Part Four:

THAI SILK CLUB 

Saturday night's @ Thai Silk.

Thai Silk is a club located in the o2 famous for its Sexy Saturday Night events...The music in Thai Silk is mainly RnB, Hip-Hop & Commercial music. I've always loved Thai Silk not only because of the music but because of the atmosphere and also because you get a free shot on arrival at the door aswell. HAHA!! Its free to get in before 11pm and only a fiver after 11pm so its very cheap entry and the queues move quickly so there's no standing around for waiting for ages which is a good thing!! I've been to Thai Silk about 5 times and I've loved every night I've been there. The music in there just makes everybody want to get up and dance and I like the fact that nobody cares about how your dancing its just about having a good time and enjoying yourself...However, some people take it way over the top and start to 'whine' with eachother. As you can see in my pictures above some people like to dance more sexually than others and thats what that kind of music makes you do in that club. The dress code is clubbing wear no trainers no hoodies. Smart shoes for guys and heels for girls which is like most clubs in London. People would think I would have felt out of place or maybe think that I would get stared at for being a white person in that club but honestly I didn't feel out of place at all...Me and my friends just aim to have a good night with good RnB music and let our hair down and this is exactly the place to go if you want to enjoy yourself with good Hip-Hop & RnB music.

N-Dubz - I Need You (Official Video)

N DUBZ - I NEED YOU MUSIC VIDEO.

N DUBZ LIVE IN CONCERT @ THE O2

Dappy, Tulisa, Fazer - members of N-Dubz performing live at the o2 arena 30/04/2011

On Saturday 30th April 2011, I went to the N Dubz concert live at the o2 Arena...Im not a massive fan of N Dubz but I thought it would be a good concert to go to as it links in with my 'ghetto' subculture as Dappy, Tulisa & Fazer (members of N Dubz) are always in hoodwear from head to toe and always have swagga that their fans love. I went to the concert with my 30 year old cousin and my 2 little cousins who are aged 12 and 14. It wasnt mine or my older cousins cup of tea but my 2 little cousins loved it which was the main point. Although I didnt like the concert, N Dubz's 17,000 fans in that arena seemed to LOVE IT.
At the concert I spotted a few outfits that linked in with my subculture which I thought would be relevant so I took pictures. There outfits were really outstanding and N Dubz always love to over do the ghetto look with extra chains and bling. N Dubz were brought up in Camden and had very bad lifestyles before the band...below is a short interview with NDubz taken from a NOW magazine...


N DUBZ STAYING OUTTA TROUBLE INTERVIEW...

You are often associated with the trouble you get into, rather than your music Doesn’t that annoy you?
Tulisa: People think that when Dappy does something, N-Dubz did it. The truth is the group is divided into two parts: the boys and me. Every time they do stuff, I get the blame for it. I get raging with them. Every time a new story comes out, I want to kick the crap out of Dappy. Literally, I go mad.
Dappy: Tulisa gets very pissed off.
Fazer: We all get pissed off.

Do you have any regrets about things you’ve done?
Fazer: Yes, we all have regrets and we all learn from them and try not to make them again. We just have to learn from our mistakes – that’s just part of growing up and becoming a better person.
Dappy: I have regrets, but I’m putting the bad stuff behind me and I think I’m coming out a better person. I know violence isn’t good for you. Education and being a rapper and a singer is good. Anything you want to do in life, you can do it. Drugs, guns, knives – stay away from it. I’m not who I am now through that – it’s through my talent.
Tulisa: I’m quite confrontational, which can get me into trouble, but I’m not as wild as those two. I’m clever with it – I don’t get caught!

But every single scrap you get into is in the public eye – surely that should really put you off…
Fazer: Exactly.
Dappy: Fazer needs to be more careful.
Fazer: Dappy needs to be more careful.
Tulisa: Er, both the boys need to be more careful.

What’s the most annoying thing about each other – let’s start with Fazer?
Dappy: Fazer never picks up the phone.
Tulisa: Fazer is always trying to tell me about myself and he’s always confronting about an argument and getting in my face. He’s like an annoying younger brother – even though he’s older than me.

What about Dappy?
Tulisa: Dappy is the most annoying. What’s his most annoying habit? Just being Dappy. He’s very stubborn and he can be a diva. So if he’s in a bad mood, everyone gets affected. He’ll just storm off.
Fazer: Dappy’s worst habit is his pride. If he doesn’t think he’s wrong then he will not back down. He will fight it till the very end.
Dappy: That’s not true!

