ROYALTY
THE MUSIC ISSUE
THE NEW HISTORY LESSON
YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT
We sat down in an exclusive interview with the stunniong and very talented musician and performer FKA Twigs.
Follow these stories of some of the most influental people througout history, and their vast riches.
Why do we instinctivley covet this mineral? An in-depth look at why gold is so ingrained in humanity.
CONTENTS
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
ROYALTY A study of gold through the ages
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Intro
All that glitters is gold. A brief explination.
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Why?
Architecture
Exaples and explination
26 All gold everything. King Tut’s Golden tomb.
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History
Gold all in my watch. The richest man in history.
Exaples and explination
You aint never seen gold like this. the how and why of humanities obsession with gold.
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14
Fashion
Tut
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Queen
I aint sayin she a gold digger. The first absolute queen.
Interview
Look inside my sould and you can find gold. An interview with FKA Twigs
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INTRO
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD Smashmouth. “All Star� Astrolounge. Interscope Records 1999
A BRIEF EXPLINATION. Gold has been interwoven with mankind for as long as recorded history. What is it about this yellow element that continues to allure mankind so relentlessly throughout time? To understand this, we must first establish what we are reffering to when we talk about Gold.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
“GOLD CONJURES UP A MIST ABOUT A MAN, MORE DESTRUCTIVE OF ALL HIS OLD SENSES”
Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of yellow-orange color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold on the periodic table. The web color gold is often referred to as golden to distinguish it from the color metallic gold. The use of gold as a color term in traditional usage is more often applied to the color “metallic gold” The first recorded use of golden as a color name in English was in the year 1300 to refer to the element gold, and in 1423 to refer to blond hair. Metallic gold, such as in paint, is often called goldtone or gold-tone. In heraldry, the French word or is used.[2] In model building, the color gold is different from brass. A shiny or metallic silvertone object can be painted with transparent yellow to obtain goldtone, something often done with Christmas decorations. This image (left) is an example of the color metallic gold (the color traditionally known as gold) which is a simulation of the color of the actual metallic element, gold, as reffered to on the periodic table.
[2] The source of this color is the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955), a color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
YOU AINT NEVER SEEN GOLD LIKE THIS A BRIEF EXPLINATION
Goldtop. “Gold Like This” Gold like this single. Self Publishing
THE HOW AND WHY OF HUMANITY’S OBSESSION WITH GOLD.
Why do we love gold? I was originally drawn to write this article after thinking about the gold prices, and wondering if they will continue to stay so high. Or if eventually people will come to the realization that they're paying thousands of dollars for nothing but tiny little rocks, and move on to a more logical investment (like food or medicine) which would subsequently crash the gold market. And while there's ton's of research on the topic from a technical
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
“THIS LUST FOR GOLD HAS NOT BEEN UNIQUE TO ONE CULTURE OR ANOTHER� perspective, I wanted to investigate it from a more personal angle. From as far back in history as we can trace, gold has been considered a precious asset. And this lust for gold has not been unique to one culture or another, but it has occurred across cultures, separated by vast distances, which indicates that the high value of gold was established even before we have historical recordings of the spread of civilizations. Significant gold artifacts include the intricate "Colombian Jet" (above) from ~800 BCE and the Bulgarian Varna Burial Tomb artifacts (below) estimated to have been buried ~5000 BCE.... (which some use to suggest that the value of Gold may have even been established by an alien civilization). Given all this gold phenomena, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the question of why do we humans love gold so much? And how long that's likely to continue? As well as whether a lust for Gold is simply baked into our human DNA after all this time? You may have read the classic book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho and wondered if the concept of changing common elements from one of non value into one of extreme value was possible. If you haven't read the book I would recommend it, as it's an easy read and contains a number of socially evolved gems of wisdom throughout. I initially read the book years ago because Tim Robbins said it was the best book he'd ever read, and I liked
the movie Shawshank Redemption which Robbins starred in, so I figured his book suggestion must be worth the read (how about that for a bit of flawed logic...). But it did turn out to be an interesting tale for the deeper meaning of life, as well as the literal component alluding the idea that elements could be transmuted by some mystical process that was only understood by a select fraternity of alchemists. Prior to The Alchemist, and after, I remained curious about when the act of scientific alchemy (turning lead into gold) would become mainstream, and possibly crash the worldwide value of gold. We know that today Lead (Pb) can be transmuted into Gold (Au) by a "simple" nuclear reaction. In fact, this has been performed as early as the 1950's and is carried out by tossing one element into a particle accelerator and smashing it into another particle in order to create a collision strong enough to swap a few protons and neutrons, and thus create the new element of interest. But that said, we're still a long way from doing it in our living rooms or at any mass scale, because the process is very expensive, requires rare and specialized equipment... and the whole radioactivity thing freaks some people out.... (after transmutation some elements may remain radioactive for quite a while). Gold's international cash value remains such an interesting phenomenon, as unlike diamonds (which have high market value but much less cash value) gold can be
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WHY
HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
utilized quickly and easily for the value of its published market price. We know that the world's monetary systems regard gold prices as one of the primary benchmarks. But if an inexpensive method for producing gold ever came about would it make waves in the international monetary community and crash the price of gold? Or maybe that development in itself would cause it to be hushly purchased by a gold mogul so it could never make gold commercially and publicly have that market effect (like we saw with the water engine years back). And if gold ever did become devalued, would we still see it in jewelery form and "have to have it"?
