erikshatredforknees

[gothmusiclatinamerica]

Today’s video is on the 2020 album Down to the Underground by Dominican post-punk revival act Lӧst, the band that made me un-cancel bands with umlauts in their name

[punkeropercyjackson]

Punk Percy Jackson headcanons but by an actual punk instead of someone who thinks skateboarding is an aesthetic

A remaster of an old post now that i've learned even more about how to be punk!!Posted for @sillycathorrors who when i asked if he wanted me to through with this post since i was debating wether to or not said yes♡This will include my Pjo s/i named Lex de los Santos so if that'll bother you,just don't read this and reminder that punk Percy is actually canon as per his writings so this is just letting him fully participate in the subculture!!

Percy is afrosolarpunk because he's monoracial black but multietchnic(american/dominican/greek)and the son of Poseidon so he's naturally deeply caring about enviormentalism and drawn to nature based aesthetics(and people,as seen by Lex being a Demeter kid)

He got into solarpunk because of Sally.She'd take him to the beach every other weekend to clean the beach with a group of her friends(and end each trip with lunch at the beach)

Thalia was his first real experience with the subculture head on and that's a huge reason he admired her so much and was lowkey jealous of her along with a bit of gender envy

Knows how to diy things that don't even exist(i'm sorry i'll never stop making this Percy joke,it's literally so fitting)

Straightedge(Smelly Gabe trauma)

Transfem bigender and uses any pronouns + a bunch of neos and was on estrogen but for a short amount of time compared to full transitions.Autistic too and that's a huge reason he's punk,both because of facing ableism and autism giving him punk personality traits

Radicalized Nico and Hazel,who are now goth punk and pastel goth punk respectively.The three of them and Lex are known as 'The Outcast Godlings' because of the usual treatment Hades/Pluto kids get the first two were no exception to and Percy and Lex's feelings of isolation and otherness even after getting to Camp Half-Blood,all of which were thankfully resolved by the end of Hoo and the beginning of Tods(Tales of Dead Seas,my sequel to it that happens instead of T.oa)

Owns a pair of colbat blue and black demonias that were a gift from Beckendorf and they're a little tight on him now but he still wears them to remember him by

Goes on petty crime sprees for fun,letting frustration out and as dates with Lex

Rachel,Lex and him are 'The Loser Trio',a nickname they got at Goode High they reclaimed for themselves,and Rachel is canonically punk like him since she's an activist and a huge weirdo(affectionate).Rachel is also nigerian yoruba and afrosolarpunk like Perce and Lex with Lex being pastel punk and blasian too(chinese-dominican/black-greek)so they all go to protests/riots and do charity/activism together starting all the way back to freshman year and Rachel uses Mr Dare's money to give reperations and buy gifts for her besties(from punk bussinesses ofc,otherwise what's the point?)

Intentionally travels via Blackjack,foot,Argo ||,etc so as to minimize fossil fuel usage,taught Rachel how to properly dispose of her paint water,teaches younger campers how to mend and alter their clothes so they last longer and attends mosh pits and underground parties on the regular with Lex on his arm and Nico and Hazel following behind

His favorite musicians are Mcr,Teezo Touchdown,Megan Thee Stallion,The Cure,The Misfits,Alt Black Era,Direct Hit!,Meet Me @ The Altar and Korn.Some of these aren't punk but punk is black so ofc he listens to rap and also blues and Lo-Fi Beats courtesy of LFB enthutiast Hazel!!He's a guitarist himself because Lex taught him how to play as they used to take lessons as a kid and gifted him for his 19th birthday,a sea blue diy'd guitar stacked with stickers they knew he'd love

He's 6'4 by the end of Tods and his hairstyles per book were:Baby dreads(TLT),wicks(TTC),twists(TLO),afro for most of SON because he didn't remember what he styles he likes but gives himself dreads with muscle memory by the end,makes sea material based beads for them in MOA and his hair is so long by the beginning of Tods he switches to locs

^^^Unmythologizably accurate Percy Jackson.She also loves flowy hemp pants and skirts and dyes them fun colors too,makes shawls and wraps for herself and her punk loved ones(including Sally!!)and she loves hair charms sooooo much and has a special sparkly pink sunflower one that's meant to represent Lex she saves for special occasions!

Very involved with the Demeter Cabin thanks to growing up best friends with Lex since The Lightning Thief-They were the first friend she made at camp,in fact!!Rip Annabeth's pick me ass but Lex is different-and Perlex actively try to get them involved in the camp garden

Almost entierly only weird/niche interests.She's obsessed with obscure podcasts,indie games,underrated cartoons,cult classic movies,non-corny musicals and less popular kinds of toys.The Outcast Godlings have matching Aquapets and Percy has the Beach Party Polly Pocket♡

Harrasses Poseidon into giving her money for Nico's chronic pain meds and mobility aids and helps Hazel rizz up girls as she's a baby transbian.They go to a Special ED school at Percy's convicement because she was supposed to be a Special ED kid but melted down so bad at overhearing Sally planning it she nevet tried to get her in properly and she regrets it to this day so she's making sure they get to live the happy childhoods she didn't.Nico is known as the outspoken activist nerd boy(affectionate)and Hazel is the pretty popular IT Girl who radicalizes her classmates with easy knowledge and encouragement and she does art that matches her beliefs

Including grafitti as she defaces public property with her familia y amigos y eventualmente su novia!!

Huge fan of energy drinks but his favorite is Cotton Candy Bang and Sally learned how to make punk themed blue food for the bit

Shark kin and catkin,specifically whale shark and calico cat(who're 99% female,tgirl Percy is her canon event).Lex is calico cat kin too for them soulmateisms and they discovered they're therians together by looking stuff up online together on Lex's bed at the dead of night and kept it a little them secret they provided tons of validation for too.Lex is also dragonkin,ghostkin and plantkin!

Percabeth is a cautionary tale to abuse survivors and intellectually disabled people about cutting off toxic normies.Lex hadn't seen much of Percy's relathionship with Annabeth until Hoo when the Eight Half-Bloods Shall Awnser The Call prophecy was spoken and it was inbetween then and Percy going missing that they learned the full details as reluctant camp co-leaders with her and realized she's abusive to her,planning to tell Percy when the time was right.The time turned out to be the MOA pre-climax when they were discussing everything that had happened over the years and Percy had a pit in his stomach as Lex and Hazel fell into their own pit afterwards too-That is to say,Tartarus.Hazel gets to unlock her true powers down there,as the Princess of The Underworld and The Unknown,and Lex does their best to care for and protect both of them while up on the surface Percy still hasn't broken up with Annabeth because too much was happening but the last straw is when she insulted Lex out of jealousy and she's so angry she dumps her on the spot and walks away despite it being the middle of a meeting.She also got the Hecate Mist storyline and no Nico relathionship retcon as symbolism/motifs for her finally making her own choices,including Lex,who she only didn't earlier because he didn't think he was allowed to

This follows up to Tales of Dead Seas,a year later Hoo sequel.The plot kickerstarter is Percy killing Zeus in a fit of rage and thus causing the greco-roman mythos world revolution Luke lied about wanting to do like the fascist he was,Luke also having been killed by Percy at the end of Pjo.The other mytho beings that're 'lesser' on the system than the gods gladly followed her and did their own things too and the mcs are Percy,Lex,Nico and Hazel in the four books of the last Percyverse series.'Elysium on Earth','Petallic','Arcane Rot' and 'Unmythologizable' are the titles in order,Sally opens up a family bussiness under 'Familia Jackson Beach Shack' in it and it chronicles Perlex's dating dynamic and Nico and Hazel as teens over the course of 4 years for that og Pjo throwback,including the chapter titles and the return of Rachel as an mc who basically lives at La Residencia Jackson at this point

Lex cracked Percy's egg via starting to date her with their own transmasc genderfluid and bigender but super femme identity making it kinda impossible for it to not happen and ofc she came out to them first and they showered her in affection,lended clothes that were too small on her she refused to not wear anyway and diy'd estrogen by their boygirlfriend.Percy's mermaidcore hair dye was spurred on by her transfeminism and Lex did it for her in an intimate moment as she nervously gripped their waist out of dysphoria she'd look ridicilous and they talked her down and kissed her face to help.Lex dyed their hair too in the final chapter of BOO,their bangs forest green as a self-love metaphor for their completed character development arc

Also Lex is a DC Comics fan and has Jason Todd as their favorite Robin and a crush on him so they told Percy she's a lot like him as a compliment and she got super offended,hand over her heart and everything,because she thinks Jason sucks(denial isn't just in The Kane Chronicles i see)

When it comes to makeup,she usually goes for glittery blue eyeliner tears,black glossy lipstick and edgy blue aquatic nails

Lex is the Team Mom to Percy's Team Dad when it comes to Nico and Hazel and befriended Nico in TTC too as his 'new older sister' by their offer when they found him crying over Bianca after meeting him briefly when Percy was showing him around and Hazel first thing they met in MOA as Hazel approached them onsight by recognizing them from Percy's talks of Lex,her not remembering anything except Sally at the start but Lex slowly came back to her when she eat a Camp Jupiter strawberry and noticed it didn't taste quite 'the same',sadness she didn't understand washing over her.Cute lil black punk found family sitch and Sally is the gilf-I mean abuela

Percy has the cocky flirty punk guy thing going on but it's a Lex exclusive

Perlex is also blue x pink,skateboarder x rollerbladder with Percy's board being ocean blue with black designs and Lex's skates are ultra girly and kiddy and huge x pint-sized.Lex has a raspy voice to match their rocker girl personality and Percy finds it so enchanting and they wear eachother's battle jackets and bought matching Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue/Ichihime from Bleach figurines by store thrifting because they assigned their relathionship since they're just like them individually and together

Perseo 'Percy' Isadore Jackson:A punk legend

[usadailyshirt]

Quatinashirt.com - Julio Rodriguez Dominican Republic Caricature Shirt

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A total of 45 prosecution witnesses were called to present evidence against Kelly, with many of his victims—including the Julio Rodriguez Dominican Republic Caricature Shirt What’s more,I will buy this singer Aaliyah, who married Kelly in 1994 when he was 27 and she was 15—identified as Jane Does. Accusations of engaging in sex acts with women under the age of consent have followed Kelly for decades, but it took the #MeToo revolution and the broadcast of the 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly for Kelly’s long-standing pattern of sexually abusive behavior to be definitively decried by the music industry—and, as of today, by a jury of his peers. Tucked away in a central Milan neighborhood that’s been home from the mid-’70s to refugees and migrants from Eritrea and North Africa, an old knitwear atelier serves as workshop-cum-headquarters to Vitelli. Vitelli is an artisanal creative community headed by Mauro Simionato, a creative director/cultural agitator with a hippie ethos. Since its inception in 2017, Vitelli has embraced holistic and sustainable production practices, a progressive social mindset, and a distinctive aesthetic, rooted in the Italian Cosmic Youth club scene of the ’80s and tinged with post-hippie, post-punk undertones. “We make experimental knitwear,” explained Simionato before the show held at Fondazione Sozzani during Milan Fashion Week, a first for the label.

“We produce exclusively from the Julio Rodriguez Dominican Republic Caricature Shirt What’s more,I will buy this waste of Italian fashion,” he joked. Discarded yarns and selvage are actually handpicked from deadstock and then crafted in-house at Spazio Vitelli; the batches of semi-industrial knits Vitelli produces are made in partnership with small family-owned knitters in Northern Italy, to minimize the carbon footprint while helping local suppliers’ businesses. Fiercely resourceful, Vitelli has perfected a special in-house needle-punching technique, through which it creates sheets of a hybrid textile the label calls Doomboh. Flexible, slightly felted, and beautifully textured with a sort of marbré multicolored effect, the Doomboh is draped, twisted, and “molded” into imaginative genderless shapes.

Home: Click here to visit Quatinashirt.com

[dear-indies]

Helloooooo! I’m looking for a latina face claim that could pass for 18-22? Bonus points if they can fit in the 80s and are possibly goth, punk, etc!!!

Luara Reisinger (1994) Brazilian. 

Rico Nasty (1997) African-American / Puerto Rican.

Makis de Angulo (1997) Colombian.

Kiana Ledé (1997) Black, Mexican, Cherokee, and Swedish.

Emily Tosta (1998) Venezuelan / Dominican.

Natalia Lorenzo (1998) Colombian.

Joanna Pincerato (1998) Mexican, Syrian and White.

Isabella Gomez (1998) Colombian.

Andrea Camila (1998) Puerto Rican.

Paola Andino (1998) Puerto Rican.

Simone Marval (1998)  Venezuelan.

Belissa Escobedo (1998) Mexican - pansexual.

