EVENT: Urban Development Presents Re:Definition 2010

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW14_RVdhUE]

Date: Thursday 22nd & 23rd July 2010

Venue: Theatre Royal Stratford East, London

Grab some loose change, top up your oyster card and jump aboard this musical excursion to discover the loves, conflicts, traditions, adventures and aspirations of the real East Enders. A co-production with Urban Development, Theatre Royal Stratford East and The Barbican, Re:Defintion explores East London’s rich past, present and exciting future through the eyes of its homegrown talent.

Commissioned for Create10, Re:Definition is to be held at Theatre Royal Stratford East on Thursday 22^nd and Friday 23^rd July and promises to be a truly unique music experience, fusing performance and multimedia in a breath-taking live concept album.

Strap on your seatbelt, sit back and relax as local heroes Ghetts, Maxsta, Devlin, Maverick Sabre, Miss D, Shezar and the UD Vocal Collective take you on a whistle-stop tour through the sights and sounds of the place they all call home. Think barbershops, backstreets and bus routes.

Throw in a live band, R&B songstress Shola Ama, soul veteran Omar, UK Funky maestros MC Versatile and Bongo Man of Crazy Cousinz and pioneers of the grime generation, NY and Lioness and you have a line-up strong enough to make any opponent envious. Re:Definition will also feature narration from Hackney’s very own wide-boy, lyricist Mikill Pane and has been directed for the stage by Matthew ‘Excalibah’ Xia. So get ready for a rollercoaster journey set to take urban music beyond Olympic proportions.

Date: Thursday 22^nd & 23^rd July 2010

Venue: Theatre Royal Stratford East, 
Gerry Raffles Square, London 
E15 1BN

Transport: Stratford Tube (Jubilee / Central Line), DLR and London Overground

Doors: 7.30 – 10:30pm

Tickets: £12/£8 concessions

Box office info: 020 8534 0310  / www.stratfordeast.com

American Apparel “Rummage” Sale Causes Riot in Brick Lane

The clever people over at American Apparel thought it would be a great idea to organise a rummage sale in Brick Lane via Facebook! Unsurprisingly, the event drew a lot of attention ,with over 28,000 people registering as ‘attending’. However, 2000 hopeful shoppers turned up yesterday for the first day of the sale when trouble broke out. And by the looks of it, the police were more than keen to try and ‘control’ the situation with their usual heavy-handedness.

According to The Met, three people were arrested for public disorder and ten officers were sent to hospital for minor injuries. In a statement on the Facebook group, American Apparel said:

Today’s response at our first Rummage Sale in London was overwhelming and humbling. Dangerous behavior in the queue prompted the police to close the event down until they could ensure security for everyone involved. In our many rummage sales, we’ve never witnessed anything like it and are disappointed and sorry that it happened.

Is it me or are they missing the point? Overwhelming and humbling surely aren’t the right words to use. It’s obvious that they knew what the response was going to be, especially because they’ve held similar events in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, San Diego, Miami, Berlin and Austin, where thousands of people also turned out to grab a bargain.

Anyways every cloud has a silver lining I guess and as a result of the “dangerous behaviour” yesterday they have posted various discounts codes on Facebook for their website and retail stores (up to 40%).  Enjoy!

Industry Takeover: The Lowdown

Jay interviews Ras Kwame for Takeover TV

This Saturday, the Rich Mix played host to the urban music extravaganza that was Industry Takeover. Organised by all of us down at Urban Development with the support of our partners who included Biggafish, Rising Tide, PRS and others we were able to put on a day filled with workshops, seminars and showcases for inspiring music industry professionals.

Clement Marfo, Jay Diamond (Rinse FM) & Hammer

The day kicked off with the emerging stage set in the midst of the music market,  and was hosted by Ralph Hardy and Shemika and featured a number of talented up-and-coming acts throughout the day. Highlights from the emerging stage were Leanne Robinson who wowed the crowd with her strong vocals, Chockz the Rapper who threw down his bars with the usual Chocolatey Charisma and Hammer who performed his current release ‘Mic Check’ (out March 8th – yes that’s a plug!). However, my personal favourite (besides Hammer) was East London lyricist, English whose flow had me in a daze – he’s definitely one to watch.

The Oscars: The Winners

As everybody knows, the Oscars is the most important date in the calendar when it comes to awards season and unsurprisingly, this year delivered some corkers. By looking at the list of this year’s winners, it  seems that the Golden Globes were a fairly good indicator of who was going to take home the big trophy tonight. The highlights of the ceremony were Sandra Bullocks’ emotional speech after she scooped ‘Best Actress’ for The Blind Side, Mo’Nique picking up ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her role in Precious and Catherine Bigelow making history as the first female to win ‘Best Director’ for The Hurtlocker, beating her ex-husband James Cameron who was also nominated in the category.

Support UK Music?

If you support UK music and haven’t got any plans today, you need to get yourself  to Industry Takeover today between 12 -9pm (last admission at 4pm). If you don’t make it down then you have officially failed!

Ras Kwame, Chantelle Fiddy, Hattie Collins, Griminal, Twin B and Terror Danjah to name a few will be taking over our panels on ‘Overground to Underground’ and ‘How to Steal My Job’ and there will be performances from Master Shortie, Mz Bratt, Scorcher, Princess Nyah, Devlin and Ny, and whole range of activities, brought to you by event partners Rising Tide, Bigga Fish, Continental Drifts and Streetlife FM, as well as other leading organisations across the music industry.

