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LIFEWTR is making a statement on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement in a move that merges Black art and technology together. PepsiCo brand LIFEWTR — a premium water brand with a history of amplifying social progress through art — recently announced the launch of Black Art Rising , an infinite digital gallery that documents the diverse responses to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. View this post on Instagram A post shared by LIFEWTR (@lifewtr) In an effort to further amplify the Black Lives Matter movement, the brand has turned its channels over to eight purpose-driven artists to preserve this moment in time and immortalize our progress as a people through a historical exhibition, a press release reports . “People get easily distracted. It’s necessary we keep the conversations going and people focused on what really matters. Art is influence. Why wouldn’t we use our platform,” burgeoning hip hop artist, Tobe Nwigwe , said in a statement. In addition to Nwigwe, the...
Chicago artist Hebru Brantley skyrocketed to well-known fame with his mural-style, futuristic work. Mainly, his motifs center on his signature characters Flyboy and Lil Momma, inspired by Tuskegee Airmen. Now, he’s bringing his imaginative world to Bombay Sapphire. In a press release, the world’s No. 1 premium gin announced its collaboration with Brantley for its first-ever artist-designed bottle in North America. The limited-edition bottle—a blue-toned glass featuring various characters from the Hebru Brand universe—will benefit the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter. “When you create something unique like this, you want it to inspire hope for a better future and shine a light on the courage and resilience of Black people in America,” Brantley said. “It felt only right that Bombay Sapphire and I were able to do this together to benefit Black Lives Matter Chicago, to support the critical work they do in fighting for racial justice in my hometown.”...
With the racial injustice happening in cities across the country, people are demanding for brands and public figures to make their views clear on our current social climate. As one of the first beauty brands to publicly support the Black Lives Matter movement, Glossier has pledged a total of $1 million to Black resistance causes and Black-owned beauty brands in the wake of the recent violence against Black people brought on by police. The beauty company issued a moving statement on their social media platforms to show their support for the Black community during this time. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Glossier (@glossier) “We stand in solidarity with the fight against systemic racism, white supremacy, and the historic oppression of the Black community,” the post reads. “Backing up this solidarity with monetary support, Glossier will be donating $500k to organizations fighting racial injustice including Black Lives Matter, The NAACP Legal Defense, and Educational Fund...
Snoop Dogg was one of Reddit’s earliest investors. The social news website and forum was created in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian while they were college students at the University of Virginia. Their idea was supported through startup incubator Y Combinator, which gave them access to $12,000 in funding for their vision to build “the front page of the Internet,” The Street reports. The company would grow as users were able to create a slew of subreddits that encompass a range of topics. Six years from Reddit’s inception, it became a major player in the social media sphere, boasting 35 million visitors and 2.8 billion pageviews, Ohanian wrote in Fast Company. In 2014, the company attracted the support of Snoop Dogg, who participated in a $50 million seed round led by Sam Altman, now OpenAI co-founder and CEO. “I worked my way in. You understand me? I didn’t mean to tell everybody, but I’m a part of Reddit too,” Snoop Dogg said in a 2017 interview for “GGN News.” The...
As technology continues to evolve, so does the culture of sneakers as we know them. No longer are eager collectors waiting in line for new releases, instead, they can be accessed by the click of a button. Now, with the metaverse playing a huge role in the day-to-day life of consumers, one popular self-taught artist is turning top-selling sneakers into digital characters. “Technology has definitely changed my life,” said Anderson Bluu, the visionary behind The Sneaker Transformation Series, a limited edition line of NFTs. “I don’t even know if I could do what I’m doing now without the way the world is built with social media technology and how everybody has a phone in their hand.” Bluu is a self-taught artist from Long Island, NY. He is also a sneaker designer who uses his creative powers to produce his own artwork, which is inspired by his love of sneakers, basketball, and pop culture. He further explained how technology has transformed his life, specifically as an artist. “I use it...
Black creatives push the culture forward, period. Premium bottled water brand LIFEWTR has remained committed to serving as a source of inspiration and hydration through its latest initiative alongside actress and creative Marsai Martin. Martin will serve as the Creative Curator of Black Art Rising, where she will contribute, collaborate with, and spotlight some of the best in the game when it comes to Black content creators in the newly formed LIFEWTR TikTok medium. Courtesy of Life Water “Having grown up in the entertainment industry and being a creative myself, I’ve seen the lack of resources and representation within the Black content creator community,” said Martin in an official statement. “That’s why I’m excited to partner with LIFEWTR and their Black Art Rising campaign. Being able to create opportunities that spotlight and celebrate Black digital creators who are pushing the culture forward is something I will always support.” Continuing the digital content leg of the...
The current state of the world has made the act of prioritizing one’s well-being to the top of the list. As previously reported by AfroTech, Digital Park, a Black-owned Brooklyn-based tech startup, launched its mobile app to combat mental stress during the peak of COVID-19. Now, two years into the pandemic, a new version of Drift Wellness has been built to create even more customization for users — an integrated pulse check-in feature. According to a press release shared with AfroTech, the new update measures your BPM heart rate and creates an ambient sound tailored to your pulse. To use the innovative feature, users are to place their fingers over their phone camera and flash. Making feature updates regularly is founders Jeffery and Oyin Antwi’s intention of not being a one-and-done mobile interaction, but rather a fluid experience for users’ journeys toward steadfast growth and better health. “Mindfulness apps with the pandemic and the BLM movement in 2020 — so many apps started...
Our stories are going digital. According to a press release, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation presented James Madison University (JMU), located in Harrisonburg, VA, with $2 million to complete the Furious Flower Poetry Center. It will be the nation’s first academic center dedicated to Black poetry. “It is really gratifying to know that this grant from the Mellon Foundation will help us to nurture, recognize, and support Black poets by building a sustainable digital framework for the Furious Flower Archive,” said Dr. Joanne V. Gabbin, Furious Flower Executive Director and Professor of English in an official statement.
