#254: Ciesay from Places + Faces

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome photographer/clothing designer/DJ/party promoter Ciesay from Places + Faces to the Upper West Side! Fresh off the stage from Places + Faces' first Boiler Room concert in NYC, where Cam'Ron, Jim Jones, Amine, Valee, Sahbabii and many more performed, Ciesay discusses growing up between South London, England and Gambia, the son of an importer/exporter father and a mother who worked for the United Nations, what popular culture he picked up vs. missed out on, the bootleg merch he wore as a child, how stamped-up his passport became at an early age, and the racism he encountered both abroad and at home. Ciesay dives into his first trip alone, to New York City, after an invite from a distant relative came through Facebook, how he used his time in New York to immerse himself in the burgeoning hip-hop scene of the 2010s alongside A$AP Mob, Travis Scott, Big Sean and Drake, the methods he'd use to sneak into concerts, how he made his name as a photographer, and all the terrible filters he used on early Instagram. We get into singular moments in his photography with DMX, Kanye, Tyler the Creator and Bryson Tiller, how he made sweatshirts with his last 300 British Pounds, his friends moshed in them, and he had to take it as a loss, borrowed money from friends, and built a brand that was so dope soon enough Wiz Khalifa was rocking it on his birthday. We talk about how Places + Faces developed their business, their ethos, and how they chose what lanes to occupy, what brands they collaborate with, learning how to be patient with how partnerships and products develop, and how they're organically creating tangible moments for a new generation across lots of mediums. All that, plus where Ciesay has gotten the most lost in the world, why P+S still feels like a London brand while selling all over the world, whether we will all in fact #ComeToBrazil, what the real national anthem of Gambia is, and so much more!