Karol Sevilla (1999) Mexican.

Kayla Maisonet (1999) Puerto Rican / Ashkenazi Jewish.

Alaina Castillo (1999) Mexican and Unspecified American.

Monalysa Alcântara (1999) Afro-Brazilian.

Natalia Castellar Calvani (1999) Puerto Rican.

Violet Nelson (2000) Kwakwaka’wakw / Honduran.

Lilimar (2000) Venezuelan.

Auli'i Cravalho (2000) 37.5% Puerto Rican 31.25% Native Hawaiian 25% Portuguese ‭4.6875‬‬% Chinese and ‭1.5625‬% Irish - bisexual.

Isabela Merced (2001) Mexican / Peruvian.

Zoey Luna (2001) Mexican - trans.

Briggitte Bozzo (2001) Venezuelan.

María José Vargas (2001) Colombian. 

Fernanda Concon (2002) Brazilian. 

Non-binary and has alternative vibes!

Ariela Barer (1998) Mexican [75% Ashkenazi Jewish, 25% Unspecified Other] - she/they - has since deleted their Instagram post stating their non-binary so I’m unsure if she still identifies as non-binary - gay.

Sivan Alyra Rose (1999) Chiricahua Apache, Afro-Puerto Rican, and Creole - genderfluid and pansexual - she/they,

[ljaesch]

FUNimation Entertainment Adds the Desert Punk Anime on YouTube

FUNimation Entertainment Adds the Desert Punk Anime on YouTube

The Fandom Post is reporting that FUNimation Entertainment has started adding the Desert Punk anime on YouTube. As of this writing, roughly 12 episodes have been added with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles. The series is available for viewing in Argentina, Australia,, Saint Barthélemy, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, the Dominican Republic,…

[thewistlingbadger]

Hey so I saw a headcanon in the ith discord and i liked it but I wanted to tweak it. Sofi, if you see this post please comment on it so I can give you the credit. I couldn't find your Tumblr. But I digress.

So apparently in all different types of Spanish's (because yes, even though Hispanics speak Spanish it's a different type than Spanish everybody else's.) Light blue is Celeste, except for Dominican Spanish. so naturally, this would lead to some arguments happening in the barrio. specifically, usnavi picking fights on those who don't say it the way he does. Enter, graffiti Pete. So one day Petes talking to Sonny. And I imagined this happened way before the events of in the heights.

Pete to Sonny: "man, I was at the store and I saw this wicked shade of Celeste. When I get some money, that spray can is mine. I kid you not, it must have been one of the most beautiful colors I've ever seen."

Usnavi: "Did you just call it, Celeste?" Pete: "Uh yeah? What else would you call it? And who are you?"

Usnavi: get out my store! And I better not see you again. cabrón.

And that's how usnavi's hatred for Pete began. And of course things just started piling up. Like Pete being a graffiti artist, him "vandalizing" public property, him being older than Sonny, him hang out with sonny, him being openly gay, him smoking, him being a "criminal", "Vandal", "low life", "Punk", "bad influence" etc. So their relationship just got worse over time. And so the whole barrio knows not to mention the word light blue in Spanish to usnavi unless you have a death wish. You thought playing Uno destroyed friendships and families? Ha! Try saying Celeste in front of Navi. Sometimes, Pete will say it on purpose just to piss Navi off. But over time, Sonny starts calling it Celeste too. Since literally the only person who doesn't say it that way is usnavi. (And maybe son's been "hanging out" with Pete a lot recently. Wink wink nudge nudge.)

[docsnotes]

Views on Cancel Culture, Woke-ness, Political Correctness & Other Related Issues From The Perspective of an Irrelevant Nobody: Why People Think it Helps & Why it Does Not. By Bradley “Holliday” Rozier I had hoped this first post would be a lot more light-hearted, but after an article and the related tweets I read yesterday, I had to write and share this. So, it is roughly November 2017, I decided to join Greenpeace because I felt it would be a great way to put my mind and anxiety to good use.  Through the connections I made, I ended up with some really good friends and some people who I thought would be a positive asset to my growth and recovery, but ended up not being so.  However, we will get to THAT part later.  First I want to say, generally speaking, I am against most everything the “Woke” movement is against, I simply feel that, tactically speaking, it could and should be handled differently.I was born September 9, 1984 at 10 something PM at what was then “University of Florida Medical Center”, but is now called “UF Health Shands” (Named so after William Augustine Shands, fun fact, W. Shands was not a Doctor, but a politician)  on 8th street in Jacksonville, Florida.  I grew up in culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhood on the northside of town called “Highlands” (named so because it is at a slightly higher elevation than most of the rest of the city) as well as various other places (my biological mother moved, A LOT) so, from an early age, I was presented a multitude of other cultures and backgrounds to embrace and learn from.  The most important factor in this point is my Grandmother, Geraldine Rozier, and my Aunt, Donna Ogle.  Both of whom drilled two very important lessons. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) Treat others as you want to be treated. (‎Matthew 7:12) Now, as many of you know, I have particular disdain for organized religion, as more often than not I see it bring out the worst in people, if you doubt my words, wait for the next thing I post.  Yet, even I can find value in these teachings.  These teachings also come into play with the topic at hand and I feel that this was a necessary preface for what may come out as being exceptionally harsh.  I need you to understand: this is all coming from a place of love and compassion, though I understand how this may be hard to believe as this is my first blog post. This morning, as I drank my coffee and smoked my first cigarette of the day, I was reading a Revolver article about Glenn Danzig (who is easily one of my favorite musicians).  The article was basically him talking about how punk rock could have never have happened in today’s sociopolitical climate. It received A LOT of hate, but the simple fact is, he was right.  Think about this: The Ramones, New York Dolls, The Clash and The Sex Pistols all put out songs that were offencive to some people, however, that was kind of the point.  In 1976 the Ramones put out their self titled debut, on this album was a song called “Beat on The Brat” the 6 repeated lines from this song involve beating some annoying kid with a baseball bat.  On the 1973 self titled New York Dolls debut there is a track called “Looking For A Kiss” which is about pressuring someone to be intimate with the singer.  The Clash, in 1977,again with the self titled debut, has a song called “Protex Blue” which is a song shaming a girl for not being “wholesome” enough.  Finally, The Sex Pistols, who’s name alone may be enough to get them cancelled these days, finally straying from the “self titled” trend with their 1977 debut album “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols” had a song called “God Save the Queen” which was about anything except saving the Queen.  In today’s world, these bands would have been stopped dead in their tracks and with them, almost 50 years of other artists. Which brings me to what led me to start this and with it, I hope, a dialogue.

The reason people THINK that cancel culture, woke-ness and political correctness works is because it makes THEM feel warm and fuzzy inside.  They got to “stand up” for the “little guy”.  The reality is these people do this for themselves and that is what I am going to illustrate in the next part. The first point I want to make, which I almost didn’t because I didn’t want to seem nationalist, is the Freedom of Speech.  Now, this is often something people mention when trying to explain how “America is the greatest nation on earth.” However, this is not strictly an American right, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A - 10DEC1948 Code-A/RES/3/217A) which was voted for by 48 Nations, and 8 nations abstained1 states that Freedom of Expression as a fundamental human right.  So, I say this with the full certainty that it is absolutely imperative that ALL people should be allowed to express themselves.

My second point, it is insanely important that we teach ourselves that reality is sometimes offensive.  The world does not walk on eggshells and people will be insensitive, it is a simple fact.  Preparing our children (and ourselves) for this fact is a quintessential part of life.  Now, it would be great if everyone was nice and perfectly well mannered all the time.  If you prepare your children for a flat tire you should prepare them for hurt feelings, conversely, it is also a useful tool in teaching children how they should behave by showing them how they should not act.  Using a negative to teach a positive can be a very effective method.  

Third, let’s talk about being “woke” which will bring us back to one of the people I met through my Greenpeace affiliation who was a negative influence on my life. I have no desire to smear this person, so I will simply refer to her by her initials D.H. I met her at a coffee shop where we met to discuss racism in general, but, primarily in Jacksonville. Our introduction was uneventful, but informative for me.  Over the next few months, we would communicate multiple times and meet up at multiple events. At one point she would call me “one of the most ‘woke’ white guys she ever met” which, at the time, I took as a great compliment.  As time would pass we would start to disagree on certain things, mostly things of basic morality. The final straw was when a mutual “friend” of ours decided that it was morally acceptable to lie to someone who was going through a catastrophic period in her life. She made a comment that I completely agreed with in the general context, however in this exact situation it was incorrect.  She said “He didn’t owe her anything”, which is correct, except for the fact that he broke a promise.  I was raised that if you give your word, you honor it. So, yes, he owed her his word, if not,at least an answer as to why he broke it (which was all she wanted). I mention this to say the biggest problem/misconception with ”woke culture” and it is simply this: Being “woke” does not make you a good person.  I also would like to point out that being “woke” 75% of the time does not undo the 25% that you are an asshole.In conclusion, the idea that “wokeness” and Cancel Culture will fix the problems of our society is absolute garbage.  I feel that the only way we can actually fix things is with a dialogue, not by simply throwing people out when they say things that we don’t agree with. Alienation is not fixing anything, in fact, I would argue that it makes things worse.  It is better to extend a hand than slam a door. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this, I hope to see you next time.

1- For (48) - Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Siam, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Against (0) - Zero

Abstained (8) - Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian SSR, South Africa, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia ( artwork is by marisa deroma @marisa_deroma on instagram)

[nadja-chamack16]

Side With The Height

Authors note: lmao I was supposed to post this basically years ago :/ (more like a month ago) but I got so self conscious about it and wasn't going to finish it... so before I regret posting this lol just know I had fun writing and there are probably grammar mistakes. I truly don’t know if this is going to be a chaptered thing but enjoy anyway! If you have any questions please let me know! and if you wanna be tagged for some reason let me know(?)

words: 3861

pairings: Eventual prinxiety, eventual logicality, Platonic demus

summary: Virgil wakes up in washington heights, the place where he's lived as long as he can remember. He goes through his usual day and we see a glimpse into his mind.

warnings: A lot of Spanglish (mix in between Spanish and English) is used, let me know if I missed anything

“ Lights up on Washington Heights”

Up at the break of day ”

Virgil woke up a tad bit late, which mind you was something very rare,  still on time to open the bodega though he was almost always the first one up anyway. Watching the Barrio wake up after he was wide awake and ready to start his day,  it made him feel like he was seeing the world from an outsider perspective but for once being the outsider was something good.

“ I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away ”

He walked towards the bodega, one of the few things he still had from his parents and- Wait is that Remus? wait wait wait- is he about to spray paint the bodega?! His internal monologue was rudely interrupted, He bolted towards Remus, “what are the fuck are you doing?!” Remus wasn't a genius, but he could definitely tell that Virgil was pissed and he decide his best option was to run off to god knows where, he was a little worried that Virgil would run after him, but he still tried to look calm while leaving but was definitely failing miserably.

“ Pop the grate at the crack of dawn ”

Virgil knew how Remus was, he and Dee hung out a lot, (if it were up to Virgil he most definitely would not be, but he can’t monitor Dee all the time) But he never thought Remus would ever dare try to spray paint the bodega! “I guess you can’t trust people” he said under his breath while pulling up the metal grate covering his corner store.

“ Sing while I wipe down the awning

Hey y'all good morning ”

Virgil saw the piraguero, Emile, and had a short conversation with him. “Ice cold piragua. Parcha, china, cherry, strawberry, and just for today I got Mamey!” Emile said, he said it every morning so Virgil had most of it memorized by then and mouthed the words as he said them, “Oye piraguero Como esta? " Virgil asked, he didn't personally like small talk, but there was a few exceptions, “Como siempre señor Virgilio!” Emile winked. Virgil didn't hate his name or anything, his parents gave it to him and it had a story behind it, he just liked its “translation” into English a little better, when he was a kid, a few of his classmates had issues saying his name, and he didn't really like that, so he decided to use the name one of his teachers called him. He entered the store relaxed and involuntarily continued his internal monologue. Virgil enjoyed singing...when he was alone in the bodega...at an ungodly hour... before everyone was awake and bustling through the door, before anyone could judge him really, but deep down he knew nobody here would ever do that, everyone around him either saw him growing up or grew up with him, but anxiety won't stop pestering will it?

