Swagga Digital Magazine Issue #16

LOOK GREAT ❇ DRESS SHARP ❇ LIVE WELL

SWAGGA DIGITAL MAGAZINE

VALERIE VALENTINA WESTCOAST LEATHER

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FROM THE RUNWAY TO RETAIL ROC RIO

MAY-JULY 2016

❋FASHION

Culture

LIFESTYLES

TENT CITY A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Music&Art 2016

Winter/Spring Issue VOL. 5 ISSUE NO. 16

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ON THE COVER DAVID KAITIDIS PHOTOGRAPHED

BY RON FULCHER

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PROMOTION

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SEE spectacles

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@ WESTCOAST LEATHER

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UrbanAnkles

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URBAN INK

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SEE spectacles

ON THE RADAR

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Valerie Valentina Couture

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2(X(IST MENS UNDERWEAR WHITE BRIEF MACY’S.COM

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FASHION

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WESTCOAST LEATHER

PROMOTION

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#swaggadigitalmagazine.com

CULTUREFASHION LIFESTYLE ART MUSIC

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ROC RIO FOR MEN URBAN SWAGG

Published (4) Times @ Year Printed in the USA In Print | iPhone | Android | iPad® All Rights Reserved ©2009-2016 SDM PUBLISHING

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VOLUME VI, NO. 16 | SPRING/SUMMER ISSUE

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BRANDING & STRATEGY

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY | ARCHIE BRUMFIELD GRAPHIC DESIGN ~ CREATIVE SERVICES | SDM PUBLISHING PHOTO EDITOR ~ ART DIRECTOR | RON FULCHER ADVERTISING MANAGER | ARCHIE BRUMFIELD

SOCIAL MEDIA

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CREATIVE CONTRIBUTORS

PHOTOGRAPHER | RON FULCHER PHOTOGRAPHER | MATTHEW BROWN PHOTOGRAPHER | SETH LONDON PHOTOGRAPHER | ERIK THE EYE CATCHER PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE | SUGAR & SPICE PRODUCTIONS PHOTOGRAPHER | JOHN LANDAN PHOTOGRAPHER | DEJUAN DOBIE PHOTOGRAPHER | STEVEN LANG PHOTOGRAPHER | LAFAYETTE BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

SPECIAL THANKS SEE EYEWEAR ROC RIO DESIGNS WESTCOAST LEATHER SHEKHAR RAHATE COUTURE H&M CLOTHIERS MARQUETTE COLLECTION MACY’S SAN FRANCISCO UNION SQUARE RCA RECORDS, NYC CHEVALIER HOMME, ETU EVANS LIONSGATE PUBLICITY DWIGHT EUBANKS UBER RIDE SERVICES FAB 5 PHOTO STUDIO VALARIE VALENTINA COUTURE & JEWELRY 2 (X)IST MENS UNDERWEAR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION~sdm_magazine@yahoo.com VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT~www.swaggadigitalmagazine.com NEED TO SEND A LETTER TO EDITOR~swaggadigitalmag@gmail.com SDM PUBLISHING COMPANY

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WWW.SWAGGADIGITALMAGAZINE.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | RON FULCHER

FASHION

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VALERIE VALENTINA COUTURE

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FROM THE RUNWAY TO RETAIL...ROCRIO DESIGNS

n our radar, for this issue is Designer Rickie Lee of RocRio Designs, who is quickly making a name for himself in the fashion world, as well as social media, Instagram, and Facebook. Rickie has had the opportunity lately, to work with several celebrities, such Grammy Award winning artist Dwele, Stephanie Mills, R&B sensations TonyToniTone, Blsade, the amazing Erykah Badu and recently the actor Morris Chestnut.

