H.E.R.,Teyana Taylor and everything else

IT'S THE REGION'S premier street-culture festival starting at d3 tomorrow and if a good weekend for you includes hip-hop shows, urban fashion, art exhibitions and discussions on streetwear you are in luck. Sole DXB not only embraces inner-city chic, it looks to create a brilliantly diverse community of advocates here in Dubai. And it succeeds. Growing year-on-year, the 2017 edition from December 7 to 9 looks to focus on the influence of Japanese contemporary design and will welcome a host of international stars and stalls, curated to make this Sole one to remember.  

So here we break down the days' main activities, so you can plot and plan who or what you'd like to see, and we also highlight some of what's getting us going.

WHO'S COMING?

. The stand out stars for us this year have to be H.E.R. and Teyana Taylor. Brought here by sportswear brand Puma, on Day Two at 5.30pm the enigmatic, mysterious soul singer H.E.R. who has been rising to fame with her sultry ballads by keeping her profile hidden and letting her fans concentrate on her music will be up on stage. With testimonials from Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean, superb tunes including our favourite, Focus, H.E.R. will be giving a powerful performance. Our verdict: not to be missed. Then on December 9, recording artist and sportswear ambassador Teyana Taylor  is set to storm the main stage, bringing her unapologetic style to a performance that will also showcase Reebok's Classic Freestyle Hi sneakers, the 54-11s, which celebrate their 25th anniversary this year. In a visit to the UAE that will last four days, the star who is signed to Kanye West's GOOD Music label, will also meet fans at the Reebok store in Dubai Mall on Friday at 3pm. Our verdict: Get to the mall and performance early. 

. We've got hip-hop greats from both the present and future. Kano, G.O.O.D Music President and rapper Pusha T, American silk-soul rapper Goldlink, German rapper Serious Klein, and Manchester urban jazz singer IAMDDB, hailed as one of the breakout stars of 2017 and already amassing streams in excess of one million hits per track will be knocking about. DJ Stretch Armstrong, DJ Shortkut, streetwear icons PATTA Soundsystem, and DJs Tom Crane, Dave Lubin, and Andy Baxter will be providing the after-party tunes for those of you who can't go home.

. Nxworries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge) will be there. Anderson .Paak, working alongside some of the most notable names in the music industry, such as ScHoolboy Q, Snakehips and Dr. Dre has joined forces with acclaimed music producer and songwriter Knxwledge who has created tracks with artists such as Prodigy, Kendrick Lamar and Jeremiah Jae. The duo AKA Nxworries will perform at 5.30pm on Day One.

WHAT IS THERE TO DO?

. Opening night on Thursday there's a free international premiere to explore - Word is Bond is the turn of Mass Appeal and their recently produced hip-hop documentary, to take centre stage. Directed by Mass Appeal's Chief Creative Officer, Sacha Jenkins, the documentary examines the transformative power of lyrics in the world of hip-hop. With an open door policy, it's the first in a long line of socially driven moves from Sole DXB aimed at providing legitimate, culturally-weighted entertainment, stimulating grass roots artistry.

. On Friday there will be a series of cultural talks including intimate no-holds-barred conversations with some of the biggest names in design, fashion and music. These include: Pusha T; Fragment Design founder Hiroshi Fujiwara; designer Jeff Staple of Staple Design; Peter Bittenbender, CEO of New York-based media company/record label Mass Appeal; founder of global alternative culture platform Highsnobiety, David Fischer; jewellery designer, Melody Ehsani; and Peter Jansson and Mubi Ali - founder and head buyer respectively of Sweden-born cult classic sneaker retailer Sneakersnstuff.

. Alongside some of the world's biggest brands on display including Asics, Nike, Puma and Reebok, Japanese designers will provide some of the most hard-to-find products over the weekend, from brands including Neighborhood, Visvim, Wacko Maria, Undercover, Non-Native, and White Mountaineering.

. Virgin Megastore and Sole DXB have introduced an experimental update to the concept store, Early Retirement, for 2017. The store will have specially imported automated retail vending machines, fully stocked with hundreds of hard-to-find items from Andy Warhol and Fragment Be@rbrick collectible toys, to 8-Bit music composers and original 1980s Walkmans & hip-hop tapes.

. On its very first visit to the Middle East, the Letters to Andy Warhol exhibition is coming to Dubai for the final stop on its 2017 global tour. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a collection of rarely-seen letters from The Andy Warhol Museum's archive, written by the likes of Mick Jagger and Yves Saint Laurent, which inspired the artwork in the exhibition. Five of Warhol's pieces are on display, depicting Cadillacs, using different mediums and techniques.

. WVY by HRMNY: a homegrown music event and creative collective, will be hosting a party in the Puma Club Room on Day Two at 2pm, with locally based musicians, influencers, tastemakers and WVY by HRMNY producer/DJ A'Y on the 1's and 2's. The music ranges from B-Side records from your favourite artists, to a discovery of up-and-comers making waves online.

CHOICE THREADS

. Pulling up a pew at Sole DXB for the third year in a row is Namshi, showcasing a heavy streetwear direction for 2017. Backed by the likes of Fila, Ivy Park, Obey, Grim and Profound Aesthetic, the online platform is batting hard. 

. You get their cars, but Careem is launching a new retail venture, Dukkan Careem. The product line is 100 per cent local - meaning locally sourced materials with culturally-inspired designs that are produced in cities in which Careem operates.

. Les Benjamins is soon to launch the region's first dedicated luxury streetwear collection with Bloomingdale's and it will be unleashed at the Bloomingdale's pop-up. Founder Bunyamin Aydin has designed a 27 strong-look collection, Les Benjamins x Bloomingdale's

Source: Khaleejtimes