Unlike 5000 years ago, we now have established worldwide monetary systems, but gold's value remains high primarily based on fears of those monetary systems crashing. Thinking logically (which one should never rely on when investing) if the world's monetary systems did crash, shouldn't we rather own "real" assets (i.e., water, canned goods, survival items) or a metal that has value only because of an artificial system of speculation? There's no doubt that today gold is a strong investment and hedge, but if a real worldwide monetary crash occurred, people would be looking much more urgently for other commodities over gold, which would increase their value. So maybe it's just me, but the fact that humanity still values gold so highly does seem a bit unevolved given our established systems of currency. And I don't mean to make offence at the many gold collectors around the world,
A BRIEF EXPLINATION
including most of my friends from India, because today Gold is a good investment, and that's the bottom line. But thinking more broadly, buying Gold is similar to the idea of spending thousands on a diamond engagement ring (which is essentially just a tiny bit of pressurized carbon carved into a pretty shape) when we can just as easily buy an even prettier lab created Cubic Zirconia for a couple hundred and give the difference to the needy or something or invest it in a commodity that the world actually needs like corn or wheat. Maybe one day we will get to that, but for the foreseeable future we will probably remain more closely linked to the man below.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
HOW “HE MADE A
PARTITION BY THE CHAINS OF GOLD BEFORE THE ORACLE”
What is the common link between the biblical Temple of Solomon, the dome over the tomb of Napoleon at Les Invalides in Paris and the Royal Bank of Canada's modern headquarters in Toronto? In all, gold has been used by the architects in one way or another. In the Temple of Solomon, the bible tells us, "Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold" (Kings, book I, chapter 6, verse 21). The great dome over Napoleon's tomb is covered with gold leaf, which does not tarnish, even with the atmospheric pollution of modern Paris, and only needs to be renewed once in a generation. The Royal Bank of Canada has gold reflective glass in its windows, cutting cooling and heating costs. Thus, gold was applied from antiquity, not just for its beauty and splendour, but for its unique versatility in other applications. Even Shakespeare remarked on "The singing masons building roofs of gold" (Henry V, act I, chorus)
monument to Ammon that Amenhotep III built at Thebes was described by a contemporary inscription as follows:
"An august temple ... of fine white sandstone, wrought with gold throughout; its floor is adorned with silver, all its portals with electrum (a pale yellow gold/silver alloy) ... it is supplied with a 'station of the King', wrought with gold and many costly stones. Flagstaffs are set up before it, wrought with electrum".
The Parthenon, that sacred shrine and symbol of authority, in Athens, completed in 432 BC by the architect Ictinus and the 'master of works' Callicrates, with decorations by the sculptor Phidias, equally employed gold. Standing inside its sanctuary was a monumental statue of the goddess Athena almost 12 metres (40 feet) high sculpted by Phidias from wood and covered in gold and ivory — gold for Athena's clothing, ivory for her flesh.
