Lessons from The B.O.P. Vol. 1.0

Don't smoke kids.


Don't phone home.


Don't wear THIS shirt. Ever. Especially not to the Sex & The City premier earlier that night. (All homo)


Don't wear chains.


But dance. Dance the night away.


(Unless you drink a few Long Islands/Motivators/DoubleRumCokes while wearing Jordan Phly Lows)


Get silly kids.

-Nick

Carter III!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just an FYI... Carter III has leaked and is fairly easy to find across the world wide web.


-Dane

Wanna get Away? Vol. Snooping

-Nick

Daily Surroundings!

I pass this place on a weekly basis, if not more often. On this particular day I find my way to the trendy Hipster Street in Portland and on to the grocery store. As I pass the Theater on one of Oregon's first sunny days I can't help but think of how hot and sticky it is...............the weather that is. It was a blistering couple of days and now we're back to the rain in full force. While the weather is not dependable here I can always count on The Oregon Theater to be there and a suspect car to be parked outside. I would also like to point out that none of The B.O.P. have ventured into the establishment, simply because it's "for mature adults".

Peace in the Middle East!

-Keith

Tom's Sports Bar. Portland. Friday Night.

I have a feeling this is gonna be a CLASSIC weekend.

39th & Division. Get Silly.



















You know what to do Cam.

-Nick

Elevation Aspiration

So, by now you may know that we here at the B.O.P. consider ourselves somewhat athletic. If you didn't, now you do. We happen across a basketball court from time to time and hand out more Ls than we receive, so we like to consider ourselves experts on the topic. Since most of our jobs relate to basketball in some way, we spend a lot of time watching, playing, and thinking about it, and yesterday was one of those days. I was doing some "research" at work and stumbled upon these amazing images, which would seem humanly impossible to most.

Dwight Howard

Travis Outlaw

And this one for Cam . . .

Candace Parker

And, now, for some moving pictures:

Sure James "Flight" White misses this oop, but it was way up there!



This, this is just stupid. I guess he could touch that. Doug Thomas, formerly of the University of Iowa.



-JT

Kobe.

Jumping over an Aston Martin....what's there to lose? Jumping over a pool of snakes?




-Dane

adidas Village....

So Mikey and I hit up some good fellas over at adidas today.

The "adidas Village" is actually just 10 minutes from my place...and it's really nice. It used to be a hospital but they bought the property and renovated it in 2001. Our good friend Kelly's dad was actually on the team that re-designed the existing buildings. I really like the feel of it and the buildings are pretty sweet with a different design aesthetic than your usual corporate setting. Not uber-conservative like a Reebok...and not arrogantly sprawling like at Nike...it's a nice mix of low-key and sporty. Notice the Three Stripes building in blue...there's a rec center & full court hoop inside.

We swooped over and checked in about story ideas and future shoes...DEFINITELY excited about some adi stuff in the near future.




Adidas did a thing called the Left-Right Project....and sure enough they got the shoes on full display out front.


Hopefully we can get more adi coverage going w/ SC...definitely some good stuff in the works.

-Nick

It really doesn't get better than SF...

So whenever I'm home...I try and definitely hit up San Francisco.

My brother and I drove the 90 minutes early this morning and got in around 11.

Hit up Huf first...and we go to leave and my brother gets a $35 ticket for "failing to curb your tires". NICE.

Then we re-parked and hit thehundredsSFthey'reHUGE.


It was weird cause we walked in...and it was just my brother, me & the 2 dudes working. I expected at least 20 beasts in the house. Aside from the lack of capacity fulfilled....place was UNREAL. I've never owned a Hundreds item but always liked the blog and way they ran things...and the store is amazing in person. They nailed it and it's definitely a "retail experience"...whatever that means. Some people could learn a thing or two. Ended up getting the Blackberry tee cause I found it to be hilarious....and then got Mikey two pairs of Sox...cause that's the type of stuff Mikey spends money on.

Finished up there and checked out Niketown...SUCKED...Nike clothing/"Urban Footwear" is downright laughable.

From there hit up Swans...off Polk/California and THE PLACE for seafood.



Combo Seafood Salad + Clam Chowder EVERY TIME. They just load crab/prawns/shrimp on there.



Went to Self Edge next...said what's up to Kiya...my brother tried on some jeans and we went back to the car...ANOTHER ticket...this time for expired meter in a 30 minute spot...we were there for 34 mins...$40 bucks...OUCH.

Headed next to Berkeley.

Zohan looks GREAT.



Got to Berkeley...hit up my boy PC and swung over to his apt... (nice bow tie...)

PC is actually the Focus:Collector for next issue (droppin first week of June @ FootLocker stores & Barnes/Noble joints)...dude rocked like 19 different Jordans all season for Cal and had a real solid year...maybe next year he can take on some more scoring w/ Ryan gone to the L.

He just set up brackets on his room's wall and had a nice stash of AF1's/J's all lined up.

These XX2's and XV SE's are niiiiiiiice. I love me some black/yellow colorways.



Talked a bit more about hoops/shoes and then OJ Mayo's "benefits"...turns out PC knew Rodney Guillory growing up in LA and always knew dude was trouble.

"That type of stuff never goes on here though."

He had a final at 5 so we went outside to his car to head back to campus...dude hits the keyless entry to a BMW X5 SUV....hahahaha....

"Yoooo...what's THIS?"
"My aunt got it for me....[laughs]....it's not like that."

(Seriously though...his aunt DID get it for him.....I think......)

Got dropped off at the dorms where my brother and his buddy were...sat back in the lounge and caught the draft lottery just in time.


