Lets face it— Puerto Rican from the hood? Yeah, gold is pretty much a prerequisite.

Even my grandmother had some gold framed teeth. I remember I worked with a Puerto Rican dude at a metal shop who fixed the greasy machinery— while wearing multiple necklaces, bracelets, gold watch and a ring on every finger.

I’m known for my gold cleaver but that never goes over well at my kids school so I toned it down a bit.

- Double sided gold coin with my TBB logo on one side and my FRANKMATIC™ logo on the other (yeah that’s my face too.. why not?)
- Addition gold piece with my Butcher’s “B”

Big shout to my peoples over at Linx Jewelry in Venice California for the continued love.

Hit me up if you want to connect with Linx for custom jewelry

Here are some short TV spots for the film The Town, due out in theatres on September 17th. The film stars Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Chris Cooper, local son Slaine and many many others. Be sure to check it out.

Ahh. The ever present fitted cap.

Something so classic and simple can mean the world to someone. If something means the world to me, it’s important that it’s representative of my personality and style.

I’m going to be 33 years old and that means I have been conscious of my fitted measurement for at least 20 years. My first was a San Diego Padres cap I bought in a sidewalk sale at a store called Maurice The Pants Man around my way.

My friends at Mitchell and Ness blessed me with an opportunity to put together a cap that represents me and my brand. I have had the pleasure of building a relationship with M&N while developing special projects for Concepts. The heritage and quality of the brand is something most people trust but I’m not sure people give their fitted cut and feel enough credit.

I wear New Era caps (like the rest of the world). In the passed couple of years, the New Era fit has not been my favorite. What changed? I’m not sure. Sporadic sizing and crown shapes makes it difficult to count on. Like most, I continue to hope for the best when I design caps for the shop or buy personnel caps elsewhere.

The M&N cap has surprised me and has become my favorite. Why? Well first and foremost – it fits. It fits good.

Jump on the M&N site and cop something to hide your crooked shape up. You will thank me later.

Shouts to Vic and John for the continued support and love.

Now on to my cap—

Features my “The Butcher’s Block” logo embroidery on the front

My motto on the right side panel in tonal embroidery and satin linings (not pictured)

The back embroidery lets you know that I keep it FRANKMATIC™

Will it be available? You will have to wait and see!

After a year and a half in federal prison, L.T. Deaton, was ready to do something positive with his life. On the inside he learned that every prison was known for something; every prison had its own unique identity or reputation. Often a prison’s identity grew out of its geographic location or the specific physical traits of the facility. Sometimes the identity was shaped by the demographics of the prison population itself. Not surprisingly, only those on the inside knew the specific identities of each prison. But L.T. Deaton decided to change all that, and White Collar Crime was born. White Collar Crime is now an international brand sold at some of the leading boutiques in the world such as Blends, Union, Shoe Gallery, and Slam Jam.

Each piece tells a story about the prison it was themed after as you will see below.

Angola Rodeo -Angola was established in 1880 and sitting on 18,000 acres Angola Prison is the largest in the US. Inmates served their time working the fields at Angola earning it the nickname “The Farm”. Twice a year inmates were allowed to let off a little steam when they hosted their world famous rodeo.

Coleman Creative Writing – The Coleman Federal Correctional facility is actually five prisons in one. Its most famous inmate continues to be George Martorano, who has served nearly 30 years of a life-without-parol sentence; perhaps the longest sentence in US history for a first time, non-violent offense. In that time George has been a model inmate, writing several books, and teaching writing to his fellow inmates.

Pelican Bay Poker Club – The Pelican Bay facility was established in 1989 to house inmates considered too dangerous for other prisons. Its a place for serious men who play serious poker. If you can win poker at Pelican Bay, you are ready for the World Championships. Never Fold!!!

Deer Island Athletic Dept – Located in Boston Harbor, Deer Island, has a long dark history. In the 1600′s Native Americans were imprisoned there. In the 1800′s Irish immigrants were quarantined there, and in the 1900′s it became Deer Island Correctional Facility. Despite this sordid past many inmates credited their salvation to the pursuit of weightlifting, also known as “working the iron pile”.

