Creative Thursdays - Boon Doc

Creative Thursdays... we don't do these often, but when we do, they're worth it. I felt I had to hit you guys with Boon Doc again, this video is plain sick. Keep in mind that he's chopped up the sample, and recording this all in real time on the MPC. Creativity comes in many forms... which do you prefer? Enjoy!

Music Mondays - Boon Doc

Sometimes, its necessary to take things back to basics. We've done that with our new shirt (coming out soon!!!) and we're doing just that with this week's Music Mondays. Today, I have for you a producer that I've been following on youtube for some time now, Boon Doc is truly one of the best out there that you've probably never heard o...f, and his youtube account is a testiment to that. If you love music, check it out. Just like his other videos, he walks you through his process for making a beat (2 in this video) and shows what real passion and hard work can get you with an attitude that makes you wanna stop watching and get back to work. If this isn't inspiration for all you hip hop heads out there, then I just dont know what is. Check it out and enjoy!

Music Mondays - Talib Kweli

This week's Music Monday goes out to everyone thats finishing their spring semester of school and especially to everyone thats graduating! Congrats!! We know its not always easy, but its worth it, and in the end... its all about getting by. So, enjoy one of our all time favorite songs, and think about it... what ARE your reasons for getting by? Purpose fuels success.

Music Mondays - Nappy Roots

For this weeks Music Mondays, in honor of Derby, we're going local for the first time! This song and group really need no introduction... so I'm just gonna let you enjoy the video. Word up to Nappy Roots! And if you're not familiar with them, get familiar!

Guru

Damn, a lot of us expected this day would come too soon but hoped and prayed that it wouldn't. R.I.P. Guru...


This was always a very motivating joint for us and for a lot of people doing whatever it took to better themselves.


"Shit is mad shady, but I got to get the gravy"

Man, you put in work.

Peace.

Music Mondays - Kidz In The Hall

For this week's Music Mondays, I'm giving you one of my favorite underground groups, Kidz In The Hall. I've chosen this specific video for several reasons. First, derby is nest saturday... and so its in a way honoring the (late) tradition of crusing down Broadway. Second, the "Driving down the block, low end theory tape in" sample is from Masta Ace's album "Slaughterhouse".. which is a definite classic in my book. And third... well... "The Low End Theory" is awesome, so paying homage to Masta Ace AND ATCQ in one hook has to produce a dope song, which it does.

Dope Ass Mashup...

You're pretty much guaranteed to love this mixtape...

Download Here

90210

Here at PeaceLine, we might be pretty damn great, but we're not perfect. We missed Music Monday this week, and for that, we apologize. To make it up to you, we've got two gifts for you this week! The first is our regular video post. This week, we're hitting you with a song from a guy who's on the real come up right now, hopefully you haven't heard it already...Secondly, to really make amends, we're turning you on to a dope mash up mixtape featuring one of our favorite bands and a shitload of our favorite Hip Hop artists...Enjoy.

Music Monday

For this week's music Monday, we're going back to a theme that really sits at our foundation...

After seeing the recently leaked video of a US military helicopter accidentally firing on and killing a group of Reuters reporters then firing on and killing a family of civilians attempting to help the wounded reporters, we were starkly reminded why the fuck we're so anti-war.

We know we post these videos weekly, but we ask that you please pay special attention to this one, take in the lyrics, understand the images, and know that war truly is hell on earth.

With that being said, here are the Blue Scholars with their becoming a classic song Blink...

Spring 2010 Photoshoot Behind The Scenes Video

Check out this amazing behind the scenes video from our recent photoshoot. We had a great time.

Rain follow up...

On our third attempt we're pleased to say that our photo shoot went terrific! We got some great shots and can't wait for everyone to see them. Big shout outs to our amazing photographer and our beautiful models. The pics will be public this Friday. Be sure to check them out!!

PeaceLine UP all day everyday.

Rain

So here's the deal. Our spring line is due to release this Friday and in preparation, we scheduled a photoshoot...Naturally, we got rained out. We got a few usable shots but on the whole, needed to reschedule. It should come as no surprise that we got rained out a second time and had to call everything off before we even got to the location. We have a third shoot scheduled and according to the forecast, some nice weather to look forward to...Hopefully, we'll be singing "Here Comes The Sun" but as for now, let the rain come down..

