that I would arrive in London eventually.

At 3.30PM sharp I was finally on the Eurostar headed to London.

At 4PM London time I arrived in London. River Island was so nice to send out a chauffeur

Exhibit:

who dropped me off at the lovely Mandeville hotel in the heart of London.

When I finally walked into my hotel room around 4.45PM I  found Amélie sitting relaxed on the bed. After unwinding for about 15 minutes I hopped in the shower, plastered my face, picked out a dress to wear and ran downstairs the lobby where a small delegation of Belgian journalists and bloggers also known as ‘Team Belgium’ were waiting to go to an arranged press dinner at HAKKASAN at 6.30PM.

I was dying to sit down, have a glass of wine and a nice, relaxed dinner, but it was straight to business for Ouni. I managed to receive a backstage pass for the River Island show which allowed me to visit the backstage area before the show and I was expected at 7.15PM sharp at the back of the venue where the Rihanna & River Island show would take place.

So I left ‘Team Belgium’ behind, hopped into a cab who dropped me off the RiRi x River Island venue and around 7PM sharp I warned my contact at River Island that I was waiting outside the venue.  Only minutes later, a lovely bloke called Keith picked me up and escorted me straight into the backstage area.

The atmosphere in the backstage was busy yet relaxed. Keith explained me that I could take as much pictures as I want to unless somebody told me not too.

A few impressions of the backstage frenzy:

Exhibits:

Hair stylist Johnnie Sapong explaining his looks to the attending press

The sweet Ataui Deng giving me some Colgate love for the camera.

Extensions galore

Popping lips provided by MAC COSMETICS 

Seconds later I turned my head and what I was secretly hoping for, happened right in front of my eyes.

Rihanna walked in the room, closely surrounded by entourage and a few bodyguards.

Exhibit:

From what it looked like she was on a somewhat orchestrated tour through the backstage area for the River Island making off video.

I knew this could be my only shot of the night and I realised I had the step it up, so I grabbed my Polaroid camera and the minute Rihanna walked by me with her entourage I looked her right in the face, smiled and asked her super polite, sweet even,  if I could take a Polaroid picture.  She looked me straight in the eyes without any emotion and continued her way across the backstage area.

So uhm..yeah… I guess that was a…no?

I didn’t really understand it. What just happened?! This isn’t how things go normally. If I’m that close with an artist, eye contact included, I never experienced them to say no or to be totally unresponsive before….

 I wasn’t really sure if I asked loud enough or not, but then I turned around and saw the River Island representative looking slightly shocked at me, probably because I walked straight up to her.

I realised he probably didn’t know why I was there in the first place, so I assured him I know what I was doing, since I have been doing it for quite some time now. The River Island rep now better understood my actions and asked me to very discrete in my following attempts. I told him discretion is my middle name.

So right after I -discretely- took this picture of Rihanna overseeing the total looks that would be sent out the runway….

Exhibit:

… I heard a loud voice directed at me saying: “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!!”

I looked up and stared right into the face of Rihanna’s biggest bodyguard. He was so big he could block a Rihanna picture just by standing in front of her.

Like a 4-year-old reprimanded for stealing candy I answered: “Taking a picture….?”

The bodyguard replied: “AND WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD DO SO?!!”

Completely frozen up I answered him with big eyes: “Uhm…River Island…sir.”

He squeezed his eyes at me while screening me from top to bottom, grunted and said: “Hmpf. Ok then.” and turned back around.

I was in total shock. I was super discreet but still I manage to be the one to get picked out and treated like I’m a scary paparazzi stalker or something. Because I was a bit impressed by the situation I took a step back and wondered what I did wrong.

I mean, my camera was probably the lousiest in the entire room. I have a modest Canon G12 because it’s light and it doesn’t really take a lot of attention in comparison to a Canon 5D or any other SLR camera. The downside of the camera is that it’s not ideal in bad lit situations and the zoom is not exactly the best neither.

