Designer Dodorye sepaks on choice of Swag or Style?

"I'm a gentleman, I have style and class the swag is left for the young boys!" Mr. Dodorye quotes as he shares some photos listed below:

Mr. Dodorye explains his inspiration for "Walking while black"

Mr.Dodorye recently gained an inspiration after the judge called the final decision made by the 6 juries in the Trayvon Martin case. He speaks on the awkward gut feeling it gave him when he heard the verdict "I knew Zimmerman would walk free, too much things did not add up to me. Trayvon Martins parents received an undisclosed amount of money before the trial, Zimmermans father is an retired judge,one of Trayvons most important witnesses testimony thrown out because Rachel weren't professional enough. At the end of the day it all comes down to what they say it does not come down to........RACISM!!! I have a 3 year old african american son and I have to admit it hurts to know racism still exists and people don't care to see this. Justice was not served and I am going to express how I feel about this trial in my art work." In the photos listed are photos of his latest piece "Walking while black" in which Mr.Dodorye speaks on the piece being one of his most inspirational pieces of 2013. He includes that the piece is no where near done! "Expressing what's real through an abstract mind" Dodorye

Basquiat: an artist we can believe in

Hip-Hop Finds an Artist to Believe In

By ANDREW BORYGA

Published: August 31, 2011

\HIP-HOP has long given shout-outs to alcoholic beverages, foreign cars and jewelry. But recently, an artist has been added to that list.

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Lizzy Himmel via Associated Press

Jean-Michel Basquiat, above, in 1985.

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Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Fab 5 Freddy at a screening of “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat, who got his start in SAMO, a graffiti collective in Manhattan’s early-’80s downtown scene, and became a famed painter before his death at 27, has been name-checked in numerous tracks in the last two years by the likes of Jay-Z, Nas, Kanye West and Rick Ross, bringing his story and work to the attention of a new generation.

Fred Brathwaite, a k a Fab 5 Freddy, the longtime hip-hop impresario and former friend of the artist’s, said Basquiat’s sudden exposure on hip-hop airwaves coincided directly with the 2010 release of a Basquiat documentary. In addition to exposing the artist’s story to a larger audience, the film established a connection between Basquiat and hip-hop, by way of their friendship. “It made people in the hip-hop community realize we were tight,” Mr. Brathwaite said.

He met Basquiat at a party in 1979 and soon after shared studio space with him on Canal Street, where he introduced him to recordings of early hip-hop parties that he says Basquiat found interesting, particularly early versions of sampling.

In 1983, Basquiat toyed with the process on “Beat-Bop,” a 10-minute track synthesizing various instruments and rhyming patterns, for which he produced and designed artwork. Coveted by hip-hop collectors because of its limited release, the track is rumored to be a result of a rift between Basquiat and a rapper on the track, Rammellzee, but Mr. Brathwaite contends the rumors are false and the record was nothing more than an experiment.

“Everyone was doing a little bit of everything then,” he said. ”Everyone had their hands in different scenes.”

“Beat-Bop” provided hip-hop aficionados a way to discover Basquiat, but not until the rapper-producer Swizz Beatz’s public embrace of Basquiat did his presence begin to grow.

Swizz Beatz, whose birth name is Kasseem Dean, remembers that when he tagged cabs and subway cars as a teenager in the South Bronx under the name Loco, friends often referred to Basquiat, pointing out places in the city where his SAMO tag once rested.

At 18, flush with production money from DMX’s 1998 hit “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem” and seeking to decorate a recently purchased home, Mr. Dean found himself drawn to Basquiat’s prints, flipping through an art book that also contained Warhol, Haring and Lichtenstein. “There was something about his work; it was so simple yet so bold at the same time,” said Mr. Dean, 32, in a phone interview.

Discovering Basquiat’s Brooklyn roots and humble beginnings, Mr. Dean became fascinated by the artist. By age 25 he had bought his first original piece and now owns six. He also wears two Basquiat-inspired tattoos, one a portrait of the artist on his right arm.

Franklin Sirmans, a Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator and contributor to numerous books on Basquiat, finds the hip-hop connection logical, given the artist’s street origins and his status as a black star in a mostly white, exclusionary art world

“Jean-Michel lived as the only black person in the room,” he said. “A Jay-Z or Swizz Beatz can relate to that as record executives.”

On recent hip-hop tracks, Basquiat’s name has been dropped amid verses glorifying pinky rings and Porsches. One song suggests that the splattering style he sometimes painted in was a metaphor for spilled blood.

But references like that on the 2010 track “Most Kingz” describe a deeper connection.

Jay-Z begins a verse in the song with the couplet “Inspired by Basquiat, my chariot’s on fire /Everybody took shots, hit my body up, I’m tired,” and in later verses makes reference to the pressures of escaping the ghetto but not its stigma, something Mr. Sirmans says Basquiat, whose work was often regarded by critics as “primitive,” faced.

Underlying meaning aside, Swizz, who is serving as creative director for Reebok’s forthcoming fall Basquiat sneaker and apparel line, believes any mention of Basquiat and exposure to a larger audience is good.

“Sure, it could be a fad,” he said. “But let’s make it an educational fad.”

Respect your supporters! by Mr. Dodorye

Art is a field of interest and a lot of artist find it difficult to find dedicated supporters. Supporters are not people who are waiting on your success to figure out what they can gain from you. They are people who are always there for you during the good and bad. I have a couple of real supporters friends, family and some fans but the most important thing is the honesty. I am an artist and I need people to critic my art, tell me what I am doing that I can change, things I should try, how I should go out of my comfort zone. I love all my supporters and when I make it they will be the ones I keep close to me no matter what kind of success I accomplish. You have to appreciate the little things in life and these people I can honestly say support me 110%.