Lily Allen

For this weeks Music Mondays, I'm switching it up with one of my favorite female singers out of the UK. Past her subtly smooth voice and amazing personality that comes out of everything she touches, I absolutely love the fact that unlike most British singers, she doesn't loose her accent when she sings. And... well who doesn't love a good British accent on a girl? So check out the video, enjoy the upbeat flavor, and listen to the lyrics... shes also a girl with something to say.


Lily Allen - The Fear (Explicit) on MUZU

St. Patty's Day...

Personally, I don't celebrate the day but when you come across something like this, you gotta share with your friends :^)

Enjoy everybody!

Our Apologies.

First off, I have to apologize for a late Music Mondays. The last week or so has been real hard on the PeaceLine family... I won't go in depth, but please... love the ones that mean the most to you and appreciate the life you have today, no one knows what tomorrow will bring. Moving on though, I've debated hard on if I should give in to the spring break vibe or keep it a bit more real... and I've decided to compromise with a spring break performance from one of our favorite artsts. This performance is missing the lovely Jill Scott... but though it lacks in Jill Scott, it has energy coming out the wazoo. (yeah... I just used the word wazoo.. jealous?) So enjoy the video, enjoy your spring break (if you're on spring break), but most of all enjoy your life today! Peace, and much love....

Your Chance To Win

Our friend Carmine Davis told us a while back that he was having a contest and we jumped at the chance to get involved.

This is your chance to win the “Autograph Appreciation Prize Package” contest! Is there a better way to get free designer merchandise by the stylist of the Twilight Movie Saga Burkman Bros., CTG Designs, yours truly, Peaceline Clothing, and more absolutely FREE?? We didn't think so!!

All you have to do to sign up is follow Carmine Davis on Twitter, Facebook, and sign-up for his Official Newsletter. The winner will be chosen randomly, and will contacted via e-mail. If they send you an e-mail that congratulates you on winning the contest, and you don't reply within two days, they will chose another winner randomly from their list until they receive a reply from one of the lucky winners chosen. If you are the winner and you DO reply to the e-mail within the 2-day period, they will ask for your name and address, you will receive a shout-out via Carmine Davis’s official Twitter, Facebook, and Official Newsletter to let all of the Carmine Davis supporters and fans to know who you are. After that, they will send your prize straight to your door.

The winner will be chosen Tuesday, March 30th. Remember to check your e-mails the 30th and days after to see if you’re the lucky winner!

Thanks for playing and Good Luck Everyone!!

Not always about us...

I came across Lowdtown maybe a month or two ago. I wrote Ray to tell him how interesting his designs were and that the fact he was doing a shirt a month out of his apartment was impressive to me. He got back to me almost immediately and wasn't egocentric or anything. Very humble and cool dude. It hurts a lot to see this happening to him but I know that with his work ethic and speed he'll have his company up and running again in no time. Here's to a successful comeback...

This post has been a long time coming, but it should definitely clear everything up for those confused with the state of Lowdtown.

First of all, to save the drama, Lowdtown will be closing in the next month or so. As the story goes, I was contacted by an artist who has a logo concept very similar to mine. Though I didn’t hear of the artist til he actually contacted me, he apparently copyrighted his logo, and I made the mistake of never doing so. Immediately after, I had to remove everything with the mouthcan logo and the lowdmouth logo.

As you can probably guess, this caused a whole mess of problems for me, and is the reason I had to take down nearly half of the products listed on my store. And as you can imagine, this is at a huge financial loss to me. Especially so because he contacted me literally weeks after I had received my Winter line. To make matters even worse, I’ve been working with Hong Kong since late 2009 and finally received fitted hats in February in which I spent several thousand dollars on; I will not be able to sell those off either.

It is hard to explain how frustrating this is for me, considering I’m a college kid who put my own hard earned cash into making Lowdtown, and the reason why I was able to do wallets and sweaters was from the culmination of my hard work and dedication for Lowdtown. With this event, I pretty much lost all the profit that I’ve been building up to make my future lines even greater.

So what I am asking for is your support. I’m having a clearance sale where I’m literally going to try to get rid of all remaining stock. Shirts will be $6, and the crewnecks will be $12. These prices are pretty much the price I bought them at, so it’s an unbelievably good deal for you guys. Please tell your friends and spread the word about it; I just really need to cut my losses and try to rebuild. If you’re a blogger, I would truly appreciate a post!

On another note, please don’t harass the artist who contacted me, because the logos are in fact very similar. It’s an unbelievably unfortunate coincidence on my part, but I would’ve thought the same thing if I were him.

