issue three

A Universal Lan-guage

ANNUAL ISSUE NO. 4

A U N I V E R S A L L A N G U A G E

P r i v a t e L i f e

l i m i t e d e d i t i o n c r e w n e c K & t- s h i r t c a p s u l e C o l l e c t i o n p r e - o r d e r at s o u l p h s i c s 0 7 @ g m a i l . c o m

P h o t o g r a p h e r : M a r c o O g g i a nM o d e l : P a o l o R o s s i

L o c at i o n : L av e n o , I ta ly

Special thanks to: Soraya Zaman Marco OggianJared Soule Andreas von der HeideMathias Jensen RxDIOMaddy McFlyMish Khalil Kal Mokhtar Paolo Rossi

Font references:Bebas Neue ©Svetoslav Simov Baron Neue ©Svetoslav Simov High Tide ©Svetoslav Simov Kabel ©Svetoslav Simov(Simov, 2013)

Other image references: Jamie James Medina, True Panther Records, Press PhotosKwabs Official/FacebookClara Natoli, 2008 Michelangelo Pistoletto - Venus of the Rags, 1967

Written, designed, compiled and edited by Tebogo Mohlahlana in Cape Town, SA©PhsicsMedia 2014Creative Director for PhsicsMedia Tebogo Mohlahlana would like to thank you for your support

Contact details: soulphsics07@gmail.comsoulphsics.blogspot.com Digitaltimeless on Youtube Facebook Twitter

This version is for promotional use only // not for resale

phsics without the Y. Define your own science.

Phsics Magazine Issue No. 4

What’s Inside?

perpetual rags

Ethical Buying

Democratization

nigeria’s soft power

branding

self-verification

namedrop

music is our voice

A Universal Language n n n n n n

Supplements

feature

LES Deux lookstory

rxdio’s story

maddy’s story

AUL

fashion

editor’s note

Working on this fourth annual issue made me be that person who forced their way into very uncomfortable situations. As people we are afraid to get uncomfortable. I found myself having to convince people who have never heard of what I do that they could work with me to produce something as remarkable as this publication. I’ve also introduced film to be an extended medium of this magazine. Waking up knowing that your film is in its second day of production, and everything is up in the air will have you asking yourself “what did I get myself into?” and frankly speak-ing, there’s nothing glamorous about feeling that way. You actually find yourself in a very uncomfortable position, and the only thing you can do is to put your life jacket on and hurry along. In the end, the greatest feeling comes when your prod-uct comes out exactly the way you had envisioned it to be. Even if only two people share it among themselves, knowing that you pushed through that very difficult storm to be where you are is the best feeling in the world. The creative process is similar to sailing through an endless ocean. There are moments of calmness, and there are moments of “we’re about to sink!”, but nowhere can you give in. The escape is just too perfect. A friend of mine challenged me. She’s about to launch her resort bag collection which was assembled in Ghana and Burkina Faso. She left her air-conditioned London home to be out there under the sun, on the grind, far from the glamour! If you had to ask me what other fashion people are doing right now? Probably picking outfits for Instagram or browsing the web for “inspi-ration”. My problem with glamour is that it’s very short sighted. During my recent trip to Milan I caught up with a friend who knows all about the fashion industry. He told me of how the back-end of the fashion business over there treats and nur-tures its talent. On the surface it looks very glamorous, but what actually goes on is unbelievable. In this publication’s fourth edition, A Universal Language, I wanted to broaden my scope. I’m not a music reviewer and I never was. I knew that writ-ing about music would challenge me. I wanted to do a music issue. I wanted to be uncomfortable. From where I’m sitting right now, this issue is more than a music review. It’s personal and it carries a lot of intricacies. I wanted to achieve exactly that be it with the publication, the documentary film, and the Private Life collection; each of these elements of my brand speak A Universal Language. Stay blessed