“ I am Usnavi and you prob'ly never heard my name

Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated

Exacerbated by the fact that my syntax is highly complicated cause

I emigrated from the single greatest little place in the Caribbean

Dominican-

Republic ”

It didn't matter that Virgil was from this small tropical island in the Caribbean he still probably was the palest person in the barrio, and you couldn't really blame him, he was always working, trying to make ends meet, so he almost never went out, plus he moved to the barrio when he was a child, so he never got to really experience that Dominican heat, and those stunning sun beams crashing over one's skin through the palm trees while feeling the sand as he walked through one of its many beaches- anyway...he’s always lived in the barrio so, it’s not like he doesn’t have his culture with him, since there are other Latinos all around him, but he wants to one day experience all these things and not just day dream about experiencing his country with the only reference of that majestic place being stories Abuela had told him.

“ I love it

Jesus, I'm jealous of it

And beyond that

Ever since my folks passed on I haven't gone back

Goddamn,

I gotta get home then ”

In case you hadn’t noticed, Virgil Loved his country and culture very dearly, and he took pride in it, sometimes when Abuela Carmen told him stories about his home country, he got a weird feeling, He was most definitely grateful that Abuela took her time to tell him in detail all these stories, so he could imagine what living there must be like, but he couldn’t put a finger on what this feeling was, jealousy? Maybe. Longing? Probably. Resentment? Possibly. Desire? Who knows. He wasn’t sure, the only thing he knew for a fact was that this feeling made him wonder what would have happened if his parent just stayed in the sunny bliss that is his country, and having such a thought made him feel guilty so, he tried not to dawn it for too long, and told himself that one day he would have enough money to go and live there for the rest of his days (a few years maybe? No, he wanted this) and experience his country...but he could also come back settle down, help Dee, so he can fend for himself, and maybe start dating, he could always try to ask R-

“ I'm gonna test ya later

I'm getting tested times are tough on this bodega

Two months ago somebody bought Ortega's Our

Neighbors started packin' up and pickin' up

And ever since the rent's went up

It's gotten mad expensive

But we live with just enough”

He had to cut that train of thought quickly, he couldn't be day dreaming about impossible scenarios when rush hour was coming, and everyone would be awake heading for work and would pass through his bodega and get his world- well barrio famous café con leche, but he had no idea what he would do today since the fridge decided to stop working, and he had started to panic a little, thank god for Abuela because he would have gone into full panic mode if it weren’t for her walking in, “Mijo what's wrong? You look stressed.” she always knew when something was wrong, “Ay, abuela my fridge broke... I got café but no con leche” he tried not to sound too disheartened and worried as not to raise any worry, “try mother’s old recipe, one can of condensed milk!” that was all she had to say, and he was instantly calmer, but it wouldn’t be Abuela if she didn’t end it with “Paciencia Y Fe!” she said it as she exited the store. She may not be his real grandma, but he certainly loved her as if she was his grandmother, hell mother even! She practically raised him for god’s sake!

“ In the heights

I can't survive without café

I serve café

Cuz tonight seems like a million years away!

En Washington—”

Then and there the barrio came alive in a matter of milliseconds and everyone was rushing through the streets, and the cars were honking, and everything lit up as if from a scene in a movie. He liked how he always knew who to expect at what time, it was comforting to have routine, and he guessed other people agreed with him because they were always on time, First up was the Rosario’s, they run the cab company down the street, Even, so they struggle in the barrio, their son Patton is off to college and tuition is ridiculously expensive so, everything they get is mad cheap. Virgil always knew everyone's usual, and the Rosario’s were no exception, “Good Morning virgiiiiiil” Larry’s singsong voice sliced through his thoughts, he automatically started gathering his usual,“Pan caliente, Café con leche” he said as he put the items in the counter, “put twenty dollars on today’s lottery” Larry said with a smile on his face, before Virgil could do anything Dot’s voice came through “ one ticket that’s it!” she said with a stern tone, her eyes still pretty playful, “hey!, a man’s got a dream...” she rolled her eyes and turned to Virgil “don't mind him he's all excited ‘cuz Patton flew in at three am last night” she was smiling warmly while thinking of her son, Larry’s voice caught her attention, and she looked up “don’t look at me, this ones been cooking all week” he said while making a gesture with his thumb in her direction, she rolled her eyes, “Virgil come over for dinner there's plenty to eat!” they took the bag off the counter and left the store.

“ Me and my cousin runnin' just another

Dime-a-dozen

Mom-and-pop stop-and-shop

And, oh my god,

It's gotten too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said

People come

Through for a few cold waters and

A lottery ticket,

Just a part of the routine ”

He sees Dee trying to sneak past and obviously failing, “Dante you’re late” Virgil tries to say it in a stern voice, “chillax you know you love me.” Dee smirked and got to work, Virgil couldn't hold back the smile any longer, he just sighed and started warming up for the real rush hour coming, there was going to be multiple people talking to him at once and even if he finally had Dee to help, he knew the both wouldn't be enough, but after years of this being his job, he knows how to handle many people talking to him at once and keep in mind these are Latino people, which meant there was several people talking to him at once but at twice the speed of a normal human conversation, and if they were on a rush make it four times as fast.

“ Everybody's got a job;

Everybody's got a dream

They gossip,

As I sip my coffee and smirk

The first stop as people hop to work ”

The last people to come before rush hour were Remy and Valerie work on the salon next door, and as always Remy was telling Val about the new chisme, and Virgil couldn't help but eavesdrop, it was his bodega after all, so he had to have some sort of right to do so, plus it wasn't like he tried to hide the fact that he was listening, if something surprised him it, he wouldn't try to stifle a gasp, but he never got to hear the gossip from the beginning, so he had to try to piece it together and sometime he didn't even get to hear the end, he started preparing their usual orders as he listened, “so, then Yesenia walks in the room” “ah ha” she smells sex, and cheap perfume” “uh oh”, “it smells like one of those reeves that you hang from the rearview” Valerie didn't really add much to the story just her random reactions to show she was listening, “haha no!,” “its true! She screams ‘who's in there with you Julio!’ grabs a bat and quick in me’ door…” Virgil started piecing some things together, they were talking about Yesenia getting cheated on, Julio probably had cheated on her with some gir-” he's in bed with José from the liquor store!” well that was a twist! Virgil couldn't help what he said next, “No me diga!” he and Valerie said it in perfect sync, he hands them their respective coffees, and they both say a simple, “thanks Virgil!”

“ Bust it— I'm like— One dollar, two

Dollars, one fifty, one sixty-nine I got it

You want a box of condoms what kind?

That's two quarters Two quarter waters

The New York Times

You need a bag for that?

The tax is added ”

It was finally time, the long awaited rush hour, people were asking him the cost of things, where things were located, he even got some surprising questions, but he couldn't even stop and dawn on it for too long because he had a few people asking him questions, and he didn't want an angry mob of Latinos forming this early in the day, there was a few people here and there that came for only coffee but at this time people usually came to look for stuff that they needed like a few groceries or toiletries but this was for sure the most stressful part of the day, but it wasn't as bad as you might think.

“ Once you get some practice at it

You do rapid

Mathematics automatically

Sellin' maxipads and fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically

Everybody's stressed, yes,

But they press through the mess

Bounce checks and wonder what's next ”

Virgil was used to this, he had this jump of adrenaline in his day-to-day life, and his need to make everyone complacent as they left his small bodega made him work extra hard, it was almost over though and the only way to truly know it was over was once Logan walked through that door, he and Dante would never tell Logan how happy, and relieved they were any time He walked in through the bodega door, Virgil was relieved when Logan entered the bodega? Yes, but was he happy? Kind of, since Logan and Dee would team up against him to poke fun at him, most of the time it had to do with Virgil’s love life but what can you do? The funniest thing was when Logan would try to beat Virgil to say what he usually got but Virgil was just faster and knew all of it by heart so, he always won, which frustrated Logan which in turn made him feel a little better when Logan and Dee bothered him about his love life, it wasn't something he liked to talk about so in turn he couldn't really argue with them about it, so he just tried to shut them up quickly especially since Roman was always the one to come after Logan, but he was usually distracted with something so even if they were talking about it, he wouldn't notice since Logan and Dante would shut up, and see what Virgil would do, now it was just time to wait for Logan to arrive, so he and Dee would be able to take a break.

“ In the heights I buy my coffee and I go

I buy my coffee and—

Set my sights

On only what I need to know

What I need to know—

In the heights Money is tight

But even so—

Even so—

When the lights go down I blast my radio!

En Washington “

The man of the hour walked through the door, Logan saw Virgil and Dante release A breath they were holding, he smirked, Virgil knew what that meant, his challenge for the day, try to beat Virgil to say what he wanted, mission impossible , Logan always tried to throw Virgil off guard with a tease, it never worked. “ you ain't got no skills!” Virgil smiled, this ought to be fun , “Logan!” virgil let logan start saying his order so then he could annoy Logan by interrupting him, “Yo, let me get a-” “milky way” he said as he put it on the counter, “ yeah, let me also get a-”, “daily news” virgil knew he was starting to get on his nerves once saw the way he looked at the paper on the counter, “ and a-” “post” virgil just smirked, logan’s smile was faltering, “And most important, my-” “ Boss’ second coffee, one cream-” LOgan always came for Mr. Rosario’s second coffee, he didn't really drink coffee from what virgil knew, “ five sugars” Logan tried to beat Virgil to saying it but they ended up saying it at the same time, dante just rolled his eyes, he knew Virgil would always win but he still cheered logan on. Once logan inevitably failed he tried to show his skills off to prove one day he might get to outsmart Virgil,“I'm the number one earner”, “what?!”, they both knew it was all in good fun,   “the fastest learner”

“what?!”, but sometimes virgil would irritate Logan and that's how they would end up with Logan teasing Virgil about him liking Roman, ,“my Boss can't keep me on the damn back burner!” “yes he can”  and Dante would be on LOgans team “i'm making moves, i’m making deals, but guess what” “what?” “you still ain't got no skills”, “hardee-har” virgil mocked, “ Yo, Roman Show up yet?” Virgil face was immediately up in flames, “shut up!” “hey little homie, don't get so upset” virgil know what to target on Logan but it was the same viceversa, “man..” he knew he couldn't stop this from happening anyway do he just kind of accepted it, “ Tell Roman how you feel, buy the boy a meal on the real, or you ain't got no skills-”

Logan was interrupted by someone coming in and virgil was thankful for it... until he looked up to see who it was, Roman distractedly talking to the phone so he probably didn't hear any of that (hopefully), “Nooo! No no nooo! No no nooo, no-no-no! Nooo, no-no-no! No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, no-no-no-no-no!” well now virgil was curious to who he was talking to, Roman had always been someone extra and comfortable around everyone in the barrio but to just walk into the bodega while having an apparent important conversation was surprising nonetheless, “Mr. Johnson, I got the security deposit, It’s locked in a box in the bottom of my closet, It’s not reflected in my bank statement, But I’ve been savin’ to make a down payment and pay rent, No, no, I won’t let you down—” Roman made a pause to listen to the person on he other end of the call and Logan took this opportunity  to talk “ Yo, here’s your chance; ask him out right now!” Virgil pushed logan to shut him up because Roman was right there and he could hear him! “ I’ll see you later, we can look at that lease!” Roman seemed relieved and a small smile started creeping its way into his face, he still didn't seem fully calm but he looked more at ease.

“Do somethin’, make your move, don’t freeze!” His silent awe towards Roman  was interrupted as logan pushed him towards Roman just as he ended the call, so he had no way of escaping the situation, “Hey!”  “You owe me a bottle of cold champagne”! Virgil had almost forgotten completely about their bet, the first one to get out of the barrio has to get the other champagne, “ Are you moving?” virgil said it almost as if he were disappointed which was a surprise to himself, “Just a little credit check and I’m on that downtown train!” Roman said it with a smile lighting up his face, Virgil noticed he was staring, adn tried to act fast “ Well, your coffee’s on the house”, “okay!” Roman took the coffee and looked down in a shy way with a small smile , virgil had never seen him like that, “Usnavi, ask him out...” he heard Logan whisper shouting at him and he sincerely hoped that Roman hadn’t heard that, “No way!” Virgil heard Dante say to Benny and that comment kind of offended him, “I’ll see you later, so…” Roman said awkwardly and turned to leave the Bodega. “ Oooh... Smooth operator, aw, damn, there she goes! Yo, bro, take five, take a walk outside!  You look exhausted, lost, don’t let life slide! The whole hood is struggling, times are tight And you’re stuck to this corner like a streetlight!” after that Logan took his things and left the bodega.