Was it my face?! Maybe I have a certified stalker face or something?! While I was wondering what I did wrong and how I was going to fix it  I see this girl walking in the backstage room with a big ass camera positioning herself right néxt to the bodyguard, aiming her camera and filming Rihanna while she was doing a little dance in front of her camera.

I was stunned! How the fuck did the bodyguard didn’t notice thàt?!  It felt completely random to me and I swear to god, it was like the bodyguard had a little radar that went of every time I even trìed to lift my camera to take a shot. Considering I was standing approximately 4 meters behind her, there was not much that I could do anymore, these are the only extra shots I was able to take:

Exhibits:

Notice the tall bodyguard on the far right? Notice his height in comparison to the rest of the people in the picture?

Yup, thàt’s what I was dealing with. :-/

A few minutes later I was told the backstage moment was over and the River Island representative escorted me; the girl who shot the Rihanna dance footage and another girl who jùst walked in, back outside. I realised we were the only 3 bloggers that were even allowed backstage and although I didn’t get what I wanted, at least I stepped out the building with something.

Around 7.45PM I walked into HAKKASAN and joined ‘Team Belgium’ who were enjoying a more than excellent meal. While I was rapidly taking in some food and a glass of red wine I wondered if I would have a second chance that night. I was worried because the bodyguard knew my face now and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing….

45 minutes later ‘Team Belgium’ left the restaurant, hopped into a cab and arrived at the fabric looking, industrial venue where the RIHANNA & RIVER ISLAND show would take place.

Exhibit:

The show kicked off almost an hour late, but finally Kanye West’s ‘Click’ was blasting out of the speakers and the show was about the begin. You can watch it as if you were there yourself here:

Exhibit:

What followed was a heavy nineties inspired collection with crop tops, long skirts with extravagant high splits, black on black outfits, leather snap backs, black & white combos, a flash of popping red and bright yellow here and there, a shirt + trousers combo that reminded me of the typical ‘Esse/Vatos’ gangster style with the shirt that has one button closed, hell, there even was a classic red Baywatch bathing suit.

Apparently the reviews for Rihanna her collection are not very good, but honestly, I have been looking at the pieces a few times now and I must say that this is what I expect from Rihanna and the style she is currently into. If she would pretend to be anything else that would be a lot worse if you ask me. These are looks Rihanna would wear, simple as that. True, I can’t pull off most looks, then again, I think the main target group for this collection are fly, young girls up to the age (preferably) between 18 and 25 years old. (Since the Rihanna x River Island collection is showing of a lòt of skin and nobody wants their 16-year-old walking around all ‘nekked’, right?)

My personal favorites where the black parka, the knee skirts with double nodded vests attached to it, the leather snapbacks, the grey and white varsity jacket and the jumpsuits in tie & dye and dark blue with hoodie.

Some extra shots from the collection I managed to snap with my lil’ old Canon G12 for you to enjoy:

Exhibits:

I was too busy testing out that new VINE app when Rihanna came out to greet the audience together with Adam Selman who helped her design that collection so I missed that snapshot.

The minute the show was over the after party began and the gin and ginger cocktails were flowing. Tiany Kiriloff, a Belgian fashionista heard that two Dutch bloggers sneaked in the backstage and were able to greet Rihanna, so we decided to at least give it a shot and sneaked in the backstage together. Although we arrived backstage only minutes after the show, we realised we had to bum rush the backstage the minute the show was over because at that time everybody is too excited to worry about security and now we were already a bit too late to catch any action.

Rihanna was nowhere to be seen and after screening the backstage we noticed there was one corner we didn’t really checked out. Together with Tiany and Belgian fashion journalist Ilse Bal I walked straight into a hidden corner of the backstage that went all the way to a little trailer park area.

This was the only place Rihanna could be hanging out, especially since the area was heavily secured with bodyguards.