The role of gold was not in the structure of the building, but in its adornment and enhancement. In ancient Egypt the massive sandstone walled temples built to their gods were embellished with gold. The great
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
Example No. 1
Architecture T
he empires of Rome and Byzantium introduced more subtle applications for gold within the increasing number of Christian churches and basilicas after 400 AD. This was the great age of early Christian art, which has survived primarily in the mosaics enhancing the interior of churches. The mosaics were composed of small cubes, or tesserae, made of stone, tile or glass laid in a bed of mortar; golden tesserae were made by affixing gold leaf to the cubes and often formed the background for the designs. "These mosaics owe their compelling power to the brilliancy of the gold grounds," notes the French art historian André Grabar. The church of Santa Maria Maggiore, built in Rome by Pope Sixtus III around 440 AD, remains as one of the finest early examples. The church has a splendid nave with majestic colonnades and between them panels of multicoloured mosaics. The mosaics covering the central triumphal arch are "scintillating against a gold ground", wrote André Grabar. In Ravenna the church of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, completed in 549, has similar brilliant gold backgrounds for wall paintings.
ARCHITECTURE
Two other churches in Ravenna, Sant' Apollinaro Nuovo and San Vitale, built when it was the Italian stronghold of the Byzantine empire, contain equally compelling gold-backed mosaics. In these churches it is almost as if the architects were seeking to create an environment for mosaics and wall paintings; they are an integral part of the building. In Constantinople itself, the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over one thousand years, the famous church of Hagia Sophia, with its great central dome held up by soaring piers, arches and vaults, originally had gold leaf on every single one of its pillars and a multitude of mosaics and wall paintings, so that its interior glowed “warmly” according to contemporaries; unfortunately many of these glories were destroyed in the 8th century. However, in later centuries of Byzantine power a revival came with gold-backed icons the wooden panels covered with gold leaf painted on all of the screens separating the sanctuary from the nave of Byzantine churches. These features can still be seen in Istanbul churches, like St Saviour in Chora.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
“THE ENHANCEMENT OF BUILDINGS WITH GOLD HAS BEEN A GLOBAL PHENOMENA.�
T
he enhancement of buildings with gold has been a global phenomena. To the Inca people of Peru, who regarded gold as the 'sweat of the sun', it was natural to adorn the walls of their Temple of the Sun at Cuzco with 700 paels of pure gold (though tragically they were ripped down by Francisco Pizarro's conquistadors). The golden spirals of Burma's celebrated temple, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, which dominates the Rangoon skyline, demonstrates the Buddhist religion's widespread use of gold in its temples and statues of Buddha, to which faithful
Photo Above Arthitecture building in Rocester New York
ARCHITECTURE
worshippers often stick even more little specks of gold leaf. In Japan, the Moa Art Museum has a tea ceremony room completely decorated in gold, with gold leaf on the walls and 24 carat teapots for the ceremony itself. In a rather different attempt to improve the environment, Charles I of England once ordered that all London goldsmiths should work in Cheapside and Lombard Street so that the area should be "an ornament ... and lustre to the City". A sentiment that might seem worthy of modern urban planners. Indeed, the love of dressing up buildings, religious and
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
secular, in gold has not diminished. The ceiling of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York is dressed with gold leaf, as is the Helmsley Building astride Park Avenue. Politicians, too, seem to enjoy debating under an aura of gold. The state capitol buildings in Denver, Colorado, and Canada's Houses of Parliament in Ottawa have touched up their domes with gold leaf. Prestige is not the only reason. "If you paint a capital dome you're lucky if it lasts more than four or five years; but gold leaf will stay on for twenty-five or thirty years," says Mathew Swift, president of Swift & Sons, whose family firm has been beating out gold leaf for nearly 150 years. Modern technology has found new uses for gold in buildings, both to reflect heat and to retain it. Glass coated with a thin film of gold not only reflects the sun in summer, but in winter bounces internal heat back into rooms, thus retaining warmth within the building. At the Royal Bank of Canada building in Toronto the 77.7 kilo (2,500 ounces) of gold used in its 27,000 windows was chosen primarily for energy conservation. In another Canadian building with gold glass not only were cooling and heating costs cut by forty per cent, but the capital cost was also less because a smaller air conditioning plant was required. Aside from economy, the subdued greenish light within a building can create a particular mood, especially in such places as the Garden Court of Coutts' banking house in London, which is roofed entirely with golden glass. From ancient Egypt to modern banks, it seems architects find a use for gold. Photo Above Castle entryway in Belgium