“Yeah, I'm a streetlight,

Choking on the heat The world spins around while I'm frozen to my

Seat The people that I know all keep on rolling down the street But

Everyday is different so I'm switchin' up the beat Cuz my parents

Came with nothing They got a little more And sure, we're poor, but yo

At least we got the store And it's all about the legacy they left

With me, it's destiny And one day I'll be on a beach with Sonny

Writing checks                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

to me “

Virgil’s mood dropped as soon as those words came out of Logan’s mouth, he knew Logan didn't mean anything by it but that didn't stop his heart from dropping onto the Floor of his store, this was one of his fears to be stuck with his Bodega and be left behind by everyone else, everyone that cares for him or at least he thinks they- He stopped dead in his tracks, He couldn't be thinking like that, his parents did everything they could before they died to get this corner store and one day he's going to go back to his country just like him(?) and Abuela want  and Dante will have a stable life with the income he will get from the store and  his life will be bliss.

“ In the heights I hang my flag up on display We

Came to work and to live and we got a lot in

Common It reminds me that I came from miles away D

R., P

R., we are not stoppin'

In the heights

Every day, paciencia y fe

Until the day we go from poverty to stock options

In the heights I've got today

And today's all we got,

So we cannot stop This is our block In the heights I

Hang my flag up on display Lo le lo le lo lai lai lo le!

It reminds me that I came from miles away! “

Virgil can practically hear people's thoughts and dreams circling through the air but to be honest Virgil didn't really hear them...he felt the electric buzzing that came with the streets of the place he was raised. It was one of the many things he liked about his barrio at a quick glance it isn't much just a little place in New York filled with immigrants that have bigger dreams, bigger than themselves and everyone around them… its as if You cant walk through these streets without bumping into somebody's dream.

“ I Hang my flag up on display Lo le lo le lo lai lai lo le!

It reminds me that I came from miles away!

My family came from miles away— In the heights It gets more expensive

Every day Every day And tonight is so far away—

But as for mañana, mi pana Ya gotta just keep watchin'

You'll see the Late nights You'll taste Beans and rice The syrups and

Shaved ice I ain't gonna Say it twice ”  

They all knew were they came from, the sunniest places a person could ever go to. They all know the situation that is happening in the barrio , how no one is really here to stay, how this is just a stepping stool towards a bigger dream...but they didn't care. They all will know soon enough what is to come but for now…

“ Turn up the stage lights

We're takin' a flight To a couple

Of days In the life of what it's like

En Washington Heights! ”

----------------------------

@malaya-is-a-hoe​ I did it sis 

[dippedanddripped]

It was clear from the beginning what Shayne Oliver was trying to convey with Hood By Air, a brand he founded in 2006 with Raul Lopez that was originally named Elite Urban Brigade. At one of their first fashion shows, which took place at New York Fashion Week in 2007, Mobolaji Dawodu, The Fader’s former style editor-at-large, asked Oliver where he saw Hood By Air going. Oliver, then 18, who looks cherubic in the grainy clip, said he wanted to create a lifestyle brand for the new generation that appreciates what’s going on in the streets, but understands urban culture influences the mainstream.

In that moment, Oliver prophesized the impact his brand would have on an industry that spent years looking to Black communities for cues, but rarely exalted the culture, credited it, or brought people from it into the fold. But the 2010s changed that, and the generation Oliver spoke of 12 years ago became the designers private equity firms want to invest in, luxury brands want to partner with, and stores want to carry.

When something is happening, it’s hard to assess its influence, but as the decade comes to a close, it’s apparent that Hood By Air helped create the luxury streetwear category that’s been fueling fashion. You can’t think about the last 10 years without thinking about Hood By Air, which defined style and trends for almost half the decade. Oliver put his very Black, very queer, and very cool world on a pedestal and changed the way brands design, the way retailers merchandise their stores, they way companies approach casting, and, for many, the way they see themselves and their place in fashion.

“SHAYNE OLIVER’S EXISTENCE AND THE CULTURE THAT CREATED HOOD BY AIR, IN MY MIND, ARE VITAL TO WHAT WE HAVE TODAY AS A MIXTURE OF FASHION AND SO-CALLED STREETWEAR.” - VIRGIL ABLOH

“Shayne Oliver’s existence and the culture that created Hood By Air in my mind are vital to what we have today as a mixture of fashion and so-called streetwear,” writes Virgil Abloh, founder of Off-White and artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s, over email. “In one word, I would say HBA and Shayne’s vision showed the fashion system at large what the word freedom meant. From garments to runway shows, everything exudes freedom.”

Musician Ian Isiah, a longtime member of the Hood By Air collective, calls 2007 HBA’s official birth year. Urban fashion brands like Sean John, Baby Phat, and Rocawear hit a peak in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but lost their cachet—most of them expanded distribution to department stores like Macy’s. Isiah says there was a void of Black-led brands, and Hood By Air was an attempt to fill it. Dominican tailors made Hood By Air’s first T-shirts and they retailed around $200, which wasn’t typical at the time. The initial T-shirts, which were sold out of aNYThing, a now-closed streetwear brand and store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, were meant to transition from day to night, another new concept. HBA also became known for a plexiglass Hood By Air nameplate necklace that Kid Cudi wore and Kanye West purchased from Seven New York.

Isiah says although the brand was stocked in a couple of stores, their main priority was “selling it to culture and getting it on the right girls and in the right looks.” GHE20G0TH1K (pronounced “ghetto gothic”), a party series founded by Jazmin Soto, better known as Venus X, in 2009, embodied that culture. Oliver DJed on some nights for a crowd made up of streetwear kids, punks, and queer folks. They would all wear HBA. ASAP Rocky was also a part of that culture Isiah mentioned. Isiah says they met Rocky through Jabari Shelton, better known as ASAP Bari, who would bring his friends from Harlem downtown—members of the ASAP Mob appeared in one of HBA’s early lookbooks. Rocky, who would mix brands like Rick Owens and Hood By Air with Jeremy Scott’s Adidas sneakers and Supreme, adopted the line early on, which brought it greater visibility and hype. The brand went on a hiatus in 2009 and became almost a collector’s item for those in the know.

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“It was sort of like this thing that everyone was still talking about but no one knew how to get it,” says Zachary Ching, Oliver’s longtime friend. “They didn’t have a website. There wasn’t even an Instagram. It was just like this mythical thing that you would see someone wearing once.”

Because of the buzz surrounding the brand, Ching called Oliver as soon as he was tasked with turning VFILES’ space on Mercer into a store, but Oliver, who was taking a break from the line to tour with GHE20G0TH1K, didn’t have any product. VFILES produced the pieces and purchased them from Oliver—Ching remembers ordering about 500 T-shirts across six styles—and on June 12, 2012, VFILES held an opening party for the shop that seconded as an HBA relaunch event. Oliver and Venus DJ’d, ASAP Rocky performed—most of the ASAP Mob came through—and on that night both HBA and VFILES were solidified as relevant movements in fashion. Following the party, the HBA pieces sold out within two days, and VFILES had to upgrade its payment systems to accommodate demand, which Ching describes as bananas.

“It was a pivotal moment in VFILES’ history,” says Julie Anne Quay, the founder of VFILES. “To physically see both the community come together, celebrate one of their peers, and shop it was really rewarding to me. It further galvanized me in my passion to really build VFILES into this community platform that was unlike the traditional fashion world at large and embraced a community that I thought was not only overlooked, but was disrespected.”

“IT WAS SORT OF LIKE THIS THING THAT EVERYONE WAS STILL TALKING ABOUT BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW TO GET IT.” - ZACHARY CHING

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Hood By Air helped set the tone for VFILES’ assortment, which eventually included Abloh’s Pyrex, which transitioned to Off-White, Been Trill, and Fear of God—this was before luxury department stores picked them up. Been Trill and Hood By Air even released a collaborative T-shirt in early 2013, which Oliver said started out as a brunch gift for friends and family but turned into something bigger without him knowing. Because celebrities like ASAP Rocky wore HBA and it had an aesthetic and name that resonated with the hood, Danielle Greco, who managed VFILES at the time, says the early consumers who lined up for the product—she describes them as “big, burly, tough men”—probably had no idea who Oliver was or what some of his messaging and graphics meant. Oliver said many of the logo placements for HBA were inspired by documentaries on gays in prison.

“Streetwear was very much a boys’ lane, and all of the brands that were trending at the time spoke to a very straight man’s world,” says Vashtie Kola, who met Oliver and Lopez in the early 2000s and hosted a Hood By Air TV series on her blog. “I remember they made a tank top with the term ‘Realness’ on it, which comes from the ball scene. And so I remember straight boys wearing tank tops that said realness or banjee. It was really nice to see.”

Because HBA was doing so well, VFILES and MADE helped Oliver secure an official spot on the New York Fashion Week calendar at Milk Studios in September 2013. It was Oliver’s big introduction to the industry and a chance to bring showgoers, who included Abloh, fashion editors, and longtime friends of the brand like Kola, into his world. The music was loud, the lights were dark, and the models weren’t A-typical. Boychild, a trans performance artist, jerked her body in a haunting way as she walked down the runway. This was followed by an appearance by ASAP Rocky, who closed the show wearing a neoprene Hood By Air Jacket. Kevin Amato, a photographer who had never worked on fashion shows until he met Oliver, handled the casting, which became a hallmark of HBA.

“The Hood By Air narrative for me was always just the underrepresented, really,” says Amato, who was casting from the streets. “And that’s what I tried to do with the casting. It was very organic. Rocky wanted to walk the show, but we didn’t just want a celebrity to walk the show. So we cast Boychild and had this contrast of different people and cultures colliding. It wasn’t meant to be hype. But I think after HBA and the casting, the whole fucking industry changed.” You now see this gender-fluid casting from luxury houses like Gucci and Balenciaga. The Yeezy Season 3 collection/Life of Pablo listening party at Madison Square Garden in 2016 featured a mix of professional models and real people, in 2017 Nike dedicated a campaign to voguing, and Victoria’s Secret recently cast its first transgender model, Valentina Sampaio.

In 2013, style was moving beyond the heritage #menswear look. The Watch the Throne Tour with JAY-Z and Kanye West had just ended, ushering a dark, goth aesthetic into streetwear with brands like En Noir and Black Scale. Riccardo Tisci’s Givenchy T-shirts and hoodies were popular—his rottweiler graphic was a hit—and Hedi Slimane’s pieces for Saint Laurent—skinny jeans, tailored coats, and flannel shirts—were selling well at retail.

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Most consumers had known HBA for its T-shirts, but after this show, it was clear HBA wasn’t operating in the same space as its peers. Oliver was playing with gender fluidity before it became a talking point and presenting new silhouettes that played on the familiar, but elevated it. Long-sleeve leather shirts with zipper closures right below the chest could be worn open or closed, depending on the situation; puffer jackets were recreated into capes; and collared shirts were covered in HBA logos. The New York Times’ Guy Trebay questioned if Alexander Wang and Tisci took notes from Hood By Air.

“It was definitely a reinvention. It wasn't a copy-and-paste, which is commonly seen these days,” says Kola. “Shayne understood the hood, but also had aspirations of creating his own unique look and vision. He merged those two worlds so effortlessly.”

Jennifer Williams, wife of Matthew Williams, who was part of Been Trill at the time, handled sales and started showing the line to buyers in Paris, which is where Wanda Colon, Barneys New York’s former vice president of menswear, discovered HBA. Colon says at the time, the luxury/contemporary category was dormant, and the brands Barneys was selling felt “safe and a bit staid.”

“I felt there was an opportunity to offer our customer a new point of view as it related to menswear beyond the brands that were being offered,” says Colon, who purchased the collection. “HBA filled a void in the industry that wasn't being addressed. The brand came to embody the mid-2000s zeitgeist of hybrid XXL silhouettes, deconstructed streetwear, couture fabrics, immaculate tailoring, genderless silhouettes, and big logos—Shayne was there first.”

The HBA merch plan included Hood By Air Classics, which made hood basics like tall T-shirts and sweatshirts, investment pieces, and the more progressive ready-to-wear line, which reconstructed and recontextualized American sportswear. Ching says this changed the way department stores looked.

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“Because of Hood By Air, you go into Barneys and look at a designer section and it has hoodies and sweatpants,” says Ching. “Hood By Air was like a crazy statement jacket, but then you had amazing T-shirts and graphic hoodies to go along with it. And you didn’t feel like you were wearing a Stüssy hoodie.”

On a cultural level, Oliver was a designer who wasn’t typically touted in fashion—he was Black, gay, didn’t have a degree from Parsons or financial backing from his parents. He also represented a movement that was happening in the background. Robin Givhan, fashion critic at the Washington Post, remembers being struck by how he and his team had been able to grab the attention of the industry in an aggressive way with clothes that she says, initially, weren’t well made, but had a bigger story to tell.

“It felt like it was shaking up the industry out of its doldrums and pushing it on a different course,” says Givhan. “The industry needed something that speaks to a moment that was demanding diversity, questioning gender identity, questioning the path that the next generation of designers were going to take the industry on, and into that giant question mark stepped Shayne and Hood By Air.”

