the king's new clothes were made by his own hands *remix*

thanks to yours truly and gorilla vs bear i know you've all heard this by now. it's been on repeat round my neck of the woods for a while. ish and tendai remix black up's tribute to the elusive perfect beat. an ishmaelite saw them perform this beat in new york but with completely different lyrics in celebration of the apple. tendai is perfect on this. so much poise

say the producers:

"Somewhere in Dallas, surrounded on all sides by the deep-fryer-high heat, Chris and I picked Ish, Tendai and Jon up at a beaten down Best Western a few miles from Tomcast Studios. There were too many of us to ride legally in Chris’ SUV, so Tendai stuffed himself into the trunk beneath brick-filled suitcases and bulky stage equipment. Ish looked like a retired running back, a white gym towel draped over his head sopping up beads of sweat like a squeegee. Inside the car Ish didn’t say a word. He took a hundred yard stare, gripped his hands on the “oh shit handle,” and sat motionless, frozen. He had the look of a boxer on the scale, or a pitcher on his way to the mound — not lookin’ atcha, lookin’ past ya.

It wasn’t until after they nailed the take you see in the video above that the plates in Ish’s face parted, and the kid in him jumped off the front porch and sprinted into the street to play. He and Tendai high-fived, the teeth in their smile happy to see and be seen again.

The focus on the faces of Ish and Tendai as they prepped themselves to create that day remind me that creativity is a gift, shaping it into something special is a blessing, and the determination it takes to do so is rare. No one is more grateful to share in the act of creativity than yours truly, and every single session reminds me that I’m lucky."