Written by Paul Bennings; Edited by Brian Giangrande I had hit rock bottom. I had just gotten fired from the umpteenth-mindless job at the age of 37, and it was all beginning to seem futile. I decided right then and there to become an entrepreneur. I had earned a couple of degrees in my travels: a Bachelor's in Graphic Design and a Master's in Digital Marketing. It was time to put those degrees to use.   The choice had become clear: either I live a life of mediocrity, or I use my God-given talents to shape the kind of life I wanted to live. Professionally, nobody cared about what I ..read more

Growing up amidst the rise of hip hop in New York, Paul Bennings was deeply inspired by the artistic culture he was immersed in. From the new beats vibrating through the street to the evolution of fashion happening in real-time, Paul was surrounded by culturally rich art. That raw form of NYC-inspired art planted a seed in Paul that would come to fruition decades later. Heavyweight Apparel of NYC, founded by Bennings in 2018, is a streetwear apparel line that celebrates resilience, strength, and courage with a unique highlight on feminine energy. “Women are able to create life. They’re the mo ..read more

Written by Krystle J. Bailey. Photos by Derrick Logan Visual artist Derrick Logan of Egg Harbor Township found healing in photography and videography 15 years ago and hasn’t put down the camera since. “Life slows down behind the camera,” notes the 41-year-old, father of two. Originally from Bridgeton, NJ, Logan discovered his passion for photography unintentionally in 2007. In an effort to combat a bout of anxiety, he picked up a camera as a means of art therapy and never looked back. Logan, who has been in the casino industry for over 20 years, works his day job as an Atlantic City bartender ..read more

For as long as I've been running HEAVYWEIGHT, we've always put a major emphasis on content. Content is becoming more and more of a sought-after commodity in the age of influencers.   But despite these evolutions, the rules of the game have never changed! And deep down in most creatives' hearts, content has remained the exciting new frontier. That is until 2020 actually changed things.  Last spring, when the global pandemic pulled the power chord out of the fashion industry's modem, it was clear that plugging it back in wouldn't make things the same. Meanwhile, even with th ..read more

That isn't by chance. In truth, we find our brand at the crux of becoming one of the most influential brands in youth culture today. Outside of fashion's eye is mastering what it means to cleverly and strategically unite a fragmented customer base who individually have been drawn to the brand. It's evolving far beyond the professional climbers, trail-runners, and other outdoor professionals the brand once solely catered to. For HEAVYWEIGHT, the magic in keeping this up comes from injecting just enough storytelling and magic into each group without interfering too much. The people will create ..read more

March 2020 came in like a lion. I am just thinking about that. It was a slamming of a door. It was a stopping of clocks. It was the stifling of breath. It was death, both possible and imminent.     For black people in the United States, being black has always meant a certain, data-verified, lived-experience validated, risk of death. All the ways that blackness lends itself to being targeted for death – being sentenced to death, marked at birth for the imminence of death, the imminence of blackness.     We know that black folks in the United Sta ..read more

March 2020 came in like a lion. I am just thinking about that. It was a slamming of a door. It was a stopping of clocks. It was the stifling of breath. It was death, both possible and imminent.     For black people in the United States, being black has always meant a certain, data-verified, lived-experience validated, risk of death. All the ways that blackness lends itself to being targeted for death – being sentenced to death, marked at birth for the imminence of death, the imminence of blackness.     We know that black folks in the United Sta ..read more

Written by Omowale Afrika. Photo by Will Boone “Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  At the time of this writing, Sunday, July 19, 2020, 128 days have passed since 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was killed by ..read more

Written by Torraine Walker. Photo by Will Boone African-Americans make up 22 percent of the population of New York City. According to numbers released by the New York State Health Department, they also make up 28 percent of COVID-19 deaths. The Coronavirus pandemic has revealed the state of healthcare crisis management in America. For the Black community, already existing at the margins of American health and wellness, those numbers are a nightmarish scenario. But to understand why these numbers are so high you have to go back to the reasons for them. They reveal a legacy of substan ..read more

Written by Dr. Noelle Chaddock. Photo by Will Boone And they are brave… As I drift off to sleep, I hear laughter. It is not the same kind of laughter from a year ago. It is not that little girl titter, that suppressed joy. It is not that adolescent snarkiness. It is a deep belly laugh of a developing human who sees the world for its ridiculousness and knows that the only people who can get her through this are her sisters, not cis-ters. There is a wisdom in that sober laughter that should not belong to an 18-year-old. It is a laughter despite and in spite of despair. It is brave laughter. It ..read more