in 1993 entrepreneur leke adesoye fresh from the london college of fashion practiced manipulating
and playing around with corporate logos. a lot of close friends in the music scene who also saw
the fun in these experimentations went on to don some of these t-shirts whilst giving birth to
outrage clothing. back then the likes of damian lazarus, pm scientists, a guy called gerald and
jazz café all supported leke's work.
"it was my way of taking the piss out of the advertising business because that's what i trained to do originally, you know, graphic design and product placement. i found it a real anal industry so i thought i'm going to give it a two-fingered job. i did it for a laugh really, it was strictly for the clubbers, people that were on that kind of tip. there was a lot of that going on anyway and i was quite influenced by it. there was stuff like 'fuct' based on the ford logo and i thought that was really clever."
you may remember seeing some of leke's early designs like the weetabix re-arranged logo that was
tagged 'needafix', the boots logo converted to 'roots' or 'natural born player' that mimicked
the nba logo. unfortunately leke was soon to get in hot water over his rebellion against these
corporations. major dance music publications were now on the phone requesting interviews and
through publishers ipc boots put a warning out to the creator of their mutated logo. quick to
dispell a possible prison sentence leke had to agree to the end of the designs and re-call all
stock to be destroyed. "it kind of made me feel really good actually, the fact that i had created
a controversy and made them go totally mad."
aerosoul clothing commenced in 1997 with fresh designs and naturally industry friends once again stepped in to help promote the line. today even the likes of damage and s club 7 can be seen sporting the aerosoul name alongside more underground uk artists like roots manuva, skitz, rodney p, omar, ty, normski, a guy called gerald, kenny ken, wildchild, dj kane, moose and shabba.
"my stuff is really popular abroad and i sell more in japan, which is my number one outlet, in
amsterdam, germany, places like that, than i do in london. to be honest i get more vibes abroad
and i'm happy with that. i like being an underground label that can get stuff on damage and work
with emi, you know, films and stuff like that, but at the same time still retaining the whole
independent thing."
by luck one of the production assistants for up-coming 'brit flick' human traffic happened to see some aerosoul t's at a distribution base in leicester and soon got in touch with leke. after being presented with an overview of the film and a flick through the script leke consented to mailing out each of the current five t's not thinking that anything would come of it.
"i was like well if one gets picked up it's all good kind of thing. i had no 100% guarantee that they
were going to use it. i didn't hear anything for 2 years because they couldn't get the backing to
finish it and i remember justin, the director, went to cannes, showed it and obviously it got a really
good response. i didn't think it was going to blow up as much as it did, but it did and it was wicked.
everyone was into the gear and it turned the 'junglist movement' into an infamous design - everyone wanted it!"
as said earlier leke has always been closely involved with the music scene: "for me, you'll always find a crossover with fashion and music. i've been into music since day one and i used to be in a band with paradox who's one of the best producers in the country. it was me, paradox and a guy called dj trax who set up the band known as mixed race and they then got signed up to moving shadow.
i constantly get influenced from the music whether it be drum & bass, hip hop or r&b. i never kind of
go into anything that i'm not into and that's how i market my clothes through artists and producers.
but this is nothing new, it's what the americans do, when fubu first came out it was ll cool j who was
the main spokesman who was bringing these boys in, because they came from the same area." continuing on
this vibe there will be a new page on the aerosoul web site very shortly to promote new unsigned artists
in all forms of uk urban music.
reflecting the artists that support aerosoul leke is into all types of music. on the drum and bass tip the jazzier styles are more up his street and he cites people like j majik, peshay, bukem and fabio as the leaders here. leke djs this style and down tempo both in clubs and on the radio. the new sound evolving from west london is also exciting leke and on that front he has just finished a deal with virgin in connection with their new signing new sector movement featuring i.g culture. paradox is noted for the presence of soul in his music and although a friend leke compares him as a moby of the drum and bass scene.
there are some new lines to watch out for at aerosoul. the first range has just been set up especially for the ladies called 'soulero sister', as modelled by wildchild, tempa and c-mone and shortly there will be one aimed at the extreme sports market such as snowboarding and skating called 'as extreme sports'. the entire range of aerosoul clothing can be seen and bought on-line at the aerosoul site www.aerosoul.com or www.asseenonscreen.com. alternatively if you are down london way just stroll into hmv or top shop on oxford street.
written by phil pell @ lexicon magazine.
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