Mr. Lee has started, to make a name for himself, and his fashion designs have begun to make his presence known. In 2014 this bay area native launched his menswear collection in New York during NYFW. Upon returning to the bay area he also launched his menswear collection boutique online entitled “RocRio.” The fascination with Mr. Lee’s collection has generated enthusiam as far as the UK! As the success of the online stores continues to blossom, Mr. Lee has decided to pursue his dream of selling small capsule collections to retail outlets, and boutiques. “I knew if I wanted to making a living as a designer, I would have to do more than participate in fashion shows.” Within 6 months of that realization Mr. Lee moved into his design studio, and launched an online boutique. His clothing line recently has been picked up by several clothing stores throughout the bay area. Mr. Lee’s line focuses on cut, fabric, style and fit combining simplistic design aesthetics and using lux fabrics from around the world. When Mr. Lee is not designing you can find him working with his "babies" as he calls them. For the last 4 years Rickie has taught a Fashion Design enrichment course throughout several public schools. The program is designed to empower young people and build self-esteem as well as provide students the opportunity to learn every aspect of fashion design and garment construction. Recently Rickie Lee was nominated for the 2016 Oakland Indie Awards - Innovative Newcomer- award for the launch of his online store and endeavors in fashion as well as his work with young people. Stay tuned to more from Mr. Lee and his eclectic designs.- RL

FASHION

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“EPITOME FASHION SHOW” ON THE CATWALK MEN’S FASHION NEW YORK CITY SHEKHAR RAHATE COUTURE MARQUETTE COLLECTION CHEVALIER HOMME ETU EVANS DWIGHT EUBANKS ROCRIO DESIGNS

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ROCRIO DESIGNS THE P.O.V. COLLECTION

BY ROCRIO

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PHOTOS: ERIK THE EYE CATCHER

 EMERGING ARTISTS MUSIC print . mobile . social . online . tablet

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PHOTO CREDIT: ERIK EYECATCHER

Ozer is a 21 Year old up and coming Hip-Hop artist out of San Francisco’s, Bayview Hunter’s Point. Ozer has been steadily working on music since the age of 16, trying to perfect his craft and make music that speaks to all people from all lifestyles. Within his singles “Gravy,” “Rumors,” and “The Process,” besides his distinct, heavy bass voice, you can feel the hunger that rests within him.

Within his music, he finds abalance of giving the listener what they want to hear and though quite young, what they need to hear. This year Ozer has been working non-stop, building momentum to lead up to his debut project, “The Nostalgia.”

Though underground now, Ozer is soon to become one of the next big artists out of San Francisco.

LIFESTYLE MUSIC ART SOUNDCLOUD CULTURE

SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: @loweyeoz Instagram: @loweyeoz Soundcloud.com/loweyeozer

MUSIC FASHION M

FACEBOOK ART CULTURE SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM SNAPCHAT

FOR MORE INFO FOLLOW HIM ON: FB: MARLEY MCNEALY IG: MARLEYSMUSIC TWITTER: MARLEYSMUSIQ

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arley McNealy (San Francisco, Bay Area Native) is an American R&B/HipHop song writing sensation. He's known for his amazing song writing ability that compliments his soft smooth singing voice, mixed in with his creative rap delivery. Marley McNealy plays many instruments, one of them being the piano, where he credits his unique sound and catchy melodies. He stepped on the scene in 2012 with his first Single Debut "Daylight", which quickly grabbed the attention of many listeners.

Since then, Marley McNealy has continued to gain worldwide attention with his recent hit singles on ITunes, "You got it" and "Bon Vin". His talent is one thing but what makes Marley McNealy a great artist is his work ethic and dedication to his craft.

Tent City a Tale of Two Cities 58 SWAGGA DIGITAL MAGAZINE

Affordable Housing Financial Inequality Homelessness Transportation Homelessness in San Francisco, is a societal problem that has been in the cross-hair for many years now. It is not something that is new to the city. People have been camping out for years now. The primary area at one point was around City Hall, and near the public library. The city leaders passed an ordinance called the sit-lie ordinance in early 2010 know as Proposition L of which Gavin Newsom was the measure’s main sponsor and cheerleader. This type of municipal ordinance is not unique just to San Francisco, it is popular in about 235 cities throughout the United States. Basically, this ordinance was meant as a package of reforms, also providing services for homeless people, such as restrooms, benches, day shelters and in its context as is being argued today as a tool to ensure that such resources are utilized. In recent memory there have been city sweeps, criminalization of the homelessness, which as of lately is prone to selective enforcement which target undesirable activities such as aggressive panhandling, obstruction of sidewalks, loitering, reliving yourself on public sidewalks, and aggressive pursuits.