music

the xx

kyle hall

king krule

The Boat Partylabel: Wild Oats Musicproduction: Kyle HallMI

Coexistlabel: Young Turks/ XL production: Jamie xxUK

S label: Top Dawg Entertainmentproduction: Patrick Lukens, Felix Snow NJ

6 Feet Beneath the Moonlabel: True Panther Sounds/ XLproduction: Rodaidh McDonald, Archy Marshall UK

moruf

Shades of Moolabel: Love.Over.Everything/ LOE Recordingsproduction: Iman Omari, Madlib, MeLo-XNJ

sza

5

S label: Top Dawg Entertainmentproduction: Patrick Lukens, Felix Snow NJ

The Best Offer [dir. Giuseppe Tornatore]

Her [dir. Spike Jonze]

Berea [dir. Vincent Moloi]

Middle of Nowhere [dir. Ava DuVernay]

Upstream Color [dir. Shane Carruth]

Yatzer

Tomi Mito

Think Contra

One Minute Wonder

Medium

blogs

film

6

Archy Marshall has done more for the emancipation of the urban youth than most indie or punk singers in recent years. This pale looking, 19 year old London native started his underground adventures under the moniker of Zoo Kid. Today, he goes by King Krule (insipred by King Croele), and his debut LP 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, a brilliant body of work in my view, taps into the mind of a teenager caught up in the daily struggles of urban life. His use of aquatic symbolism, Norse Folklore analogy, acid jazz construction with old school hip hop influences make 6 Feet one of my top albums for 2013, and certainly one of the best albums by an artist from his generation.

King Krule to me is a blues singer; I know many might disagree with this view, but to be able to characterize his narrative through the guise of indie, punk, or even dubstep, is somewhat off track. Many of his critics miss this because to them it’s hard to imagine a raunchy looking, cigarette smoking, paisley shirt wearing singer with a lot of soul. 6 Feet is an incredible project. I view its intoxicating visualism and ‘noir romance’ like adaptation to be very bold coming from a 19 year old. I don’t see other artists putting themselves out there in this way.

King Krule

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namedrop

Image credits: Jamie James Medina, True Panther Records - Press Photos

Power isn’t always about dominance. What’s evident with Kwabena Adjepong’s powerful voice is his ability to draw in the hearts of strangers; a more gentle take on power. Kwabs is able to hold you captive through his innocence while setting you free through his substance. These occurrences don’t necessarily predate each other, but the rawness is consistent. Kwabs reminds me of the power of the human voice. This guy can sing, and beyond that, what he writes resonates so much with what I can relate to. He has so far graced us with a three track EP called Wrong or Right. Production on the EP features two songs produced by the ballad mastermind SOHN,

Last Stand and Wrong or Right, with the third being Spirit Fade. All these songs are powerful and moving. Last Stand tops my preferences with its references to fear, pain, struggle and distant emptiness. It’s as if he’s having a conversation with his Maker asking to be set free. People close to me have mentioned the name of James Blake after listening to Kwabs’ music. I can under-stand why because he’s so intense in that regard. But here’s an artist from London who was raised in foster homes having only recently made peace with his past. He has since studied music at the Royal School of Music and I believe that he has all the mak-ings to be one of his generation’s greatest singers. I’m inspired by his grace.

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Namedrop

Kwabs

Image credits: Kwabs Official/Facebook

What happens when distorted messages of reality influence the way we perceive ourselves? The simplest forms of interactions known to mankind begin with the stimulating of the basic senses; sight and smell, hear and touch. By the time information reaches its intended recipient, it would’ve passed through multi-ple paths which would’ve distorted its original mean-ing one way or another. Information has become an important component for the way we view ourselves, and we don’t even know it. When I send a tweet out, for example, I innately expect that which I’ve tweeted to be retweeted, and when I post a photo, I expect my photo to get as many likes and comments as possible. Social media as a socialization tool obliges us to seek validation of who we are and how far we’ve come from others.

