Since 1932, LEGO has redesigned it’s products to offer children, teens and adults a form of creative expression.  Over the last few years, LEGO has been featured in modern art, music, fashion and pop culture.

Who would have thought a child’s “toy” would become more than just tiny pieces of bright plastic?  We are discovering new ways to express ourselves with LEGO.

Known as the Brick Artist, Nathan Sawaya makes LEGO sculptures as a living.  I can’t imagine how many LEGO pieces it took to construct the figures above.  It’s amazing!

Aside from Art, LEGO is also worn as a fashion accessory:

The Forever Young Collection by artist Jacqueline Sanchez features jewelry made from sterling silver and plastic material resembling LEGO pieces.

The collection offers necklaces, rings, cuff links, earrings and wristbands in an assortment of different colors.  For a customized pair of earrings, the artist will handcraft any piece to your choice of colors.  Some items also include a diamond set in 14kt yellow gold.  The LEGO inspired jewelry line is priced at $95 to $350.

Her collection is funky and stylish for the young, old and hip!  To order custom made jewelry by the artist, please click here.  Jacqueline Sanchez may have some steep competition in the accessories department with twin brothers Dee and Ricky.

The 19 year old twins LEGO inspired accessories became an instant hit with Marc Jacobs this year.  Their brooches and belt buckles appeared in Jacobs’ Spring 2008 runway.  Several notable cameos of Dee’s and Ricky’s designs appeared on Kanye West and recently on Takashi Murakami at an event in Japan.

There must be the child in all of us because LEGO is still hot!

Source: Brandish, Brick Artist, Beauty & Janine, BBC

The Spectrum Events and Killahbeez CD Giveaway Chi-Town Editon - Kanye West & Common ended yesterday.  If you missed out on this contest, we will be having more freebies in the near future. We will announce the winner in a few days and provide you with more details regarding our next giveaway soon.

Also, big ups to Common for mentioning Killahbeez on his blog this week.  The Killahbeez family enjoys reading the comments that you guys leave on our site, as well as receiving love from other sites and blogs. Drop us a line and let us know what is on your mind.

Click on the screen shot to see the full version of Common’s blog below:

Source: Common

A former student at the Art Institute of Chicago name Fred Hart created a tribute album cover for each song from Kanye West’s current 808’s & Heartbreak album.  Music inspires us in different ways and for Fred Hart, the inspiration for this project came directly from Kanye’s life.  808’s & Heartbreak is Kanye’s story about the difficulties of ending a long term relationship with his former fiance to the passing of his mother, Dr. Donda West.

My favorite covers are “Robocop” and “Welcome to Hearbreak”.  The artwork is truly amazing.  What is your favorite album cover?

Below is Hart’s artist statement:

“Well here it is, the complete series of my version of 808’s & Heartbreak song covers! I begin with the initial cover for the album, and then go song by song, as they’re presented on the album, each telling a story through imagery, as a metaphor for the journey Kanye West has traveled that allowed us this genius piece of work, 808’s & Heartbreak. Each cover looks to create a sort of frame by frame for the album as a whole, with imagery relating to each song, a still shot from each song that allows you to use the lyrics and project your interpretations of each song onto the piece. This is my tribute to Kanye West, whose trials and tribulations have undoubtedly made this the album of the year, if not this decade in my opinion, and a tribute to his mother Donda West as well. So I hope you enjoy this artwork, and please feel free to let me know what you think.”

Click on the thumbnail to preview the covers:

KAWS’ (Original Fake) cover:

Source: Go Where Hip Hop, Fred Hart, KAWS, Kanye West

Yesterday, I created a list of the top five best dressed ladies in 2008.  As a follow up to that post, I have also comprised a similar list for guys.

Depending on your interests, hobbies, favorite music and lifestyle, you may or may not agree with me. My list includes a quintessential (history making) gentleman, a sneaker head, a fashion designer, an athlete and a downtown cat located in New York. There is nothing sexier then a guy with great style.

Barack Obama

Mr. President elect made history last month after winning the popular and Electoral College votes. Barack is always dressed to the occasion in slacks and a button down. For major public speaking events, he wears tailored suits. No matter what walk of life you come from, a suit exemplifies power, prestige and business.  Every guy should have a power suit and in Barack’s case, there will be an abundance of tailored suits lined up for him in the White House.

