Where hardwork, goals and ambitions are embossed and shine. Dimemond's aspire to be inspiring.
PHOTOS BY: SHAHANAH ZAYNAH & KENIDSON DERIVAL
Dimemond Mentality collaborated with a new up and coming artist out Victoria BC. As Dimemond continues to strive to build a spectrum, and the roster of quality of individuals, it is always important to continuously find young driven individuals out of the hub of Vancouver, moreover, British Columbia. DM is looking to be one of the first leaders, to make Vancouver rumble, on a global scale, to share all the greatness this city has to offer.
Cole Letham is a great example of young, creative, consistent, and most of all a proud individual.
To break down who Cole Letham is, he is a great definition of a young visionary, who sticks to what he wants to see in himself, as an individual, and also being able to put his city on the map. When collaborating with DM, it was an absolutely important to push what he does; he creates. This is all at the ripe age of only 20 years young. He has a great pathway ahead of him!
“IF I WANNA DO THIS, I HAVE TO KEEP GETTING UP”
Cole Letham is a great example of what it means to be a multi-faceted individual, who wants to make it. As the sole creator of SuperInk Clothing, as well as beginning to become a recording artist, more specifically a rapper, he really does stand out from the rest, especially coming from a rather isolated city, such as Victoria BC. It's a rare occurence, but a pure definition of what it means to be a Dimemond Individual.
Cole Letham photographed at the iconic BreakWater dockside on Dallas Road, Victoria BC.
SUPERINK CLOTHING
SuperInk Clothing is a streetwear, fashion clothing line which came into play since 2011 for Cole. Like most young, clothing start-ups, Cole really wanted to begin wearing and repping something of his own, as oppose to other brands. But, he knew with this being an opportunity to create something of his own, there were going to be learning curves.
When sitting down with Cole, you can feed off his incredible energy, and eagerness to just want to get there. You could tell right away he is a self learner, and willing to exceed and excel past the boundaries, in order to grow.
At the point of wanting to begin a clothing line, Cole had to begin how to start using graphic based design programs. At this time, he was still in high school, but hungry to get going on the process of learning the teachnical side of designing. With having his school as a major resource, and was able to not only succeed at receiving his high school diploma, but also come out of high school being an experienced user of graphic programs within Adobe Creative Suite.
Cole Letham in SuperInk Clothing.
When creating something of your own, such as a clothing line, there is a great amount of substance of branding needed, in order to push the identity of the clothing, the ideas and as well as the voice of what the brand is telling its buyers.
For Cole Letham, it was easy knowing what he wanted to bring to the streetwear game, and that was being the first representative from Victoria BC, to do it. He appreciates his roots, where he's from, and the beauty within Victoria, as well as British Columbia. He knew from that point, he had to encompass that identity within the clothing he wanted to create and design.
As Cole's story continues to grow for his idea of streetwear, and clothing, he went through stages of what it means to create an identity for a brand.
“INKSCAPE, F.A.I.M (FRESH APPAREL IN MIND), SUPER INK”
Like most creative processes within branding, the name essentially makes the brand sell the idea to the eyes and ears. For Cole, it was a rather interesting journey to get to the name of SuperInk. He was happy to share his process, and defined each of the first few names, as starting points. Some would simply scratch these names, throw them out, and think it wouldn't matter to keep them for an archive based purpose. However, when understanding Cole's story of creating something of his own, in becoming a creative individual, the details within the journey is what he truly appreciates, and learns from.
What does it mean to be wearing clothing by SuperInk?
It expresses the embodiment of living the paradise lifestyle, with understanding that every individual, perceives their own paradise in different ways and perspectives. Cole Letham felt it was right create this pathway in his clothing, as he was born and bred literally on an island. The only way to stray away from the typical paradise, getaway island persona, was to integrate his identity, his roots, and the lifestyle into SuperInk clothing. He didn't stutter when he wanted to put the island on the map, and the first to do it. Just as Dimemond Mentality wants to be the first platform, and brand to represent the rumble in quality within Vancouver, Cole Letham wants to make Victoria BC, loud.
Since establishing SuperInk as the brand for clothing that Cole Letham currently creates, he has managed to network his way in and out of BC, to Ontario, and even South from the border into Florida and California. He hopes that he continues to push the brand largely locally, and still continue to have supporters all over North America.
LETHAM MUSIC
Very similar to Cole's goals for SuperInk clothing, and having the ambition and motivation to put on for Victoria BC, he also wants to push his music ability to reach the same, heightened levels.
His first goal when it comes to putting music out, he wants to be able to distinguish himself, as a hip hop based recording artist locally first, and then branch out. As simple as that does sound, most artsits do make the plunge first, trying to make it big right from get go. But Cole has managed to maintain patience, persistent and smart about how he places his music in Victoria.
His vibes come from a mixture of Lupe Fiasco beats, with a Mac Miller vocalist, to poetry of Dizzy Wright. All quality, all stories, all pure!
Cole Letham, has managed to push more than 20+ tracks on his SoundCloud since 2013, all of which have a mix produced and mastered by Cole, as well as Eddy Vocals from Lyrics Studios in Victoria. Cole also creates and designs all his cover art for each track and single(s) he releases. Listen to one of DM's favorite tracks of Cole's below!
Still at a very beginning chapter for hip hop, music, producing and writing, Cole Letham has the great potential, and visual ambition to become a great artist and icon to come out of Victoria BC, at a young age to a quality veteran.
When collaborating with Dimemond Mentality, Cole Letham invited the team to his open mic performance, at the Hip Hop Open Mic Victoria, which is held one Wednesday, every month in Downtown Victoria.
Cole Letham performing at the monthly, Hip Hop Open Mic in Victoria BC.
When waiting with him for slot time, to perform, Cole admitted that the first he took part of the Hip Hop open mic session he "messed a couple words", but he also appreciated the moment as it was his "first time performing infront of a crowd"; people whom he barely knew, or met, as it is open to the public. The time where Dimemond was present, he felt a lot more comfortable, had more stability with his lyrics, and made to put as much energy as he could, to leave his mark for the Hip Hop open mic night.
Cole Letham will be performing at the next Hip Hop Open Mic in Victoria, Wednesday August 19th, 2015. To find more information go here.
Cole is also slated to release a new mixtape this November 2015 - December 2015, Palm Trees and Pyramids.
Palm Trees and Pyramids the mixtape coming November 2015. Cover art created and designed by Cole Letham.
Dimemond Mentality truly believes that Cole has a great vision, and already achieving so many goals at a very young age, which only means he will continue to be a hard worker, while becoming a new inspiration for the generation coming under him. Coming out Victoria BC, Cole Letham has began to establish himself as known act at various social events, and music based shows, and will continue to expand his name, his brand and his talent.
Cole has zero doubt in terms of what it takes to make it, and that means having the willingness to learn, and exceed different comfort zones. From learning how to begin designing his initial plans for SuperInk Clothing, to learning how to engineer and record his beats and lyrics to be able to continously upload his music, he has the Dimemond ambition, that only so many can obtain and sustain!
Cole Letham is making big moves, and DM can only continue to support and push his name, as both Letham and Dimemond Mentality strive to become big names, brands and leaders out of Vancouver and Victoria BC.