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just a thought

Self-verification propels us to be aware of our deepest insecurities and to rise above them. Its theoretical definition goes far deeper than that I’m sure. Many of us seek self-verification on display windows of high-end boutiques, at the iStore, or at the BMW dealership. This is what Vanessa Freidman calls “the fashionization of life”. When the ambassadors of counter-culture seek veri-fication elsewhere aside from themselves, you know we have a problem…well, not so much a problem…but a vacuum.

The fact that socialization now involves a great deal of verification is disturbing. Socialization should be about connect-ing people. On the contrary, socialization has become about confirming where one stands relative to other people. This nature of constant comparison and anxiety can be attributed to the distorted messages we’re exposed to. Media is a very powerful tool which shapes and defines our biases. I’d like to challenge anybody reading this to seek that which is ‘beyond cool’. ‘Cool’ is often the core ingredient for verification. The problem with ‘cool’ is that it doesn’t last. Seek substance over cool.

11Image credits: Morgue File - 2008 claranatoli.blogspot.com

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

“Social media as a socialization tool obliges us to seek validation of who we are and how far we’ve come from others.”

The democratization of fashion has done little to remove the homogeneity that encompasses runways shows, and the groupthink within the industry’s conveyor-belt of recruits. Instead, the fact that fashion is more accessible today than ever before has reduced events like fashion week to media spectacles. Democratization can be very empowering, but in a stadium full of voices, does your voice actually contribute to any value?

fashion

Where does fashion ’s democratizat ion leave you?

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Fashion can be very self-serving. I have no problem with that, and if you’ve been ex-posed to the industry you’d know that when events that shook the world took place, such as the 2009 financial meltdown, fash-ion remained in its self-serving corner. My concern has more to do with the craze that sweeps across cities during fashion season. Fashion weeks were initially established to allow for the seasonal buying business mod-el to take form. This was back when fashion buyers would buy items from the runway 6 months before they were in season. Then came the globalization of fashion. Stores opened up everywhere from Shanghai to Hong Kong. In trying to remain as exclu-sive as possible, retailers persuaded fashion houses to add more collections to their calendar years, such as resort, pre-fall, and cruise collections etc. This move allowed for a store in Hong Kong, for example, to have in their inventory an item which had just been revealed, while garnering the store enough time to order new items within season. These pre-collections have also contributed to the democratization of fashion because of the way they generate spin and publicity. Add an increasingly aggressive fast fashion business environment, diffusion lines, col-laborative execution models and you have what we have today, a reveaingly disjointed structure which is failing to capture what or who is truly influential in the present fashion times.

Democratization begins at an individual lev-el. Being able to write a product review or a blog on something is truly empowering. Being able to fly to Paris to take a snapshot of something that won’t be out for another 6 months is an even more exciting spectacle. But if 50 000 people show up to do the ex-act same thing as you, and another million more online watching from their desktops, it’s no longer an event that truly depicts the essence of the craft, it’s a marketing drive! Let’s just rather watch Manchester United vs Arsenal; same idea in terms of ratings, just more unpredictable with regards to the outcome! In closing, I would like to say that the social web is new to all of us. We have seen how a simple Tweet can start an up-rising, and how a Facebook post can spark outrage. Fashion is not isolated from these occurrences and it can’t view itself as be-ing any special. In democratizing its pres-ence, fashion has to let go of its homogene-ity. Same faces, same designs, same view points. Where does fashion’s democratiza-tion leave you? It has left me rather isolated.

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Democratization of Fashion

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

The Ranza Plaza factory collapse, which claimed more than 1000 lives in early 2013, seems to be more of an international law problem than a textile, clothing and gar-ment-making industry one. Bangladesh’s USD20 billion garment sector faces struc-tural problems which, in my view, overlap to the broader supply chain. International condemnation of the 24 April 2013 factory tragedy has failed to question the roles of

some very important players. The role of the milling owner, for example, and how transparent his or her prices are, is one is-sue. There is also no mention of the buyer’s price taking position. Buyers agree to con-tractual terms with their suppliers. Such contracts can cover anything from factory health and safety standards to the types of machines to be utilized, at what time of day, and the level of skilled labour to be employed on the floor.