Exhibit:

So together with my two Belgian fashion friends I held post close to the tour bus hoping that Rihanna would come out at some point. I do admit I missed my dearest Aicha who usually assist me on this blog but Tiany & Ilse were excellent company.

Exhibit:

I was sending out desperate tweets to you, my troopers and asked you guys to tweet Rihanna that she needed to come out of the bus and pose for my camera. Thank you so much to everyone who tweeted, it was fun reading all your supportive tweets.

Exhibit:

Also hanging around the tour bus was Iggy Azealea also known from her track Pussy & Murda Bizness, so what I was hoping for eventually happened after waiting an hour close to the tour bus. Rihanna came out her trailer, again closely surrounded by entourage and bodyguards and did a quick chat with Iggy.

Exhibit:

(picture by Tiany Kiriloff)

I  took a deep breath, stepped up to Rihanna and asked her again for a Polaroid, in the most polite, discrete way but the bodyguard who immediately recognized me wasn’t having it, and said:

“Stop this and put your camera away,  really, this is the last time I say this to you.”

Completely demotivated I took a step back. Rihanna turned around and at first it looked she was going back to her trailer but she took a sneaky back alley bàck towards the backstage area.

Immediately me, Tiany and Ilse followed her right to the point where her bodyguard stopped us and now also told Tiany and Ilse to stop taking pictures.

Rihanna took a varsity jacket from her own collection, threw it on and stood in front of a brand wall where it looked like a final press moment was taking place.

Exhibit:

(Picture by Ilse Bal)

I didn’t even dear to step up to her, but for a brief moment she looked to her right and looked rìght into my eyes and I showed her my camera and asked with my eyes for a Polaroid. She didn’t even blink. By that time I was pretty sure that she’d know somehow that I wanted a Polaroid, but apparently she wasn’t really feeling it. Boo fucking hoo.

When an artist is not down I try to accept it and take a step back. I realised that my final shot for a Polaroid would be when she returned to the trailer/ tour bus area. To go there she had to pass by me via a very small hallway. When she made her move towards going back, her bodyguard totally anticipated my presence and just stood right in front of me, I couldn’t even see her passing by, that’s how big this fella was.

And that was it.  Tiany asked me: “What do you think, back to the trailer area again?” but I know when I need to back off. Besides, I love a good story and I love a pretty picture, but I asked 4 times and at some point you have to take NO as an answer.

It was time for a much deserved drink and a spin on the dance floor. Unfortunately the after party closed down only 30 minutes after I was done ‘working’. Slightly disappointing I do admit. I wasn’t even drunk, which I was seriously planning to be.

Also, I do expect that a Rihanna afterparty is at least one that lasts untill 3 AM in the morning, you can’t really ‘pour it up, pour it up’ when things shut down at midnight, can you?  That’s way to cinderella for a gal like RiRi, no?

The next couple of days I noticed a comment Rihanna put on her Instagram account next to one of her pictures:

“Look at cho girl, walked up in that bitch like I owned a ho”

and I realised…maybe I should try the over-confident,’I run this town’ type of attitude. Maybe I shòuld have a little bit more attitude to get what I want. I do admit it’s not my style, but I’m always down to try out new things?

Maybe I should be a little bit more bad ass and stop being so damn polite and nice, because I’m pretty sure that my discretion and politeness and my ‘oops, i’m so sorry I’m here’ attitude drew even more attention at some point, and honestly?

It didn’t get me nowhere and lately I have been experiencing that a lot unfortunately.

Maybe I can try that bossy/bitchy attitude in attempt to get my Polaroid when Rihanna premiers her fall/winter collection for River Island? Maybe I should just buy a pile of weed and hustle my way in like a legit dealer?

I’ll let you know how that works out…

But to finish in a true RiRi manner,  the end of this story goes like this:

#PHUCKYOPOLAROID

Love,

Ouni

Special thanks to Amélie and River Island for the lovely opportunity. I had a blast, even without a Polaroid!