LINKED UP 117

Revisiting 50 Cent's The Massacre, a Turning Point For 50, Rap Music in the 2000s, and the Fine Art of Hating

His debut album Get Rich or Die Trying defined an era. His follow-up, which turned 20 this month, became a cautionary tale. (GQ)

M.I.A.'s Arular Turns 20 (Stereogum)  

Y2K Nostalgia Is Everywhere, and UK Rappers Can’t Get Enough of It

Alphonse Pierre grapples with the yearning for the 2000s in UK underground rap videos. Is there really a point to it? (Pitchfork)

Is ‘Torn’ the Ultimate Song to Cover?

Two new takes on the ’90s hit by Natalie Imbruglia showcase both its angsty and crowd-pleasing qualities. (The FADER)

The Story of Every Deafheaven Album Cover (UPROXX)

Mirror Gazing With Perfume Genius

Mike Hadreas is facing mortality with his head held high. On the seventh Perfume Genius record, Glory, the Iowa-born songwriter is finding new ways to reckon with beauty, chaos, and vulnerability. (The Line of Best Fit)

Bon Iver Is Happy (and Sexy) Now. It Took a Lot of Work.

The singer and songwriter Justin Vernon’s fast success led to unexpected opportunities and emotional depletion. His next LP, Sable, Fable, is a moment of reinvention. (NYT)

Herb Sundays 146: Panda Bear 

“These are songs to start a Sunday peacefully...not much of a subscriber to guilty pleasures but these tracks do inspire a kind of cozy solitude in a way I like.” (Herb Sundays)

Randall Poster: The Man Hollywood Listens To

From Wes Anderson to Martin Scorsese, when it comes time for directors to find music for their movies, Randall Poster calls the tune. (Drake's)

Can Simon & Schuster Become the A24 of Books?

The imprint’s new publisher is betting on it. (The Cut)

The New Yorker at 100: “We Live In a World of Misinformation ... Our Readers Want What We Do”

The venerable magazine is thriving and its long-time editor David Remnick tells us why a dedication to literate, conversation-provoking and veracious reportage has never been more vital. (The Guardian)

Tatler vs The Face: What Was It Really Like to Work at the Two Most Iconic Magazines of the 1980s? One Editor Reveals All…

Two magazines owned the 1980s: The Face and Tatler. Each hugely influential, each with a very different readership, but what was the reality behind the gloss and glamour? In Tatler’s April issue, Lesley White looks back on the good times as The Face features in a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. (Tatler)

Boom Boom Culture: Fashion’s Flashy, Sleazy and Sudden Vibe Shift

Trump is back in office, shame is seemingly out and greed is in - with conspicuous consumerism on the catwalks and beyond. Look around and you could be back in 1987... (The Guardian)

“When You Are in Husbands, You Are the Sexiest Guy in the Room” 

Fashion-world-favourite suiting brand Husbands, founded by Nicolas Gabard, has conquered Paris. Is New York next? (GQ)

Can a French Department Store Make Wall Street Très Chic?

With a new location in Lower Manhattan, Printemps is aiming to conquer an area where other luxury emporiums have recently failed. (NYT)

The Making of a Modern Fashion Critic

Inside the opulent world of Rachel Tashjian, the star writer courting influence between her classic newspaper column and her IYKYK newsletter. (SSENSE)

A Thread About My Career: Samutaro

Meet Sam Trotman, the brain behind Instagram's favourite research account. (Threads of Conversation)

The Noah Johnson Interview With Throwing Fits (Spotify)

The Hobbyist #9: An Interview With Ghostly International Founder Sam Valenti

The record label boss and Herb Sundays founder chats about life as a music man. (The Hobbyist)

An Evening at 10Foot, Tox and Fume’s Gallery Takeover 

The legendary graffiti writers unveil a behemoth exhibition, charting their tunnel-dwelling history in a secret location. We pass by for a Red Stripe on them. (The Face)

The Cult of Leica

The German camera company, which has supplied photographers from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Annie Leibovitz and sabotaged the Third Reich during W.W. II, turns 100 this year. (Air Mail)

The Hand-Embellished Countryside Homes That Helped Define Scandinavian Style

The houses of two of Sweden’s most influential artists and designers, Carl and Karin Larsson, came to shape the country’s national identity - and now represent an aesthetic ideal. (NYT)

Why Do the English Constantly Say Sorry?

What is that makes the people of this island so overly fond of apologising? Deborah Nicholls-Lee finds out. (Country Life)

DEAFHEAVEN - LONELY PEOPLE WITH POWER

Lonely People With Power, the incredible new album from one of my favourite bands, Deafheaven, is out now. Listen here.

ANXIOUS TOUR DIARY PART 2

Highlights from the second week on the road with Anxious by photographer Kevin Allen. More here.

ESDEEKID & RICO ACE - PHANTOM

Been listening to a lot of EsDeeKid since I binge-watched This City Is Ours the other day.

ADIDAS X FUCKING AWESOME

Adidas Skateboarding and Fucking Awesome present a capsule curated by Jason Dill. The FA Stan Smith and Aloxe Tracksuit will be available globally tomorrow.

PALACE C.P. COMPANY

C.P. Company and Palace present their third collaboration, merging archival references with streetwear influences. 