Ethical buying and its s ign if icance

14

fashion

fashion's global ecosystem

h h h

Fast fashion retail in its raw format cannot coexist alongside transparency and ethics. Please don’t get me wrong, an entire web-site page dedicated to explaining codes of conduct and ethical mandates is not trans-parency. The fact that fast fashion’s core objective is to sell us cheap, ‘assembly line’ clothes, means that these retailers would go out of their way to reduce costs to as low as they can, even if it means sourcing from a factory that employs 3500 who work from 8am to 10pm. But fast fashion retail’s position has and will always be about low prices. What about those premium brands which source from the same factories in Bangladesh only to add enormous margins on their final products? How transparent and ethical is their conduct?

I wasn’t surprised to hear that Philip Van Heusen (PVH), the holding company that owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, was one of the first to issue a statement after the Ranza Plaza tragedy stating their sup-port for the victims. I’m not in a position to say whether this was a crisis management exercise or not, but what I can say is that companies like PVH, UCB, and GAP need to review their sourcing positions on countries

like Bangladesh. I’m not saying they should pull out of the country all together, because the jobs and means-of-income will go away, but they need to do more to improve worker health, safety and wages than just signing accords.

In closing, let’s not forget that for discount and fast fashion retail, volumes are an im-portant driver of profit generation, where-as for premium and luxury retail it’s the wide margins.. These retailers may have brought affordable fashion closer to us, but the world of fashion itself is still very de-tached from the real life challenges facing many sourcing countries in South East Asia (Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Cambodia). In the end, the onus is on us, the final con-sumer. Along with living within our means of consumption, let’s make decisions which impact positively into the lives of others. Ethical buying is about understanding fash-ion’s universal ecosystem and its humanity. And I do believe that there are some busi-nesses which go out of their way to ethically source clothing that is affordable and of good quality.

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ethical buying

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

“retailers may have brought affordable fashion closer to us, but the world of fashion itself is still very detached from the real life challenges facing many sourcing countries in South East Asia”

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Sustainability

Much of the commentary around the secondhand clothing market seems to be content with continuing on with the cur-rent secondhand clothing business model provided clothes in Western countries don’t pile up at landfills.

Perpetual Rags Fashion is increasingly becoming dispos-able because of the way conventional retail has diminished what used to be considered as one’s ‘basic capsule’; a pair of jeans, a coat, a few dress shirts, and so on. Fast fashion retail isn’t the sole contributor to the issue of unwanted clothes. In the sec-ondhand market, charities collect clothes from donors and sell them to secondhand dealers at a profit. The dealers determine among themselves, the market prices for the clothes without any economic references. When you factor all that in, along with the imported clothes from low income sourcing destinations which drive up the demand for secondhand items by contributing to con-tractions in domestic textile industries, the secondhand issue is enormous.

I would like to respond to some critical questions on this topic which aren’t be-ing answered. Do we need a secondhand clothing market? Yes, I believe people should be given the right to choose to buy secondhand goods or otherwise. Should we regulate it? Yes, especially in countries where domestic industries are hurt by it. Does it add value? Sadly not; even though affordability is certain, the economic con-siderations for producing brand new clothes through stimulating local economies are far much greater. Even the people employed by the secondhand clothing market would be better off benefitting from established, transparent, regulated industries where things such as retirement plans and social benefits actually exist. What should retail-ers do to prevent stockpiles of unwanted clothes? Perhaps fast fashion’s next drive should be to recycle clothes. You return an old unwanted item to a Zara or H&M and they top up your purchasing credit with it or something similar. This will be more above-board and less stringent on resources. The secondhand clothing market is a present day reality.