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
Example No. 2
Fashion G
old has always had mythopaeic qualities. Untarnished and endurable, it can be beaten and hammered, annealed and spun; its brightness survives time, burial and the forces of decay. Its role in the history of dress and fashion has been central to man since Homer dressed Hector in gold armour in The Iliad. The precious metal itself has been central to ideas about identity, display and status. It has defined social position, signified wealth, given iconic, quasi-religious status to royalty and grandeur to ecclesiastical dress. As a colour, reproduced through imitation gold thread or dyes, it has remained a constant, imparting glamour and glitz to the wearer. Gold as a precious metal or colour has been as important in dress as in jewellery. Its rarity has been imbued with allure. The Egyptian Tutankhamun and his queen (1361–1352 BC) are depicted wearing woven linen embroidered with gold. In Ancient Crete (1750–1400 BC), fashionable men and women wore girdles at the waist in gold and other metals. A sample of cloth from the fifth or fourth century BC demonstrates that the ancient Greeks wore gold embroidery and
FASHION
Dionysius of Halicarnassus cited Tarquin the Ancient as being the first person to appear in Rome dressed in a robe embroidered with gold. For the Romans of the old Republic, however, dress was simple and unshowy. Petronius, in his Satyricon (c. AD 60), mocks the vulgar Fortunata who wears brightly coloured clothes and gold embroidered slippers. Two hundred years later, sumptuosity was acceptable and the tunica palmate, worn by the emperor and later by consuls, was made from purple silk and covered with rich gold embroidery. Although early St Paul echoed the Old Testament moralists when he commanded women to ‘adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety’ (1 Timothy 11,9), later Christian moralists specifically targeted women in their tirades against fashion: “Clement of Alexandria exhorted them to ‘put out of the way fabrics foolishly thin ... bidding farewell to embroidery in gold ...” When the Emperor Constantine moved from Rome to Byzantium (renaming it Constantinople) in AD 324, gold became a mainstay of imperial grandeur, demonstrating immense wealth and luxury.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
“outrageou and exces apparel” FASHION
us ssive
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
Cloth of gold, imported from Italy to the royalty of Europe and the men and women of fashion, was along with furs, the zenith of luxury from the 14th to the 17th century. Gold or silver cloth was made by wrapping fine metal wire around a silk thread, making it more flexible for weaving. These threads would be fed across the fabric, giving it a magnificent sheen. It was the ultimate in conspicuous consumption, and the vain Sienese were famous for their love of rich gold brocade. Edward III of England attacked the “outrageous and excessive apparel” of his aspirant people; only royalty was allowed to wear cloth of gold. A magnificent example is given in the Wilton Diptych (National Gallery, London), which shows his grandson, Richard II, in a houppelande of cloth of gold, woven with his emblem, the hart. At the same time, bezants, clinking gold and jewelled chains were essential accessories. But the fabric was not only essential to fashion but also to ceremonial: Richard III was arrayed in cloth of gold after he had been anointed king at his coronation in 1483, the gold signifying the divine consecration. Henry VIII met his rival Francis I at Golden Vale 1520; so splendid was their dress and that of their courts in their rivalry it was called Field of Cloth of Gold.
“PAMP.” PAMP. Ed. Joseph Pamp. PAMP Inc., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016. Good Delivery accreditation is the standard for precious metals. It measures product standards as well as industry and market practices. Recognising only the most reputable assayers and refiners, nothing less is acceptable.
PAMP is one of only three refineries worldwide designated as ‘Referee’ by both the LBMA and the LPPM
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
Example No. 3
Mythology T
he epic legend of Jason and his Argonauts, who sailed from Greece to the shores of the Black Sea over three thousand years ago in search of the Golden Fleece, has won legitimacy through the work of modern archaeologists. The ‘Golden Fleece’ was to be found in the ancient kingdom of Colchis on the southeast shores of the Black Sea, where rivers carried down alluvial gold dust from the high mountains of the Caucasus in what is now Georgia. The specks of gold were trapped in the wool of sheepskins that local gold miners spread in the beds of the streams. The technique is still understood by the mountain people of Svanetia in the high country of the Caucasus, reports Professor Othar Lordkipanidze of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Jan Fabre “Chapters I—XVIII, Waxes and Bronzes”
MYTHOLOGY
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HOW AND WHY WE LOVE GOLD
