Leading The Hip-Hop Renaissance: Read Our Conversation With Viper Magazine Publisher Lily Mercer Who Is Keeping Her Finger On The Pulse of The New Hip-Hop Golden Age →

AL: Do you remember the moment you fell in love with hip-hop?

Lily Mercer : Yeah. There were two songs. One was “Wishing on a Star” by Jay-Z. Weirdly, that’s the Jay-Z [track] that no one thinks of. My mum had grown up playing Motown, so there was a soul connection. It was hearing a song that was accessible but also quite deep. To me, those songs were quite profound at eight years old. After, when [rap] became an obsession, was when Eminem came out. That was a gateway drug. He’s a white rapper with middle class parents. I was a middle class kid, so it was the kind of hip-hop that was acceptable.

Click here to read the interview. 

Stoned Immaculate: Read Our Interview With Azalea Lee, A Minimalist Crystal Healer Who Makes Metaphysical Fine Jewelry →

Speaking to Azalea Lee is like talking to that wise aunt who has all those otherworldly insights that she wraps in easily accessible metaphors so that you don’t have to work too hard to arrive at the answers. Whether you actually have that aunt, or you always wished you had that aunt, when you walk into her crystal shop, you immediately feel that sense of comfort and familiarity. Her space is in an old building in the fashion district of Downtown Los Angeles. There’s a weird old elevator that you take to the 9th floor, walk down a short dark hallway, ring the bell and the door opens to a bright, white room with a sweeping landscape of the city and a friendly woman who asks you to take off your shoes. Entering Place 8 Healing is like walking through the pearly gates in a dream where you know you’re not dead, and this isn’t eternity, but somehow you feel lighter and more at ease. There’s a cubby station next to the door with a cushion that you can sit on where we eventually held the interview. She explains that we spend so much time wearing shoes and clothes that we lose our grounding; that removing that barrier between our feet and the ground is an essential part of rooting ourselves with the Earth. Click here to read more. 

A Peek at A23 Volume One "The Mysticism Of The Female" Published By Kristin Prim

A23 articulates a vision of contemporary art through a prism of acute individualism. Published biannually in limited edition hardcover volumes by Kristin Prim, A23 invites ten prolific fine artists to contribute original work to each edition, providing a platform to directly engage the viewer with their personal ethos and spirit. Entitled after the divination of the Aces, Twos, and Threes of the Minor Arcana, A23 seeks to espouse the collective truths of each artist, showcasing their personal ideologies, experiences, and dogmas in an archival visual manner. Click here to purchase Volume One, with contributions by Theo Adams, Luciano Castelli, Mary Beth Edelson and more. 

Read Tea Hacic's Ultimate Come Down Guide For Detoxing After Art Basel Miami →

Miami Art Basel is that magical time once a year, when the young and fabulous (and their sugar daddies) travel to paradise to see art and sleep with art dealers. Miami Art Basel is where editors brag about their fair trade hemp sandals while snorting cocaine that was brought into the country by a pregnant teenager. Miami Art Basel is where wet dreams come true and creative dreams are killed by two girls stabbing each other and therefore stealing attention from your performance art piece (dancing in leotards is a little 2008, tbh). Some people do look at art at Art Basel, because it’s their job to and because it’s raining too hard outside to say “screw it, I’ll get fired for the sake of a tan.” But for those of us who don’t know the difference between digital collages and foam sculptures, the week of Miami Art Basel was an excuse to go Hard As Hell (or HAH!) before the holy holidays. For those of us #blessed enough to be there, half the fun was making our Instagram followers who aren’t #blessed jealous of our poolside lounging. But the fun doesn’t have to end! The only thing your followers will hate more than seeing you enjoying Miami is seeing you bounce back afterwards. Click here to read the full detox guide. 

Raymond Pettibon Creates A Limited Edition Tote Bag To Support The New York Public Library

This season, MZ Wallace teamed up with artist Raymond Pettibon to create a tote bag that benefits the New York Public Library. 100% of the proceeds will go toward enhancing the library’s special collections. Click here to purchase. photograph by Brad Elterman

Lucia Ribisi Chooses Her Favorite Feminist Memoirs That Came Out in 2015 →

The political and social landscape of 2015 inspired need for both self-reflection and a call to action. This year, we saw the release of beautiful new memoirs by feminist icons of the past few decades—Patti Smith, Gloria Steinem, Janet Mock, and more—tackling issues of women’s rights, self-empowerment, and art itself. Here are some of Lucia Ribisi's favorite feminist memoirs from the past year, along with some additional must-read memoirs. Click here to read. 

My Alchemical Romance: Read Our Conversation With Alia Raza and Ezra Woods Of Regime Des Fleurs, An Art Collective Disguised As A Luxury Perfume Brand →

Ezra Woods and Alia Raza’s alchemical romance started about ten years ago with a mutual love of flowers. It should be noted that Ezra and Alia are not a romantic couple, but they are bound by some other fateful and supernatural force of nature that allows for their close collaborative efforts. After ten years as close friends, the pair decided to start Regime Des Fleurs, a “postmodern lifestyle art-practice” disguised as a luxury perfume brand. Before starting the brand, Alia was a video artist in New York City and Ezra was a stylist in Los Angeles, but they weren’t exactly satisfied with where their careers were going. A few weeks ago, we met with the pair at Ezra’s grandfather’s estate on a bluff in Malibu overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His grandfather is a lover of flowers – greenhouses and pastures of rare flowers and flora overtake the property – with a few chickens and roosters thrown in for good measure. It is understandable where Ezra’s love of organic fragrances comes from. Alia is just as infatuated, and in the following interview recalls being enraptured by the perfumes on her mother’s vanity. Read the rest here.