Image credits: Michelangelo Pistoletto - Venus of the Rags, 1967

Venus of the Rags

we speak camo.

LES DEUX

presents

A Universal Language

18

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

LOOKSTORY

presented by

phsicsmag x Les Deux

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aul lookstory

Style is a convergence of details. Each detail carries a moment of ourselves. Les Deux is one of those details. RxDIO wears a grey Les Deux classic crewneck along with a burgundy Les Deux snap-back. This look allows for an authentic connection of all its intertwined details. To connect these details is a distinctive ability. Two minds are greater than one – Les Deux

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deux cervaux font mieuxOOOOO

A universal langauge film now showing

#AULFILM

photography by Mish Khalil

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photography by Jared Soule

l l l

A Universal Language

RxDIo's sTOrY

RxDIO was brought into the AUL project at the very last minute. After months of planning and running back-and-forth, AUL was surrounded by great uncertainty as the disappoint-ments persisted. After it had emerged that we had to change our whole narrative to bet-ter accommodate the new subjects of our story, RxDIO came in and contributed to what is probably one of the most intricate stories I’ve ever worked on. He welcomed us into his home and introduced us to his world. RxDIO released his Live A Little EP in August 2013. In my view, Live A Little will be those ‘always-on-repeat’ type albums. Songs like Toberman St, Slave To The Truth, Merrier, and a song which had me reflecting a lot, Liars, are one of the many musical gems in a body of work that is both personal and graceful. What blew me away about him was his ‘unfilter-able’ and ‘unedit-able’ personality. In my opinion, his Live A Little EP embodies great substance.

feature

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rxdio's Story AUL

His responses to my questions bring a new dimension to the AUL story, revealing mo-ments of reflection and wisdom. It’s impor-tant for artists to understand the source of their inspiration, not to only know it, but to understand it. Artistry occupies an intri-cate place in those who shape it. The AUL story is about those intricacies. What I’ve observed from RxDIO in the few months I’ve worked with him is that the source of our strength is in our inspiration. The degree to which we remain anchored to who we’re truly are depends on the significance we place in that which we draw our strength from. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve through AUL.

phsicsmag (p): Based on your understand-ing, what would you say constitutes to the idea of “a universal language”? RxDIO (R): The same way some would say there is beauty in everything, or that God is in everything, I believe all of those state-ments and others similar to those are true. I think when looking for the beauty in some-thing, or God, there is certain understand-ing to be attained and a way of perceiving things around us to be utilized. I think the revelation of an idea and ideas such as this and applied to our daily lives is when “a universal language” is spoken.

“We are all unique individuals who have unique reactions to the unique moments of our unique lives” - RxDIO

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rxdio's storyAUL

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE FILM NOW SHOWING

Digital Timeless Youtube Channel

p: Do you feel music is still the “universal language” it once was, or are artists better off creating musical niches for themselves?

R: Music will always be the “universal lan-guage” it once was...to me, artists “creat-ing musical niches for themselves” is what helps music to be the “universal language” it is. We are all unique individuals who have unique reactions to the unique moments of our unique lives so of course sometimes things in our lives aren’t representative of how we may feel, like music, but that would be a bias opinion of my own if I felt that way. I’m not the only one this planet. So what I do is create music that speaks for how I feel. The same as the person miles away from me with a totally different life, lifestyle, way of thinking, and musical preference. How I see it, it’s not what type of music we do, or what we say, or if we agree or have totally different views or how we do it. It’s simply us doing it that allows someone to “speak the language”. To feel attracted to something as much as it is attracted to you.

rxdio's storyAUL

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE FILM NOW SHOWING

Digital Timeless Youtube Channel

p: Do you feel music is still the “universal language” it once was, or are artists better off creating musical niches for themselves?