“the dried skin was beaten to shake out the grains of gold.” The archaeology work that was conducted by Professor Lordkipanidze reveals that the area of Colchis was rich in gold in ancient times and that, in the city of Aeetes, there was a palace of gold and the king had a golden helmet. Moreover, both there and in Greece there were strong beliefs in the ‘divine essence’ of the fleece. “A golden ram or lamb belongs to ancient strata of religion, a symbol of royal power and protection,” he says. “Whoever owned the fleece could reign.” Now in Greece, Jason, the story goes, had been cheated of his throne by his half-uncle King Pelias. If he could secure the golden fleece he could win back the throne. This
MYTHOLOGY
was the motive for his 2,400 kilometres (1,500 miles) voyage. Perhaps, in more real terms, if he came back with gold from Colchis he could finance an uprising to overthrow the King. The practicalities of the voyage itself were also proved in 1984 when the explorer Tim Severin launched an expedition in a specially built wooden boat, designed on the lines of an ancient Greek galley, to row and sail from Greece across the Aegean, up through the Bospherus to the Black Sea and on to modern Georgia. The voyage was accomplished in just over two months, ending up at the mouth of the Rhioni river which, in ancient times, was known as
the Phasis and along whose banks several bronze age settlements have revealed wonderful gold ornaments. So the voyage of Jason and his Argonauts was feasible. Professor Lordkipanidze has excavated ancient communities in Colchis and uncovered wonderful gold diadems, rings and earrings. And he confirms not only what writers over two thousand years ago said about sheepskins being used to trap gold, but has tracked down similar reports through the centuries. The geographer Strabo in the 5th century BC was explicit. “It is said in their country (Colchis) gold is carried down the mountain torrents and that the barbarians obtain it by means of
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
perforated troughs and fleecy skins and that this is the origin of the myth of the Golden Fleece.” The Roman historian Appian was more specific, noting that, “many streams issue from the Caucasus bearing gold dust so fine as to be invisible. The inhabitants put sheepskin with soggy fleece into the stream and this collects the floating particles”. The story was always the same. In the 19th century gold was being taken by skins from the Rioni and Tskhemnis-tsgadi rivers. And a report for the Georgian Academy of Sciences in 1946 said geologists were finding 5.3 grams of gold per one tonne of sand in the rivers. The description of recovery could have been written three thousand
years ago. “Gold is obtained by means of sheepskins. A sheepskin, stretched over a board or flattened in some way, was placed in the river, fixing it so as not to be carried away by the stream, with the fleece on the upper side. The soaked fleece trapped the gold particles. After some time the skin was withdrawn and spread on the ground to dry; the dried skin was beaten to shake out the grains of gold.” The technique that gave birth to the myth of the Golden Fleece has survived at least three thousand years without being changed at all, even in the slightest. Jason and his Argonauts forever be remembered as ancient, gold prospectors.
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All gold every thing.
HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
—Trinidad James. “All Gold Everything” Dont be S.A.F.E. Def Jam Records 2012
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
GOLD ALL IN MY WATCH The richest man in history. From here to Timbuktu. Imagine you could travel with 100 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold, while trekking across Africa and the Middle East. In fact, you were giving away gold so freely that you actually deflated the price of it across an entire country. Well, that’s exactly what the richest man in the history did. His name was Mansa Musa, the King of the Mali empire back in the early 1300s. So the tale goes, the King of Kings gave away so much gold that that he decreased the price of it across all of Egypt. But how rich would you have to be in order to pull this off? After adjusting for inflation, try $400 billion in today’s currency. That’s more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet combined, with about a cool $200 billion left over. To get an idea of how rich Mansa Musa truly was, lets try to put this in perspective…
– Trinidad James. “All Gold Everything” Dont be S.A.F.E. Def Jam Records 2012
THE RICHEST MAN IN HISTORY
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
HE COULD HAVE BUILT ABOUT 400 BURJ KHALIFAS.
MANSA MUSA COULD COVER ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.’S PAYCHECK FOR THE NEXT 5,000 YEARS.
MANSA MUSA COULD COVER THE COST OF THE “MALL OF THE WORLD” 16 TIMES OVER.
The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, cost an estimated $1.5 billion to prop up in the middle of the desert city of Dubai. To make things a bit easier, let’s just round this down to $1 billion. At that number, King Mansa Musa could have built himself nearly 400 personal Burj Khalifas. That’s a lot of office space. Speaking of expensive projects in Dubai.
Robert Downey, Jr. made a reported $80 million last year for Iron Man and Avengers. This made him the highest paid actor of the year and sounds like a ton of money to us non-ruling kings of Africa. However, we’re dealing with the richest person in history here and his pockets are DEEP. If he wanted, Mansa Musa could honor the contracts of Downey Jr. for the next 5000 years. We don’t even know if there are enough villains for Iron Man to fight, but we’re sure Marvel could come up with something.