I am looking forward to seeing more from WCC in its sophomore season. Be on the look out for more updates here on Chedda Vision.

Las Vegas.

The city of lost wages – which explains why the local pawn shops stock Civil War paraphernalia and Picasso originals. On every flight to Vegas on Jet Blue, I usually make the most of the in flight entertainment while watching the History Channel. History buff? Maybe. I am more of a fan of reality shows based on dysfunctional family run businesses.

Pawn Stars is just that. Three generations of pawn shop politics and the occasional comic relief. While hanging with the homie Jon Buscemi, I learned that we were both fans of the show and decided to take a field trip down to the shop. Burn Rubber Rick rode shot gun to witness what happens when we are bored.

What did we learn? Lets see…

1. It was a 35 dollar cab ride there and a 17 dollar cab ride back. Same distance.
2. Gregy’s custom Gourmet pendant which is worth a pretty penny isn’t worth much in the house that “The Old Man” built.
3. The definition of random lies beneath the glass counters of a pawn shop.
4. The chewing tobacco spitting, Nascar hat wearing cowboy behind the pawn counter is a DICK.

The Goods

A line behind a velvet rope to get in

Can’t stop the profit

Apparently a ceramic double wolf head statue is worth something to someone

Jon will sniff out a pair of rare frames anywhere. He hangs out at Lasik surgery centers to collect the glasses patients won’t be needing anymore

I don’t think MLK dreamt that a bust of his head would be behind the counter at a pawn shop

Rick looks like Large Professor

Yeah Jon, I know we wasted our time.

Had a meeting with my brother Set Free and Philly Freeway the other day in my office in Cambridge. I have been putting together a passion project for a few months now and as much as I want to divulge details, it pains me to have to hold it in a little longer. All I can say is that it’s going to be groundbreaking. Freeway and Set Free are very much involved.

I can’t wait to let the world know what’s cooking but I have to wait till the food is done. Hungry?

FRANKMATIC™!

Lets face it. I love hip-hop probably more than you love your mother. I have been listening to rap music since the 3rd grade and haven’t stopped yet.

I received a surprised package from my homeboy Derek over at Manifest Worldwide which included a few designs that really hit home. These designs make clever references to some of my favorite artists. Great designs, colors and genuinely inspired by an era that continues to fuel current and future artists.

“Ghost is Back” – Ghostface Killah and the movie Ghostbusters 2 merged into this awesome parody. One of my favorites!

“When They Reminisce Over You”- The Pete Rock & CL Smooth logo featuring the title of their most popular ode to a fallen friend. One of the greatest songs in the history of hip-hop music hands down.
“The Ruler” – As in Slick Rick the Ruler or MC Ricky D or the greatest story teller of all time! He was fly as hell and taught you how to “treat em like a prostitute”. Slick Rick could be my favorite rapper of all time.

Big shouts to MANIFEST WORLDWIDE for the blessings!

The trailer for Ben Affleck’s second film as a director, The Town, just hit the web. I had the privilege of working on, and helping to cast this film. Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, the film stars stars Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper, Boston’s own Slaine and many, many other amazing local people. Check out the trailer and make sure to go see The Town in theatres, September 17th.

A room full of people with purpose and goals.

We’ve watched each other grow and we’ll help each other build.

Set Free, Rob G (Black Scale), Curt@!n$ (Free Word), Mega (Black Scale) at my office in Cambridge.

My family over at Kinda Dusty has put together an amazing video for the first single off of E The Real’s new album “The Wall Street Project”. The album is a concept piece inspired by the Oliver Stone classic “Wall Street”. The album is released on the eve of the release of “Wall Street 2″.  It’s dope with flawless production by Paul Mighty, DJ Manipulator and I also contributed a track on the humble.

Big shouts to my Dusty fam.

Download the album HERE

My in depth review coming soon.

Peep the Butcher cameo!