R: Music will always be the “universal lan-guage” it once was...to me, artists “creat-ing musical niches for themselves” is what helps music to be the “universal language” it is. We are all unique individuals who have unique reactions to the unique moments of our unique lives so of course sometimes things in our lives aren’t representative of how we may feel, like music, but that would be a bias opinion of my own if I felt that way. I’m not the only one this planet. So what I do is create music that speaks for how I feel. The same as the person miles away from me with a totally different life, lifestyle, way of thinking, and musical preference. How I see it, it’s not what type of music we do, or what we say, or if we agree or have totally different views or how we do it. It’s simply us doing it that allows someone to “speak the language”. To feel attracted to something as much as it is attracted to you.

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Following their successful debut EP in 2011, Sound Fx grew to become one of hip hop’s hidden treasures. The duo would go on to release 2 EPs and 3 mixtapes. It was in 2013 that Sound Fx would bid farewell to their fans through the release of Empathy, a powerful and thought provoking body of work. Upon initial contact with the guys, I managed to get through to Sound Fx member Maddy McFly. Our first exchange was short and thorough. He was excited about my invite to be part of the AUL feature story. Maddy would later confirm with me that Empathy was it; Sound Fx would be no more.

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feature

A Universal Language

MADDY'S STORY

photography by Jared Soule

l l l

Empathy taps into the soul of its listener. Apart from igniting passion, this album is also able to almost imprison you, causing feelings to fluctuate stochastically through-out its flow. Accompanying its solemn storyline is a musical album with melodic cords, imaginative basslines, samples which were appropriately selected and impec-cably chopped, and an almost ‘sequential harmony’. Empathy speaks the universal language; whether it’s the universal lan-guage of love, pain, or frustration. To put a full stop on Sound Fx is perhaps premature at this stage. I’m waiting for the day these two will be back in studio working together again. Maddy McFly is more than an art-piece figure on the wall of music. His pas-sionate discourse in the AUL documentary film reflects on his hunger and drive.

Maddy's Story

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phsicsmag (p): Based on your understand-ing, what would you say constitutes to the idea of “a universal language”? Maddy McFly (MM): I believe a universal language is a language that transcends the barriers of race, culture, politics, and reli-gion. It is a language that is understood by all regardless of background. A universal language is felt and not spoken, it is relat-able by pure emotion because that is the greatest and deepest level of connection we can have with one another as humans.

p: Do you feel music is still the “universal language” it once was, or are artists better off creating musical niches for themselves?

MM: I do believe music is and will always be a universal language because rhythm is felt and not spoken. With the growth of technology we see more and more people turning to music as a form of communica-tion so i do believe music is still a universal outlet. We don’t all speak the same lan-guages but we all feel the same emotions and good music is emotional. It connects us all whether we are aware of it or not.

AUL

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maddy's story

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE FILM NOW SHOWING

Digital Timeless Youtube Channel

AUL

AW14 now available at lesdeux.dk

LES DEUX HQCarit Etlars Vej 2, 1. tv.1814 Frederiksberg C

DANMARK

true beauty lives

kachecoffee.com

I don’t want to approach this subject from a creative process standpoint. A lot of marketers tend to place tradition at the forefront of their brand communication. A certain French champagne brand has been around since the 1950s, but brands itself around 17th century ideals. There are many brands which do exactly that, and we’ve come to accept them. My understanding of what tradition is, is that it is ‘the way in which things are done’, or ‘a certain way of doing things’. A grape cultivator has the objective to cultivate his crop in a manner which best suits his business. The grape

cultivator can either choose to stick to an existing method, one which has existed for centuries, or he could ‘innovate’ and begin a new method which he’ll be credited for starting. To my understanding, the former case would be following a particular tradi-tion, and the latter case would be beginning one’s own tradition. Both these scenarios are important to be able to distinguish be-cause of the luxury industry’s present state; be it wines, chocolatiers, hotels, fashion, publishing, any sub-domain of the luxury industry hasn’t succeeded yet at effectively defining what tradition is to them.

