Whenever an artist attempts to cover a popular song, it’s usually a pretty gusty thing. Cover songs ususally end up being one of two things: terrible or amazing. There’s no middle ground. Recently, New York University undergrad Nyle performed a cover of Lil’ Wayne’s “Let the Beat Build” off of Tha Carter III. This wasn’t an ordinary cover song though, definitely not. What made his rendition unique was the fact that the audio was recorded at the same time it was being filmed. It was all filmed/recorded in one continuous take as well — the film crew had to shoot 30 takes to get it just right. It even featured a wide array of instruments from a piano to a banjo to a trombone. Nyle, who’s graduating from NYU this May, stated that he made the video cover of Lil’ Wayne with a $2,000 grant from the university. His plans for after graduation you might ask? To continue to pay rent by throwing parties in his Bushwick party loft and try to make it big as a rapper.

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April has been a busy month for the artist known as DILLON, and he likes it that way. The American-born artist living in Italy has recently finished a new batch of work, done with some provocative concepts over some eye catching patterns (using aerosol over stencils and acrylic on canvas of course). He has also been showcasing his art at various shops and cafes around Italy, as well as embarking on a book signing tour.

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The people over at New Balance have come out with the latest style of their famous 577 shoe for New Balance’s Spring 2009 collection. It wasn’t available in the US until now. I feel like nearly everyone has owned a pair of 577’s at some point in their lives. I used to rock these bad boys for a short stint in my high school career. When it was imagined by the New Balance UK team in 1988, the 577 was originally launched as a performance running shoe for “heavy” runners. But that quickly changed. The 577 is updated this season in three leather colorways: white/black, black/white and grey/white/black.

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Indie art, fashion, music, graffiti, and design magazine Beautiful/Decay is undergoing a complete overhaul. Starting with their July 2009 issue, Beautiful/Decay will have a number of new and innovative changes. I like to think of it as Beautiful/Decay 2.0. The magazine was started over 10 years ago as a hand-copied, black and white ‘zine. Since that time, it has quickly blossomed into one of the most well-known magazines in the industry. Today though, the state of the economy is wreaking havoc on many companies and businesses. Beautiful/Decay is no exception to that fact. But, instead of laying off workers, watering down content, or even going out of business, Beautiful/Decay has decided to be proactive about the situation and implement unique changes. They are even doing their part to be more environmentally friendly.

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Maxwell Drummey and D.A. Wallach, better known together as Chester French, are two of the most promising names in music today. The boys of Chester French actually first met while studying at Harvard back in 2003. It was during their 4 years at Harvard that they learned how to sound engineer and record music. During their senior year, they went on to send their finished demo CD to a few famous producers like Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, & Jermaine Dupri. Pharrell eventually signed them to his label, Star Trak. Today, you can see them touring with Matisyahu, Common, N.E.R.D., or Lady GaGa. You might also catch them performing their hit single “She Loves Everybody” on an MTV spot. They are on the verge of making it huge.

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