E L A B S
ZINE 1
"ARCHIVE INSIDER"
Published On January 13, 2019
by Earnest J. Steed
BLOG(003)
Location: Flowood, MS
How did you choose the name “ORIGINAAL” as a staple in your journey?
Jamil: " 1. Originaal came about in high school when my friend Kiani and I were going to start a t shirt company. As we were brainstorming, I believe she said something like “ we need something original”. I replied “what’s more original than changing the word original” we added another a to original and named it The Originaals. A variation of the name has stuck ever since. "
What’s your favorite shoe/collectable in your archive?
Jamil: "I will give you one for each. The Nike Air Yeezy 2 should be my favorite sneaker that I own and probably is a close second but it’s edged out by my thrashin sb dunk. This was the first shoe that I purchased with my own money. In 10th grade I bought these as a birthday gift to myself. I was always into shoes growing up but these opened my eyes into what was out there beyond the Jordans and air forces."
Where do you see yourself in 2020?
Jamil: "2020 sounds far but that’s literally less than a year away so I don’t have any big extravagant plans. I will be living as I do now. I’ll be traveling for sure. I actually plan on going to the olympics in 2020. I will be still with the company that I work for now just in a different role most likely. Wait, 2020 I plan on being happy, healthy and comfortable. Those are the 3 most important things to me. Everything else that happens is a bonus. I just see myself being those 3 things."
Which Hip-Hop Artist Influenced You the most style wise?
Jamil: "This is a hard one. It’s like a toss up between Kanye and Pharrell. This can be said by a lot of people, but it was hard to not be inspired by those guys. After years of white tees, jerseys and dickies their style was refreshing. They were far from the dope boy persona, and if you grew up around that influence you needed an escape if that wasn’t your lifestyle. They not only introduced me to brands but helped me appreciate the back stories of brands and clothes. I started collecting magazines to see the stuff that the local malls didn’t have. Traveling with the family became fun because now I had a purpose, it was to find these boutiques that carried BBC, Johnny Cupcakes, Kidrobot etc back in the day."
Photo Creds: Google Images Pharell 2007
"Bape was only sold in the Asia or at the NYC location or the LA store. I remember my first time at the LA store I waited 2 hours outside for it to open. That was an experience. I’ll send you a picture of me then, it’s pretty funny now. As I grew older, those two introduced me to luxury and not luxury as far as price tag but as far as quality and selection. Have you ever felt a Celiné sweater or a basic Alexander Wang tee? The soft texture is amazing. They both hold up over time, they keep their shape etc. you remember rocking the Hanes or champs 3/ 20 white tees and the neck turns into bacon after like 4 wears? That doesn’t happen with good quality. This is getting lengthy so I will end this with, they inspired me to learn and travel."
Photo Creds: Bape Lookbook Early 2000's
"My favorite collectible surprisingly is my my great grandma’s playing cards. She was always a big spades player and actually taught me how to play. She passed away this past year and as we were gathering her belongings from the nursing home my mom found her playing cards tucked away. She gave them to me the morning of the funeral and I will always cherish those. Her name was Rosa Mae Porter by the way."
What is the most interesting thing that has happen to you on your trips to Asia?
Jamil: " I have an afternoon full of crazy stories from the first time I went to Japan, but we will have to save those for next time. The one I will pick was the time I was chased by monkeys in Kyoto, Japan during my study abroad trip in college."
ASIA EXPERIENCE..
"So we are in Kyoto and decided as a collective to go to monkey park. My initial thought was cool, we climb this mountain and the. We go to this like zoo with monkeys. As we climb I see signs saying only feed monkeys through the cages area and don’t look the monkeys directly in the eye. When we get up to the entrance, it’s literally just a house with a cage around the windows and all around it were monkeys. I’m thinking to myself this isn’t a monkey park it’s just a house in the monkeys territory, so I go into the house and stay there because I’m not big on animal interactions. After awhile I see little kids outside interacting with the monkeys and people from my class taking photos and I wanted those memories as well so I went outside with everyone else. As I’m taking photos and selfies while monkeys just casually stroll along occasionally brushing my leg I’m like this is pretty awesome. *This is when I messed up, A few classmates noticed that there was another area just further up the mountain where more monkeys were and decided to since it was less crowded. I got too comfortable and followed them. When we get to the other area all the monkeys up there were sleep except 1 who was eating bugs off another’s head. I only noticed because this one girl said “hey look y’all it’s eating bugs off the other’s head” and as soon as she said that the monkey looked up and they made eye contact. It swiped at her leg and all the other monkeys woke up and jumped up on all fours. I literally took off running down the mountain and didn’t stop until I was back on the main road. My classmates followed me but I didn’t check to help I just knew that I wasn’t about to get attacked. Long story but that’s how I was chased by a pack of monkeys in Japan."