Hip Hop Lives Online: We Make the World Go Round

You are browsing the archives of 2008 May.

Straight from the streets of LA West Coast rap group Custom Made sits down with HHLO to discuss their new project Original Dynasty, how one of their members Six got arrested, and also which rap artists Hip Hop credibility should be denied..

Remy Smith, aka Remy Ma was sentenced to eight years in prison today, May 13th for a shooting that took place in the Meatpacking District on July 14th, 2007.

Pap Tries to Break Remy Out, Pic from the Notorious Movie Set, and More Suge Knight Fall Out

Saturday night (May 10th), Mr. “Suge” Knight was “assaulted” at Shag nightclub in Hollywood. (I used the term assaulted lightly, cuz Suge’s a big guy).

Def Jam recording artist Sam Scarfo catches up with HHLO.net to talk about his new mixtape, the state of Hip-hop today, his new movie with Mekhi Phifer, the Sean Bell case and more.

“I never expected it to become so big and yet so unknown.” If you’ve never heard of Nima Nabavi, then you’re just like most of the world. He is the CEO of Digital Gravel, an online independent street wear distributor. In other words, he’s got hot stuff you’ve never seen before and can probably only get through him. He started out of his parents’ garage with five brands and now carries over a hundred. He’s been doing this for ten years, ships around two hundred orders a day all over the world and is the first stop for independent designers that want to get put on in the fashion game.

When Nabavi’s family moved from Dubai to LA in 1994, he was sixteen years old and already a lover of hip hop. “I always thought I would be a CEO of hip hop related company. I know that sounds really naïve but I grew up in Dubai and I didn’t know that most people didn’t get to do these things. Russell Simmons was my idol.” During college, he interned at Def Jam, Virgin and Motown. Regardless of the crazy grunt work, Nabavi has happy that he was learning the tools of the business. “I kind of realized that every intern that came in there wanted to have their own record label and we were acting like that was all you could do in hip hop.” That’s when he started looking around for other ways to be a part of the hip hop world. He never thought it would be in fashion. “I’ve never been to fashion school and I don’t have a proclivity to fashion school. I don’t know everything. I just know what I grew up on, and what feels good. I know what I like.” It turns out that he wasn’t alone.

Digital Gravel was born in the Nabavi family garage in 1999 while Nima was attending USC. At the time, anything that had the phrase “hip hop” in its web name was being bought up, even though there was nothing out there similar to what he wanted to create. So Nabavi had to be creative. He says that “digital” part refers to fact that he was going to be doing all his business online and the ”gravel” part is what streets are literally made up of. He decided to start a company that dealt exclusively in street wear and soon realized that he could make a living off of it. But he was also realizing that clothing business wasn’t that different from the music side of hip hop. Just as more and more labels were being controlled by major corporations, so were design houses. It’s very hard to break in the business because everything is being run by one or two big companies. “At the time I started Digital Gravel I started to see a lot of these homemade brands. They usually had one or two kids with good designs. There were really a lot of designs run by kids that weren’t trying to be these hip hop moguls but were just making stuff that they liked.” Digital Gravel started with five brands of mostly graphic t-shirts and sweatshirts that had obscure references to hip hop culture and icons. This was the stuff completely different than anything you could buy in a mall or department store. “We jumped on something really specific at the time. At the time, if someone had asked me what we sell and I said ‘Hip Hop clothing’, they would automatically think something like Phat Farm. And the answer to that would be, ‘No, we would consider that to be something different.”