Kanye West

Kanye is second on my list based on his appearance on the red carpet, in concert and at fashion events. He may be the only straight guy to rock pink and carry a Louis Vuitton monogramoflauge bag and get away with it. Rumor on the streets is saying that Mr. West is going to take a hiatus from his music career to focus on fashion and intern at a European fashion house. This will certainly benefit Kanye’s Pastelle clothing line, which is slated to release in 2009.

Dao-Yi Chow

The Brooklyn native left Sean John to start his own line, Public School. Since then, Dao-Yi has been featured in GQ, Complex and NY Mag offering fashion advice to guys. His style is a contemporary twist into NYC street fashion.  His inspirations from the urban lifestyle and modern fashion has created a buzz around the Fashion industry for Public School designs.

David Beckham

Being married to Posh must have its benefits because David Beckham’s choice of suits during public appearances is excellent. It’s certainly nice to see more than just the usual t-shirt, jeans and sneakers on a guy.

Oscar

You may not be familiar with Oscar or the themed 1992 parties located in New York.  As I realized that the four men above are not an average Joe, I wanted to include a guy with real street swag. Oscar’s style is fresh. The 1992 parties thrown by Va$htie and Oscar are a hit among the kids in the big apple. Seeing his pictures brings me back to the days of Kid ‘N Play, Zach Morris’ phone and great music from the ’90s.

Who do you have on your list?

Source: Mediabistro, Terry Richardson, Barack Obama, Scott Schuman, GQ, NY Mag, Mrketplace, Popsugar, Mark J. Terrell, Oscar

Here are a couple of new songs I just came across. The first being the Pet Shop Boys remix of MGMT’s song “Kids”, actually not quite sure when this came out and it may have been out for a minute, but it was just passed along to me and I thought it was pretty ridiculous and had to share it. The second song has been blowin’ up the internets and has been appearing everywhere. It’s from a duo known as N.A.S.A, consisting of Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, and the song is “Gifted” which features a talented cast: Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li, all three artists happen to make our top 10 albums of 2008 as well so check that article here. This song “Gifted” is off of the upcoming album by N.A.S.A. called The Spirit of Apollo, definitely keeping the whole space theme there, dropping on February 17th. Check out their MySpace page for more info, www.myspace.com/nasa.

Download Here

So I’ve been reading a lot of these “Top 10 albums of 2008″ list in the last little while and decided, hell our staff here at Killahbeez has some pretty dope taste in music, we should also do one. So we’ve compiled a list from our writers annnnnd on top of that we’ve reached out to people that we’ve worked with in the past year such as Jeff Hamada from Booooooom, Sasha Lee from Halcyon Magazine, Michael Halford from Orland Kurtenblog and Sean La-La from Spectrum Events. This process was a tough one for all of us as we all hated narrowing it down to 10 and then ranking them created some nightmares. Check out the list below and let us know if you agree or disagree and what your top 10 would be in the comments below.

AJK’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
2. M83 - Saturdays = Youth
3. Anoraak - Nightdrive With You EP
4. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
5. Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
6. The Presets - Apocalypto
7. Nas - Untitled
8 Black Milk - Tronic
9. Chairlift - Does You Inspire You
10. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

Atek’s Top 10

1. Q-Tip - Renaissance
2. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
3. T.I. - Paper Trail
4. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
5. N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
6. Kid Cudi - A Kid Name Cudi
7. Lil’ Wayne - Tha Carter III
8 The Virgins - The Virgins
9. The Clipse - Road To Til a Casket Drops
10. Santogold - Santogold

DT’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
2. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
3. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
4. Nas - Untitled
5. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
6. N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
7. Pacific! - Reveries
8. Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
9. Santogold - Santogold
10. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair

Lee’s Top 10

1. Black Mountain - In The Future
2. Dávila 666 - Dávila 666
3. Jay Reatard - Matador Singles ‘08
4. Diplo & Santogold - Top Ranking (Mixtape)
5. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
6. The Duke Spirit - Neptune
7. No Age - Nouns
8 Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls
9. Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
10. Tim and Eric - Awesome Record, Great Songs! Vol. 1

