DAMNED Magazine: The Untouchable Issue

Pages 8-13

Pages 16-29 (4:17)

Pages 34-43 (4:30)

Pages 50-75 (3:23)

PT 2

(5:19)

Photography: Brian G. Edwards Artistic Direction: Julian Judge

YOU LAUGH, LAUGH, THEY THEY LAUGH, LAUGH, YOU YOU ALL ALL LAUGH, LAUGH AND CRAZY? YOU AND SOMEHOW SOMEHOW I'M I'M CRAZY

ExposĂŠ

1

The Opening Interlude

Se7en Dancing With the Devil:

This is an artistic rendering of the gluttonous appetite we as humans have with Earth.

9

Maybe you’ve heard about "Overshoot Day," maybe you haven’t, but this is the day every year that we as a planet deplete the natural resources for the year.

We consume about 1.6 planets worth of natural resources a year, resulting in the vanishing of our so called “budget” of resources for the year in the first 8 months.

Every year the overshoot day approaches us sooner than expected and every year this circle of Hell seems to become our fate.

There isn’t enough light that could be shed on this situation, and yet people continue to be oblivious to the facts.

Our appetites are larger than we think, and by slowing down just a little would be so beneficial for the lifespan of our Earth.

-Richard “Dance” Harris

. .

.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday

PARANOID

PARANOID PARANOID

ONLY ONLY

I PARANOID

WANT

YOU

TELL ME LIES

DON'T

BE

AFRAID

You’Re YOU’ RE PARANOID

PARANOID

PARANOID

MY BODY IS YOURS

PARANOID

MAKE

ME

THE

REASON

ExposĂŠ

3

My Silent Revelation

Photography: Keith Morgan

35

/MYÜZ\ NOUN A PERSON OR PERSONIFIED FORCE WHO IS THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR A CREATIVE ARTIST 2

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

Any of the sister goddesses presiding over a particular art SYNONYM: INSPIRATION, CREATIVE INFLUENCE, STIMULUS

Final Exposé

Muse

4

Photography: Brian G. Edwards

51

The Confession:

You prolly think you peeped my scene You haven’t , cuz my shit’s far too mean That dark, I’m deep aesthetic, ya know Has been done way too many times before Ya approach is all wack and corny Yes, it’s God awful, blasted boring Fucked up fictions, lustful addictions, Well gather round chillen, pay attention!

PT. 2

Goodbye my friend

An Open Lettter from The Editor . .

.

I always dreaded the day where I would have to lay a creation to rest, but in that same breath, I always knew there would come a day where I would eventually outgrow that same creation. This era of my life has ended and for the sake of my own sanity, I will just leave DAMNED Magazine as a revolutionary stepping stone for a culture of artistic misfits with a passion in re-purposing the way in which an audience perceives art. Fortunately for me being a young Black man on the white man’s plantation, the inspiration never runs dry. Having been exposed to the obscured realities we as a people are sold everyday in order to live the great American Dream, we at the bottom go through great lengths to have to the best and will do the most to obtain it; but after you buy that dream, always factor in the fine print for the long run because most people don’t recover once that debt is collected. Aye, it’s the risk one is willing to take on when they are valiant enough to take on White America. This is nothing new, the war on us is centuries old and plays the same tune in and out of both the slavery and educational prison system, both being modes of gentrifying who does or doesn’t eat. It’s draining because we’re not even allowed to be mad about it, we are supposed to sit back silently as our history continues to become more and more whitewashed from everything concerning the origins of the Ancient Hebrews/Egyptians to the omission of the horrors during transatlantic slave trade and how my people overcame; the true underlying horrors lay beneath the fear of the everlasting glory behind what it means to be Black, rewrite history a million times, but my truth will remain the same.

Sounds familiar.

Having said, for decades we’ve been trolled by white media in relation to capitalizing off our ignorance (i.e. “Nigga Moments”) by a means of devaluing our causes, all while remaining recklessly oblivious to their community’s ignominies (i.e. xenophobia and racism); and because the too is so widely dismissed, our message is not allowed to transcend in order to push the ideology of “Love is love”. That somehow being able to openly date/marry outside your race without judgment is more important than ridding this country from the deep rooted hatred that is so heavily instilled in this land. Fun Fact: If slave masters or their wives would rape our women and men or get impregnated by our men, you’d still be a nigga and more often beat to near death. Don’t confuse infatuation with love.

