Het oordeel: Winne - Oprecht door Zee (Recensie)

Een oase in de schaarste?

Winne’s nieuwste strijd heeft oprecht lang op zich laten wachten. Met een goedgevuld album komt de Kruiskade thuis, eindelijk.

In een (Hiphop) landschap dat drastisch is veranderd het afgelopen decennium, niet zo zeer in de diepte, maar veel meer in de breedte, voelt de komst van Oprecht door Zee als retro van een patta uit 2009. De Nederlandse blauwdruk van pak en beet 10 jaar geleden is niet meer van toepassing, tijdgenoten zijn zwijgend of laten nog maar spaarzaam van zich horen. Oprecht door Zee had perfect in het vorige decennium gepast, er is weinig vernieuwing te bekennen op deze plaat, maar dat stoort niet, het eindproduct is bevredigend, klagen doe ik niet.
Winne doet wat je van hem verwacht, en waar hij goed in is, preken, en dat doet hij veel op deze plaat. Die dosering had gerust wat lager gemogen. Tekstueel zit het allemaal goed in elkaar, Winne verteld zijn verhalen goed en luchtig wordt het vrijwel nergens. De boodschap is duidelijk.

Zoals al eerder genoemd, ook qua producties weinig vernieuwing in het oor, maar ook dit voelt allesbehalve een tekortkoming op deze plaat. Het luistert allemaal lekker weg, ook de features dragen bij aan het geheel. De plaat kent weinig skippers, als je kiest voor een front 2 back spin. Aan de bombastische kant van de plaat schort het wel, ik mis tracks uit het rijtje “40 Bars” & “Pomp die Shit”, RCL en Wake Up Call zijn helaas een mager portie op een album van 17 tracks. Het portie smaakt na meer.

In dit genre is het gebruikelijk om albums te beoordelen/vergelijken op projecten uit het verleden en/of te reflecteren vanuit vergane tijdperken. Sentiment en Hiphop kunnen in één adem genoemd worden, dat is de last die liefhebberij met zich meedraagt. Zo zal het deze plaat waarschijnlijk ook vergaan. Hetgeen waar Winne voor staat vierde immers 10 jaar geleden hoogtij en van wat toen was, is niet meer heel veel over. Gedempt en gesluimerd op de achtergrond, of in een andere vorm.

Ik hou van het soort Hiphop dat Winne maakt, tegenwoordig schaars op eigen bodem, naar mijn smaak. Los van tijd of tijdperk, of van wat ooit was, heeft Winne een hele prettige plaat los gelaten.

Hiphop mag trots zijn, Rotterdam ook.

Voor jou en jullie.

Tommy Triggah

*foto door @Ginogold voor @Frames of Gold in opdracht van @topnotchnl

The Tasty BBQ adventures of Josh De La Dique

For the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere, summer is upon us! And screams summer like a mean barbecue. 

There are several barbecue classics, but today I'm going to focus on THE classic. The best fail proof BBQ Burger. 

First of all I'm going to to start with how to start your barbecue. Patience is the secret! Buy briquettes instead of charcoal and build a pyramid in the middle of the barbecue and put some starter bricks amongst the briquettes. Light them up and let the waiting game begin. Open a can of beer and let nature do it's thing for at least half an hour. When the briquettes are hot enough and start to glow instead of burn, only then you can break up the pyramid and make sure that the whole barbecue is covered with a layer of briquettes. Then put the grill on the barbecue. Again, patience is the secret. Put meat on a cold grill and it will stick like a fly on a dog turd. 

The grill will be hot enough in a few minutes, but please do take that bit of extra time. It's a summer barbecue, everything should be laid back, you're not a chef trying to serve food as fast as possible. 

Now the barbecue is ready to go, so I can start talking meat! 

Do yourself and your guests a huge favor and don't buy prefab supermarket burgers. Just don't. 

We're going to make our own fail proof, but amazing burger. I'm a big fan of buying local, so start by going to your local butcher shop. If the butcher is as passionate about meat as I am, he will gladly help you out. Ask him if he wants to grind up some fatty beef and pork for you. Neck meat is perfect! The secret to a juicy burger is fat. The secret to a tasty burger is fat. Fat is good! The ratio should be 70% beef and 30% pork. If you don't eat pork, you don't know what you're missing, but that's not a problem, but make sure that the meat is fat enough. Coming home it's time to prepare your patties. Put the ground meat in a bowl and just add some salt and pepper. That's it. You want to be able to taste the gorgeous meat you just bought. When you mix the salt and pepper through the meat, DON'T knead it over and over and over again. You want to make sure that it's not a solid ball, but a structured mixture. Divide the meat into portions of the size you want your burger to be. Make sure it's flat enough, you want to make a burger, not a meatball sandwich. A little secret, when you put your thumb in the middle of the patty, it won't become as thick while grilling, the extra volume will grow into the small hole instead of rising upwards. 

Now it's grilling time! Put the patties on a HOT grill and grill each side for about 3 minutes at each side for a perfect medium rare 150 grams burger. I can't see what the temperature of your barbecue is, so the grilling part is up to you. When you squeeze the burger it shouldn't feel mushy, then it's still raw, but when it feels like a hockey puck, it's an offering to the gods and well done… 

You can buy a simple bun at your supermarket, but you will thank me for an eternity when you go to the local bakery and get yourself some brioche buns. The combination of the sweet bread and the savory burger is divine! 

And don't you ever put Heinz ketchup on the burger! That's a red sugar paste with some tomato added. Just chop up some tomatoes, add some garlic, salt and pepper and a little bit of sugar and put it on the stove for a few hours on a low heat. Put this in the blender and you'll have the best ketchup ever, that tastes like actual tomatoes and you'll be the king/queen of the neighborhood, because nobody will ever be able to make a burger as perfect as yours. 