You think you know extravagant? Pfft. You don’t even know the half of it. The biggest mall in the world, is currently under development in Dubai. It will basically contain more clothes than you could fit in the universe, but just how much will it cost to build this fifty million square foot mall? Try $25 billion. It is so expensive to fund, that developers are spacing out their payments over the next ten years. ten years you say? Pffffft again. Mansa Musa could cover that cost at the flick of the wrist and do it again another sixteen times if he truly wanted. Put that in your penny loafers and smoke it.
MANSA MUSA COULD COVER YOUR ELECTRICITY FOR THE NEXT 200 MILLION YEARS Want to go electric? Perfect! You are literally set until the world forms back into Pangea. According to MNN.com, the average person spends about $2000 on electric per year. Assuming you aren’t living in David Siegel’s mini version of Versailles, you can let that volcano lamp of yours run in perpetuity. That’s because Mansa Musa would be your new General Electric, covering your wee costs for the next 200 million years.
THE RICHEST MAN IN HISTORY
Just don’t stick that volcano lamp in a microwave. Assuming you didn’t just spend two hundred million years watching the billions of videos on YouTube, lets continue. One of the most exciting sporting events last year was the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fight. It wasn’t just exciting because they are the two best fighters of their generation, it was also because of the ridiculous paychecks.
HE COULD SUPPLY THE ENTIRE US WITH FREE OIL FOR A YEAR STRAIGHT.
Now before you go and say, “What!? Only a year.” Lets first understand how many barrels of oil that is and how much that would cost. The number is so staggering, that even Musa would have to probably take out a loan or two or try to find a few spare gold bars from under his golden couches. According to Green Lifestyle Changes, in 2012, the US imported nearly four trillion barrels of oil at a price of about $430 billion.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
HE COULD EASILY BUY YMCMB HUNDREDS OF TIMES OVER.
HE COULD HAVE CREATED 400,000 ROLLS OF PURE GOLD TOILET PAPER.
Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and Birdman make up the bulk of the net worth of their record label YMCMB (Young Money Cash Money Billionaires) and are some of the most successful musicians today. Drake is worth an estimated $75 million, Nicki Minaj is worth about $60 million, Lil Wayne is worth about $140 million and Birdman is raking it in at about $170 million. So, even at a combined $450 million, it pales in comparison to Mansa Musa’s staggering wealth. In fact, the Mali King could have bought YMCMB over about 1000 times. Sorry Drizzy.
Since the King Of Mali made his fortune through gold, lets say just for fun, he wanted to supply his empire with rolls of pure gold toilet paper. According to Design Taxi, a roll of 22 karat toilet paper costs an estimated $1.3 million to make. Lets say Mansa Musa skipped out on a few rolls and generated each roll for a solid $1 million. At a rate like that, he could have made 400,000 rolls of golden toilet paper. Since we use about 50 rolls per year, he would not only be literally wiping his rich butt with gold, he would have enough to do it for the next eight-thousand years. Considering we spend about only three years of our life time on the iron throne, he’d have more than enough for all those camels and servants on his voyage to Mecca as well. That’s a happy camel.
JAY Z AND BEYONCE WOULD HAVE TO SPEND 5000 YEARS ON TOUR IN ORDER TO MEET MANSA MUSA’S NET WORTH. She might be flawless, but Beyonce sure isn’t the King of Mali. Neither is Jay Z for that matter. During their “On The Run” Tour, Billboard says that the couple was reportedly paid a combined $4 million per show. Hey, we’d take that pay day any day, but if they have aspirations of controlling nearly an entire continent, they better start hiring a ton of back up dancers.
On the North American leg of the tour, the couple performed a total of 19 shows. At that rate, they would have to perform 100,000 shows and tour the U.S. for, say, the next 5000 years. No wonder they say there is no escaping those entertainment contracts. Bob Seger wouldn’t be too happy about that either. He would be “On The Road, Again” again, again, again....you get the idea.
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
I AINT SAYIN’ SHE
A GOLD DIGGER THE FIRST ABSOLUTE QUEEN. – Kanye West. “Gold Digger” Late Registration Def Jam Records 2005
Elizabeth Tudor is considered by many to be the greatest monarch in English history. When she became queen in 1558, she was twenty-five years old, a survivor of scandal and danger, and considered illegitimate by most Europeans. She inherited a bankrupt nation, torn apart by religious discord, a weakened pawn between the great powers of France and Spain. She was only the third queen to rule England in her own right; the other two examples, her cousin Lady Jane Grey and half-sister Mary I, were disastrous. Even her supporters believed her position dangerous and uncertain. Her only hope, they counseled, was to marry quickly and lean upon her husband for support.