And what’s so annoying about Tulisa?
Fazer: What’s a polite way of saying bitchiness?
Dappy: I hate the fact that she doesn’t take any s**t.
Fazer: She’s very stubborn, like Dappy.
Tulisa: [Rolls eyes] I couldn’t give a toss about what they say. Bitchiness is different to being a bitch. I can be a bitch but I don’t say anything behind someone’s back. I’m not two-faced. And none of us take s**t from anyone.

Dappy, are you back together with your pregnant ex, Kaye Vassell?
Dappy: Me and Kaye are together. We argue a lot but I love her very much. She puts me in my place and she’s just very real with me. Obviously, I’ve made mistakes and gone with other girls, but Kaye is number one to me.

Do you like being a dad?
Dappy: Yeah, I’m a cool dad. [Puts on a voice] I’m a rapper, singer, wow! It’s cool. Gino, who’s one, is going to have an upbringing that I never had. I had a lot of warmth and love, but we weren’t rich. And I grew up in a very negative environment. So I’m going to give him the warmth from my family but I’m also going to make sure that he has a bloomin’ castle to play in with a big slide. And he’ll stay grounded!
Fazer: We all love seeing Gino and he loves seeing Uncle Fazer. When I first heard him say “daddy”, it was so moving. We were there for the birth. I saw the legs come out and everything, while Dappy was filming it.
Tulisa: [Laughs] It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. It made me realise I’m never going to have children!

Tulisa, do you feel more pressure than the boys to look good?
Tulisa: Yeah, of course. I feel a lot of pressure but I don’t care.

Are you conscious about your weight?
Tulisa: No. I like to stay below 8½st because I start to see it on the camera if I go over. But even if I do go over, I don’t get stressed. I was 9st six months ago and I’ve only got skinny because of being on tour. I’ve lost a stone but I don’t want to lose any more. I’ve always been curvy, but now I’ve lost my boobs and even though they are a C-cup, I’ve always had massive DDs and I really miss them. I like having an arse and breasts!

What do you think about going solo?
Dappy: We’re all so happy to be in such a unique band. We could all have solo careers and we will all have our solo careers. Fazer’s going to produce our albums.
Tulisa: We’ll always work together, even if we’re not in a band.
Fazer: We’re family, so we’ll always stick together, but going solo will happen at some point in the future.

FASHION STORY - Hip Hop: The Culture Of Getting Rich...

Get Rich or Die Trying was a mantra coined by rapper 50 Cent - who did get rich, seriously rich, and who almost died in the process.
With fluctuating share and property prices, it is impossible to determine exactly how much any artist is worth at any particular moment. But although 50 Cent's estimated wealth might not surpass that of Sir Paul McCartney, he is able to rub shoulders with the mega-rich music elite such as Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger and Madonna.
Meanwhile, Sean "Diddy" Combs sang the hip hop track All About the Benjamins - referring to the portrait of Benjamin Franklin on $100 bills.
Hip hop music is not all about the Benjamins, but it has generated an enormous amount of them.
The fact that hip hop was largely created and owned by African-Americans has led to some extraordinary claims about how that particular music genre has transformed American society.
Some people even argue that the Obama presidency would not have been possible without hip hop.
Muscling in
Hip hop began in the late 1970s as an urban subculture, initially confined to two of America's most notorious ghettos - Harlem and the South Bronx in New York City.
Since then, however, it has grown into a multi-billion dollar business spanning music, film, television, books, fashion and sports.
And many hip hop stars - Sean "Diddy" Combs and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter for example - have become music moguls themselves, owning and running huge businesses.
"In order for hip hop to survive long enough to make it into the mainstream, it actually had to develop a business sense," says Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback.
"Hip hop had to foster entrepreneurship, it had to develop these very powerful external institutions - because nobody else would touch it," he says.
Brand awareness
Hip hop went way beyond just music - it expanded into numerous other business areas.
"Run DMC were very brand-conscious - they wrote a song about Adidas because they love Adidas, and the endorsement deal came afterwards," Mr Charnas says.
It went from hip hop artists seeking endorsement deals to basically creating their own brands, such as Wu Tang Clan creating Woo Wear and 50 Cent manufacturing his G-Unit clothing.
"You now have these power houses like Rocawear and Sean Jean, almost pushing aside folks like Nautica and Ralph Lauren Polo for space in the young man's and young woman's department stores across America and indeed, across the world," he says.

- STORY BY JAMES MELIK - BBC.CO.UK -