Tent encampments throughout the City, have started to spring up all over the city, primarily on division street, and the surrounding area bounded by 8th, 9th, Townsend, Brannan, and Potrero Avenue. At one point the tent city has ballooned into 250 tents pre-super bowl. Unfortunately, a by-product of this tent city has been a direct clash with the merchants in the area. There have been incidents of trash, crime, uncleanliness, and drug activity. Some homeless people have also gotten aggressive with customers. This has now become a problem because it is affecting commerce for the merchants. As a result of this clash with the merchants the tent city has been cleared by the Department of Public Works, at least for now. In the city, politics can be very contentious lately, with the Tech Boom and each side jockeying for housing, jobs, and diversity in the workplace.

The question is what can be done and try and understand root cause about homelessness in general.

Some would argue, that the homeless situation is a direct result of the current discussion of the lack of income equality in the region and throughout the country as a whole. The changing political landscape, of a Donald Trump and his demonstrative speeches. With the wage disparity in most of the country now

Crime, is becoming a significant factor and a lot of it has been contributed to the homeless population.

Although, this characterization may be misguided, and unfairly pinned on the homeless, without substantiating facts I cannot say for sure. However, recently in the South of Market area of San Francisco there has been a rise in car break-ins near the Division Street Tent City prior to the dismantling of the tent city population. Its truly, a tale of two cities, on one side the haves with disposable income to live in the city who can afford the high rents, eat at the trendy restaurants, drive fancy cars, shop at the high end stores.

On the other side the have-nots, where we continue to look through the solitary prisms of homelessness, income inequity, and the lack of affordable housing in the bay area, one has to think where does it all end.

It is simply impossible to avert one’s eyes to the millions of dollars and developments pouring into the city, virtually none of which go to the homeless and or affordable housing for the lower income people in the city.

As the affordable housing shortage is spreading across the bay area, across the bay in Oakland, which once was a pariah in some real estate circles, due to high crime, now finds its star is now starting to shine brightly. At a recent city council meeting, housing justice organizers were protesting at City Hall, “because of the longtime Oakland residents, which has reached crisis proportions and disproportionately impacts the city’s African-American residents.” The organizers were encouraging Oaklanders – particularly the 60% percent who were renters to come to the council meeting and bring family members and neighbors, with the hopes that this is the best chance residents will have to respond to developers and speculators who are turning Oakland into a “bedroom community”, for San Francisco. The is a grass roots effort, to persuade the City Council of Oakland, to pass a housing state of emergency to temporarily halt or slow down the city’s displacement crisis, giving officials and city staff months to implement remedies for the damaging practices that continue to run out of control. In essence the proclamation is a financial tool, that the City would enable the City to utilize certain city funds and outside grants.

As it stands today, affordable housing, income inequities, homelessness, minimum wage and transportation are at the crossroads of living in the bay area. What lies ahead as a solution is up for grabs. - RF

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becoming hot bed political issues, housing shortages, affordable housing, immigration and needed Bart transportation infrastructure repairs, the mentality of kicking the can down the road, has finally caught up the major transportation provider in the region, looking now for a bailout by the taxpayer and the reluctance of government intervene. As I transverse the city while driving Uber, I see so many tents still up and the person has all of their belongings strewn throughout their space. We just drive by because seeing homeless people on the freeway entrances and exits is so common these days, most people are kind of immune to it. Its very hard to say your immune to peoples plight but unfortunately, its is a common mindset in the bay area. The stigma of homelessness is very real in the bay area. Its more prevalent in San Francisco due to monetary, social service assistance, medical care and shelters are provided as opposed to other cities in the bay area. Systemically, it’s a real problem that will probably get worse as opposed to being eradicated. I have spoken with a few homeless individuals, and I ask the question how did they become homeless. Out of about 50 people I have interviewed or interacted with there was one common denominator that contributed to their homelessness. It was loss of income, jobs, and drug usage. Quite a few homeless are habitual drug users, not just marijuana but heroin, meth and prescription pills. It is easier for them to live in the street, and not have the responsibility of a job, an apartment or lodging. The homeless individuals I interviewed were very open and amazingly, creative in communicating how they live on the streets, and get monies for their drugs, food and just surviving. Some, said “its an adventure to be homeless.” But, I suspect its more than an adventure, due to the changing societal attitude of most people and especially merchants as of late.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: DEJUAN DOBIE

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