Other areas of where minding your business should be implemented include white publications allowing their only black employee to write up articles that better assist in white people’s understanding of why you can’t touch our hair. Hell, many go as far as to writing about it themselves while using white models to spice up mix. Some shit is for us, if I don’t come natural, don’t force it.

Add that with the new enigma of “reverse racism” for every time a POC makes a public generalization of White People, and you got yourself a luxurious bath of White tears. Once those tears get to rolling, we cue in Fox and CNN who then put together a panel of predominately Black scholars up against the coon and his affiliate to discuss the situation; this tired attempt to null and void the Black voice never factually or logically results well, but White America does not need much convincing from the defendants side to form an opinion, so this result ends in a crisis of White people flooding the streets wanting to “Make Amerikkka great again”.

We don’t have to allow it.

I ain’t gone lie though, initially I tried to get away from niggas too when I went to my PWI. I’m always around niggas, so I used the opportunity to infiltrate upper White America, and get my Uncle Ruckus on. This place virtually had zero niggas which in theory eliminated the occurrence of a nigga moment, and from TV, I already knew white drama is comical, so this was a pretty good deal.

It didn’t take long before I got the collection call and I became the very exact thing I was trying to avoid and now all I’m able to do is reflect for the next four years of my life. Shit was just different. Dialogue, customs, music... The food, and the more I tried to fit in the more of a nigga I later became; until this one house party freshman year and this one was different, there was finally a nigga there that wasn’t a hipster/creep preying throughout the function . This nigga was just coolin in the kitchen, gold chain, gold slugs, and a beer. My Nigga! Them nigga powers united and life wasn’t all bad anymore since I finally had another soldier in this battle.

HOWEVER, life came pretty quick and the party ended once the quarter ended because the nigga never came back.

Them damn tables.

Having finally found my outlet through DAMNED magazine, It was alleviating being able to turn my situation into visual art with the assistance from my favorite artists who’s music, style or essence, has inspired me along this journey. This is not a paid operation, nor am I looking to really get out of this, for me, it’s merely about sending a message to a world who has so much to say and with very little to offer. Real artists are on the rise ready to expose the facade of how money/power and a following can sway the general publics judgment of the same thing many spend years mastering without the same recognition. Somebody has to scratch that pretty surface and disrupt the natural order of things because the shit been dead. Unfortunately for the world, you need to get used to being blessed with yet another Black God with a voice who is utilizing the same tone and principles from his predecessors. Pioneers such as Jean Michel Basquiat, to The Weeknd, with me next in line recycling the Black excellence that strikes so much fear in a racist’s heart; the willingness to stand together and reclaim our positions of power scares him because our truth will always be ignored.

But this time around as HIStory repeats, so will ours. We are the chosen!

-See you on the next platform

B

Talent Art Direction: Brian G. Edwards

Wardrobe Stylist: Brian G. Edwards

Featured Designer:

Muses:

Erin Kelly, The Lonely Star Kendria Jones The Confession Pt. 2 Renua Giwa-Amu My Silent Revelation Jasmine Myrick The Confession Pt. 2 Tenielle Adderley The Confession Pt. 2 Tenisha Clarke The Confession Pt. 1

JD Noble

The Lonely star, The Confession Pt. 2

Photographers: Brian G. Edwards Ad Campaign, Muse Keith Morgan My Silent Revelation Kristopher Dobbins The Lonely Star

Illustrators: Julian Judge Ad Campaign Richard “Dance” Harris Se7en

Hair: Tranise Sharpe The Confession Pt. 2

Make Up: Angelica Santiago The Lonely Star Lydia Bauer The Confession Pt. 2 Tenisha Clarke, Confessions Pt. 1

Special Thanks To: Banana Republic at Telfair Civvies on Broughton

Closing credits: DAMNED Magazine would like to thank every artist and contributer that has shared a part in this revolutionary quest for freedom. This personal quest would also not have been made possible without the influence from the God’s. For this, I would like to thank: My Hero, Nicky “Mr. Untouchable” Barnes, Nas, Kanye West, The Weeknd, Travi$ Scott, Virgil Abloh and The Notorious B.I.G! Kukaa ndugu nyeusi

All content original to DAMNED Magazine ©