On a happier note, I can promise you with my utmost conviction that the rebirth of Lowdtown will be glorious. I’ve already been working on several projects that will definitely put Lowdtown on the map. I’m not one for braggadocio, but I have a secret project that I’ve been developing since November 2009 that I think will blow everyone’s socks off. I’ve never seen it done before, and I’m more than excited to see what everyone’s reactions will be.

Lowdtown, as you might’ve already guessed, will be going through a complete rebranding. I’ve shared the concepts for the new logo with a bunch of my designer friends, and I’ve gotten really positive responses so far. In addition, the website will get a complete overhaul. I’ve been really flexing my web design muscles lately, and if all goes to plan, the new website will be the slickest and sexiest yet.

I’ve also been receiving an amazing amount of support from my twitter followers, so I just want to thank all you guys! I’ll probably post up WIPs and sneak peeks when it gets closer to the relaunch, so if you’re interested you should follow me: @Lowdtown.

Right now, I’m shooting for Summer 2010 (probably late June or July), which is a really ambitious date, but hopefully I can pull it off. I’ll keep you guys posted! Thanks again for all the support!

-Ray (Lowdtown Friends & Freaks)

www.lowdtown.com

Music Mondays - Free Speech & RoBlvd.

Its hard to make a day as beautiful as today was better... but if anything can, its finding a great new artist. And thats why for this week's Music Mondays I bring you a song that I bet none of you have heard. The production is RoBlvd. and Free Speech is on the mic. These two have made it onto my list of favorites in their respective fields, they're so dope, and yet so underground its a shame.

Incidentally, RoBlvd. has dropped one of my favorite underground producer-made mixtapes in the last decade. It’s called "Laffy Taffy Rots Your Teeth" and was free when I got it. He has more too, (like “Early Morning”) but if you can't find them online anymore and would like them, get at me and I'll get them to you one way or another.

So check out the video, appreciate the four elements of Hip-Hop portrayed on each corner in the video, let the beat drown out all the noise of the day, get lost in the rhymes of Free Speech and just relax.

Also, don’t worry; you can thank us later for introducing you to such dope music :)

Music Mondays

This weeks Music Mondays goes out to none other than Gang Starr... come on, you all saw it coming, and for good reason, Guru is truly one of the best to ever do it. But, if you haven't already heard, Guru of Gang Starr had a heart attack over the weekend, and is now in a coma. There are a lot of rumors floating around, but know that he is NOT dead right now... so don't believe all the "RIP" hype.

And so, all we can do is hope that he gets better soon and appreciate the legacy that he has created. That being said, why not remind yourself just how much Mass Appeal Guru has on a classic Premo beat?

Here's hoping that Guru pulls through this.

Its All Coming Together

After what seems like a month or two of nothing but planning, researching and discussing, we’re finally starting to see things materialize into actual productivity, we can now see just how much ground we’ve covered so far, and this my friends is a beautiful moment. Our main expansion plan for the first half of 2010 started out as nothing more than an idea in a friend’s apartment… and being able to finally see all the pieces take shape and come together is a great feeling. Unfortunately, we’re still not able to go into too much depth about what exactly this expansion entails, but I can say that we seem to be on schedule, and we hope to unveil this new part of PeaceLine with our Spring 2010 Collection.

What I CAN say, however, is how excited we are for the Spring Collection to come out! For this collection we’re working with our good friend Floz (the artist of our Spring 2010 Collection Poster), and I can tell you with good confidence that you’re going to love what he’s come up with. We’re considering taking pre-orders for the shirts coming out in our Spring Collection, but nothing has been decided yet. So, if you would be interested in assuring yourself a shirt and having it shipped ASAP (assuming you want a shirt of course!) then let us know that pre-orders are something that you might be interested in.

In the last blog we mentioned the financial trouble that local (to Louisville) music store Ear X-Tacy had recently come out with. Well… we want to remind everyone that loves Ear X-Tacy and is still in Louisville that March 1^st through the 5^th (next week) has been dubbed Ear X-Tacy Blitz Week! This means that everyone who is willing and able should try and get out to Ear X-Tacy at some point during this week to show some love. Just think about what a big difference it would make if everyone who could, went to buy just one CD or Vinyl or T-shirt… showing some love to the store that has in many ways defined this city for a lot of people doesn’t have to be expensive. Besides, I’m willing to bet that they have a lot of awesome music that YOU probably haven’t heard of… so why not expand your musical world while you’re at it? Also, we will be making another shipment of PeaceLine Clothing shirts to Ear X-Tacy next Tuesday or Wednesday, so if you want to check one out while you’re there, they should have a fresh batch around midweek.

