REVIEW | NEW ERA X MOODYMANN DROP DETROIT INSPIRED COLLECTION AND DOCUMENTARY PROVIDING RARE INSIGHT INTO MOODYMANN’S DETROIT

There is some­thing about small, for­got­ten about cit­ies and towns in large coun­tries that seems to breed music­al geni­us. Hail­ing from Perth, West Aus­tralia, the homet­own of artists such as Tame Impala, Pen­du­lum, INXS and Bön Scott (AC/DC), I can sense that grow­ing up in a sleepy town can pro­duce a unique cre­ativ­ity.

Detroit, Michigan, com­monly known as the Motor City, fits with­in this cat­egory on an even lar­ger scale. Detroit has a rich music­al his­tory span­ning through this cen­tury across all genres such as blues, jazz, soul, rock & roll, techno and hip hop, and its rep­er­toire includes Motown Records, Aretha Frank­lin, Amp Fid­dler, J Dilla and Theo Par­rish.

Kenny Dix­on Jr., bet­ter known by his stage name Moody­mann, is one such artist from Detroit. Start­ing as a DJ on the Detroit scene play­ing techno and house music and also work­ing at sev­er­al record stores in the city, he found pop­ular­ity in the mid-90’s in France, of all places, thanks to his releases on Plan­et E Records and from there his fame grew.

Now, he is an out­spoken yet elu­sive voice in elec­tron­ic dance music and own­er of the record labels Mahogani Music and KDJ Records. His name is syn­onym­ous with Detroit music and he has become an icon due to his no holds barred approach to pro­duc­tion, innov­at­ively rework­ing riffs, samples and cre­at­ing grooves.

To cel­eb­rate his leg­acy, Moody­mann has partnered with sem­in­al brand New Era to release a self-branded col­lec­tion of hats and appar­el. Com­ple­ment­ing the col­lec­tion is a short but intim­ate doc­u­ment­ary on the artist so few people know on a per­son­al level.

Speak­ing on the col­lab­or­a­tion, Moody­mann says, “I first met the New Era team at Dimen­sions fest­iv­al back in 2015 and we star­ted cas­u­ally talk­ing about cus­tom buck­et hats. We stayed in touch and a couple of years later I flew to their Lon­don office to design this col­lec­tion. Using the Detroit Trade­mark Eng­lish ‘D’ was the most import­ant ele­ment to me. I always want to sup­port my city.  I keep Detroit dust under my feet no mat­ter where I‘m stand­ing”

To mark the release of the col­lec­tion, a launch party was held at Bril­liant Col­ours with a screen­ing of the doc­u­ment­ary Detroit Dust On My Shoes fol­lowed by a Q&A with the doc­u­ment­ary dir­ect­or and Mahogani Music’s Label Head. Moody­mann him­self was an unex­pec­ted sur­prise guest meet­ing with the crowd and answer­ing some ques­tions dur­ing the Q&A.

And that’s what you come to expect from an artist as pas­sion­ate but private as Moody­mann. His music and his style, fash­ion or not, is his true leg­acy.

The New Era x Moody­mann Detroit inspired col­lec­tion drops Tues­day 17th Septem­ber. The range includes three pieces of head­wear; a wool Adven­turer hat, a fully reflect­ive, revers­ible buck­et hat and a clas­sic 9FIFTY cap.

Also avail­able in the col­lec­tion is a long-sleeved t‑shirt, and premi­um wool varsity jack­et with design details includ­ing Moodymann’s sig­na­ture, icon­ic KDJ Records logo and the beloved Detroit Tigers Old Eng­lish ‘D’.

Shop the col­lec­tion now at: http://www.neweracap.eu/ prices start­ing from £30.

 

 

 

 

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Kylie de vos

Kylie de vos

Self-pro­claimed Hip Hop nerd, Kylie dis­covered the genre through her older cous­ins in the mid-90s. Since then her interest in the genre has been on the psyche of artists: the how and why artists make the music that con­nects with so many people on so many dif­fer­ent levels.

About Kylie de vos

Kylie de vos
Self-proclaimed Hip Hop nerd, Kylie discovered the genre through her older cousins in the mid-90s. Since then her interest in the genre has been on the psyche of artists: the how and why artists make the music that connects with so many people on so many different levels.