Digital Gravel continued to grow with Nabavi as he finished his undergraduate at USC and went on to finish his MBA at NYU. The entire time he was in school, he was still working hard at making this company something that could make an impact on the fashion world. Nabavi’s goal was to always do business with talented people and provide a way for them to make money doing the thing that is their passion. His customers are not always going to be the same people that are buying Phat Farm or Sean John. “Not that I don’t support those brands,” he quickly explains. They have their place, too. Nabavi says that his customers are the kind of people that are very individual with their style. “The thing that ties our customers together is that at some point they are all tied into an underground or independent culture.” People that are into real hip hop, DJs, skaters, graffiti artists, etc. They want things that they can’t necessarily walk up on someone and find that they are wearing the same gear. If you buy something in a department store, they’re selling thousands of that piece. It’s rare that Digital Gravel buys more than twelve to twenty of anything to sell. They only deal in small productions. That hungry for individuality is part of what led him to establish the Digger Society. For $250 per year, a member would receive a new limited edition t-shirt every month with the shipping included. Members can count on having something fresh and new in the mail once a month, no matter what. You can’t get the shirts that come from the Digger’s Society anywhere else but through the membership. And with only six hundred members worldwide, it’s rare that you see your shirt on anybody else. “I’ve heard of moments like that and they’ve told me it’s like this magical moment where you’re like ‘Oh my god, you’re wearing the same shirt as me!’” The rarity of these shirts has almost made them collector’s items. They’re on the seventeenth shirt and the first one to be put on the membership is going on eBay for about $100.

Ten years in the business, Nima Nabavi has grown Digital Gravel from a side gig to a career. He now employs twenty employees, including his father and brother. He’s branched out into hats, shoes and house wares. Digital Gravel carries over 5,000 items with new items every day. He has customers all over the world. When they have a sample sale at the warehouse that holds his stock, Nabavi says that kids show up at one o’clock in the morning to wait for the sale to start. (He keeps them entertained with ice cream trucks and donuts.) He has turned down offers from the likes of MTV and NBC to stay true to his independent roots. Nabavi says that he never wants to deal with an outside advertising force in his business. “Basically, I feel like we’re selling goods that made by people that are basically like us. There’s no one else behind it; just independent kids doing it. And we’re selling to kids that just like us and the people who made the stuff.”Fans of the site keep asking when Digital Gravel will have a physical store. And Nabavi been offered stores in places that some retailers would kill for, but keeps turning them down. “I won’t just do a typical store. It has to have a really good concept and be able to give back in some way. A lot of malls are approaching us, but I don’t know. It’s always been in the plan. I just want to do it right.” He has all this going on for him but Nabavi says the best part of his day is when he gets to leave work early. There’s no boss looking over his shoulder or pressure to work himself to death in a job that’s not his passion. “I’m basically the laziest person on earth,” he laughs. “I think that we’re all lazy in some ways. But at least I found a way to turn something I love into my career. Otherwise, I’d probably go crazy.”

You can check out Digital Gravel at digitalgravel.com or on MySpace at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11020829

“I never expected it to become so big and yet so unknown.” If you’ve never heard of Nima Nabavi, then you’re just like most of the world. He is the CEO of Digital Gravel, an online independent street wear distributor. In other words, he’s got hot stuff you’ve never seen before and can probably only get through him. He started out of his parents’ garage with five brands and now carries over a hundred. He’s been doing this for ten years, ships around two hundred orders a day all over the world and is the first stop for independent designers that want to get put on in the fashion game.

When Nabavi’s family moved from Dubai to LA in 1994, he was sixteen years old and already a lover of hip hop. “I always thought I would be a CEO of hip hop related company. I know that sounds really naïve but I grew up in Dubai and I didn’t know that most people didn’t get to do these things. Russell Simmons was my idol.” During college, he interned at Def Jam, Virgin and Motown. Regardless of the crazy grunt work, Nabavi has happy that he was learning the tools of the business. “I kind of realized that every intern that came in there wanted to have their own record label and we were acting like that was all you could do in hip hop.” That’s when he started looking around for other ways to be a part of the hip hop world. He never thought it would be in fashion. “I’ve never been to fashion school and I don’t have a proclivity to fashion school. I don’t know everything. I just know what I grew up on, and what feels good. I know what I like.” It turns out that he wasn’t alone.