Ear X-Tacy Blitz Week Facebook Group: Click Here!

Ear X-Tacy Website: Click Here!

*Follow our twitter and facebook for more up-to-date posts on where we are and what we’re doing*

Well that’s all for now, despite how much we’ve gotten done, we still have a lot of research, planning and plain old work to get done if we want to make this Spring Collection the best we’ve had yet! (Ok, it’s the first… but still technically the best!)

Peace and Much Love,

Keith

Music Mondays

For this week's Music Mondays I'm giving you the song (and band) that I've been listening to non-stop for the past week and a half. We're once again switching it up from hip-hop with some modern alt. punk-rock that you may not be up on yet. If not, then I suggest that you check this band out, its great music to blast in the car or have on in the background while getting chores around the house done... not to mention their amazing live performances. And so, one of my favorite bands, Coheed and Cambria.

Music Mondays

I know it's a little late but for today's Music Monday we're giving you a tribute to an artist that has been both very influential and inspiring to me as an artist. I grew up being a HUGE fan of his music and was saddened along with the rest of the Hip Hop community the day he was taken away from us. It was eleven years ago today that not only was a rapper murdered but a legend born. Without further ado, I give to you one of the best that's ever done it...Big L with what in my opinion has to be one of the ILLEST freestyles ever dropped.

A Lot Going On...

First off let me offer my congratulations to The New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory. I, like a lot of you, was rooting for them. On that same note, congratulations to everyone who called them taking it in our contest. Be on the look out for you 20% off coupon code! The good thing about that discount is that it's not going to expire anytime soon so you all will be able to use it for our spring line, which, if everything goes as planned, should be here sooner than later.

Since the success of our toy drive, we've been bit by the charity bug. We're planning huge things on that front this year. I know that we've vowed to cut down on the promising and step up on the delivering, but I'm personally so excited it's hard not to talk about it. We're going to be competing for a Pepsi Refresh Everything grant. That means that if we can come up with a good project, we can have anywhere from $5000-$250000 to help our community. I already know getting there won't be easy, so I'm reaching out now. If we're ever going to make this happen, it's going to truly be a group effort. If anyone reading this has an idea they'd like to see in the running, please let us hear it. That's not to say that you couldn't just enter the competition on your own, but there is strength in numbers. Win or lose, get the grant or not, later down the line we still have big things in our sight. We had a lot of plans for drives last year, but not a lot of time. This year, that won't be the case.

We also have a lot going on in the business side. We're expanding both publicly and behind the scenes. Publicly, we're forming another division under the PeaceLine umbrella. I can't get into all the details now, but I will say this, if you're a visual artist or local artisan of any kind, we have something in store for you that you really might want to be a part of...Behind the scenes, we're moving into the consulting world. That's right, moving up the ladder, we are. If you need any professional advice, we're here for you. Don't let price be a factor if this is something you're interesting in; really, we'll work with all organization sizes and budgets.

By now you've had to notice the changes we've made to our webpage. We decided that our old blogging system just wasn't cutting it. Sure, it was right there for you, but due to technical limitations, it felt too one sided. Here we are talking for days and no one else could get a word in edgewise. Not cool, man, not cool. This way, the blogspot way, not only can you comment on our blogs, but if you have one on here, we can follow yours as well. The plot thickens and the hole gets deeper...

Just a few more points and I'll be out of your hair (if you have any). We've secured our next Underground...Found (notice the name change?) interview. You might not know the name or the story, but once you do, you'll be impressed with the accomplishments. I'm pretty hype about this artist. I've known her for a little while now and even to this day, she amazes me. Actually, now that this blog is over, I'm going to jump on research and questions. This girls time really is valuable and I'm not trying to waste it.

On to some not so good news, have you heard about Ear-X-Tacy? Apparently, they might go under. I really hope not. And not because of PeaceLine's interest in their success. But because I truly love that store and what they've done for this city and it's culture. Without them, we really wouldn't be the same. Keep Louisville Weird would certainly not exist, famous indie artist would never make it here, and hard to find/collectibles would always have to be found on eBay. Scary thought, right? If you have the extra money, please do what you can to support them. Go out, buy a cd (I heard they have a good staff pick by some guy named Lee Da Rhymin' Master) or a lunch box, calendar or maybe even a T-Shirt (too easy...). Seriously though, your dollar is the strongest tool you have, use it to build and maintain businesses worthwhile. I'm going to try to make it to the press conference but doubt I'll be able to. I know that one of our NPR stations will be airing it, so you should definitely tune it. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Well, that's all I have. Its 6am and I'm finally about to go to sleep having accomplished something I've been putting off for days. Yay me! Go Lee. Go Lee.

