Yeahhhhh!!!! L.A. TIMES G! Taking over all this!
An urban peacock whose tribal look samples the preppies of Brentwood, the punks of North Hollywood, the skaters of Venice, the hippies of the canyons and the hip-hoppers of South-Central, Taz Arnold is one of the most stylish men of the moment. Maybe you've seen him staring out from the pages of indie magazines such as Trace or Index, singing "Ima Vote Obama Way" in his self-made fan video on YouTube, or sitting next to Kanye West at a fashion show.
Arnold, a native of South L.A. who says he's "360 degrees of age," is a music producer-performer. He got his big break when Dr. Dre signed one of his earliest discoveries, a guy named Hitman, at an open audition in 1998. Arnold went on to front production collective Sa-Ra Creative Partners, and to work with West, Herbie Hancock, Iggy Pop, Erykah Badu and others. He's now working on a solo album, scheduled to be released this summer...
What are your influences?
When I grew up, there was a hippie thing going on. At the same time, L.A. was a magnet for people who wanted to enjoy the weather. Berry Gordy moved Motown here, all the athletes who got money wanted to move here. I was soaking up the hippie, black consciousness, surf-beach aesthetic. My parents weren't artists -- my dad was a construction worker and my mother a manager at AT&T -- but they made things like embroidered denim. My mom had magnetizing water, pyramids, rainbows and neon lights in the house. We had a lot of cats, and owls lived in our palm trees. It was like living in an aviary.
Arnold, a native of South L.A. who says he's "360 degrees of age," is a music producer-performer. He got his big break when Dr. Dre signed one of his earliest discoveries, a guy named Hitman, at an open audition in 1998. Arnold went on to front production collective Sa-Ra Creative Partners, and to work with West, Herbie Hancock, Iggy Pop, Erykah Badu and others. He's now working on a solo album, scheduled to be released this summer...
What are your influences?
When I grew up, there was a hippie thing going on. At the same time, L.A. was a magnet for people who wanted to enjoy the weather. Berry Gordy moved Motown here, all the athletes who got money wanted to move here. I was soaking up the hippie, black consciousness, surf-beach aesthetic. My parents weren't artists -- my dad was a construction worker and my mother a manager at AT&T -- but they made things like embroidered denim. My mom had magnetizing water, pyramids, rainbows and neon lights in the house. We had a lot of cats, and owls lived in our palm trees. It was like living in an aviary.
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