For the sixth year running, the awesome The Doctor’s Orders celebrate the life and work of influential hip-hop artist, James “J-Dilla” Yancey, with a ‘J-Dilla Changed My Life’ party.

A dream team of DJs, who are all spinning for free, will be joined by Detroit’s own Phat Kat — one of Dilla’s close friends and collaborators — who’ll be helping with the proceedings. The string of DJs including Mr Thing (BBE /Extended Players), Spin Doctor (The Doctor’s Orders), Harry Love (Extended Players) Morgan Spacek and DJ LoK will all be running exclusive J-Dilla related sets for free to raise as much money as possible for The J-Dilla Foundation and Lupus UK.

Attendees will be able to get their hands on t-shirts exclusively printed by Dephect clothing for the event with all proceeds from these and the door going to charity. This will be a jam packed evening and is to go down on Sunday 5th February at Scala, Kings Cross.

There’ll be a minimum donation £6 in advance or on the door. Tickets are available from Ticketweb.

T-Shirt Party returns once again, carrying forward its ethos of “Real G’s wear white T’s”, alongside the tagline “T-Shirt Party — setting t-shirts free, for the people, every week”. The fun brainchild of Stan Still dropped 52 shirts with accompanying videos over one year. A London centric and a rather very British feel throughout the project with nostalgic references to the 90’s and grime, kept T-Shirt Party exciting to see what would come next on it’s weekly basis. The first collection started around March 2009 and the second installation is to drop on March 3rd, so hold tight…

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The mouth watering and smokey smells of Pitt Cue have moved their ever so popular metal meat wagon on South Banks Thames Side up to the streets of Soho. The meat wagon prepared and sold some of the tastiest BBQ treats like pork briskets, ribs, chicken wings and other flame grilled meat delicacies was up for about four months and built up quite a dedicated and loyal following of BBQ loving carnivores. Now the Pitt Cue team comprised of Tony Adams and Jamie Berger are joined with Simon Anderson of Hawksmoor and The Albion’s chef Richard Turner to bring Pitt Cue to Newburgh Street, just off Carnaby Street.

Situated on the corner of Newburgh Street, it’s a pretty small venue with only thirty seats. Keep in mind that there are no reservations, running on a first-come-first-serve basis. Downstairs for seats diners, while minimal seating upstairs is focused more on drink, as they have a great bar and a number of cocktails and bourbon on offer.

A small takeaway menu’s also on offer with options of pulled pork or brisket, both of which comes in an amazing bun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all about the meat from Pitt Cue, but sometimes it’s just all about the bun. It can really transform a burger or meal. My unsung hero, in all this is definitely the bun.

Go check it out for yourselves and make sure you get there early, as there’s always a heaving queue outside. See below to check out their menu and full details.

Images: The Skinny Bib

High street retailers’ collaborations with high end fashion designers have received a rather ridiculous amount of hype in the past couple of years, notably with the recent Versace for H&M collection. It’s quite pleasant to see this isn’t quite the case with Uniqlo. Following the success of their joint efforts with Jil Sander’s J+ label, the highstreet masters of basic garments unveil the visuals for their forthcoming ‘UU’ capsule done by fellow Japanese label, UNDERCOVER.

Although UNDERCOVER aren’t quite a household name like Versace, but for those who know, they can expect a treat. This debut capsule with Uniqlo looks to cater for all members of the family in this seasonal arrangement. Boasting a wide range of offerings, ladies will be gifted with patterned florals and horizontal stripes, while blazers, hoodies, chinos and black leather jackets round out the collection. UNDERCOVER’s founder Jun Takahasi crafted the extensive ‘UU’ collection with his wife and partner RICO, so a definite family emphasis shows through the capsule and lookbook. Expect this line to be released in the UK mid-March.

One of LA’s finest and most reputable hip-hop acts is soon to be going on a European Tour and have added a London date to their schedule!

I first came across Dilated Peoples whilst watching MTV Base, during secondary school. Their video for The Platform was a welcome variation he usual ‘bravado’ styled hip-hop videos of the time. Since then I have obviously grown, and so has the trio, with their collective resume producing a number of acclaimed LP’s, producing music videos with some of hip-hop’s finest and revered artists, and performances on worldwide stages.

Most recently, individual albums from Rakaa Iriscience (‘Crown of Thorns’, 2010), Evidence (‘Cats & Dogs’, 2011) and DJ Babu (‘The Beat Tape Vol. 2′, 2010) have been leaving fans eagerly awaiting for the 2012 release of their ‘Directors of Photography’ album.

