The World’s Largest Pizza Festival, the highly anticipated party of the summer, returned for its biggest celebration to date on Sunday, August 29. This year’s festival benefited Model Citizen and featured carnival-style games and exhilarating thrills which included a giant slip-n-slide, bounce houses, and of course lots of pizza. DJ Irie provided the atmospheric music vibes all night in addition to performances by two of music’s biggest stars.
“I wanted to be jumping on a stage when I was jumping in the crowd.” – Steve Aoki
Last night Japanese sneaker brand ASICS celebrated the launch of their new HYPERGEL-KENZEN shoe campaign in collaboration with renowned Grammy-nominated DJ/Producer Steve Aoki.
The Knockturnal was on the scene at the ASICS Jump Room event in New York, celebrating the launch of the “I Move Me” campaign and partnership with Grammy-nominated DJ and producer, Steve Aoki.
ASICS America teamed with Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Steve Aoki to present I MOVE ME, a North American film-oriented campaign designed to connect with new audiences in the fitness industry. Aoki, mostly known for his music career, is also a fitness fanatic, and is the face of the campaign. ASICS unveiled this new project October 18 in California.
Steve Aoki for ASICS: I MOVE ME.
President and CEO of ASICS Gene McCarthy called I MOVE ME “more than a movement.”
“We are setting out to reframe our narrative, deepen relationships with our core customers, and connect with a new generation of fitness-minded customers,” McCarthy said Wednesday. Aoki serves as the project’s frontman and the face of the collision of self-expression, culture, and sport. The film features other athletes like 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Wrestler Jordan Burroughs, and World Champion track and field athlete and bobsledder and three-time Olympian Lolo Jones. The film was shot in Aoki’s home in Las Vegas and is set to his new album Kolony. The narrative of the film includes success stories of other “movers.”
Aoki at his home in Las Vegas during the film shoot.
“I’m really excited to work with ASICS, an iconic Japanese brand,” Aoki said. “My life is not only about music and fashion, but also fitness, nutrition, and health.” Aoki joins Olympians Burroughs and Jones in their normal training routines.
Olympic track and field and bobsledding star Lolo Jones.
I MOVE ME will continue its release in parts throughout the year, including social content, influencers, and other movers. It will also feature customer-geared “offline” activations, one of which being the opening of a new ASICS Flagship store on 5th Avenue.
ASICS claimed its desire to change the way fitness is perceived and experienced and to spotlight fresh and distinct forms of movement and fitness. McCarthy highlighted the newness of the campaign in response to the declination of youth sports participation across the nation.
“While other brands are saying – be like him, be the best – ASICS is taking a different route at inspiring a new appreciation for movement for younger generations,” McCarthy said. “That’s what ‘I MOVE ME’ is all about.”
As VH1’s Save the Music Foundation celebrated their 20th anniversary last night at New York City’s Sir 37, they honored Queen Latifah, DJ Khaled and Steve Aoki at a star studded gala sponsored by Toyota along with Toys R US, IOMAXIS, Notable Wines, Lyft, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, ALEX AND ANI, Raymond Weil, Heineken, Moxy Times Square and JetBlue. Celebrity guests in attendance included LaLa Anthony, Naturi Naughton, Slick Rick, The Fat Jewish, Joe Alexander, Rocsi Diaz and Wyclef Jean, as well as radio personality Sway Calloway who gave the welcoming speech. DJ D-Nice provided the music for the evening. Also present was VH1 Save the Music Foundation Executive Director Henry Donahue.
“Not all children in America are afforded the same chances to succeed, but we believe in the power of music to help students fulfill their potential. That’s why we are more committed than ever to bringing music education to students who need it most,” said Henry Donahue, executive director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation in a press release. “Not only is music education proven to help students be more successful, but we believe it’s every child’s right to access music and art within their school and community. With the continued support of our partners in communities across the U.S., we can help make music an essential piece of every child’s education in the next 20 years.”
The Knockturnal caught up with guests of honor Latifah and Aoki (who received the Music Innovator Award) on the black carpet before they made their way inside. Latifah told us about what more can be done to increase music education in schools saying, “We just have to save the programs. We have to take music and arts as seriously as we take math and science. If we take that attitude towards them then people will really see how relevant they are.” Queen had also announced prior that in partnership with the Save the Music Foundation they are committed to a 5 year plan which will donate $5 million to rebuild music in 38 schools in Newark, New Jersey. Actress and author LaLa Anthony who came out to show support expressed how Queen has inspired her saying,”She inspires me tremendously. I mean to just be able to do so many different things and be great at it, which is something I’m always continuing trying to do in my career trying to do more than one thing and be great at it. And her company brought my book The Love Playbook and we’re partnering on a movie together so I’m super excited about that.” About what being honored by the program means to him, Steve Aoki said, “It means a lot because music changed my life. So when I go back to when I was a teenager when I was in high school, if I didn’t find the guitar, if I didn’t find the microphone, if I didn’t find that music recording device and start making music I definitely wouldn’t be standing here right now. And I definitely wouldn’t creatively been finding my voice because it essentially is a tool for me to get my expressions out of my head and putting it into a creative outlet and that was the outlet that I chose.”
Wyclef Jean who paid tribute to Queen Latifah through performance joined by The Wavie Gang told The Knockturnal about expanding music programs, “Funding, and the funding has to come more than the government but more the private sector. You see the private sector has a responsibility, social entrepreneurship. So you should take it upon yourself and say you know what I’m gonna fund these amount of kids, these amount of public schools and it changes your life.”
VH1 Save The Music also unveiled a new grant program that will create more opportunities for students across the country and advance the Foundation’s mission to make music available in every public school in America. Introduced by Steve Aoki, the Music Tech Grant is planned as an investment in American public high schools to fund: the hardware, software, and musical instruments needed for audio engineering, recording, and production. DJ Khaled (who received the #ToyotaGiving Award from sponsor Toyota for his role as a champion for music programs in schools) and is also a national spokesman for VH1’s sister organization GET SCHOOLED, announced the program will launch the Win More Music Campaign for the 2017-18 school year, in partnership Save the Music. The campaign expands upon the 2016-17 award winning “Khaled Keys campaign” and is expected to reach more than one million young people and will expose them to key components of the music industry, including composition, collaboration, production, copyrighting basics marketing, and social media. The high schools with the most engaged students will earn DJ Khaled – We The Best DJ Studio Labs in their school.
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 16: DJ Khaled and Steve Curtis attend VH1 Save The Music 20th Anniversary Gala at SIR Stage37 on October 16, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for VH1 Save The Music )
Before leaving DJ Khaled chatted with The Knockturnal about who he wants to collaborate with in the future saying,“I haven’t collaborated with Eminem, Andre 3000 which I want to work with both of them. I worked with a lot so many, and there’s more out there. I would love to work with Adele, Seal, I like Seal too, you know what I’m saying Ed Shereen. Those are my friends, we just have to figure out how one day we can get in that studio. I’m ready.”
A well-known EDM DJ Steve Aoki decided to change up his sound adding hip hop and rap elements to his latest album going to be released soon, but previewed to public in Greenwich Village Tuesday night.
To celebrate the release of “Ghost In The Shell,” we have teamed with Paramount Pictures to give away some super fun branded items from the film that will certainly get you hyped before the film releases on March 31, 2017.
Director Justin Krook’s energetic documentary “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” follows EDM’s hardest working and most prolific DJ— Steve Aoki. Before the premiere, I sat down with Steve, Justin, and producer Matthew Weaver, to discuss the deeply personal film.
Steve Aoki’s documentary I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead held its world premiere on April 15th at the Beacon Theater in New York City.