THE FIRST ABSOLUTE QUEEN
She ruled alone for nearly half a century, lending her name to a glorious epoch in world history. She dazzled even her greatest enemies. Her sense of duty was admirable, though it came at great personal cost. She was committed above all else to preserving English peace and stability; her genuine love for her subjects was legendary. Only a few years after her death in 1603, they lamented her passing. In her greatest speech to Parliament, she told them, ‘I count the glory of my crown that I have reigned with your love.’ And five centuries later, the worldwide love affair with Elizabeth Tudor continues.
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
THE FIRST ABSOLUTE QUEEN
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
‘Proud and haughty, as although she of his new marriage. Mary refused; she knows she was born of such a mother, she already blamed Anne Boleyn (and, by nevertheless does not consider herself of extension, Elizabeth) for the sad alteration inferior degree to the Queen, whom she of her own fortunes. In December, she equals in self-esteem; nor does she believe was moved into her infant half-sister’s herself less legitimate than her Majesty, household. When told to pay her respects alleging in her own favour that her mother to the baby Princess, she replied that would never cohabit with the King unless she knew of no Princess of England but by way of marriage, with the authority of herself, and burst into tears. the Church. Henry already ignored Mary and She prides herself on her father and Katharine’s constant pleas to meet; now he glories in him; everybody saying that she began a much more aggressive campaign also resembles him more than the Queen to secure Anne and Elizabeth’s position. does and he For one mother therefore always “SHE DAZZLED EVEN HER and daughter to liked her and had be secure, the her brought up GREATEST ENEMIES.” other pair must in the same way necessarily suffer. as the Queen. The Venetian ambassador Most Europeans, and indeed Englishmen, Giovanni Michiel describes Elizabeth; still believed Katharine to be the king’s spring 1557 valid wife. Now old and sickly, imprisoned Elizabeth Tudor was born on September in one moldy castle after another, she seventh, 1533 at Greenwich Palace. She remained a very popular figure. Anne was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Boleyn was dismissed in polite circles as his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry had the king’s ‘concubine’ and their marriage defied the papacy and the Holy Roman was recognized only by those of the Emperor to marry Anne, spurred on by new Protestant faith. After that, Henry love and the need for a legitimate male attempted to legislate popular acceptance heir. And so Elizabeth’s birth was one of of his new queen and heiress. But the the most exciting political events in 16th various acts and oaths only cost the lives of century European history; rarely had so several prominent Catholics, among them much turmoil occurred on behalf of a Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher. mere infant. But the confident predictions The English people never accepted ‘Nan of astrologers and physicians were wrong Bullen’ as their queen. and the longed-for prince turned out to be But while she had the king’s personal a princess. favor. And she held that favor far longer Eustace Chapuys, who was the Imperial than any had expected. It was only after ambassador and enemy of Anne Boleyn, she miscarried twice that Henry began to described the birth to his master as: “a consider this second marriage as cursed as portrait of Elizabeth’s mother, Anne the first. The last miscarriage occurred in Boleyn great disappointment and sorrow January 1536; Katharine died that same to the King, the Lady herself and to others month. With her death, the king’s Catholic of her party.” But for the next two years, critics considered him a widower, free to Henry VIII was willing to hope for a son marry again. And this next marriage would to join this healthy daughter. Immediately not be tainted by the specter of bigamy. It after Elizabeth’s birth, he wrote to his 17 was only necessary to get rid of Anne, and year old daughter, Princess Mary, and find a new wife one who could hopefully demanded she relinquish her title Princess deliver a son. However, The king already of Wales and acknowledge both the had a candidate in mind; her name was annulment of his marriage to her mother, Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to both Katharine of Aragon, and the validity Katharine and Anne.
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
“LOOK INSIDE OF MY SOUL AND YOU CAN FIND GOLD” AN INTERVIEW WITH FKA TWIGS
—Kendrick Lamar. “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” Good Kid MAAD City Interscope Records 2013
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
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HISTORICAL HUSTLERS
“are you a unicorn?” THERE’S SOMETHING PECULIAR YET FAMILIAR ABOUT BRITISH SINGER FKA TWIGS.