While Hood By Air’s star was rising, so was ASAP Rocky’s, and his influence on fashion started to take hold. But in his song “Multiply,” released in 2014, he called HBA weak, and said Been Trill “was booty like ‘Tip Drill.’” At first, Rocky told Complex in 2015 that he dissed both brands because he wasn’t getting the acknowledgement he felt he deserved from them. But he recently revealed he was upset because he asked for ownership in HBA and Oliver said no. "You don't ask Rick to put you on an official level if you wear Rick Owens. You're wearing Rick and that's it. Why is it not the same with us?" aksed Oliver in an interview with Kerwin Frost and Isiah. Years later, Rocky called up Oliver and apologized. But the fashion industry was still intrigued, and Oliver won the inaugural LVMH Prize in 2014 and the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Swarovski Award for Menswear in 2015.

Isiah says they were skeptical of the recognition, but happy about it, since it supported the idea of giving the underrepresented a seat at the table in fashion after years of going unrecognized. The awards were helpful, but not knowing how to deal with a new brand like HBA, the CFDA would suggest traditional business structures that weren’t in line with how HBA wanted to grow.

HBA had always been a collective, but it became more fully formed before and after the 2013 fashion show at Milk Studios. Leilah Weinraub, a filmmaker who was the acting chief executive officer; Isiah, HBA’s brand ambassador; and Amato, who continued to handle casting, remained on board. Newer additions included Ching, who left VFILES to join HBA full time as commercial director. He looked over T-shirts, jeans, hoodies, and graphic T-shirts so Oliver could focus on fashion pieces. Paul Cupo came on as design director to help elevate construction, and Akeem Smith joined as a stylist. Smith says that when he came on, HBA was going through a transitional phase and Oliver gave him free range “to add some more faggotry to the mix and add more chic elements to the brand.” By this time, HBA was showing about four times a year in New York and Paris. Oliver was the father of the house. He had the vision for HBA, and everyone brought their particular expertise to the table.

“It was almost like living in a nomadic community. Wherever it took us, we went and it just worked out. We were never starving, but I think any creative knows that money's not the motive. It was more about building,” says Amato.

Making money was not a primary concern for Oliver in the beginning. The brand was approached early on about investment, but Weinraub told the New Yorker she wanted to remain independent for as long as possible. HBA worked with Edison Chen for a little in Asia, where the brand was wildly popular—Chen brought it to Yo’Hood, a streetwear festival in China. Ching remembers K-pop stars coming to VFILES and buying up all the HBA, and walking through China and seeing the craziest HBA bootleg T-shirts with Hello Kitty on them. In 2014, Oliver partnered with the New Guards Group and moved HBA’s headquarters to Milan. The New Guards Group, the parent company of Off-White, Palm Angels, and Heron Preston, which was acquired by Farfetch earlier this year, handled HBA’s production, distribution, and sales. Everyone from HBA lived in a monastery, and during the day they worked out of a compound alongside Abloh, who produced graphics for HBA’s third major collection. "I was just like, 'Wait, who is this tall African man playing beats in the other room in this Italian studio?'" says Isiah.

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Isiah says he was hesitant about signing with the New Guards Group and that he and Oliver got into arguments about it, but he opened up to the idea. “Instead of working so hard and spending so much money to get 10 samples made in New York, we were now making 100 samples in Italy. It opened up our inventory,” he says.  

The shows also got more sophisticated and ideas were better executed. In January 2015, at Pitti Uomo 87, which was Hood By Air’s first show under the New Guards Group, they took over a villa in Tuscany but outfitted the space with strobe lights, smoke machines, a DJ, Venus X, and a neon HBA light logo. The show was dominated by tailored pieces with a Hood By Air spin.  Showing in Europe also helped some in the industry view Hood By Air as less of an underground group of misfits and more as a viable brand that presents new fashion concepts. At other shows, celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg, Rick Ross, Jaden Smith, and Naomi Campbell sat front row. Givhan says construction improved, but the show production, which compelled her to the brand, got increasingly tamer. She called it a smart decision to focus more on the clothes, but she did notice growing pains.

“I think they struggled, but I think that’s OK. Brands take a long time for full gestation,” says Givhan. “I think the industry is a bit like a voracious monster sometimes. And it has a tendency to gobble up new ideas and to elevate them sometimes before they are fully baked.”

By then, Amato had left the company due to a death in the family, but he observed HBA’s evolution from afar. Some things he liked, and some things he didn’t. He thought the casting, which was handled by his apprentice Walter Pearce, got more weird, less authentic. And he felt like other brands were trying to get next to HBA for attention.

POST CONTINUES BELOW

“Once business is popping and everything's crazy, it kind of loses some of the main vision, but that happens with every brand,” says Amato. “Instagram was new and it was just a way to strategically align yourself with a brand, and then, boom, all of a sudden, you're in the game. Like Been Trill was a movement, but was it a movement?” From the inside, Ching also noticed changes. Sales were going well and distribution got wider. Once HBA partnered with the New Guards Group, it had 250 stockists, up from 50 in less than three years. At the end of each season, they would assess what stores they would drop and how to edit down different stores’ orders.  

“It was always trying to control distribution, which I think towards the end got a little out of hand,” says Ching. “It was too easy to get it and shit was going on sale. It wasn't cute. It, like, really blew up, and then, you know, the market can only take so much.” While at the New Guards Group, Hood By Air was selling a lot of product, but not the product they thought best represented the brand. Oliver told Numéro there was miscommunication between the business side of things and the management and a lot of decisions were made in a "very panicky way." A clear business structure was never created for HBA within the group, so after a few seasons, HBA got out of the deal. In 2016, Oliver came back to New York wanting to position HBA as a conceptual fashion brand, not just a hype, of-the-moment line. Ching eventually left because he didn’t feel job security anymore, and in early 2017 HBA canceled its Paris show, which led to rumors that there were issues. In March, Helmut Lang announced Isabella Burley, Dazed magazine’s editor-in-chief, would be the brand’s editor-in-residence. She tapped Oliver to design a Helmut Lang capsule collection to show in September 2017. In April, Hood By Air released a statement that the brand would go on hiatus.

“THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO TITLE WITHOUT OFFENDING. SO, IT’S LIKE, ‘OH, HE’S IN FASHION? HE’S MAKING T-SHIRTS? THERE’S HIP-HOP INVOLVED? HE’S A HYPE DESIGNER.’”  - IAN ISIAH

“I was so excited,” says Isiah about Oliver putting things on pause. “We needed a break. It was mood board overload. The culture couldn’t even keep up. We’ve already created so many daughters in so many fields, so it was time for them to flourish and grow. It was time for Virgil to flourish and grow. It was time for Heron to flourish and grow. It was time for Alyx to be born and then flourish and grow. The empire had to go silent for everyone else to rise as their own empire.”

In the midst of HBA’s trajectory, the industry was reaping the rewards of a market they helped form. Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, which was positioned as a collective of designers who embraced streetwear sensibilities, was named the creative director of Balenciaga, a position previously held by New York designer Alexander Wang. Gvasalia also won the same LVMH award Oliver received a year prior. And eventually Louis Vuitton tapped Abloh as their artistic director of men’s. Oliver went on to design capsule collections for brands like Diesel and Helmut Lang, but people, including Kanye West, questioned why the Helmut Lang partnership wasn’t longer or why Oliver wasn’t being propped up for a bigger luxury brand.

“When I saw it coming, it read to me that you had become the creative director of Helmut Lang —and it read to other people that way, too,” West said while speaking with Oliver earlier this year for Interview Magazine. “And it felt right, and it felt deserved. The reason I’m on the phone with you right now is that, of our generation of designers, you are the strongest of all of us. Of this entire crew that came up around the same time, you are the most deserving of one of these positions.”  

POST CONTINUES BELOW

In a ShowStudio panel discussing the Spring/Summer 2018 collection for Helmut Lang Seen by Shayne Oliver, you get a better sense of how the industry views Oliver and Hood By Air. Olga Kuryshchuk, a Central Saint Martins graduate, founder, and editor-in-chief of 1Granary, a student magazine and showroom, says Oliver was chosen for his hype, not for his design skills. She later offered that no one would reference the collection because it wouldn’t present any new ideas—Oliver told Numéro that because it was only a capsule, it made sense to curate rather than produce something new. Towards the end, Georgina Evans, an editor at ShowStudio, makes a distinction of asking which graduates, not just designers, could take on the role after Oliver. Another panelists suggests that Helmut Lang should look to school in Europe and maybe not one in America or Britain—her logic was although Helmut Lang is identified as an American brand, Lang was Austrian. The video underscored the industry’s tendency to look towards the same funnels or type of person for talent.

“They don’t know how to actually title without offending,” says Isiah. “So it’s like, ‘Oh, Shayne’s a hype designer. Oh, he’s in fashion? He’s making T-shirts? There’s hip hop involved? They’re voguing? He’s a hype designer.’”

Givhan says the most accepted route to lead designer jobs at larger houses is usually graduating from design school, getting a job working for a larger designer, and then being considered for the job when someone retires or passes away. She believes it’s more challenging for designers of color to get into that pipeline and be considered for those positions, but she does think the industry is making progress. She references Abloh going to Louis Vuitton.

In 2019, Oliver announced the relaunch of Hood By Air. Plans around the reboot haven’t been explained in detail, but from different interviews, Oliver seems interested in developing a solid business structure, ensuring that HBA is seen as more than a T-shirt and hoodie brand, and providing a platform for youth to create and not be taken advantage of. Amato, who had dinner with Oliver in Los Angeles a couple of months ago, says he doesn’t want to make any sacrifices this time. “He said it has to be 500 percent or nothing, which I think is the best way to go. I mean, his vision is so strong that it’s hard to even explain half the shit he’s thinking,” says Amato.

The original collective is still cool, but they’ve moved on to other things. Isiah is traveling the world singing and sitting front row at fashion shows—he sang with Dev Hynes at Abloh’s second show for Louis Vuitton. Amato is doing less casting and more artistic directing on projects like Travis Scott’s Rodeo album. Smith is the fashion editor-at-large for Dazed magazine, Cupo is freelancing for different companies, and Weinraub’s film, Shakedown, was a part of the 2017 Whitney Biennial.

And Kola, who was voguing with Oliver and Lopez in her apartment just before the decade started, is no longer just a downtown sweetheart. She travels the world DJing, has her own Jordan, and is paid by brands for her influence—the same influence Oliver talked about at his first fashion show over 10 years ago. When asked what she thought when Oliver said HBA was taking a break, she can’t recall how she felt, exactly. She starts and stops her answer, trying to find the right words to describe her feelings around the hiatus. But when asked about his impending return, she perks up, knowing exactly what to say and how to say it.

“I’m all for it,” says Kola. “I feel like a lot of other brands and designers were birthed from his movement. So I feel like mutha needs to come back and take care of these children she birthed!”