Dilated Peoples will be performing at the O2 Academy Islington on February 27th. Tickets can be purchased from AMPG. Remember the following gems? They’re definitely back again…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After years of seeing their competitors make strides in the world of digital photography, Nikon have finally announced the impending upgrade to their flagship D3. The new flagship Nikon D4 is set for release at some point this month, with an estimated retail price of around £4,800. With such a high price tag, what exactly would you be getting in return?

A newly developed Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor (36.0 x 23.9 mm) with 16.2 effective megapixels. Yes, it’s the same amount of megapixels in the D7000, but these are exploited by the D4’s ISO sensitivity up to 204, 800 and 51-point auto-focus system. Being able to shoot up to 11 fps consecutive shooting in FX-format will give photographers better sequential shots of fast moving objects.

The most notable difference between the D3 range and new D4 is the ability to film. The D4 records full HD (1080p) movies in 30p, 25p and 24p, with 60p, 50p, 30p and 25p options at 720p. Movie clips can be close to 30 minutes long (approx. 29.59 min), something Canon seems to have the immediate upper-hand on. Audio for video recording is covered by high-fidelity audio control. Aside from the external stereo microphone input, an audio out for external headphones lets you fine tune audio in isolation.

Something completely new and unique to Nikon’s camera range? The WT-5A Wireless Transmitter, used for transmitting your photographs to a computer or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site if you have a Wi-Fi connection. Also, it gives you control of the camera with an iPhone or iPad. Other minor, yet notable improvements include the fact the D4 only has one CF card slot. The second card slot is replaced with a slot for new XQD cards, plus buttons on the camera are now backlit.

For a full spec and more information about this welcomed edition to Nikon’s ever-growing family, click here. In the meantime, check out the videos below, one being a promo and the other showing the D4’s video capabilities.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Japanese denim specialists Evisu get on board the celebrations of the Chinese Zodiac’s Year of the Dragon.

Evisu use their straight cut dark denim Ryu jeans to feature a personally customised and skilfully hand painted Japanese dragon on the back right pocket. You’re able to have the option of a personalised colour-scheme made up of red, white, green and blue for the illustrated dragon, with shades of gold or silver to finish it off. This will sit alongside the brand’s famous seagull motif that’s also expertly hand painted and a ‘Ryu 2012′ print on the jean’s leather patch authenticate this release’s exclusivity.

As expected, the results are strong on dope denim, but they do come at a dear cost. Being highly limited to a run of thirty pairs and the inclusion of Evisu’s artists’ skills, the jeans will set you back a cool £300. To package them is a stylish commemorative denim tote bag They’re available now and are exclusively sold from Evisu’s Boxpark spot.

If you’re looking for some new patterns or dash of ideas for garments, perhaps you should consider making one from scratch or giving some of your existing garments a little bit more WOW. The Spring/Summer 2012 Liberty Art Fabrics collection is now available and has a large range of patterns to get your creative juices flowing. The collection is made up of the following categories below. A complete selection of fabrics are available now in-store at Liberty and online. For a bit more insight into the inspiration behind the collection, check out the interview below with Emma Mawston, the Head Designer at Liberty Art Fabrics, further below.

Visualiser

Archive

Glencot House

Whitworth

The National Gallery

Central Saint Martins

Digital

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The UK’s newly hot tipped hip-hop/rock outfit have teamed up with original hard spitter Kano to deliver a crossover track with a big electro/rock sound, following in the footsteps of Tinie Tempah and Wretch 32. Clement Marfo & The Frontline have already been nominated for the MTV Brand New for 2012, HMV Next Big Thing and playlisted on BBC 1Xtra, they are headlining the MOBO tour, shortly with their single ‘Mayhem’ coming out officially on March 12th. In the meantime, you can get a free download of their tune ‘Overtime’ (Cruelty Remix) off the group’s Facebook page. Stay up to date for future releases and other goodies on their website.

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Unveiled at this years’s music product trade show NAMM, Numark and Akai unveil a non-functional prototype of a product they call the MPC-DJ — a combination of turntables, a mixer and MPC drum pads. Apart from the visual side, they haven’t yet figured out how exactly the product will work and are currently accepting ideas from all the DJs and producers out there. Let us know what cool features you would like to see or how you envision this product taking both elements to the next level!

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