Born in Gloucestershire, U.K. as Tahliah Barnett to a part Spanish mother and Jamaican father, Twigs embodies a familiarity that still gives way to a certain mystique. Onstage, her voice hangs onto a spare beat before releasing itself into a calculated whisper. Her body writhes with precision in a display of sensuality and defiance. Twigs insists that this in not an act, but rather, a glimpse of a woman coming into herself with conviction. What is worth noting about 26-year-old Twigs is her hands-on approach to everything. She got her start as a backup dancer, but moved her way to the front with relentless hours of work and practice. As a result, she has mastered what she puts in front of the camera just as much as what goes on behind it. Each shot, choreographed move and lyric comes from the artist. Twigs recently made news after receiving a barrage of racist tweets regarding her relationship with Twilight star Robert Pattinson, but it is clear that the singer is not as interested in other people’s opinion of her personal life as much as perfecting her craft. This year alone, she released her first album LP1, directed a short film for Google Glass and opened for Prince at Paisley Park. Essence chatted with the budding star about pursuing her life on her own terms.
AN INTERVIEW WITH FKA TWIGS
GOLD THROUGH THE AGES
Fans love your elaborate hairstyles, complete with slick baby hair. Has this always been your signature style? I grew up in a White area and I was the only mixed race girl in my school. I didn’t have this straightlayered hair like my classmates. I had ringlets. As a teenager, I was always really experimenting with braids and finding things I could have and the girls couldn’t have and they would try to do and couldn’t do. I think it kind of stemmed from there with me trying to be more comfortable with myself. Then I moved to South London to go to Croydon College. All the girls always had amazing hair in South London. That was the style then; you’d slick your hair down to your forehead. After that I went to East London, which is kind of an artsy area. A photographer saw me on the Tube one day and was like ‘your hair is amazing’ and I ended up on the cover of ID with my hair kind of exaggerated. It’s weird because I’ve seen the way it’s created in fashion. I never would have thought that would happen. I spent a lot of time working in a lot of underground cabaret clubs like where Josephine Baker has that kind of look, so my style as an artist came from Josephine Baker 1920s films as well. But I just want to make music. I’m not going to be come a costume version or caricature of myself; I like to morph. It’s really funny when I think of how it started as me being a girl from the country who couldn’t straighten my hair.
There seems to be a sort of blurring of submission and dominance in many of your lyrics. Are you pushing back against the idea that all women should be one thing? It’s not really something that I planned. I started making music at a very weird time in my life, when I was going from being a young girl to knowing what it feels like to be a bit more womanly. I’m going to be 27 in a month. As you get older, you kind of take control of your sexuality a little bit more. As a young woman, it can kind of feel like you’re not in control of your sexuality, or maybe the media is in control of your sexuality or this other pop star is in control of your sexuality, because if she wore that then I’d wear that and my friends would wear that. And you don’t understand why you’re doing that; it’s just like this domino effect. I realized that things can be unsettling and that’s okay, you can gently touch and that can resonate just as much as you going full force with something. I’ve realized that over the past two years. I think there’s a massive amount of strength in admitting that you’re vulnerable. That comes through in my records and I didn’t really think about it at the time. People can see who I am in the record and I can see who I was when I was making the record.
We live in a culture where artists are treated like mythical characters, like unicorns that live outside of the realm of reality. What does a day in the life of FKA Twigs look like? Are you a unicorn? (Laughs) I think we live in a culture where it is really difficult to get privacy because everything is so accessible. It’s very difficult to maintain your comfortable life with a sort of mystique. Sometimes it feels like everything you do has to be an open book. Now people will have a video of you on YouTube just walking out of a hotel and it will have like 10,000 views, which is kind of crazy. The last 3 years I’ve been working every single day. I’m always making music or traveling somewhere to do a show. I honestly think in the last year I’ve had four days off total where I am kind of doing nothing, and I’m sure even then I’m planning emails or doing something. The last three years have been very intense. You are very hands on with the entire process of creating your work. In what ways did being so involved with your debut album force you to grow? You have to recognize at some point that even though you have the passion and creative level to be able to do something, you might have to do a lot of prep. Sometimes you just can’t do it as quickly as you want to do it. I had to do so much to understand the camera, but now I know what lens I want to use and color scheme. When I first started I didn’t understand mechanical things. I had to practice a lot and realized that although I knew how I wanted the album to sound in my head, translating that thing to something audible takes work. I feel confident now. I feel like now I am experimenting with knowledge.
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“True gold fears no fire.”