Professional Skier, Jacob Wester (above), recently got into a Matuse suit. Below are his thoughts on the experience.
I just got home from a surf spot an hour north of Stockholm, and I am pretty much exhausted, winter came quick this year. Left this morning in humane temperatures, decent wind, and no rain/snow, and drove home through a damn blizzard. There’s at least 10 CM’s of fresh snow outside and it’s getting deeper by the minute. Unfortunately the snow made surfing almost impossible due to the high winds and my eyes feel like they’re bleeding. No matter how hard you squint — tiny little icicles somehow make it into your eyes.
I got in a few good rides — even though we only surfed for about an hour. However, I finally got to try out my new Matuse 5/4/3 wetsuit and I must say I’m never going back to any other suit. I stayed dry and warm even through some nasty wipe-outs. If you need one in Sweden, pick it up at Nocomply.se, great guys and old friends of mine.
Pete Rock. To some of you, the name may lead you to recall some of the most incredible hip hop samples of the past twenty years. Some of you will have no clue who this man is. But if you are visiting this website, you have heard his work before. Born in the Bronx and moving to Mount Vernon before high school, Rock’s music career quickly blossomed. He is now ranked in the top producers of all time and certainly merits such laud.
Rock’s innovation blazed the path for fusing hip hop beats with jazz, funk and R&B samples to create a funky, laid back style that can be rapped over extremely well. Many artists doing this today learned from Rock’s work. His songs are often layered with samples and if you listen closely, you can notice the amount of different samples being used throughout the song that add together to create an incredible sound.
The first two songs were produced without any rapping by Pete Rock as far as I can discern, but he produced all of the songs. First off, Nas’s “The World is Yours” is by an artist you will know no matter what. Just marvel at the excellence of production behind this whole album and especially this song. Pete Rock produced it and did the chorus. Next up is “The Joy”, leaked off Kanye’s new album. Rumor has it that Rock has been producing on many tracks, but this is the only song with Rock in the title. Third is a track that is a tribute to Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth’s friend Troy Dixon after he passed away. The horn samples used are astounding. The next, “Specialize” was produced by Pete Rock, but here, Rock and C.L. Smooth’s raps are layered on top of Sufjan Stevens. The whole song has a very cool feel. Finally, we have “Grown Man Sport” by Pete Rock and a group he worked with for a while called INI. This track uses one tiny sample of Fela Kuti’s ten minute Afrojazz track “Water No Get No Enemy”. Listen to it a few times to find the sample used.
I tried to find a listenable sample for the song “This is What They Meant” that Rock produced with Grand Agent. However, as you can’t upload tracks downloaded as m4a from itunes, I could not find it as a youtube video like most songs here. I’ll provide the iTunes link on Just Excellent Beats (link at end of post) as Pete Rock’s Version is so much better than any other.
The Joy – Kanye West ft. Pete Rock, Jay-Z, Charlie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield & KiD CuDi
John Wayne Gacy Jr. / Specialize (Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth) – Tor/ Sufjan Stevens
Big congratulations to Matuse Family Member, Derek Dunfee, for his two nominations for this year’s Surfer Poll Awards. Derek has been nominated for “Worst Wipeout” and for “Heavy Water” in this years prestigious awards ceremony. Both nominations come out of Derek’s own produced film “Down With The Ship”. We’re super proud of Derek’s accomplishments and it’s good to see him recognized with 2 nominations this year. To see the nominations list visit: http://www.surferpoll.com/uncategorized/2010nominees/. Check out the trailer for “Down With The Ship” below if you haven’t already seen it.
Whether it is because he is Jay-Z’s protege or the fact that he was recently nominated by the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards for Rookie of the Year, it is no secret that Jermaine Lamarr Cole or better known for his stage name J. Cole, has become one of the hottest names in Hip-Hop. His name over the past couple years has developed a certain noteriety, that was initially sparked when he was the first artist signed to Jay-Z’s new label Roc Nation. After hearing the then 23 year old’s new single “Lights Please” for his then upcoming mixtape (“The Warm Up”), Hov made the choice to roll the dice on Cole and commit to his success.