Enjoy!

A major shout out to Chef Jos van Dijk for blessing us with some well needed BBQ tips. 

You can find him and his tasty adventures on Instagram under @joshdeladigue. Go follow! 

Your on point Triggah?

In celebration of the recently released Vans x ATCQ pack, Go-Britain asked me to make a playlist with my Top 10 favorite ATCQ tracks of all time, so I did. I included some shots of my favorite two shoes from the pack. Still some sizes available @ www.go-britain.nl. You'll find a link to my Spotify Playlist @ the bottom of this post. As always, for you and yours. Enjoy!
*Photos taken by Misha Yazvin

Click link below.

Top 10 Favorite ATCQ tracks by Tommy Triggah

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Shop Vans x ATCQ @ Go-Britain

May the steam be with you!

So I’ve been asked on so many occasions how to reshape sneakers. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube, but the method I found most successful is with the trusty iron. I have  had quite a few failures, but I’ve learned from my mistakes and think I’ve found a great method that can be used on all types of sneakers.

As far as tools of the trade are concerned, I use wooden shoe trees (purchased from eBay for around $25AUD), gym socks, a cotton t-shirt and an iron. You can use plastic shoe trees, but I’ve found for a small investment, much better results are gained from using wooden ones.

Firstly heat the iron, preferably on a cotton setting. Whilst the iron is heating up place the gym socks over the wooden shoe trees and place them inside the kicks; this will provide a snug fit to assist with reshaping. Manually manipulate the desired shape with your fingers initially. The trick is to ensure the toe box is packed, but not too packed. Too much, and the toe box will end up being baggy. Too little and they’ll end up creasing whilst trying to iron the new shape.

Soak the cotton t-shirt and wring out the excess. Once this done place the t-shirt over the toe box and follow the contour of the shoe tree with the iron being careful not to let the t-shirt dry out if it does, move the t-shirt to a different area where it is still wet. The mudguard should be the area to concentrate on the most; the emphasis is shaping (think of surfboard shaper and how they glide over a surfboard following the lines).

That’s exactly what you should have in mind when hitting sneakers with an iron. Don’t be afraid to apply a bit of pressure as well. The toe box shouldn’t neglected, rather ironed periodically during the reshaping process.

Continue this method (with regular checking), until the desired shape is acquired. Manually manipulating the toe box in-between ironing will assist with the desired outcome.

Once you’re happy leave the sneakers with the shoe trees in for at least 24/48 hours; you’ll get the best results and longevity in the shape that way. If the mudguard is suede/nubuck make sure to use a good suede brush once the sneakers are completely dry to bring the nap back. This method can be used on traditional leather as well, just be a little more weary and reduce the heat setting on the iron slightly.

Good luck and may the steam be with you! 

Major thanks to Alex Proctor for providing this tutorial. Find him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/princessmkr

A staple piece in any D-Boy's wardrobe!

Hats off to the guy (or girl), who wears his Club C’s to an sneaker event. To some a timeless classic, to others just too plain Jane. 

This short message, blog, writing or whatever you wanna call it, isn’t about the Club C, it’s about the Fila T1 Mid and it also being a timeless classic, just like the Club C for example.

Style has nothing to do with words like “limited” or “exclusive”, and it isn’t something that can be bought. It’s something you have or  you don’t have, both ways, it always takes effort. Or you just don’t care. 

The Fila T1 Mid retro is an updated version of an all time favorite from the late 80’s. A staple piece in any D-Boy's wardrobe back in the day. The all leather mid-cut features an EVA sole for that extra comfort while you hustle ;-). The hits of green suede on the mudguard area just make it so clean, right?

The T1 runs a little big because of the all leather lining, so I would recommend going down a half or full size from your normal sneaker size. 

Style wise you can dress up, go casual or just rock it with something gully when you hit the streets. The T1 handles all occasions. A definite must in every sneaker collection.

I copped these bad boys over at the good people of Go-Britain.nl, they still have some size left, so don’t sleep and join the style hustle! 

Return of the Air Max 2 & Air Max 2 Light!!

Besides the ton of amazing rap albums (Illmatic, Ready to Die, Hard to Earn etc) that came out that year, 1994 also gave birth to one (actually two) of my favorite Air Max renditions to date, the Air Max 2 and the Air Max 2 Light. The Air Max 2 introduced the four-chambered Air unit, that promised a cushier bounce and wich would be used on several other Nike models later on. The Air Max 2 was the perfect update of the Air Max ‘93, with better materials and new tech. I always loved the comfort and fit of the inner sleeve/sock used on the  Air Max 2, wich was first introduced on the earlier Huarache models. Alongside the Air Max2 came the Air Max2 Light, which was the lighter version of the two. In design not at all similar, but in terms of tech they tapped from the same barrel. The Light used the same heel cushioning, but the Phylon midsole featured a wedge, therefore it dropped some weight and making it a so called “Light” version. I always loved the design of both runners, if I had to choose, I would prefer the slickness and shape of the Light over the 2. But luckily no need for choosing with these two (Air Max) fan favorites. The Air Max 2 has only seen releases in ‘94 and ‘95 with two colorways for Men and two for Womens. The 2 Light made it up to 6 colorways. My fellow older heads and me, are long hoping for a (decent) retro of the Air Max2 and Light, and that being said, Nike’s on a real classic retro spree as of late. So why not Nike? Bring em back! 

''New'' beginnings.

 Decided to revive my old ''Habbitz'' blog, to give more depth to Tommy Triggah and his thoughts on Street Culture, kicks, Hiphop and all connected. On a frequent basis you will find me here posting reviews, thoughts, info, recap's and then some. I'll be throwing a headsup (and link) on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tommy_triggah with every new post. As always, for you and yours. Passion is life. Love is love.