NICELY DONE Bulls.

Drove back home.

It wouldn't be a trip home in Cali without.....


Double-Double FTW.

- Nick

3rd time's a Revolution

Okay, so we are now here! Practically 5 years down the road from the ground breaking "Revolutionary Vol. 2". Immortal Technique has been hiding and keeping everybody in high anticipation of the upcoming "Middle Passage" LP. Well thats due later this summer/early fall. In the mean time we are getting "The 3rd World", a mixtape hosted/mixed by GreenLantern. Official release of this mixtape will be June 24th. A few of the tracks have been leaked as artist do, so here's your shot at listening to them. From the sound of these tracks it sounds like IT is back but these are only the mixtape songs the LP will really show what this man has to offer us. Stay tuned!

Reverse Pimpology

Third World

Payback


-Keith

Actual Work Day...

8:40 am. Woke up to this view from the hotel room. Petco Park is pretty impressive in person.

















9:45 am. Walked 4 blocks to the Pony offices. See -- that's the brand we're checking in with. Caught up w/ the great Capt. Colin, Chad, Kyle and the crew.

Let's take a look back at failed past campaigns and the EXACT reason why everyone under the old regime got fired.
































So that's a guy. Dunking. In tri-captured slow-mo. Over a pony. Exactly.

So the reason we're here is to collaborate on some collaborations. I'll just say that in 6 hours of work...we talked about shoes...went to lunch w/ top notch talent serving us...and worked on 4 different shoes. 2 will drop. 1 for me. 1 for Mikey. Gonna be honest...it's a decent job.

So here's the best sneak I can give. Both dropping are AWESOME. (Mikey's not so much...haha) Hopefully these can vault Pony back to some respectability cause I think we did a niiiiiice job on 'em.

Straight Cash x SC.
















Pony x SC. Details/Materials are NICE. (100,000+ celebration?)
















And then Mikey and I worked on some of our own. I think you can guess who did which colors.
















6:15 pm. Left the offices and grabbed some food to watch the Spurs smash the Hornets. What a BORING series.

8:25 pm. Went back to the Pony office w/ Chad to work on some stuff for the night and talk to Zac for TWO HOURS on some final things for Issue 23.

Here's some stuff Capt. Colin had for me. He worked for Rbk for 4 years dealing w/ NBA athletes and celebrity marketing. Since Rbk had the NBA license, he still has a bunch of official game patches.

Got the Ginoooooobili digits for you Dane! Home & Away game numbers.
Kings + CWebb #4 patch for myself...
Signed QRich Clippers #3 & Baron Davis All-Star #5's if anyone wants em.
Got some BBC Japan Opening party favors from '05 when Tokyo launched...Ice Cream spoon keychain...hahaha...

...and best of all? Bulls official game shorts patches. Even better part? They're fully adhesive backed. AWESOME.















12:50 am. Finally left the Pony office. Long day of the easiest hard work ever. Good stuff.

-Nick

Off to San Diego...

So Mikey & I booked it to SD to meet up w/ a shoe company. Mikey's first time to SD. Shoulda warned him to lay low considering THIS.

5:15 pm. Checked bags and stuff. Congrats on the promotion Mikey.
















5:55pm. Flight delayed 30 minutes....who's up for some chicken strips & more drinks? Caught some of the C's/Cavs game...and Lebron apparently finally decided to score the basketball.





















6:55. Take flight. That's pretty. They should make shoes like that or something. That'd be crazy.
















11:05pm. Land and met up w/ our boy Chad near Gaslamp...went out for pizza and drinks @ Basic to catch up. Spot is MONEY. What makes it better is when there's a Shirt Guy on hand hitting on EVERY girl in sight. We were all hoping he kept drinking and pulled a Ronaldo.
















2:10 am. Checked into the Marriot...SLEEP. That's how travel days work in the big leagues.

- Nick

Streetwear 101: Limited Edition

Hello boys and girl, and welcome to the first edition of Streetwear 101. Have you been hoping to enter the streetwear movement, but are just too afraid you won't be able to grasp the cultural shifts and intricacies of this vapid and dying marketplace? If you said yes, then Streetwear 101 is for you!

Limited Edition
n.
Any product that has a number (and sometimes not!) attached to it, thus by increasing its desirability.

ex: I just bought these awesome limited edition SB's. They're based on teen wolf.

















"A limited edition shoe."

Remember a product can only be trumped by another item in the same category that is more limited then the first product. As beginners in the marketplace, I recommend that you adhere strictly to numbered products and footwear. This will give you a solid and generally accurate indicator of who you're better then. In the event that your product is as limited as someone else's, the tie breaker goes to a collaboration. In the event that both products are equally limited and collaborated, the winner goes to the collaborator who has the most perceived value in the market place. That is why BapexBatman Bapestas will beat ReebokxKool-aid Reeboks.


















"Three sneaker rivals prepare to do battle as an overmatched competitor looks on."

Of course, there are other more advanced reason why one's products will decimate someone else's and we'll discuss those more in depth in the future.

To start I recommend spending at least 40 hours online memorizing which shoes are/aren't collaborations. This will allow you to spot weaker opponents which your collaboration shoes will make asserting their dominance over an easy task. A common tactic is going after brightly colored shoes with no name attached to them. They offer no value and are an easy target. After you are sufficient at this you may go up against collaborations and other limited products.

Note: Under no circumstances are you to go against Hiroshi Fujiwara products, they may be plainly colored but are a nearly unbeatable opponent.

--Ira