Mila’s Top 10

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
2. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
3. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
4. Santogold - Santogold
5. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
6. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
7. Lil’ Wayne - Tha Carter III
8 T.I. - Paper Trail
9. Leona Lewis - Spirit
10. Adele - 19

Mona Alice Oakenfold’s Top 10

1. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
2. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
3. Santogold - Santogold
4. N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds
5. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreaks
6. Ladytron - Velocifero
7. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
8 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
9. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
10. Cat Power - Jukebox

Neran’s Top 10

1. Johnson & Jonson - Johnson & Jonson
2. Lil’ Wayne - Tha Carter III
3. The Game - LAX
4. Bun B - II Trill
5. T.I. - Paper Trail
6. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
7. The Roots - Rising Down
8 Nas - Untitled
9. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreaks
10. Good Charlotte - Greatest Hits & Remixes

Ry’s Top 10

1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
2. Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
3. Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality
4. The Presets - Apcocalypto
5. Nas - Untitled
6. The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale
7. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
8 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
9. Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair
10. Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Van’s Top 10

1. The Presets - Apcocalypto
2. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
3. Kitsune Maison Compilation 6
4. Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
5. CSS - Donkey
6. Q-Tip - Renaissance
7. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
8 Megapuss - Surfing
9. Pacific! - Reveries
10. Walter Meego - Voyager

Jeff Hamada from Booooooom’s Top 10

1. Mr Oizo - Lambs Anger
2. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
3. The Dodos - Visiter
4. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
5.MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
6. Johnson & Jonson - Johnson & Jonson
7. Lil’ Wayne - Tha Carter III
8. Priscilla Ahn - A Good Day
9 Wale - Mixtape About Nothing
10. DJ Shadow - 4 Track Era Bundle

Michael Halford from Orland Kurtenblog’s Top 10

1. TV On The Radio - Dear Science
2. Portishead - Third
3. Madvillain - Madvillainy 2
4. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
5. J.Dilla - Ruff Draft (Re-Issue)
6. A Tribe Called Quest - The Best of A Tribe Called Quest
7. Beck - Modern Guilt
8 Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
9. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreaks
10. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Sasha Lee from Halcyon Magazine’s Top 10

1. Big Elf - Cheat The Gallows
2. Danava - UnonoU
3. Dungen - 4
4. Howlin Rain - Magnificent Fiend
5. Pride Tiger - Lucky One
6. Trigger Renegade - Rip It and Pass It
7. Mammatus - The Coast Explodes
8 Annihilation Time - Tales of the Ancient Age
9. Conifer - Crown Fire
10. Mt. Eerie - Black Wooden Ceiling Opening EP

Sean La-La from Spectrum Event’s Top 10

1. Santogold - Santogold / Annnd Santogold & Diplo - Top Ranking Mixtape
2. Colin Munroe - Is The Unsung Hero (Mixtape)
3. The Roots - Rising Down
4. Q-Tip - Renaissance
5. Scarface - Emeritus
6. Jake One - White Van Music
7. Jamie Lidell - Jim
8 Sam Sparro - Sam Sparro
9. T.I. - Paper Trail
10. Al Green - Lay It Down

Sorry folks have to re-run this contest as our server didn’t back up this contest before it went down. My apologies for those that already entered.

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Spectrum Events and Killahbeez.com are proud to bring you another CD giveaway contest. This giveaway is a special Chi-town giveaway as it consists of Chicago natives Kanye West and Common. This is a double CD giveaway as we’re giving away 808s & Heartbreaks as well as Universal Mind Control.

In order to be eligible for the contest, all you have to do is comment here in this thread. That’s it. Just leave a comment and you’re automatically entered. Can you enter more then once, you betcha. At the drawing date a few Killahbeez members will select a number, if that number corresponds to your comment below then you will be contacted.

So again to enter, just comment below. Contesting ends on Friday December 19th

“Brooklyn Go Hard” will be featured in the soundtrack to the upcoming Biggie movie, Notorious. The track features Santogold and was produced by Kanye West.  

What do you think? 

Check out the official movie trailer below: