EXUDE MAGAZINE: STYLE STAR - ANDRU MAHIGA A.K.A DRU YORKIAN

Style Star: Andru Mahiga

BY: Kinya Harte

With a popular blog, three jobs and a developing t-shirt line, EXUDE’s first Style Star, Andru Mahiga, is hard at work with no intentions of slowing down.

In 2004 Andru Mahiga, 24, had an itch to leave his home country of Tanzania, to attend college in the big apple with one goal in mind—aim to be different. Growing up along the coast of Tanzania in a city called Dar es Salaam, Mahiga remembers it to be much of a party city. “I wouldn’t have accomplished as much there as I would have here [NYC],” Mahiga said. “The only way to get noticed is to spend money, party, go to expensive restaurants—just ball. Everyone has to be the same in Tanzania, not comfortable in their own skin.”

Mahiga started right away towards his goal by chance. While shopping on Karmaloop’s (a Boston, Ma.-based boutique) online store, he stumbled upon a link to become a team representative. He started a Facebook group for his repcode, where he messages all members, alerting them of new arrivals. He had even gone so far to make a trip to Boston to to Karmaloop’s flagship store, to participate in photo shoots for the site. Although his Facebook group was a success, he started to expand his scope of marketing (he's pursuing a master's degree in marketing) by starting a blog, Dru York, to promote Karmaloop. Noticing the amount of traffic to his blog, he started add other posts and videos daily in addition to alerts on new Karmaloop arrivals, which made his amount of followers double in size. “People in Brazil are checking out Druyork.com,” said Mahiga. “Who would’ve known?”

After graduating in 2008, he knew because of the economy, getting a job would be close to impossible, so, he started looking into internships to build experience. He landed an internship at Complex Magazine in the fashion department, but of course, not without a few hurdles, “I applied online four months before graduating and I felt defeated when I never got a call,” said Mahiga. “I visited their office and demanded the number to someone in the fashion department.” He credits his time as a team rep. for Karmaloop for his job at the magazine; for, “they would’ve passed me by,” he said. With his same guerrilla tactics, Mahiga landed an internship concurrently with clothing line 10 Deep, aiding in their brand re-launch, and marketing heavy using social media platforms.

Although Mahiga loves style and fashion, favoring lines like 10 Deep, KR3W, RVCA and ORISUE, he tries the see the bigger picture. “I just want to be different. I want to be some type of influence on people and it starts with the way you look. But I could never give style advice.”

Via Exude

A FEW WORDS FROM KANYE WEST (PEE-UNE, PEE-UNE, PEE-UNE)

FIRST OF ALL, I WANT TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR THEIR CONSTANT LOVE AND SUPPORT OVER THESE PAST 6 YEARS! I'M SO HAPPY TO BE BACK IN THE STUDIO MAKING NEW MUSIC. I WILL BRING YOU THE BEST I HAVE TO OFFER WITH THE SAME DEDICATION THAT KOBE HAS ON THE COURT. IT'S FUNNY HOW SO MANY RAPPERS GET WORSE AS THEIR CAREERS STRETCH OUT BUT TRUE POETS GET BETTER. WE WILL FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAYA ANGELOU, GILL SCOTT HERRON AND NINA SIMONE. THEIR WORK IMPROVED WITH TIME. THEY DOCUMENTED WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN CULTURE. THAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS THE MODERN DAY ARTISTS AND POETS, TO ACCURATELY REPRESENT WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW, SO WHEN THE POWERS THAT BE TRY TO REWRITE HISTORY YOU CAN ALWAYS LOOK AT OUR WORKS AND FIND TRUTH AND SINCERITY IN A WORLD OF PROCESSED INFORMATION. LET US SOAK IN POSITIVE FORCES AND LOOK DOWN ON UPON THOSE WHO MASQUERADE AS TRUTH TELLERS AND OBJECTIVE FACT GIVERS WHEN IN REALITY EVERYTHING THAT IS PROJECTED HAS AN AGENDA OF BRAINWASHING US, THE "CONSUMER", THE PUBLIC, TO BELIEVE WHAT THEY WANT US TO. LET US LOOK PAST HEADLINES AND DEAL WITH JUST A BIT OF REALITY IN THIS NEW DECADE. WE HAVE OUR OWN OUTLETS NOW. WE DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING ANYMORE. NOW I'LL FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE THAT RYHME LOL!!!

Via Kanye's Blog

WALE, DRAKE AND KID CUDI

Cudder dropped and it was fire, Wale dropped and it's fire, Drake up next, see what he do with it.

