Very few people in my circle or those who follow the king of the beats know much about this man Chris Malbon.  You may find it a surprise to discover that apart from my self he is the longest serving member of the team.  From its very conception he is responsible for the web design, logo designs and branding. 

We go way back, I met Chris in first school, my earliest memories of him was that we used to have drawing competitions at break time to see who was the better artist.  Those days I would say I won, I’m hoping Chris will agree.  We had a passion for art, some might say a gift for it.  I was one year above him at school and when Hip Hop arrived I quickly got caught up in it.

Because of my older brother who was into comic books, I would spend hours copying the images from Marvel Comics and the characters of R.Crumb this then manifested in me then becoming a graffiti artist.  Chris also took to the same route, although we were in different crews.

We went to the same first school, middle school and high school where we developed our skills and passion for art. This even led us to both going to the same college and studying design.  I was always in the year above Chris because of my age.  It was after we graduated things took a turn.  My obsession for Hip Hop music, scratching and film overtook my passion for design.  Chris how ever got a job in design and fully embraced it.  Through hard work and dedication he worked his way into  top design agencies in London then moving to Bristol where he is now.  From Designing Air Jordan’s, doing such work as the Coca Cola branding for the 2012 Olympics Chris has always maintained his friendship with me.

As I was developing my brand Chris always helped me.  As a Artist and Designer he over took me leaps and bounds.  From the early days, if anyone remembers nu-skratch.com he was behind that.  King of the beats Logo he was behind that.  I’ve stayed loyal to him and as busy as he is, I would rather wait a year to get something from Chris  rather then use someone else.  Recently I have been working again with Chris on some new projects, this prittkalsi website for one.  The other is the return and re brand of KING OF THE BEATS.  We have been working very hard on this.  I shooting the film in NYC and him creating the new look and the artwork to go with it.  We sat down had a number of meetings looking into really applying good design along side to the film and its culture attached.  Next week look out for a new trailer and the first look at Chris’s Work to go with the new look  King of the Beats.

Above is a piece Chris Created for a Charity Organization raising money for Cancer.

Chris Malbon : http://www.chrismalbon.co.uk/blog/