For the launch, Michael James Fox and Stuart Hammond produced a short film set in Sicily featuring skaters Lucien Clarke, Danny Brady, Juan Medina and Alexandrino Da Silva. 

The collection is available from March 28th.

EBK JAAYBO - F*CK EVERYBODY

Monday morning mood music.

HOLIDAY MAGAZINE

Holiday magazine No.395, the Spring/Summer 2025 issue devoted to Zurich. Available here.

JOEL MEYEROWITZ

“Over the course of a 63-year-long career, Joel Meyerowitz has made hundreds of thousands of images. While he's still shooting today, much of his recent work has involved combing through his meticulously organised archive, looking for patterns and letting photography reveal his inclinations over time. Wild Flowers is a collection of images connected by the presence of floral-ness, a garden he subconsciously began cultivating in the early 1960s.”

(Via The Édit by Éditions magazine)

LINKED UP 116

The True Story of the Billionaire Boys Club

They were the sons of some of the most powerful families in California, never at a loss for money or kicks. Then they met Joe Hunt, who offered them the one thing they didn’t have: belief in themselves. They will pay for it forever. (Esquire)

The Year's Best Coming-of-Age Novel Is About Adults

GQ columnist Chris Black talks to novelist Josh Duboff, whose debut novel Early Thirties follows two friends navigating the ups and downs of present-day life in New York City, about friendship dynamics, New York media, and why young people are such dorks about splitting the check. 

(GQ)

Naomi Fry on Jay McInerney’s “Chloë’s Scene”

In McInerney’s telling, Chloë Sevigny, then a young It Girl, was the font from which absolute cool flowed. She was New York. (New Yorker)

Gwyneth Paltrow on Motherhood, MAHA, Meghan Markle, Making Out With Timothée Chalamet - and Much More

With Apple and Moses having flown the nest, and Goop humming along, the star is making her big return to film as she seeks the answer to “Who am I now?”. (Vanity Fair)

The Not-So-Discreet Charm of Graydon Carter

An editor from the heyday of glossy magazines dishes about Anna Wintour and recounts his long-running feud with Donald Trump. (NYT)

Graffiti Writer 10Foot Assembles Banksy, Kneecap and More for Radical Big Issue Takeover

“I hope the vendors come up hard from this” says graffiti icon 10Foot ahead of release of one-of-a-kind Big Issue edition. (Big Issue)

Sex Magazine Goes Against the Grain

Launched by Asher Penn in 2012, in some ways the story of Sex Magazine is a story of how print, publishing and the Internet have evolved and intersected over the past decade. (Antenne)

Announcing: Permanent Style Magazine (Permanent Style)

To Create a “Portrait of the Modern Dandy”, the Met Enlisted a Superstar

The 29-year-old fashion photographer Tyler Mitchell had his own ideas about how to shoot the catalog for the museum’s spring Costume Institute show. (NYT)

Young at Heart: James Hartley

The late 2000s to early 2010s are well regarded as the golden era of the Australian hardcore scene. (Monster Children)

Anarchy in the U.S.

Ahead of their reunion, British punk band the Sex Pistols recall the madness of their 1970s American tour - drugs, cowboys, and all. (Air Mail)

Deafheaven: “If Power Is Influence, We Have a Responsibility to Be as Understanding, Empathetic and Knowledgeable as Possible”

Deafheaven frontman George Clarke has grappled with the self-examination through music for years now. Where his Californian pioneers’ icy blackgaze has often felt like an exercise in abstract deflection, however, awesome sixth album Lonely People With Power finds healing fire in its complex interrogation of human relationships and the art of influence over one another... (Kerrang!)

What Do Architecture School, Giant Bouncy Castles, and Post Malone Have In Common? PlayLab.

On the studio’s 20th birthday, we talk to founders Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin about trust, inflatables, and the power of staying playful. 

(It's Nice That)

David Hockney Just Keeps Painting

As he prepares for the most comprehensive exhibition of his career, the 87-year-old legendary artist opens up about aging, iPhone art, and the unstoppable urge to create. (W Magazine)

Life With: Niccolò Debole

Niccolò Debole is an artist and designer based in New York City. We sat down with him to learn how the story of his parents' meeting shaped his artistic journey, how an apprenticeship provided him with an authentic glimpse into the art world, and how he knows when a piece of art is truly complete. (Another Aspect)

The Hobbyist #8: An Interview With A Continuous Lean Founder Michael Williams

The menswear guru chats life as a consultant and his favourite golf course on Earth. (The Hobbyist)

Moons Under Water: The Iconography of the Pub Sign

In an exclusive extract from his new book for Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series, Cambridge Historical Geography professor Philip Howell explores the lore and language of alehouse signage. (The Quietus)

Say Goodbye to Gem Wine

Flynn McGarry is closing his LES wine bar and going west (but staying in Manhattan). (Grub Street)

Could This Be the End of the Party in Dimes Square?

The rejection of one bar’s sidewalk seating permit may be a sign of what’s to come. (NYT)

KRINK 25 YEARS: PART TWO

ALLI CONRAD

A series of beautifully opulent paintings by L.A-based artist Alli Conrad. Read an interview with Alli here, courtesy of Ventura Blvd.