The tragedy that occurred at this year’s running of the Boston Marathon on April 15th directly affected some great people who are close friends and family of ours. Below, we have posted four links which contain the stories of these people and the opportunity to directly support their recovery. We ask that all RAW Supporters do what they can and our sincere thanks goes out in advance for your kindness.

S.C.  K.S.

Jimmy Costello – http://www.gofundme.com/bimstrong

Paul and JP Norden – http://www.gofundme.com/2pfm04

Marc Fucarile – http://www.gofundme.com/marcfucarile

Jarrod Clowery – http://www.gofundme.com/2nphz4

Rest In Peace, Biggie.

S.C.  K.S.

It’s official. All four major sports teams in New England have won a championship in the past decade.

S.C.  K.S.

This gentleman was nice enough to come over last weekend and give us a lesson in self defense. Don’t get within 21 feet of this dude, or he will cut you in half, and, after he’s done teaching us his skills, so will we.

S.C.  K.S.

Here is REKS’ newest video, “25th Hour”. The video is a precursor to his new album, R.E.K.S (Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme), which is scheduled to be released on March 8th, 2011 on Showoff/Brick Records. The track was produced by DJ Premier and the video was filmed and edited by Ian Wolfson. REKS is scheduled to be on tour starting in early March to promote the album. Full details on the tour are available here.

S.C.  K.S.

Jon Wolf has been a supporter of the RAW brand since 2006. He has contributed his filming and editing expertise to several of our projects over the past few years, most recently our video short featuring Dana Ericson. Just a few days ago, Jon was featured on the Mr. Dante Luna show and had the chance to explain his background, inspirations and future plans as a filmmaker. Jon’s latest work for RAW will be available very soon for all of our supporters.

S.C.  K.S.

In the 1990’s, there was a significant influence of hip hop on skateboarding. Many video parts from that era are still famous for the song featured in them and expanded the reach of skateboarders’ musical tastes everywhere in the world. The main reason why these soundtrack choices are still effective to this day is that the tracks compliment the skateboarding and personality of the person in the video part.

Recently, we were introduced to Lawrence, MA native Reks via Jon Wolf and Dana Ericson. When he visited 622 Somerville Avenue with his friends Hatim and Rizzo, we had a great discussion on the subject of how hip hop has influenced skateboarding and how skateboarding has influenced hip hop. The main direction of the conversation was that skateboarding and hip hop are both cultures where style is of the utmost importance and that the cultures themselves are considered to be ways of life and not just hobbies.

In Rek’s newest video, which was shot and edited by Jon Wolf, two things are glaringly obvious to us: 1) Reks has a style, message and voice that compliment the track he is rhyming on and 2) Reks does not consider hip hop to be a hobby. We’d like to thank Reks for his support of the RAW brand in the “This Or That” video and wish him continued success as an artist.

S.C.  K.S.

Damn.

S.C.  K.S.

Growing up in New England, if you’re raised properly, you become a few important things when you grow up, and one of those things is a Boston Celtics fan. This evening, the C’s have a great opportunity in front of them, and the gentleman pictured above has been instrumental in making that opportunity come about. Rajon Rondo’s hustle and ability to keep his head in the game have the Celtics on the verge of doing big things in the next few weeks. Click the photo above or right here to view a full length interview with #9 via the Boston Celtics YouTube page.

S.C.  K.S.

Throughout history, there have consistently been cases of talented musicians whose lives ended far before what many people like to call “their prime”. Ian Curtis, unfortunately, joined this category of legends twenty years ago today on May 18, 1980. If you know Joy Division, then today is a day that you can listen to them with even more of a purpose than usual. If you don’t know Joy Division, then today is a perfect day to start listening.

S.C.  K.S.