Cosmopolitan Boys Sunday Snippets #013

Aug 12, 2024

For

Cover photo by Alex Webb.

12/08/2024, Monday, 10:30 @ Centro, São Paulo

I failed on Sunday, but here we are on Monday once again, and that’s what matters - now things are going to get back to normal. Sometimes it’s strange to choose what might be relevant to write about, I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, and just a little while ago I didn’t even think I knew how to write, but I will continue to talk about what excites me and hope it sparks curiosity in those who read as well.

I’ve returned to thinking and researching about creativity, and the problem I have been trying to mentally solve this week is understanding the value of ideas and the difference between processes and events. Ideas are nothing more than events - momentarily connected points that suddenly make sense - and they happen dozens of times throughout the days. But execution depends on processes that may involve effort, discipline, sacrifice, persistence, and so on. So what differentiates abstract ideas from concrete ones are the processes we develop to realize them. It seems somewhat obvious, but thinking about it clarifies a lot of things, at least for me. And clarity is what I often lack.

Anyway, let’s get to the topics of the week:

*Each topic is dissected a little more. Click on the arrows and/or the links.

WHAT I AM READING:

Sunny's Digital Library

The page of Sunny is one of my favorites on Instagram, it has a very well-curated and niche selection of things that are extremely pleasurable and inspiring. He also has this website, which he uses to sell products, but he also writes more developed articles, somewhat similar to what I do here, although probably much better than I do. It’s definitely worth reading all of them.

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO:

Yunk Vino - MAD 2

Finally. A project that was almost like college for me. A year developing this alongside Vino, the team, and producers. Vino is very exceptional; seeing what he does in the studio, without hardly writing anything, is bizarre. The name is an abbreviation of ‘My Daily Friend’ and the concept is as if the recording process itself were his diary, with each track being a page. So the idea was for all the material to have a documentary feel and a sense of ‘work in progress’. We did everything in an analog way, with photos and videos. I will never forget those days.

My personal highlights are Dueto, Ratos, Eu vs Me, Magic City, and Memórias (produced by me). I also love Magic City and Lado negro.

Larry June - Doing It For Me

Perhaps Larry June is my most recurring topic here. The fact that almost all album covers feature photos of him in a car is absurd; he is not competing with anyone in the industry, he’s on his own path.

The introduction is part 5 of a series he always does, Herm Lewis giving life lessons:

This is Uncle Herm Completely, fearlessly, authentically without excuses
If you are constantly scrolling through social media
And your attitude starts to shift from positive to negative
Stop scrolling for a while Successful individuals say no to what does not work for them
Or does not make sense to them
You are a fool, a pawn that needs to move on
You stay at home all day playing Call of Duty
But in reality, you are not answering the call to duty
Larry June is certified, qualified
To bring satisfaction and plenty of action
It was my nephew who pulled me out of the dust and pushed me
For another decade of musical longevity in hip-hop
Let your vision fuel your decision
Yes, sir, good job, Larry
That’s right, it’s him, numbers, yee-hee

Highlights include A little While, Breakfast in Gold Coast, Cleaning My Spot (interlude), Imported Couches, and Meet Me in Napa, which had already been released.

His photographer - Miggs - always does documentaries following the development process of the albums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCeCYeP_6uw&t=430s

A.CHAL - On Gaz

I am always trying to remember the albums I liked back in the day (when I had to download them on iTunes and transfer them to my iPod and the curation was done with much more care), and this was one of them. In a conversation with Fleezus, he reminded me of this dude who is Peruvian-American, and has an awesome discography and several cool music videos. I probably discovered him because of this music video.

THINGS I AM WATCHING:

drake leaks

This week OVO, probably in an attempt to change the subject, released a site with 100GB of archived materials from Drake for the public. I am a big fan of Theo Skudra's work as a director and photographer, and among this material, there are many things he filmed and edited, a lot on film, and so on, so it has been very enjoyable to consume little by little. There are several design items too, covers that didn’t go forward, versions of the plane designed by Virgil.

Tremaine Emory - Idea Generation

Idea Generation is one of my favorite YouTube channels. Apparently, they had this episode archived, but it ended up being released on the Complex channel. Tremaine talks about his career (which is ‘underestimatedly’ influential across the culture), the controversy with Supreme, but what caught my attention the most were the behind-the-scenes stories involving Virgil, Kanye, etc., that he tells. Very good video.