CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK. "I wrote these words for everyone who struggles in their youth..." -Lauryn Hill.
CONRETE JUNGLE BOOK + Achromatic: Volume Deux is available now wherever crooks are sold.
"nine months ago started shopping a book/literary haters barely gave it a look but I'll still be on the the shelves with all the other crooks..." #Achromatic #MrGoodBar
Everyone in New York City has a story... here's one from the island of Manhattan.
CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK is not only a story told and defined by the modern world, in itself CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK is a piece of modern, minimalist art.
"CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK design/inspired by minimalist aesthetic of the retro 9's..." #Achromatic #MrGoodBar
Available in black + white paperback and full-color hardcover formats, CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK features illustrations by the author and featured photography by New York native Andrew Tryfonos of The Whisper Pit. |Click to Link|.
Made in New York. Printed in the United States of America.
Achromatic Music + Word: colorless audio and lyric in black and white. Stripped of all that is unnecessary to create clean, but grimy minimalist music to honor its aesthetic. Achromatic: Volume Deux is the second installment of Achromatic Music | Def Jam Recordings. Book + Soundtrack creative direction is courtesy of 8 MILLION | STORIES Creative Agency. CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK + Achromatic: Deux is the first project and product released under the 8 MILLION STORIES umberella. More to come in 2013.
"This place is full of Artist, hey Artist! You gotta dollar!?... didn't think so..." -Via CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK + Hudson Line | Achromatic: Volume Deux.
"This is New York-if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere..."-Via Hudson Line | Achromatic: Volume Deux.
Achromatic Deux Includes:
Can't Say No/Champion. Blocks + Feel Jackson.
CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK is the written story, Achromatic: Deux is the audio story. The book evokes emotion, feelings, highs and lows, each song is arranged to tell a story that corresponds with the book, the Soundtrack is arranged in its entirety to correspond with the story and reiterate, magnify the feelings of the written word.
SoHo. TriBeCa. Harlem. Upper Westside. Upper Eastside. Chelsea. Hell's Kitchen. East Village. West Village. Lower Eastside. Little Italy. CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK + Achromatic: Volume Deux.
[Above] Illustration by Jamel Daniels for 8 MILLION STORIES. Image by Andrew Tryfonos of The Whisper Pit via CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK. Chapter 4. ChItaly.
CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK Excerpt. Chapter 17. Middle of Manhattan.
I people watched and looked at what the night had to offer. I began to realize some things. Many of my friends desired to be in Manhattan just as I did. Some of my closest friends managed to get to Queens, upstate, Jersey City and Hoboken. Others were all across the country and even international. I had friends who relocated to Alabama and even Nebraska. I felt like in some way everyone was getting ahead except me. Promotions and raises or whatever, I just wanted to design menswear and thus far only one person gave me the opportunity to do so. I was trying to tell myself I was in way over my head but as I thought about my track record I couldn’t bring myself to it. Unable to believe it I asked myself what I was doing, as I thought about it I smirked and kind of laughed to myself, I was smack dab in the middle of Manhattan, like, how did I get here? In itself it was something not everyone could do. This was one of the positive thoughts that crossed my mind but I also thought, what if this is as good as it gets? What if that was the last stop. This place is full of artist, most of them starving. There is no shortage of world class athletes who will never play in the big leagues. Countless musicians will never see the majors. Designers, actors, photographers, dancers, writers, New York is filled to the brim with them. I didn’t know if I would struggle with this until I got over it or continue my pursuit, but I knew just because it was what I wanted to do didn’t guarantee any success...
"NeNa from Howard said 'keep creating...'/I was debating..." #Achromatic #MrGoodBar via Achromatic: Volume Deux + CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK.
[Above] Image by Andrew Tryfonos of The Whisper Pit via CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK. Chapter 4. ChItaly.
CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK Excerpt. Chapter 4. ChItaly.
One trip to New York to meet with an agency I was staying at a hostel called Sun Bright on Hester Street in what was technically Little Italy but was an over pour of Chinatown, it was like ChItaly. It got to the point where I was staying there ninety percent of the time I needed to travel to The City because it was somewhat reasonably priced and I could usually count on a room being available. A few blocks from the hostel I took the 6 train from Canal Street to 59th Street and lexington to jog in Central Park. Coming down 59th Street I saw a store called m0851 just before I got to Madison. I liked the merchandise in the window and the way it was displayed, the furniture and overall aesthetic was clean, industrial, modern and minimal. Products and Architectural Design was under the name of the store and this took my interest over the top. I wrote a note in my phone to look up the company to see if I could find work there. I essentially embodied the aesthetic and what appeared to be the lifestyle of the brand. As I made it to the park I embarked on the internal six mile course as usual. I was able to clear my head, become stronger and even inspired and motivated. At this time I also discovered the art of James De la Vega as I was running. In chalk, all around the path was art he was sharing with runners. He created illustrations and authored original quotes tagged with DeLaVega. The quotes would say things like “become your dream” and “you are your best investment.” Another one of my favorites was “be mindful, even if your mind is full.”
Before I finished the internal course I saw De La Vega authoring quotes along the path. I stopped and asked him if he was the Author and of course he was. I thanked him for sharing and asked him if I would find any of his work online. He was really cool, too cool to tweet or be on any social media. He was truly underground and unique to The City, but I was able to get enough information from him to share with others and stay inspired myself.
"Its a good story. It's a beautiful book... soundtrack too-it's just a good body of work..." -Jamel Daniels. Designer | Producer | Illustrator | Author of CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK.