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How do we brand tradit ion?

Branding

v

v

v

v

Closely positioned with tradition is the no-tion of heritage. This is when a certain tradition is passed on from generation to generation. In this case, the grape cultiva-tor has inherited all of his knowledge and skills application from his ancestry. Herit-age is interesting because it’s a broad sub-ject matter. I’ve encountered brands which define themselves as having an “African heritage”. To be fair, that’s completely ac-ceptable provided that their heritage is in line with what their ideals stand for. Herit-age can be overused, or understated. It can also be effectively communicated. But the one thing I’ve realized with setting heritage as a unique selling point is that its appeal tends to narrow the potentials of a brand. It’s more of a ‘core clientele’ prerequisite. There are brands which balance these two centers very well. But not all brands have a unique attribute to their heritage, and not all brands view tradition as their core dif-ferentiator.

Perhaps we need a broader scope of as-sessing a brand’s legitimacy. We cannot only use tradition and heritage to validate the way a brand prices its products. We should also observe other dimensions of that brand. Critical aspects such as the provenance, the product quality, the tech-nical application, material, methodology, design, refinement, and the brand’s core ideals, are just some of the differentiators which could be applicable, along with look-ing at its tradition. Luxury branding has never been this accessible to so many peo-ple. There’s a 2.5 billion middle-to- upper income population globally that’s just wait-ing to hop onto all things ‘luxury’. They pos-sess the buying power, the tools, and the knowledge. But can they identify with what they’re consuming? Branding ‘tradition’ is like slapping a gold encrusted label onto an empty cardboard box. It’s really easy to be grabbed by the detailing of its packaging, but it’s still empty!

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Branding

Image credits: The Watch Quote

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

“Branding ‘tradition’ is like slapping a gold encrusted label onto an empty cardboard box. It’s really easy to be grabbed by the de-tailing of its packaging, but it’s still empty!”

[ Connect us with your brand ]

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nigeria's soft power

Nigeria has come a long way since its self-assembled Nollywood films which grew to become one of the country’s most popular exports. Today, artists such as D’banj and Ice Prince are household names not just on the African continent, but around the world. Some might argue that Nigeria’s soft-power has grown to rival South Africa’s, and to a certain extent, even outpacing it. When one considers the star power that many Nigerian celebrities carry across the continent, one could go as far as saying that Nigeria holds the strongest soft-power position at the moment. A challenge that Nigeria is faced with, and I believe that this will become bet-ter overtime, is its negative perceptions for doing business and personal safety. But every country has its own unique problems, and Nigeria is no different.

Fashion Designer Doru Olowu opened his first store in Lagos at a time when he had the option to set up shop in Europe or the U.S. Today, Doru is one of the most cel-ebrated designers on the African continent. In recent interviews, he has reiterated that staying in Nigeria has benefited him in a great way. Nigeria’s growing high-net-worth

population is making it one of the most attractive markets for the luxury sector. The growing appetite for Italian brands such as Emerligno Zegna has even forced the luxury suit maker to open its first African store in Nigeria. Another soft-power posi-tive is Nigeria’s impressive performance on the sports field. Chelsea Football Club’s John Obi Mikel is one of Africa’s biggest sports stars at the moment. He has won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea, won the African Nations Cup with Nigeria, and will soon represent his country at the 2014 Football World Cup; if this doesn’t say ‘legend-in-the-making’, I don’t know what will. One only needs to flip through music, sports, and movie platforms to understand Nigeria’s growing soft-power on the conti-nent.

On the other hand, South Africa’s stagnant soft-power position on the continent is a result of many factors, but the most, in my view, having to do with complacency and a less adventurous risk taking position; not only are South Africans scared of taking risks, we’re also lazy in our imagination. We tend to see too many cones on the road.

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A cultural giant finds its feet

phs ics without the Ydefine your own science.

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