Digital Gravel was born in the Nabavi family garage in 1999 while Nima was attending USC. At the time, anything that had the phrase “hip hop” in its web name was being bought up, even though there was nothing out there similar to what he wanted to create. So Nabavi had to be creative. He says that “digital” part refers to fact that he was going to be doing all his business online and the ”gravel” part is what streets are literally made up of. He decided to start a company that dealt exclusively in street wear and soon realized that he could make a living off of it. But he was also realizing that clothing business wasn’t that different from the music side of hip hop. Just as more and more labels were being controlled by major corporations, so were design houses. It’s very hard to break in the business because everything is being run by one or two big companies. “At the time I started Digital Gravel I started to see a lot of these homemade brands. They usually had one or two kids with good designs. There were really a lot of designs run by kids that weren’t trying to be these hip hop moguls but were just making stuff that they liked.” Digital Gravel started with five brands of mostly graphic t-shirts and sweatshirts that had obscure references to hip hop culture and icons. This was the stuff completely different than anything you could buy in a mall or department store. “We jumped on something really specific at the time. At the time, if someone had asked me what we sell and I said ‘Hip Hop clothing’, they would automatically think something like Phat Farm. And the answer to that would be, ‘No, we would consider that to be something different.”

Digital Gravel continued to grow with Nabavi as he finished his undergraduate at USC and went on to finish his MBA at NYU. The entire time he was in school, he was still working hard at making this company something that could make an impact on the fashion world. Nabavi’s goal was to always do business with talented people and provide a way for them to make money doing the thing that is their passion. His customers are not always going to be the same people that are buying Phat Farm or Sean John. “Not that I don’t support those brands,” he quickly explains. They have their place, too. Nabavi says that his customers are the kind of people that are very individual with their style. “The thing that ties our customers together is that at some point they are all tied into an underground or independent culture.” People that are into real hip hop, DJs, skaters, graffiti artists, etc. They want things that they can’t necessarily walk up on someone and find that they are wearing the same gear. If you buy something in a department store, they’re selling thousands of that piece. It’s rare that Digital Gravel buys more than twelve to twenty of anything to sell. They only deal in small productions. That hungry for individuality is part of what led him to establish the Digger Society. For $250 per year, a member would receive a new limited edition t-shirt every month with the shipping included. Members can count on having something fresh and new in the mail once a month, no matter what. You can’t get the shirts that come from the Digger’s Society anywhere else but through the membership. And with only six hundred members worldwide, it’s rare that you see your shirt on anybody else. “I’ve heard of moments like that and they’ve told me it’s like this magical moment where you’re like ‘Oh my god, you’re wearing the same shirt as me!’” The rarity of these shirts has almost made them collector’s items. They’re on the seventeenth shirt and the first one to be put on the membership is going on eBay for about $100.

Ten years in the business, Nima Nabavi has grown Digital Gravel from a side gig to a career. He now employs twenty employees, including his father and brother. He’s branched out into hats, shoes and house wares. Digital Gravel carries over 5,000 items with new items every day. He has customers all over the world. When they have a sample sale at the warehouse that holds his stock, Nabavi says that kids show up at one o’clock in the morning to wait for the sale to start. (He keeps them entertained with ice cream trucks and donuts.) He has turned down offers from the likes of MTV and NBC to stay true to his independent roots. Nabavi says that he never wants to deal with an outside advertising force in his business. “Basically, I feel like we’re selling goods that made by people that are basically like us. There’s no one else behind it; just independent kids doing it. And we’re selling to kids that just like us and the people who made the stuff.”Fans of the site keep asking when Digital Gravel will have a physical store. And Nabavi been offered stores in places that some retailers would kill for, but keeps turning them down. “I won’t just do a typical store. It has to have a really good concept and be able to give back in some way. A lot of malls are approaching us, but I don’t know. It’s always been in the plan. I just want to do it right.” He has all this going on for him but Nabavi says the best part of his day is when he gets to leave work early. There’s no boss looking over his shoulder or pressure to work himself to death in a job that’s not his passion. “I’m basically the laziest person on earth,” he laughs. “I think that we’re all lazy in some ways. But at least I found a way to turn something I love into my career. Otherwise, I’d probably go crazy.”

You can check out Digital Gravel at digitalgravel.com or on MySpace at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11020829

Welcome to America people, the greatest Country in the world. Land of the free Home of the brave yada, yada, yada. The Country which was built upon the ideals of freedom, justice, and equality, has finally lived up to its name and its’ motto. Let’s talk about it people.