[art-by-rozzai]

had a bad day so more band au headcannons

anyone who wants to write a fic for this is absolutely allowed if they tag me, i’m not gonna make any full length ones but i might post some one shots eventually

anyway i had a really shitty day so here’s me self projecting and creating more band headcannons

check out the first here~

check out the second here~

tag list~

@athenashipsthings @thelesbianspoon @flowersheep @insert--self--hatred @nafsbluebery @sunflowerss0 @nerdiegurlie @stars-and-rose

okays lets do this✨

so last when we left the boys, it’s the day before they release their album “death of a bachelor”

to celebrate, roman suggests they get dinner out and maybe go see a movie??

logan is suprisingly the first to agree, saying that if he doesn’t get to watch the “scary stories to tell in the dark” movie soon he will explode. plus there’s no food in the fridge

virgil is also down to go see the movie, but is more reluctant to get dinner. he hates formal things, so to make him feel more comfortable roman offers they go to the local diner that he knows has virgil’s favorite chicken parm dish and virgil can’t say no to that

patton doesn’t want to see the movie at first-he really doesn’t like scary movies. but he wants dinner with his friends and he might be able to latch onto logan during the scary parts so he goes with it

so patton offers go help virgil with his hair and they end up getting ready together! they talk about everything they can think of as patton does hair and virgil does makeup and they both do each other’s nails and then they’re ready to go out whooooppp

meanwhile roman collapsed on logan’s bed an hour ago and began complaining about how he needed to impress virgil to get him to fall in love with him and has been talking ever since

logan doesn’t mind tho, roman helps him pick out a nice outfit and gives tips on how to woo patt

even though it’s not a date

yet

anyways they get to the diner and they all have an incredible time! by the end of the meal they’re in tears laughing at each other, from roman’s hysterical stories to virgil’s banter to logan’s fun facts and spilt tea to patton’s enthusiastic impressions

they love each over like family :)

and the movie is top notch. virgil is in love with it, him and logan spend the whole time guessing what’s going to happen while roman hides behind virgil and patton shoves his face full of popcorn and squish himself into logan’s arm

and yes virgil can’t stop laughing and logan’s immediate tensing up and blushing

after the movie they just don’t want to go to bed quite yet, so the friends head to the park and enjoy lying in the grass, talking and letting logan point out the stars while roman makes up stories of the aliens and space princesses that protect the galaxy

virgil makes everyone his famous hot chocolate and they stay up until midnight to release their songs

and then the clock strikes 12 and death of a bachelor is available to download

the boys decide that staying up and watching the comments flood in is a terrible idea and instead they put on some disney films and fall asleep on the couch

it’s nice

they wake up to millions of notifications

everyone is freaking the fuck out

this album ??? is beautiful ???

all of the fans are in love but also have a lot of questions-so the fab four start doing monthly live-streams to just chat and answer questions and catch up with their fans

“are y’all single?”

um

well yes

but uh

this question is not goOD ROMAN WHAT THE FU-

anyway virgil comes to patton one day, slams the door, puts his face in a pillow and screams “PATT IM SO GAY HELP”

because roman called his hair pretty this morning and yes it’s stupid and it happens all the time but this time was different

don’t worry tho they won’t admit their feelings to one and other for another three months

death of a bachelor does really well-all of the songs end up going either gold or platinum

their song “victorious” is played on the radio all of the time

so november rolls around and the friends decide it’s time to go on tour! starting with just north america, they post a video on the youtube channel that gives all the locations and dates

it’s to start in april:

virgil is extremely nervous. being on the road for so long and preforming live in front of thousands of people and will anyone even show up and-

logan is slightly nervous but honestly he really enjoys preforming-once he ties the tie around his head like a bandanna he almost transforms into the punk rock bassist he is known by the fans to be

patton!!! is!!! bouncy!!!!!!!! he wants to meet all these people!!!! and he can’t wait to give back to all of them by preforming and meet and greets and social interaction makes him really happy!!

roman is so excited-preforming is his thing. when he’s on a stage, he’s in his element! he can’t wait to show off and travel and be with his friends for even longer :)

but they can’t go on tour with their boring old instruments sooooo

roman and patton team up to paint and decorate all of the instruments

virgil’s piano matches his jacket, lots of purple and swirls and patton paints the classic nightmare before christmas scene on the front (u know, this one but stationary)

and they decorate the microphone stand purple and silver and black

logan gets a dope space themed bass-the outside is dark blue and the inside is painted like a galaxy, with a plain silver pick

roman paints his gutair with a castle and sunset in the back, with a bright red pick to play

patton’s drums have clouds on them nowww like a sunny day with blue puffy clouds

they’re ready to go! but it’s still only december so u kNoW whAt ThaT mEaNs

CHRISTMAS!!!!!

since none of the squad are jewish, (although technically patton is half jew since his mom is, but he just really loves christmas and always celebrated that growing up so)

they decide to celebrate at their house

they invite all of their close family to the apartment and have a lovely dinner

and yeah virgil doesn’t invite anyone cuz he was adopted by a shitty family who he doesn’t talk to anymore, bcuz all they did was try and get money out of him

and yeah he has a panic attack when all of his best friends are excitedly talking about their family coming over

and y e a h roman helps him calm down and swears that he will always b there to protect virgil bcuz he’s never met anyone quite like him and it’s not easy to explain but he just wants virgil to know he’s safe with roman

and yeah virgil wishes he could stop falling for roman but the ground keeps disappearing beneath him

so time skip a bit closer to christmas and logan bursts into romans room with an idea

“i can rap”

“we know”

“you can rap”

“kind of but okay”

“christmas rap song for fun”

“yeS”

so they write “gonna kill santa claus” (look it up) and decide to post it on the youtube channel on christmas eve

they film a music video for it where they jokingly set up different traps for santa like poison cookies and fire cracker chimneys and more

virgil sings the chorus, logan raps the rap parts, roman does the bridge, and patton lays down a pretty sick beat

it comes out really nice and honestly really fucking funny

so after a delightful family dinner with everyone over, the friends release that video and the internet fucking dies it’s so funny and logan can rap (??????) and ohmygod all of them are so cute what the fuck

anyway back to christmas dinner

roman has like 6 little sisters, and his mom and dad and papa and nana over

(he’s latino, his mom and dad are both from the dominican republic)

patton invites his mom and dad and little brothers, thomas and dee

and logan invites his two moms

everyone comes over for lunch and gets along reallyyyyyy well

logan’s got the punk mom and soft mom dynamic whereas, patton’s family is all super kind and like homey and boisterous and romans family is wild and crazy and funny and they all instantly click

presents are passed around, lots of money and books and movies and stickers and jewelry

really sweet stuff

and then everyone goes home and the friends have their own little gift exchange

virgil got logan the stephen king book “insomnia” and a (sort of) joke blanket with benedict cumberbatch’s face on it that he can use when he goes stargazing at night

logan gets virgil some noise cancelling headphones and a framed picture of a wedding with virgil’s face cropped on one and gerard ways face on the other

they both can’t stop laughing at the fact they attacked each other’s celeb crush

virgil gets patton a cute little cat stuffed animal that when u push the hand it’s a recording of all of them saying “we love you!!!” and a really sweet card

patton gets virgil a eyore necklace that was super expensive but matches patton’s winnie the pooh one and a itunes card for him to buy more music (and yes a really sweet card)

virgil gets roman two tickets to see mean girls on broadway and a framed picture of the two of them

yeah roman tears up a bit fuck u

roman gets virgil a collage of him and roman and a handmade hoodie that virgil is never going to take off oh and also meet and greet passes to see dan and phil at their interactive introverts tour

and maybe virge gets a little teary too

roman gets patton a recipie book and an apron that says “you BAKE my day”

patton gets roman a new ukelele and a printed out pamphlete of theatre song chords that he can play

roman gets logan the sherlock script and an empty box just to fuck with him

logan gets roman the entire grimm fairytale series and tapes a note to the front that says “bcuz u are an illiterate fool😜”

patton gets logan a phone case with the stars that were out on the day they met, hand painted framed picture of him and logan, and comic con tickets for this spring

logan gets patton tickets to the art museum downtown, a gift card to the coffee shop next to it, and two gold hoop earrings with a note that says “next week, friday at 7. it’s a date ;)”

so christmas is pretty good for all :))))))

and that’s the end of this one i’ll make a part four soon lmao

[gothmusiclatinamerica]

Music video to “Beautiful Pain” by Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic-based post-punk revival band LÖST

[punkeropercyjackson]

Jason Todd characterization guide

Created for fans who're too scared to read comics but love Jason!Also gentle reminder that you can just watch Batman:Under The Red Hood and be set!!

As Robin,Jason was a peppy altruistic softboy who was extremely kind to everyone and a nerd in both senses of the word but also had a huge bite that loosing his parents and living on the streets as a child gave him and had a lot of snark and cheekiness to him.He also pushed a man off a building for raping a woman so as he does now,he's always respected women and has zero tolerance for men's bullshit

He's a lifelong literature nerd and a gamer,his favorite color is green and his favorite food is neapolitan

He's very manly,yes,but not stereotypically and his anger and violent tendencies aren't a part of his gender but a trauma response and mental illness symptoms.His masculinity is the positive and healthy kind and he's not a pissbaby about femininity or kiddy things

He's canonically goth punk and i mean punk,as in part of punk subculture,not a thirst trap.He hates rich people and refuses to move back in with Bruce on principal,he believes in acab,he dosen't actively seek out to do activism due to plot but he DOES help out whoever he encounters that lives under thumb of the system,he's anti toxic social norms like amatonormativity and roasts them,he's an intersectionalist who respects all his minority loved ones identities and same goes for other minority characters he meets and while he didn't target exclusively bad people back when he killed,he DID state he believes they deserve it the most and one of his victim's include a pedophillic teacher who was csa'ing one of his student's

Pit Madness isn't real and was created to infantalize and flatten him.His ghost aspects manifests moreso in dissociation-esque moments for him and the Lazarus Pit's actual effects on him were amping up his physical capabilities by making him way stronger

His taste in partners is women of color and he's grossed out by normie women because they make him uncomfortable and pissed off with their types of flirtation due to his trauma and weirdo status-Said woc are his love interests who're an egyptian woman,a wasian/half cambodian woman and a monoracial afrolatina and the rejected normie girls are a blonde blue eyed voluptous flight attendant and the whitewashed born sexy yesterday-ified version of Starfire.Jason has class

He's in that weird place where he's super cocky and thinks he's hot shit but also hates himself and thinks he deserves even worse than he's gotten.He displays all the requirements for having ptsd,bpd and npd and possibly even DID

He dosen't care for alcohol or smoking,most likely the latter is due to A Death In The Family(where he got blown up)

He expresses his affection by bickering and non-maliciously poking fun and dosen't hold back on words of affirmation,acts of service and quality time.It's a rare occurance but he's a great gift giver too!

His Robin is Duke and he's Duke's Robin too.I cannot emphasize how important they are to eachother-Jason came back to the Batfam only because Duke is now a part of it and instantly loved him and got along with him,none of which is true for literally any other Batkids and he fully and unshakebly believes Duke is a real Robin,Batkid AND Batboy and tells him that all the time and that's exactly what he wants after being an outcast and not part of the group his whole life.Them fanarts and posts of 'The Core Batboys'?Fake,ooc and inherently erasure.There's no Jason without Duke and anybody who tells you otherwise just hates black people

Relatedly,anybody who tells you afrolatino Jason is racist also just hates black people.WE made that headcanon,nobody else so watch your mouths seeing as you're also Core Batkid Duke deniers.And on afrolatino Jason takes,he should be monoracial,dominican because his birthday is on our restoration day,a dreadhead and heavily connected to his roots as Talia,Alfred and Bruce would do research to make sure he could still grow up on his culture

He listens to punk rock and metal and is a dog person

As Red Hood,he believed he was doing the right thing by trying to control crime but the point of that is that he was wrong and that's because in real life,that's not how it works and is a problematic political stance as it's dehumanizing and criminals deserve rights(no,i'm not joking.i'm an actual radicalist and so is Jason post getting over himself and Robin!Jason was a lil anarchist)

The scene of Talia sleeping with him in Lost Days should never be aknowledge as it was written by an islamophobe who admitted to not reading her comics and if you 'joke' about it considering that and that Jason was a minor at the time,then congrats,you're a racist misogynist and a creep who shouldn't allowed near minors irl OR online.Talia and Jason interacted positively during his Robin days and their dynamic is mother and son

Him and Dick were on good terms in his Robin Days too,Tim shittalked him when he was dead a lot and Jason was never obsessed with him-much less to the extent of attraction and he's canonically anti-incest as he said he'd never wanna kiss any of the four brothers he has(see what i mean with never shutting up about Duke?),he and Damian are close and the second closest next to him and Duke in regards to Jason Batboy relathionships,Cass scares him and she shouldn't be close to him unless he stopped killing as it's a vital part of her she follows the no kill rule and her story is femalecentric one by design and him and Stephanie are found siblings

He hates Roy for coddling him all the time no matter how much he protested and thinks of him as an annoying idiot and while that's not true pre-N52 or in current canon,he has a right to establish boundries.Jayr*y Jason is Bad™️.Eddie should be his male best friend as adults instead since they were pen pals and oh yeah,actually the same fucking age instead of a 14 year old and a grown ass man with a daughter

Bonus headcanons i find very fitting as someone who started with Utrh and has read every Jason comics apperance and watched and played almost all his adaptions:He's a straightedge,he listens to Mcr and Korn and Jack Stauber's Micropop and rap,Robin!Jason was a Kory fanboy and not a Wonder Woman one because pre-N52 Kory is everything he admires in women(including the black part),his 'he's literally me' character is Ichigo Kurosaki and his ideal woman is an afrolatina version of Orihime Inoue,he's transmasc agender and goth/ghostgender as xenogenders and reclaims the f slur as a shorthand descriptor,he owns a jumbo sized Jake The Dog plush,he's a master chef with a specialty in dominican,arabic and mexican foods,he's covered in scars and some are self-harm ones,he's jacked(fat AND buff)and he's a Team Dad to break the cycle and his non-bio kids are the Kid Outlaws from mine and my mutuals Rhato fixit(120 issues and 2010-2020 runtime,is what he deserves)and Damian's generation the All New Teen Titans and if he were to have a daughter,he'd give her a gothic name

[yes-i-have-a-problem]

In the Heights (Voltron In the Heights AU)

It’s not changed a lot, but names and some changes to fit the melody has been made. There will be bigger changes in the later scenes. 