No one knows talent better than Jay and since J. Cole’s signing, the young rapper has done nothing but produce fire. Cole was later put on Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3″ on the track “A Star Is Born”. He has released two mixtapes: “The Come Up” which was his debut in 2007 and the “Warm Up” in 2009 which was highly debated as Hip-Hop mixtape of the year. Today he drops his highly anticipated “Friday Night Lights” which will most likely be up in the talks for best mixtape of 2010. He graced the cover of XXL’s “10 Freshman for ’10” spring issue (alongside Wiz Khalifa and Nipsey Hu$$le) and everyone now understands why.
Ironically, J. Cole’s lyricism and style has drawn similar comparisons to Nas and he raps about anything and everything from fast cars to the world economy. He is witty, smart, and original which is no suprise from a Magna Cum Laude graduate from St. John’s. Here are a couple tracks off of his first two mixtapes “The Come Up” and “The Warm Up”. They are all phenomenal and should encourage you to download more of his work. It is clear that Cole has been coming up for a while now and is done warming up. This heavy hitter is here to stay for the long term and someone who intends to put his name in the history books. He has his studio album on the horizon for a late 2010/early 2011 release and is currently touring internationally for the next several months with Drake. I hope you enjoy.
With prospects of sand bottom point break perfection, Matuse family members, Zach Plopper and Chris del Moro, were on the same page even before they chatted about their respective surgical strike plans during last weeks swell. Zach, WiLDCOAST’s Wildlands Conservation Program Manager, had some survey work to do on some properties WILDCOAST protected this year in an area of Baja that has some world class empty points. Zach and WiLDCOAST ED, Serge Dedina, were looking for some field support and Chris was an obvious choice. Chris is a fanatic of the region and was excited to check out a few points he hadn’t yet explored.
The crew assembled in Imperial Beach on a toasty weekday afternoon and giddily departed for the bowels of Baja. The Santa Ana winds were either an opportunity to score, or get blasted out of there by the sandstorms that they often deliver. Fortunately for these dirt dogs, the wind blew slightly overhead walls into freight train tunnels and offered no more discomfort than a hot, dry breeze. They traded pit for pit for 6 hours upon arrival and got another 4 hours of slightly less amazing but nonetheless fun point break surf on day two. It was a quick mission (26 hours of drive time) but both Chris and Zach got their fill for a bit until the next northwest stews on the horizon.
Some more images from Jamie Sterling’s 3rd place finish at the Nescott Reef Big Wave World Tour event. Jamie is currently sitting in 1st place on the World Tour standings with only 2 events to go.
Evidently, Wes Anderson’s upcoming opus will be called Moon Rise Kingdom. In all likelihood, the film will pay tribute to moody lighting, vibrant color, strained family dynamics, quirky quixotic adventures, a myriad soundtrack and, of course, Owen Wilson. According to an early tip from Deadline, all the cool kids want to be in it: Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton…No doubt the list goes on. Allegedly, other Anderson regulars, like Bill Murray, are signed up…Big ups to Mr. Blume!
Straight outta the ether, here’s Deadline’s synopsis of the film:
“Moon Rise Kingdom is set in the 60s. Two young adults fall in love and run away. Leaders in their New England town are sticking the idea that they’ve disappeared and go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray, a regular in Anderson films, will play the girl’s father, who has his own issues.”
Attached is a photo from last Saturday. Small, clean, fun loggin’ waves in Northern Indiana. Obviously, it’s getting cold. Included is another of my Alaia shots – also northern Indiana, just south of Chicago. Thanks for the great suits!
Here are some solid acoustic sounding tracks from Wiz Khalifa. If you don’t know Wiz by now, he reps the 412, aka Pittsburgh, PA with his killer beats and lyrics. Check out the following songs for a different feel than you’re probably used to with Wiz.
Professional Skier, Jacob Wester (above), recently got into a Matuse suit. Below are his thoughts on the experience.
Photo: Frank Quirarte 
Photos: Hallman, Roemer and Colleyer