A random store run on Easter Sunday changed this man’s life forever! Richard Hutchins was once an artist who lived on the streets of Los Angeles, but now he’s turning his life around after landing his paintings in the right hands. According to The Grio, Hutchins began living on the streets due to his art studio burning down a few years ago. That all changed during a trip to Ralph’s grocery store when Hutchins met Charlie Rocket, a philanthropist and founder, who just so happens to be the former manager to the rapper, 2 Chainz. In an interview with TMZ, Rocket explains the moments that led up to meeting Hutchins. “I went into Target, and I’ve never seen Target closed before, Walmart, Target, they’re just always open,” said Rocket. “So I was like, you know what, let’s go over to Ralphs, we pull up to Ralphs, and this guy is sitting on a shopping cart with amazing energy. [Richard] said, ‘Nephew, I like your car let me drive it.’” For Rocket, meeting Hutchins was fate. “I was like, ‘I...
Talk about a legacy! A fund created in honor of late rapper Mac Miller has announced plans to award 75 microgrants to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). According to Billboard, The Mac Miller Fund — which was established by the Miller family in 2018 — will award grants of $1,000 to 75 BIPOC artists to help them with their work. The BIPOC Artist Micro-Grant program was created by the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Center for Philanthropy with funds provided by the Mac Miller Fund. “This program is yet another wonderful example of how the fund is channeling Mac Miller’s spirit in the Pittsburgh region and the rest of the country,” said Pittsburgh Foundation President and CEO Lisa Schroeder in a statement. “As his fame skyrocketed, he shared his musical artistry generously — allowing people to internalize it however they would choose, and he reached out broadly. While there is much more work to be done in supporting racial diversity in our region’s arts community, we are grateful...
LeBron James and his money moves don’t always happen on the court. CBS Sports reports that a signed 2003 James Exquisite Collection patch rookie card recently sold for a whopping $5.2 million in a private sale by PWCC Marketplace. The sports channel also reports that the James Rookie Card is one of just 23 cards. “At the heart of every collector in 2003, was the hope of pulling the ultra-rare Lebron James Rookie Patch Auto Parallel numbered to 23 copies,” said PWCC. “With so few ever becoming available and demand increasing by the day, this card is quickly becoming the crown jewel of all sports card investing.” Previously the Luka Doncic Panini National Treasures Card held the record for the most expensive NBA card set selling in 2018 for a record fee of $4.6 million through a private sale. According to ESPN , the recent sale is now tied for the all-time record sale of any card with the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card purchased by Rob Gough. While the demand for the rookie card may...
The players of the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) have long since been vocal on behalf of the sports organization, calling attention to social issues that tackle racism, sexism, and more to demand change in the league and beyond. According to NewsOne, the WNBA recently launched an initiative that aims to directly address systemic inequities that contribute to the racial health disparities among Black women and girls. Ahead of the upcoming season, the organization, alongside the WNBPA (Women’s National Basketball Players Association) Social Justice Council — a collective of athletes and activists that was formed following last summer’s Black Lives Matter protest — will use this initiative as a vessel to highlight the socio-economic factors that significantly impact COVID-19 care for Black women and girls and offer educational tools about the vaccines. It will also promote the importance of prioritizing mental health in communities of color. As part of the initiative,...
Give Denise Gardner a round of applause! According to Because Of Them We Can, Gardner has just been named to the head of the Art Institute of Chicago’s advisory board, where she will advocate for Black artists, art access, and education for underrepresented audiences. Gardner isn’t just making Art Institute of Chicago history with her appointment. She’s making museum history with her appointment, as she’s the first-ever Black woman to sit at the head of a board for an American museum. “I want people of color to know the history and the power and the contribution of their own people in the visual arts. That’s not something I enjoyed in my education as a young person. I remember as an adult when I learned about Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, and I was almost a little angry – why didn’t I know about these artists,” she said about her appointment. Gardner got her start in the industry 30 years ago, when she began as an intern at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was discovered for...
Actress, writer, and producer Issa Rae has never been shy about amplifying Black and brown creatives — in fact, according to her, it’s “threaded in the fabric” of her being. So it was only right that she teamed up with a brand who’s company mission prioritizes the same principle. Today, Rae and LIFEWTR announced their new partnership to unveil the launch of Life Unseen — the water brand’s new platform and bottle collection that highlights the ongoing fight for fair representation within four main creative territories across the arts — fashion, film, music and visual arts. The new collaboration not only ties in Rae’s personal mission of always amplifying the unique work and perspectives of diverse creatives, it also works to address the systemic disparities and inequities that continue to plague the creative community — which starts with building a pipeline for storytelling that cultivates new opportunities for the next generation of creators. “It’s kind of a dream come true for me...
In his prime, Haitian-Puerto Rican artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was a social commentarian, a graffiti artist, and a multi-media painter who infamously dated Madonna before they both became pop culture icons. But ever since his tragic death from a heroin overdose at the age of 27, Basquiat’s work has been steadily growing in value and importance. And there’s no greater evidence of that than the recent sale of the 1982 painting, “Warrior,” which just sold for $41.9 million at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong. The New York Times broke the news about this latest Basquiat sale, which also revealed that this big-ticket price was the highest-ever paid for a Western artist in Asia. Despite this impressive accomplishment, “Warrior” isn’t even Basquiat’s most valuable piece of artwork. That honor goes to “Untitled,” which was sold to Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa for $110 million in 2017. And nine out of 10 of the artist’s most expensive paintings were done in 1982. But lest you think...