[LANCE]

Lights up on Washington Heights, up at the break of day

I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away

Pop the grate at the crack of dawn, sing

While I wipe down the awning

Hey y’all, good morning

[PIRAGUA GUY, spoken]

Ice cold piragua! Parcha. China. Cherry. Strawberry. And just for today, I got mamey!

[LANCE, spoken]

Oye, piragüero, como estas?

[PIRAGUA GUY, spoken]

Como siempre, Señor Lance.

[LANCE]

I am Lance I guess you’ve prob’ly never heard my name

Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated

Exacerbated by the fact that my syntax

Is highly complicated 'cuz I emigrated

From the single greatest little place in the Caribbean:

Dominican Republic!

I love it!

Jesus, I’m jealous of it

And beyond that

Ever since my folks passed on

I haven’t gone back

Goddamn, I gotta get on that...

Fo! The milk has gone bad, hold up just a second

Why is everything in this fridge warm and tepid?

I better step it up and fight the heat

'Cuz I’m not makin' any profit if the coffee isn’t light and sweet!

[ABUELO CORAN, spoken]

Ooo-oo!

[LANCE, spoken]

Abuelo, my fridge broke. I got café but no "con leche."

[ABUELO CORAN, spoken]

Try my uncle’s old recipe: one can of condensed milk.

[LANCE, spoken]

Nice.

[Lance give Abuelo Coran his lottery tickets, which he kisses and holds up to the sky.]

[ABUELO CORAN, spoken]

Ay! Paciencia y fe…

[LANCE]

That was Abuelo, he’s not really my “abuelo,”

But he practically raised me, this corner is his escuela

Now, you’re prob’ly thinkin:

"I’m up shit’s creek!

I've never been north of Ninety-Sixth Street!”

Well, you must take the A Train

Even farther than Harlem to northern Manhattan and maintain

Get off at 181st, and take the escalator

I hope you’re writing this down, I’m gonna test ya later

I’m getting tested; times are tough on this bodega

Two months ago somebody bought Ortega’s

Our neighbors started packin’ up and pickin’ up

And ever since the rents went up

It’s gotten mad expensive

But we live with just enough

[COMMUNITY]

In the heights

I flip the lights and start my day

There are fights

[WOMEN]

And endless debts

[MEN]

And bills to pay

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights

I can’t survive without café

[LANCE]

I serve café

[COMMUNITY]

'Cuz tonight seems like a million years away!

En Washington—

[LANCE]

Next up to bat, it’s the Holt’s

They run the cab company,

They struggle in the barrio

See, their son Matt’s off at college, tuition is mad steep

So they can’t sleep

Everything they get is mad cheap!

[SAM]

Good morning, how are you?

[LANCE]

Pan caliente, café con leche!

[SAM]

Put twenty dollars on today’s lottery

[COLEEN]

One ticket, that’s it!

[SAM]

Hey! A man’s gotta dream...

[COLEEN]

Don’t mind him, he’s all excited

‘Cuz Matthew flew in at 3 A.M. last night!

[SAM]

Don’t look at me, this one’s been cooking all week!

[COLEEN]

You have to come over for dinner

[SAM/COLEEN]

There’s plenty to eat!

[SHIRO]

So then Nyma walks in the room—

[ADAM, spoken]

Aha…

[SHIRO]

She smells sex and cheap perfume!

[ADAM, spoken]

Uh oh…

[SHIRO]

It smells like one of those trees

That you hang from the rear view!

[ADAM, spoken]

Ah, no!

[SHIRO]

It’s true! She screams, “Who’s in there with you, Rolo?”

Grabs a bat and kicks in the door

He’s in bed with that guy from the liquor store!

[ADAM/LANCE]

No me diga!

[LANCE, spoken]

Shiro and Adam, from the salon.

[SHIRO/ADAM]

Thank you, Lance!

[LANCE, spoken]

Allura, you’re late.

[ALLURA, spoken]

Chillax, you know you love me.

[LANCE]

Me and my cousin runnin’ just another dime-a-dozen

Mom-and-pop stop-and-shop

And, oh my god, it’s gotten

Too darn hot, like my man Cole Porter said

People come through for a few cold waters and

A lottery ticket, just a part of the routine

Everybody’s got a job, everybody’s got a dream

They gossip, as I sip my coffee and smirk

The first stop as people hop to work

Bust it— I’m like:

"One dollar, two dollars, one fifty, one sixty-nine.

I got it. You want a box of condoms? What kind?

That’s two quarters.

Two quarter waters. The New York Times.

You need a bag for that? The tax is added."

Once you get some practice at it

You do rapid mathematics automatically

Sellin’ maxi pads, fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically

Everybody’s stressed, yes!

But they press through the mess,

Bounce checks and wonder what’s next

[COMMUNITY 1]

In the heights

I buy my coffee and I go

Set my sights

On only what I need to know

In the heights

Money is tight

But even so

[COMMUNITY 2]

In the heights

I buy my coffee and—

Set my sights

What I need to know

In the heights

Money is tight

Even so

[COMMUNITY]

When the lights go down I blast my radio!

[HUNK/PIDGE]

You ain’t got no skills!

[LANCE]

Hey dude!

[HUNK]

Yo, lemme get a—

[LANCE]

Milky Way

[PIDGE]

Yeah, and lemme get a—

[LANCE]

Daily News—

[HUNK]

And a—

[LANCE]

Post—

[PIDGE]

And most important, my—

[LANCE]

Fathers’ second coffee, one cream—

[BOTH]

Five sugars

[PIDGE]

I’m the number one earner—

[LANCE/ALLURA/HUNK]

What?!

[PIDGE]

The fastest learner—

[LANCE/ALLURA/HUNK]

What?!

[PIDGE]

My dad can’t keep me on the damn back burner!

[HUNK]

Yes, he can

[PIDGE]

I’m makin’ moves, I’m makin’ deals, but guess what?

[LANCE]

What?

[HUNK/PIDGE/ALLURA]

You still ain’t got no skills!

[LANCE]

Hardee-har

[HUNK]

Yo, has Keith shown up yet?

[LANCE]

Shut up!

[HUNK]

Hey little homie, don’t get so upset

[LANCE, spoken]

Man...

[HUNK]

You should tell him how you feel, buy the guy a meal

On the real, or you ain’t got no skills

[KEITH, speaking on the phone]

Nooo!

No no nooo!

No no nooo, no-no-no!

Nooo, no-no-no!

No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, no-no-no-no-no!

Mr. Ulaz, I got the security deposit

It’s locked in a box in the bottom of my closet

It’s not reflected in my bank statement

But I’ve been savin’ to make a down payment and pay rent

No, no, I won’t let you down—

[HUNK]

Yo, here’s your chance; ask him out right now!

[KEITH]

I’ll see you later, we can look at that lease!

[HUNK]

Do somethin’, make your move, don’t freeze!

[LANCE]

Hey!

[KEITH]

You owe me a bottle of cold champagne!

[LANCE]

Are you moving?

[KEITH]

Just a little credit check and I’m on that downtown train!

[LANCE]

Well, your coffee’s on the house

[KEITH]

Okay!

[HUNK]

Lance come on, ask him out

[ALLURA/PIDGE]

No way!

[KEITH]

I’ll see you later, so…

[HUNK]

Oooh... Smooth operator, aw, damn, there he goes!

Yo, bro, take five, take a walk outside!

You look exhausted, lost, don’t let life slide!

The whole hood is struggling, times are tight

And you’re stuck to this corner like a streetlight!

[LANCE]

Yeah, I’m a streetlight, chokin' on the heat

The world spins around while I’m frozen to my seat

The people that I know all keep on rollin' down the street

But everyday is different so I’m switchin’ up the beat

'Cuz my parents came with nothing, they got a little more

And sure, we’re poor, but yo, at least we got the store

And it’s all about the legacy they left with me, it’s destiny

And one day I’ll be on a beach with Allura writing checks to me

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights, I hang my flag up on display

[LANCE]

We came to work and to live and we got a lot in common

[COMMUNITY]

It reminds me that I came from miles away

[LANCE]

D.R., P.R., we are not stoppin’

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights

Ooh

Ooh

Ooh

In the Heights

I’ve got today!

[ABUELO CORAN]

Everyday, paciencia y fe

[LANCE]

Until the day we go from poverty to stock options

[LANCE]

And today’s all we got, so we cannot stop

This is our block!

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights

I hang my flag up on display

[PIRAGUA GUY]

Lo le lo le lo lai lai lo le!

[COMMUNITY]

It reminds me that I came from miles away

[LANCE/PIRAGUA GUY/NEIGHBORS]

My family came from miles away—

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights

It gets more expensive every day

[LANCE/PIRAGUA GUY/WOMEN/MEN]

Every day

[COMMUNITY]

And tonight is so far away—

[LANCE]

But as for mañana, mi pana

Ya gotta just keep watchin’

[LANCE]

You’ll see the

late nights

You’ll taste

beans and rice

The syrups and

shaved ice

I ain’t gonna

say it twice

So turn up the stage lights

We’re takin’ a flight

To a couple of days

in the life of what it’s like

[HUNK/LOTOR/MEN]

Late nights!

Beans and rice!

Shaved ice!

Say it twice!

[COMMUNITY]

In the Heights!

In the Heights!

In the Heights!

Ah

Ah

Ah

Ah!

[ALL]

En Washington Heights!

[dear-indies]

If it’s not too much, would you mind suggesting some faceclaims of color that could be in a modern punk/alternative band? Thank you so so much :)

Non-binary:

ARROWS / angryarrows (1990) African-American - non-binary - he/they.

Alok Vaid-Menon (1991) Indian - gender-nonconforming, non-binary transfeminine - they.

Quintessa Swindell (1997) Black / White - non-binary - he/they. 

Chella Man (1998) Hongkonger, Jewish - deaf - trans genderqueer - he/him.

Ariela Barer (1998) 75% Ashkenazi Jewish 25% Mexican - non-binary - she/they.

Sivan Alyra Rose (1999) Chiricahua Apache, Afro Puerto Rican - genderfluid - she/her they/them - pansexual.

Ian Alexander (2001) Vietnamese / White - he/him - enby boy - queer.

Musicians:

Azis (1978) Romani - non-binary - gay.

Nat Ćmiel / Yeule (1997) Chinese-Singaporean - non-binary - she/they.

Grove / theyisgrove (?) Black British - genderqueer - they/them - queer.

Women:

Freema Agyeman (1979) Ghanaian / Iranian - Sense8.

Dichen Lachman (1982) Tibetan / German - Supergirl.

Nyla Rose (1982) Oneida / African-American - trans.

Roberta Colindrez (1986) Mexican - queer. 

Maika Harper (1986) Inuit.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell (1986) African-American, possibly other / Ashkenazi Jewish - Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.

Samira Wiley (1987) African-American - lesbian.

Kat Blaque (1990) African-American - trans.

Anh Wisle (1991) Vietnamese. 

Zazie Beetz (1991) African-American / German. 

Kanya Sesser (1992) Thai - born without legs. 

Slick Woods (1993) African-American - bisexual.

Park Gyu-young (1993) Korean - Sweet Home. 

Kawennahere Devery Jacobs (1993) Mohawk - not straight but otherwise unlabelled.

Linnea Berthelsen (1993) Indian - Stranger Things.

Khadijha Red Thunder (1994) Cree, African-American, Spanish - After.

Lyrica Okano (1994) Japanese - The Runaways.

Sasha Lane (1995) African-American, Māori, English, Scottish, Sorbian, French, Cornish, distant German, Italian, Belgian Flemish, Russian, and Northern Irish - lesbian.

Adeline Rudolph (1995) Korean / German - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Mei Pang (1996) Malaysian-Chinese.

Brianna Hildebrand (1996) Mexican / German, English, Irish - not straight, chosen not to label herself otherwise! 

Tati Gabrielle (1996) Korean / African-American - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Andy Blossom (1998) Chinese. 

Anna Lambe (2000) Inuit - bisexual - Trinkets. 

Ayumi Roux (2001) Japanese / French. 

Aaron Philip (2001) Afro-Antiguan - has cerebral palsy - trans.

Minni Jo (?) English, Puerto Rican - NCIS. 

Musicians:

Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941) Cree.

Jada Pinkett-Smith (1971) African-American / African-/Creole-Barbadian, African-/Creole-Jamaican.

Natasha Khan (1979) Pakistani / English.

Ebony Bones (1982) Afro-Jamaican. 

Riz Ahmed (1982) Muhajir Pakistani - Sound of Metal.