Lee.

Music Mondays

You've seen the commercial, but this song embodies what we're all about here at PeaceLine so well that I have to make it our Music Mondays pick. I've long believed that the Black Eyed Peas (minus Fergie of course) were an underrated group, their talents extend far past their commercialized singles. But, anyway, enjoy the song, I hope it brightens your monday, and remember that we're all one people...

Music Mondays

We tend to post a lot of hip hop for our Music Mondays, so today I thought I'd give you something totally different. It's been said that this band sounds like a mix between Outkast and The Beatles... and they've collabed with the likes of talib kweli, Janelle Monae and of course, Pharrell. (They're signed to star trak) Both Mike and I saw them live when they opened for NERD and casually followed their work since... and so its a band that you should probably be up on too. Check them out, Chester French.

Music Mondays

Ok, for those that don't know, here at PeaceLine we celebrate Music Mondays with a passion. That means every monday you get a video of dope music that YOU should be up on. This week we have a band that I found on youtube about a year or so ago, I honestly can't tell you what they're doing now, or if they're even still together. But to this day I still watch this video from time to time when I want to see an amazing performance of an Incredible song...... and thus, I give you yet another musical talent out of Philly (there seems to be so many!) Franklin Bridge. Also, for past music mondays, check our fan page!

New Year, New Beginnings

First of all, we want to take this opportunity to say that we hope everyone had a great holiday season and wish everyone a very happy new year, may all of you have a peaceful and successful progression through life in 2010! Speaking of which, we would love to hear about your New Year’s Resolutions or “Best Of” lists regarding the last decade or year, share with us on our Facebook page!

Moving on, I have to concur with what Mike said in our previous blog post, running a business is definitely a learning experience. Roughly 7 months into this new chapter in our lives… it’s quite apparent that running a business is very much a full time job, more-so than we thought going into this.. It seems that new things get added to our to-do lists that we never saw coming… and juggling these things along with our day jobs and my classes is simply overwhelming at times. BUT, what can we say? We love what we’re doing here at PeaceLine Clothing, we love the people, we love the art, we love the culture and we’re very passionate about what we’re creating. So, all in all we can’t complain that our to-do lists sometimes run into the early morning, but we will say that in the new year we’re going to try and stay in closer contact with all of you, keeping you more up-to-date with what’s going on here at PeaceLine Clothing through our blog. However, if you want to stay more up-to-date with what’s going on at PeaceLine Clothing, then you should become a fan on our Facebook page, there you can catch our Music Mondays, occasional Creative Thursdays, and simply what’s going on in our neck of the woods.

In regards to what’s going on here at PeaceLine Clothing, we’re very proud to announce that the Toy Drive for Kosair Charities was a success. Now, first off, we have to admit that we got beat out by bureaucracy in our quest to team up with a local store, that and the fact that we’re still an extremely young company. However, through some personal connections, we were able to find a group of girls that believed in our cause and were willing to help out. The Zeta Chapter of Delta Omicron at the University of Louisville were willing to hold a Chili Cook Off in order to raise money, and as a result they were able to make a sizable donation to our fund, which in its entirety went towards the purchasing of toys for Kosair Charities, just in time for Christmas Day. We want to extend a very appreciative Thank You to these girls, who went out of their way to raise money for a very worthy cause once they heard what we were doing, and in the process brought a lot of smiles to children who unfortunately had to spend the holidays in the hospital. All in all, we were able to donate an amazing amount of toys, and though it didn’t reach the size we originally envisioned, we have to call this a success.

Looking towards this new year, I’m proud to say that we have a lot of things in the planning stages. I won’t give any specifics just yet, but know that we are networking with new artists and musicians both locally and nationally, planning on expanding to different cities, looking to expand our inventory past clothing and working on our spring line. Between all of this, we’re staying pretty busy. And like I said, we’re going to try to keep everyone more up to date in the new year via more blog posts. However, you can always check out our Facebook page for updates, Music Mondays and the occasional Creative Thursdays.

Peace and Much Love,

KII