It’s been an incredibly boring week, so I’m thinking a good way to liven things up is a good ole’ late night show on a Wednesday featuring Blacktang, a band that apparently combines the sounds of Black Flag and Wu-Tang Clan.

I’m intrigued, yet scared.

It’s hosted by my homies at aNYthing (who I need to visit real soon) along with IRACK and all takes places tonight at:

Le Lupanar

Downstairs

103 Essex (@ Delancey)

BTW: IT’S FREE!

I feel like I didn’t give the Burkina Shop enough props last time they were mentioned in Poppin’ Tags. The place is such a different experience than any other NYC shop I’ve been to, I feel like I had to circle back around. I actually went down there today because I remember they had an Obama tee I wanted to cop, which I did, but it’s Sunday and I’m taking the day off from politics.

The reason I like Burkina is because its a grimy spot. A hole in the wall on Houston Street, that somehow offers more in a place that can barely hold 15 people than other neighborhood shops that are 4 times their size.  It’s a working man’s hip-hop shop.

I also like how they’re not afraid to fly the flag as a hip-hop brand, while others use more sophisticated terms in order to not alienate potential customers. Burkina’s designs are tributes to MCs, DJs, B-Boys and Graf Writers- along with some braggadocio pieces that are inline with the flashy side of hip-hop culture we know all too well.

The tee I copped today is sure to get a lot of wear. It’s a fairly simple print, but I tend to prefer that compared to a tee that looks like a billboard. The mic design reminds me of LL Cool J’s infamous tattoo, that was a part of the historic LL vs. Canibus beef. Because of a single line, Canibus essentially personified that tattoo and Burkina is now honoring the LL Mic Tat with its own t-shirt.

Or it could always be a hand holding a flaming mic, but regardless, a hot print.

BRAND: Burkina
LOCATION: 177 E.Houston St., NYC
PRICE: $20

I had to really push myself to get out and pop tags this week. Actually, I’ll rephrase, I had to really push myself to get out and buy t-shirts this week. If it weren’t for the fact that the Browns are playing during prime time tonight and I only get to say that once every 5-10 years, I may have taken Sunday afternoon off for the NFL. Satisfying our loyal reader(s) and keeping the new content flowing is top priority around here at Xplosive World, but due to excessive humidity, spending ridiculous amounts of $$$ to pop tags in order to have “proper attire” for fashion week parties and exhaustion relating to aforementioned parties was almost enough rationale to try to break the tee-a-week goal.

I’m definitely glad I got out because this week took me to Dave’s Quality Meat on East 3rd in Manhattan. I had to put some emphasis on the fact that DQM resides on a “number street”, as this is kind of rare for the streetwear shop in the area, and being someone that resides in the “20′s section” of these “number streets”- I’m claiming this joint as my local shop.

DQM was just an all around cool store. I was feeling the vibe the minute I walked in and heard “Receipt” from Lil Wayne’s Carter II disc- just because that’s a track that never got much commercial push, so I don’t really expect to hear it much if I’m not controlling the playlist. What also stood out from the jump was how well-rounded the store was with good varieties of tees, hoodies, kicks, etc.

I was feeling the tee selection from DQM so much, I had to double up this week. One reason for the double feature is because of the color variations at the store that I’ve been searching for week after week. I finally found a solid design on a navy tee and complemented it with a dark brown piece that actually looked better in white with a gold print, but I wanted to go with the one I’d wear.

Another reason I’m posting 2 joints this week is because I’ll be on the road next week watching QP wreck the stage at the Ohio Hip-Hop Awards in Cleveland- and due to my familiarity with the area, I’m already aware of the difficulty in finding a local streetwear brand to report on. I’ve got some ideas, so I won’t rule anything out, but don’t be jockin’ me if I’m MIA.

BRAND: Dave’s Quality Meat
LOCATION: 7 East 3rd St., NYC
PRICE: $28/each

Another weekend, another trip to the Lower East Side. I learned something new this time around. Alife only sells shoes. My internet research still indicates that Alife does in fact make t-shirts, but if there was a secret stash in the NYC store they do a good job of concealing it and although the staff was very cool, my ego wouldn’t allow me to ask where they kept the stash at.

This misstep left me without much direction today. I started to do some wandering around the LES, thinking I may run into a diamond in the rough, but that’s easier said than done when most of these shops are pretty hard to spot when you know exactly where they’re at.

I ended up near Reed Space on Orchard St. for the 2nd week in a row and found the Reed Annex, located right next to the actual Reed Space store, but something I missed last week. The annex is like the TJMaxx or Marshall’s version of the real store, where they’ve got their overstocks, stuff from last season and whatever else you usually expect from a discount gear store.

The selection at the annex was very similar to the counter-part with a good variety of brands and styles, while lagging in color options and seemed to carry an overabundance of white tees.

As previously mentioned, I’m not a huge fan of white tees. The whole white on white thing when pairing with a white undershirt just doesn’t look right to me and I guess I’ve never been ambitious enough to consider wearing an undershirt that isn’t white.

So check out this WHITE tee I found from UndrCrwn at Reed Annex. This tee was literally the first thing that caught me eye when I walked in the store because of the textures used on the print. It reminds of a Nike tee, which is obviously intentional when looking at the letter positioning and the star in the middle actually has that raised, rubbery feeling like a basketball.

It’s a slick design, but still something I’m expecting to occupy a hanger for a while. This was definitely a forced buy to come back with something, but I’m not expecting to be running around with a new found love for white tees.

I am glad I found the Reed Annex and definitely recommend anyone planning on heading that way to hit up both locations and probably even hit the annex first, especially if you’re poppin’ tags on a budget.

BRAND: UndrCrwn
LOCATION: Reed Annex, 151 Orchard St.,NYC
PRICE: $15

When trying to maintain a column like Poppin Tags, it sure helps to be in NYC. As you can see, my trip down south didn’t produce anything noteworthy for the closet, as finding unique hip-hop gear proved to be a much harder task than I had anticipated. I almost picked up a tee from a flea market in Raleigh, NC that featured a pitbull sitting in the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by a confederate flag- which I commonly referred to as “that racist pitbull shirt” in conversation with the vendor.

Fortunately I made it back to NYC and made a good score today at Reed Space on the Lower East Side. I was excited to make my first appearance at the spot since the store is known to carry a variety of unique brands, some NYC based and other imports from around the world.

I wasn’t disappointed by the diversity of gear at Reed Space, as their brand selection and variation of t-shirt designs was better than about 90% of the spots I’ve visited in the City. They also give good background information on all their brands, which is appreciated by consumers like myself who want to know the background on the gear they’re not familiar with.

My biggest complaint here, which seems to be increasing in frequency, was the lack of colors available throughout the store. Is this recession causing designers to only be capable of printing on black, white or gray tees? Did the navy t-shirt producers fall victim to downsizing? I counted 2 navy t-shirts in the entire store. As you’ve probably noticed, I like my t-shirts dark. I don’t really do the white or gray thing (unless we’re talking a dark heather gray).

No worries, I still came through with some heat. This one is from 10.deep, a brand that I had previously heard of, but never really knew much about. I should have guessed by the tough look that this brand is straight out of NYC. You gotta love a brand that features a pair of brass knuckles in their logo. I’m really feeling how the design requires people to think about it’s meaning and really love the colors the shade of green that makes the shirt more than just a black & white piece.

Upon further research, there’s a couple of more spots in NYC that carry 10.deep, so don’t be surprised if we see some additional entries from them around these parts.

BRAND: 10.deep
LOCATION: Reed Space, 151 Orchard St.,NYC
PRICE: $36