Fefe Dobson (1985) Afro-Jamaican / Unspecified First Nations, Irish, English, Dutch, Scottish.

Janelle Monáe (1985) African-American - bisexual and pansexual. 

Juliana Huxtable (1987) African-American - trans.

FKA twigs (1988) African-Jamaican / English, Spanish.

Rina Sawayama (1990) Japanese. 

Sho Madjozi (1992) Tsonga / European.

Sky Ferreira (1992) Portuguese Brazilian / Ashkenazi Jewish, Cheyenne, Ojibwe, Chippewa Cree, Scottish, French, English, Irish.

Nikki Gould (1995) Mi'kmaq, White.

Kehlani (1995) African-American, French, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Spanish, Mexican, Filipino, Scottish, English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and Welsh, as well as distant Cornish, Irish, Choctaw - lesbian and polyamorous.

Asami Zdrenka (1995) Japanese / English, Danish, Irish.

Jasmine Sokko (1996) Singaporean.

Rico Nasty (1997) African-American / Puerto Rican.

Nakamoto Suzuka (1997) Japanese.

Kiana Ledé (1997) African-American, Swedish, Mexican, Cherokee.

Willow Smith (1998) 75% African-American 25% African-Creole-Barbadian and African-Creole-Jamaican - bisexual and polyamorous. 

Kikuchi Moa (1999) Japanese. 

Jannine Weigel (2000) Thai / German.

Amy Love / Nova Twins (?) Black British.

Georgia South / Nova Twins (?) Black British.

Kayla Phillips / Bleed The Pigs (?) African-American.

Audrey Campbell / Pleasure Venom (?) African-American.

Gabriella “Guitar Gabby” Logan (?) African-American. 

Shikhee D’iordna (?) Bangladeshi. 

Edith Johnson / Meet Me @ the Altar (?) African-American.

Ada Juarez / Meet Me @ the Altar (?) Salvadorian, Dominican - lesbian.

Téa Campbell / Meet Me @ the Altar (?) African-American - lesbian.

Men:

Danny Trejo (1944) Mexican.

Zahn McClarnon (1966) Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, Sihasapa Lakota Sioux, Polish, Irish, French, German, English.

Marcus LaVoi (1968) Ojibwe.

Naveen Andrews (1969) Malayali Indian.

Clayton Cardenas (1985) Mexican, Filipino.

Richard Cabral (1984) Mexican.

Arjun Gupta (1986) Indian.

Rüzgar Erkoçlar (1986) Turkish - trans.

Eugene Lee Yang (1986) Korean - gay.

Andrew Koji (1987) Japanese / British.

Julio Torres (1987) Mexican - esp his role in Los Espookys.

Chai Hansen (1989) Thai / Unspecified Australian.

Xavier de Guzman (1988) Filipino. 

David Castañeda (1989) Mexican.

Kiowa Gordon (1990) Hualapai, English, Scottish, Danish, Manx.

Adonis Bosso (1990) Ivorian.

Harvey Guillen (1990) Mexican - queer.

Jade Hassouné (1991) Lebanese - unsure of sexuality but not straight.

Jake Choi (1992) Korean.

Ryan Potter (1995) Japanese / Ashkenazi Jewish, Swedish, English, German.

Justice Smith (1995) African-American / Italian, French-Canadian - queer - Generation.

Aria Shahghasemi (1996) Iranian.

Luka Sabbat (1997) Afro-Haitian, Irish, English, German.

Nico Hiraga (1997) Japanese / German, English, Scottish, Dutch.

Musicians:

Doug Wimbish (1956) African-American.

Vernon Reid (1958) African-American.

Ice-T (1958) Louisiana Creole [African, French] / African-American.

D. H. Peligro (1959) African-American.

Ernie C (1959) African-American.

Will Calhoun (1964) African-American. 

Corey Glover (1964) African-American.

Lenny Kravitz (1964) Afro-Bahamian, African-American / Ashkenazi Jewish.

Benji Webbe (1967) Afro-Jamaican. 

Serj Tankian (1967) Armenian.

Arnel Pineda (1967) Filipino. 

Derrick Green (1971) African-American. 

Lajon Witherspoon (1972) African-American.

Miyavi (1981) Japanese / Korean-Japanese. 

Tosin Abasi (1983) Nigerian.

Matt Heafy (1986) Japanese / Irish, German.

Jason Aalon Butler (1986) African-American / Scottish.

Kanki Tomoya (1987) Japanese.

Yamashita Tōru (1988) Japanese.

Moriuchi Takahiro (1988) Japanese.

Kohama Ryōta (1989) Japanese.

Marz23 / Lin Zhirong (1991) Taiwanese.

Moses Sumney (1991) Ghanaian - aromatic.

Roshon Fegan (1991) African-American / Filipino. 

Choi Myung-Hwan / Mokyo / Thurxday (1991) Korean.

Scarlxrd (1994) Jamaican, Ghanaian / Jamaican, White.

Remington Leith (1994) Unspecified Indigenous Brazilian, White.

Denzel Curry (1995) Afro-Bahamian.

Do Han-se (1997) Korean.

KennyHoopla (1997) African-American. 

GARZI (1997) African-American.

Jaden Smith (1998) 75% African-American 25% African-Creole-Barbadian and African-Creole-Jamaican.

ZillaKami (1998) African-American.

Iann Dior (1999) Afro-Puerto Rican.

Poorstacy (1999) African-American.

Yoon Jin-young / Ash Island (1999) Korean.

Trippie Redd (1999) Irish, Unspecified Native American, African-American.

Danny Denial (?) African-American.

CX KiDTRONiK (?) African-American. 

Jaxon Rose (?) Black New Zealander.

theOGM (?) African-American. 

Some musicians have acting roles but they’re under the musician category to show they have musician / music related resources! 

I’d also suggest this post for more alternative musicians of colour! 

[justbuffalowritingcenter]

This Week at JBWC: Songwriting, Open Workshop, and JUNOT DIAZ VISIT OMG

OMG this week is jam-packed and super fun and exciting and you should absolutely force yourself to go out into this awful, disgusting "spring" weather and join us because seriously how else are you going to pretend it isn't an icy, snowy mess out there, am I right?!

____________________

Quote of Last Week:

soft, fleshy legs are not strong enough

to make the trek to robo heaven.

those pink fingers couldn't stand the cold

of your lover's chrome cheeks.

sell your soul to me girl.

-from the poem "SciFi Little Mermaid" written by Trinity during our field trip to El Museo last week to view Andie Jairam’s Kweku Anansi Fables exhibit.

____________________

TUESDAY, APRIL 17 (3:30-6:00pm)

Adventure State: Songwriting with Hussalonia

This workshop invites writers, musicians, hip-hop artists, and anyone else to join us to explore the many pathways of composing a song through the examination of rhythm, melody, voice, lyrics, and composition. Each workshop will be led by a different Buffalo songwriter, lyricist, or musician. Feel free to bring your instrument of choice, though no instruments are required.

Hussalonia is a “pop music cult” owned by Nefarico™, a soap company. It is largely the work of one, prolific, multi-instrumentalist, home-recording artist (known only as the Hussalonia Founder) who creates concise, literate, art-pop in the spirit of ‘60s beat and record-store-clerk-indie-post-punk-singer-songwriter-whatever-nes.

Pre-Workshop:

Rap/poetry/songwriting with Jahton! Also, it is JBWC’s 4-year anniversary! Maybe we'll have some cupcakes or something.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 (3:30-5:30pm)

Open Workshop

You heard us right! We are holding two open workshop sessions in a row this month due to some scheduling conflicts. Last week, a bunch of people worked on their novels. Someone else worked on a poem for a contest and got some feedback. What will you get into this week? We're here to help or give you some space!

THURSDAY, APRIL 19 (3:30-6:00pm)

Adventure State: Songwriting with Hussalonia

Workshop continued...See above.

FRIDAY, APRIL 20 (3:30-4:30pm)

PULITIZER-PRIZE WINNING JUNOT DIAZ VISITS JBWC

Junot Diaz will talk with you about writing and answer any questions you might have for him! This is a special opportunity just for JBWC writers and a few select students from local schools. Don't miss it! It's kinda a big deal.

About Junot Diaz:

Born in the Dominican Republic, Díaz immigrated to New Jersey when he was 6 years old. As a non-native speaker, Díaz mastered the English language as a young boy by reading—walking four miles, each way, to his public library to immerse himself in the world of books. Now a Professor of Writing at MIT, his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao earned him a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, and was named TIME Magazine’s Best Book of the Year. More recently, critics named this bittersweet and laugh-out-loud funny portrait of a multigenerational family with its “mash-up of Dominican history, comics, sci-fi, [and] magic realism” “the best novel of the 21st century to date.”

All are also encouraged to attend Diaz's BABEL talk at Kleinhans in the evening! Student tickets are only $10.

CONTEST OPPORTUNITY

Peach Mag's Poetry Contest

Due April 20th. $500 prize! Judged by Morgan Parker. All ages.

SAVE THE DATE STILL

[ijustlikehoney]

LIGHTS UP

on washington heights up at the break of day i wake up and i got this little punk I gotta chase away, pop the grate at the crack o dawn sing while i wipe down the awning hey yall, gmorning. ice cold piragua ! parcha, china, cherry, strawberry, and just for today, I got mamEy ! yo piragüero cómo estás ? como siempre señor usnavi !! *doo doo doo doo doo* i am usnavi and youve probly never heard my name reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated exacerbated by the fact that my syntax is highly complicated cuz i immigrated from the single greatest little place in the caribbean ! Dominican ! Republic ! I love it jesus im jealous of it and beyond that ever since my folks passed on i havent gone back, goddamn i gotta on that, fo ! the milk has gone bad hold up just a second, why is everything in this fridge warm and tepid ? i better step it up and fight the heat, cuz im not makin any profit if the coffee isnt Light and Sweet. OoOOo ! abuela my fridge broke. try my mothers old recipe, one can of condensed milk. nIce ! ay, paciencia y fé ! *doo doo doo doo doo* that was abuela shes not really my abuela but she practically raised me this corner is her escuela now youre probly thinking, im up shits creek i never been north of ninety siXTh street, well, yœû mùšt tækę thė à train, even farther than harlem to northern manhatten and maintain, get off at one eighty first and take the escalator, i hope youre writing this down im gonna test you later, im gettin tested times are tough on this bodega, two months ago somebody bought ortegas our neighbors started packin up and pickin up and ever since the rents went up it's gotten mad expensive but we live with just enough iN THE HEIGHTS i flip the lights and start my daAaAy, there are figHTs endless debts and bîlłš tø päæãy in the heIGHTS gets more expensive every day (ēvęrÿ dãy) cuz tonigHT seems like a million years away, in washington— Next up to bat the rosarios they run the cab company they struggle in the barrio see their daughter ninas off at college tuition is mad steep so they cant sleep everything they get is mad cheap Good moRning usnavi pan caliente cafe con leche put twenty dollars on today's lottery One ticket that's it. hey ! a mans gotta dream, don't mind him hes all excited cuz nina flew in at three a m last night don't look at me, this one's been cooking all week, usnavi come over for dinner there's plenty to eat ! so then yeseña walks in the room (uh huh) she smells sex and cheap perfume (uh oh) it smells like one of those trees that you hang from the rear view Ha ha no its true she screams whOs in there with you julio !! grabs a bat and kicks in the door, hes in bed with jose from the liquor store; no me diga. daniela and carla from the salon. thanks usnavi ! sonny, ya late. chillax, u know u love me (doo doo doo doo doo) me and my cousin running just another dime a dozen mom and pop stop and shop and oh my god it's gotten too darn hot like my man cole porter said, people come through for a few cold waters and a lottery ticket just a part of the routine everybodys got a job everybodys got a dream they gossip as i sip my coffe and smirk, the first stop as people hop to work, bust it, im like, one dollar two dollars one fifty one sixty nine i got it you wantaboxofcondomswhatkindathatstwo quarters two quarter waters the new york times you need a bag for that the tax is added once you get some practice at it you do rapid mathematics automatically sellin maxi pads fuzzy dice for taxi cabs practically everybodys stressed, yyes, but they press through the mess bounce checks and wonder what’s next iN THE HEIGHTS i buy my coffee åńd į gø (i buy my coffee) and set my siGHTS on only what i need to knôoōw (what i need to know) in the heiGHTS money is tight but êvęn šò (ëvēń śõoô) when the liGHTS go down i blast my râdïòõ) you ain’t go no sKills benny ! yo let me get a milky way (yeah) let me also get a Daily news and a Post and a most important my Boss’s second coffee one cream five sugars im the number one earner (what) the faster learner (what) my boss can’t keep my on the dæmn bac