Pentagon LA Make Stylish Statements About Armenian Genocide

Should you’re in and round Glendale and sure components of Los Angeles through the month of April, you’re more likely to see Armenian flags on automobiles and in home windows of native companies in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. You additionally may discover the phrase Our Wounds Are Nonetheless Open: 1915 printed on T-shirts, hoodies, caps, indicators and decals.

Armenians march and wave flags yearly on April 24 to convey consideration to the killing and ethnic cleaning of their individuals (over one million) by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire throughout World Conflict 1. However even when you realize this historical past, you may surprise concerning the which means and origin of those phrases now written in every single place.

Los Angeles locals R-Imply, Tina Chuldzhyan and Alex Kodo are behind the clothes line and slogan, taken from one among rapper R-Imply’s lyrics. What began as a rap track written 15 years in the past concerning the Turkish authorities’s denial of the genocide has now turn out to be a well-liked, politically-inspired streetwear line, and a rallying cry for youth within the Armenian group and past.

(Courtesy Pentagon LA)

Born Armin Hariri to an Armenian-Persian mom and a Baha’i Persian father in L.A., R-Imply grew up simply outdoors of Amsterdam earlier than shifting again right here in 2004. He rapped as a interest in highschool. In 2006, he launched his first document, Damaged Water, which included the track “Open Wounds”- (“We’re praying to God to make ‘em admit it – we’re nonetheless hoping / However they nonetheless received’t and that’s why these wounds are nonetheless open”).

R-Imply has since recorded six albums and initiatives on his label Pentagon Information. In 2013, he re-released “Open Wounds” and shot a video carrying a black T-shirt with the wordage design written in white slash-style font with the letters R, I and P in pink.

“Everybody began asking us, ‘The place can we get that shirt within the video?’” R-Imply shares with L.A. Weekly. “We’d get stopped each single time. It turned a device to coach individuals.”

The rapper, Chuldzhyan and Kodo, together with a graphic artist, conceived of the design as a “dialog piece,” however in an deliberately refined approach that was meant to deal with all social and historic – even private – injustices.

(Courtesy Pentagon LA)

“We wish it to be common,” explains R-Imply. “It’s about crimes in opposition to humanity. I keep in mind a man in New York who had a tattoo of the emblem, however with the 12 months his sister was killed. Individuals make it their very own. It’s relatable.”

“It’s an empowering approach of claiming who we’re with out being obnoxious about it,” provides Chuldzhyan.

The T-shirts took off with R-Imply’s followers and on his web site, and shortly dozens of neighborhood retailers began carrying them. At the moment some 60 shops in L.A. promote the T-shirts round April, and earnings from gross sales profit the Open Wounds 1915 nonprofit, which in flip collaborates with many different Armenian organizations all over the world.

In 2017, R-Imply, Chuldzhyan and Kodo opened The Pentagon LA retail area in Glendale, promoting hip-hop-themed attire, many with patriotic, Armenian photos on them, in addition to an “LA” emblem design additionally created by the trio.

(Courtesy Pentagon LA)

From keffiyeh scarves and Che Guevara shirts to anti-Trump pink “pussyhats,” clothes and activism have all the time gone hand in hand. Nothing connects younger individuals to a trigger quicker nowadays than integrating style and hip-hop.

“Having speeches by professors at commemorations is boring and never sufficient,” says R-Imply. “Generally you may unfold a message so a lot better via artwork, music and flicks. It was time to do one thing completely different. Individuals must look outdoors the field.”

The three even enlisted assist from celebrities. The Sport, Cardi B, Put up Malone, DMX, Xzibit and different hip-hop heavyweights have all been photographed on social media both carrying or holding the T-shirt. (The designers shared a video of DMX carrying the shirt on their Instagram simply final week following his loss of life.)

“She really had a full dialog with us about it,” remembers Chuldzhyan of Cardi B. “She’s a historical past buff. She was actually inclined. That picture acquired unfold throughout social media, and you’ll’t pay for that sort of promoting.”

The shop shows framed covers of hip-hop albums on its partitions along with works by artists Shepard Fairey, Van Saro and former L.A. Weekly cowl topic Robert Vargas, who not too long ago painted the Eddie Van Halen mural in Hollywood, and is at present creating what is going to turn out to be the most important mural by a single artist in Downtown. With a pool desk and basketball hoop within the entrance, the area additionally functioned as a form of hang around, internet hosting pop-up occasions for different rappers and native designers, till it shut down in March 2020 resulting from COVID-19.

L.A. noticed extra enterprise closures than any metropolis within the U.S. throughout lockdown – roughly 15,000 throughout L.A. County. Like many small companies hit by the pandemic, Pentagon LA sustained itself with on-line gross sales.

“We needed to actually shift our gears and work on-line,” says Chuldzhyan. “It was actually robust with the ability to afford having workers once more once you haven’t had a excessive degree of gross sales anymore. Our on-line group and our music helped us closely throughout this time. If we didn’t have these we wouldn’t have survived. I really feel unhealthy for companies who had been simply beginning out as a result of they had been those who acquired hit the toughest.”

In September, Azerbaijan launched a army assault on Artsakh, a small, long-disputed area within the South Caucasus, often known as Nagorno-Karabakh, that’s acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan, however is generally populated by ethnic Armenians. The battle killed 1000’s of troopers and civilians and displaced many residents, resulting in protests by Armenians everywhere in the world. A ceasefire settlement was reached in November.

Although they had been nonetheless coping with COVID, R-Imply and his co-owners responded by turning their retailer right into a drop-off station, amassing $500,000 {dollars}’ price of donations for native charity Armenia Fund (armeniafund.org). “We had been head to ceiling in packing containers,” recollects Chuldzhyan. “We sure collectively as a group and it helped lots.”

(Courtesy Pentagon LA)

Earlier than the store reopened in February, R-Imply continued releasing new music throughout quarantine, together with a duet with Capital Cities singer Sebu Simonian and a collaboration known as Armenian Emcee Cypher 2020, which incorporates a number of different native Armenian rappers and System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian. He additionally recorded “King James,” a LeBron James-inspired observe produced by Scott Storch and that includes rapper Jeremih, which was used on an ESPN business.

R-Imply additionally began the #ArmeniansforBlackLivesMatter hashtag on social media with Mihran Kirakosian, a dancer who’s toured with Madonna and Britney Spears, as a present of solidarity for BLM and the wrestle for racial justice within the wake of George Floyd’s loss of life.

“We needed to point out the youth in our group that we’re standing up for any sort of injustice, not simply our personal,” R-Imply, whose different designs embody the phrases We Are Nonetheless Right here and simply the 12 months 1915. “We’re displaying the African American group that we’re actually behind them. I’m a hip-hop artist and he’s a dancer, and clearly we’ve been influenced by hip-hop. It’s been a giant a part of our lives. It was solely proper that we converse up and do no matter we may.”

The Pentagon LA, 1207 W. Glenoaks Blvd., Glendale. (818) 523-3803, thepentagonla.com and openwounds1915.com