J. COLE - A STAR IS BORN (DAY 1)

Wuss good Martians? I'm chillin, hustlin, outerspacin, haha, so I was in my lecture today and something hit me cause my instructor was boring as hell, anyways, this is not a light bulb moment, but I realized that in this new era of hip hop, there a couple of young dudes that are really outta this world, and J.Cole is definitely one of them, besides Drake, Cudi, Wale and maybe B.O.B!

But here's the thing, everyone I talk to bout J.Cole, they know dude is lyrical and crazy with the flow but they're only aware of certain tracks like "a star is born, lights please, simba and the new track off Wale's album "Beautiful bliss". Now all this is cool and all but after paying attention to both his mixtapes, I think there are a lot of crazier, more lyrical, thought provoking tracks that Cole has done, so, this week, I'ma hit y'all with 5 tracks and "MAYBE" lyrics to go with them so y'all can check out the lyrical content, the concepts, the punch lines, the double-entendres, all that, just so y'all can get the full picture...so like Drake says "Thank me later"

Here's the first track for y'all and it's one of my personal favorites, "Dreams". Enjoy it and I'ma hit you with another one tomorrow, till then, stay humble, stay hungry. Download Dreams HERE

OBAMA RETAKES OATH OF OFFICE

WASHINGTON - After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. Again. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama on Wednesday night at the White House — a rare do-over.

The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday's much-noticed stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.

Don't worry, the White House says: Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day. Nevertheless, Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called "an abundance of caution."

For more info, go to MSN

THE POWER OF ONE THING CHANGING EVERYTHING!!

Wuss good people? Anyways, so I was going through one of the blogs I mess with, and I found an interesting piece that I should share with y'all. This is an article by Jeremy Stangroom and I got it from thethinkmovement.com.

Okay, so here’s a thing.

Suppose an 18 year old fella takes some photographs of his 17 year old girlfriend in various states of undress. Not pornographic, but not artistic (so we’re talking mild readers’ wives type stuff). She is not coerced in any way, has no objections to him possessing the photographs, and he will never show them to anybody else.

They split up a few years later. She’s happy for him to keep the photographs. Fast forward 25 years. He still possesses the photographs. He’s now in his mid-40s, and he hasn’t been in touch with his old girlfriend for some 20 years, so he has no idea whether she’d mind that he still has the photos (of course, he recognises that she might mind).

So various questions arise:

1. Is it morally wrong for a man in his mid-40s to be looking at naked photos of his 17 year old ex-girlfriend taken 25 years previously? (I’m not interested in whether it is ’sad’, ‘pathetic’, etc).

2. If it is morally wrong, was it wrong when he was 18?

3. If not, is it the age difference that makes it morally wrong? If it is the age difference, how old was he when he started to behave immorally?

4. If not (2 or 3), is it the fact that he can no longer assume her consent? If so, suppose he contacts her, and finds out that she doesn’t mind. Is it okay then?

5. If it still wrong, and it isn’t the age difference, is it because she is not now able to consent for her 17 year old self? (So the thought here is that her 17 year old self would not have consented to the 45 year old version of her boyfriend looking at the photos.)

Generally, what should he do with the photographs? Destroy them? (I’m not interested in the legal status of said photographs. Just the moral question.)

HALF FULL - KEEPING AN OPTIMISTIC LOOK

"Do not grieve for what you don't have, but rejoice for what you do" - Epicuteus


Anyways, this article aint got nothing to do with President-Elect Barack Obama, but hey, while I'm at it, shout outs to him, but hey, its about the article I just came across on a magazine for financial advisors called "Forum" by Advocis. I guess peeps that are into financial planning and financial advising know about it, but anyways, i'ma just jot down what I read for the loyal viewers and readers of priceless creativity, aint tryna bore you.



Scientific studies show that optimists live longer and have significantly lower rates of death from cardiovascular disease. Positivity affects the levels of hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline that the body releases during time of stress, which can weaken the immune system.

Optimists not only live longer, they are also less prone to burnout and are more likely to achieve success in their personal and professional lives. They see negative events as minor setbacks to be easily overcome and view positive events as evidence of further good things to come.

If you find yourself falling more into the pessimism camp these days, not too worry. "The key to triumphing over setbacks and defeat is a sense of optimism. The practice of optimism involves focusing on the reassuring, encouraging and hopeful elements of a situation. It is the opposite of becoming depressed, overwhelmed pr discouraged. And it is essential to persist though the part of your work called a failure to produce the part called success".

Anyways, that's all i'm going to jot down but I know y'all smart and y'all are going to get what y'all need to get from this article, I know i'm not that optimistic but i'ma push for it now, i'ma make sure that i'm optimistic in every situation. Uno