*** Check out the programme of activities for the day***

Venue: Rich Mix
Address: 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA
Tickets: £7 on door (under 14s need to be accompanied by an adult) .
Nearest Stations: Liverpool St. & Bethnal Green

Rihanna Performs With Robots

Check out Rihanna’s latest live performance at the Echo Awards, Berlin where she performed on stage with robots and even gave them the Bajan wine!  Hot performance, but not so sure about the jade wingsuit she rocked on the red carpet – we’ll let that one slide!

The Music Industry Revolution Is Here… Are You Ready To Take Control?

Industry Takeover All-Day Seminar & Showcase is back to empower the next generation of emcees, singers, DJs and young music industry professionals.

Urban Development, in association with Rich Mix, will be ‘taking over’ the multi-media arts complex in Shoreditch, East London to bring you performances from top names in the urban music industry, essential master classes, open mic sessions, a fashion show, music market, vocal/production workshops, as well as a series of exclusive video and short film screenings.

Now in its second year, Industry Takeover All-Dayer will feature upfront debate, led by panellists Ras Kwame, Chantelle Fiddy, Hattie Collins, Griminal, Twin B and Terror Danjah, performances from Master Shortie, Mz Bratt, Scorcher, Princess Nyah, Devlin and Ny, and whole range of activities, brought to you by event partners Rising Tide, Bigga Fish, Continental Drifts and Streetlife FM, as well as other leading organisations across the music industry. Industry Takeover is open and accessible to all, so come along and be part of this essential one-day event.

Date: Saturday, March 6th 2010
Venue: Rich Mix
Address: 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA
Tickets: £5 adv / £7 on door (under 14s need to be accompanied by an adult) . Book your Early Bird ticket here.
Time: 12pm – 9pm (registration closes at 4pm)

Info: http://www.urbandevelopment.co.uk/Industry-Takeover-All-Dayer-2010

Follow Urban Development on Twitter @Urbandevelopmnt.

INDUSTRY TAKEOVER

ALL-DAY SEMINAR & SHOWCASE

Saturday, 6^th March 2010 @ Rich Mix

Industry Takeover All-Day Seminar & Showcase is back to empower the next generation of emcees, singers, DJs and young music industry professionals.

Urban Development, in association with Rich Mix, will be ‘taking over’ the multi-media arts complex in Shoreditch, East London to bring you performances from top names in the urban music industry, essential master classes, open mic sessions, a fashion show, music market, vocal/production workshops, as well as a series of exclusive video and short film screenings.

Now in its second year, Industry Takeover All-Dayer will feature upfront debate, led by panellists Ras Kwame, Chantelle Fiddy, Hattie Collins, Griminal, Twin B and Terror Danjah, performances from Master Shortie, Mz Bratt, Scorcher, Princess Nyah, Devlin and Ny, and whole range of activities, brought to you by event partners Rising Tide, Bigga Fish, Continental Drifts and Streetlife FM, as well as other leading organisations across the music industry. Industry Takeover is open and accessible to all, so come along and be part of this essential one-day event.

Date:              Saturday, March 6^th 2010

Venue:           Rich Mix

Address:       35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA

Tickets:         £5 adv / £7 on door
(under 14s need to be accompanied by an adult)

Time:                         12pm – 9pm (registration closes at 4pm)

Info:                www.urbandevelopment.co.uk/industrytakeover

Call the Fashion Police! Rhianna & Ciara at the Grammys Pre-Party

Tonight witnesses the 52nd Grammy Awards, and to kick things off music Mogul, Clive Davies held his pre-Grammys Gala which was attended by the who’s-who of the entertainment industry.

To cut a long story story short, anyone who regularly drops by this blog will know that we place red carpet fashion just as highly as any awards given out on the night. So someone please tell me why Rhianna and Ciara thought it was a good idea to turn up as a bunch of sugarplum fairies!  I wonder if they were competing for the ‘Most Ridiculous Outfit’ Award or thought it was fancy dress because these two are always on point when it comes to fashion…but not this time!

Rhianna in Viktor & Rolf’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection

Ciara in Givenchy’s Couture Spring 2010 collection

Rhianna Performs Wins ‘International Female Artist Of The Year’ Award

Rhianna must have barely recovered from her trip to London for the Hope For Haiti Now Telethon before she graced the red carpet at the NRJ Music Awards, held at Palais des Festivals, Cannes. As always Rhianna looked stunning in a white lace and silver foil gown.  The Bajan songstress performed Russian Roulette and walked away with the ‘International Female Artist Of The Year’ award. [More pictures of Rhianna’s outfit below].

Check out her performance and acceptance speech:

Amber Rose Gets ‘Undressed’ for Paris Fashion Week

Kamber hit the Junya Watanabe Show in paris

As per usual Kanye West and his ‘model’ girlfriend, Amber Rose continue to  draw attention wherever they go. The couple hit up Menswear Fashion Week in Paris last and have been creating a storm ever since the arrived. Never to be outdone (by themselves) Kamber started fashion week as a walking endorsement for fur, but the highlight of their visit so far has been the shredded dress (if you can call it one) that Amber donned for the Junya Watanabe Men’s Autumn/Winter 2010 show. Kanye obviously didn’t want to be upstaged so accessorized his black get up with some black studded Christian Loubouitin loafers.

If I’m honest, I do like the quirky orange number and Louis Vuitton purse Amber is wearing is quite quirky, although I will not be purchasing it in the near future but Kamber will probably be hearing from a number of animal rights groups shortly!

Kamber choose low key outfits for the Louis Vuitton Show

Amber rocks Louis Vuitton