HAZE’s ability to stay ahead and on top of the ever-changing mediums of artistic expression over the last 30 years has allowed the native New Yorker’s creative impact to reach far beyond the City subway yards and skate ramps of the ’70s. From his early work with Def Jam to starting his own clothing label, HAZE was a predecessor of streetwear, being “big in Japan”, and getting down with Stüssy. Through the years, big brands have gained plenty from a HAZE co-sign, but in return the big homie got exposure and renown. Hit the jump for a history of HAZE’s work in corporate culture, from early logotypes to decking out Nike Dunks and Lotuses…

HAZE x Def Jam, 1987
HAZE’s post-train graphic art made its way onto mad classic album covers. From EPMD to Public Enemy to the Beasties—dude was the hand of ’90s hip-hop. To that, we (and you) tip our caps.

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HAZE x Casio, 1999/2005/2008
HAZE’s relationship with Casio began in 1999 when the Japanese watchmaker tapped him alongside DJ Spooky and Dog Town to be a part of a US “Artist Series” of G-Shock watches. In 2008, Casio appointed him to handle the design of the company’s 25th anniversary logo, as well as the packaging for all watches to be sold in 2008. He also got to design his third G-Shock—the only one to be available worldwide (as opposed to Japan/Europe only releases of the two previous models)—a couple of years back.

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HAZE x Nike, 2002
These much-sought-after sneakers, as well as the box that they came in, were designed by HAZE. The release marked one of the first times people actually cared about packaging.

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HAZE x New Balance, 2004
For New Balance, HAZE put his spin on this 574, and then the brand tried to trick everyone else with a similar make-up that dropped for the general release set. Real heads knew what was up.

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HAZE x Know1edge Swiss Made Watch, 2006
Only 50 of these watches were made, so if you’ve got one, hang on tight. A different version of the watch with metal straps was also released.

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HAZE x Neils Shoe Meulman Show and T-Shirt, 2007
At the “Calligrafiti” exhibition in Amsterdam, HAZE and calligrapher Neils Shoe Meulman showcased their work, some of which turned into a t-shirt design, sold exclusively at Amsterdam boutique Patta.

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HAZE x Lotus/Gran Turismo, 2008
HAZE was commissioned to add his touche to a brand new Lotus Exige as a part of Sony/Playstation’s 10th-anniversary celebration of popular racing game Gran Turismo.

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HAZE x Mountain Dew Green Label Art, 2008
In 2008, HAZE did the Dew and incorporated his signature arrows and stars into the traditional Mountain Dew color scheme. The low-run “MD Superstar” was a standout amongst the many other recent artist-designed MD bottles.

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HAZE x Standard Hotel NYC, 2009
A frequently mentioned name in many “Best Dressed” lists, celebrity hotelier Andre Balazs probably couldn’t stand the idea of his patrons rocking 5-for-$10 “I Love New York” t-shirts. That’s why he enlisted Eric Haze for a specially designed, limited-edition T-shirt for his new Meatpacking District hotel.

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HAZE x Stüssy Las Vegas Art Installation and T-Shirt, 2009
HAZE painted the wall at Stüssy Las Vegas (check out the entire painting process here—so dope), and his design inspired a T-shirt that came in two colorways.

Catch some behind-the-scenes footage from the set of Drake’s video for “Successful.” [Nah Right]

Find out how to look productive at work even when you’re tweeting and instant messaging all day. [Holy Taco]

This texting-while-driving PSA is one of the most intense we’ve ever seen. [PopCrunch]

These back-to-school hotties should make the return to campus a lot easier. [Coed Mag]

When everything else fails, looking at pics of scantily clad chicks is the way to go. [Double Viking]

There’s not much summer left to rock v-neck tees but these are dope last minute choices. [Daily Drop]

Seems like there’s always mixed opinions on Jennifer Aniston but she looks pretty hot to us here. [Flisted]

Is the Sony Daily Edition Reader, the Kindle-killer? Here’s a review. [Gizmodo]

F what you heard, streetwear is alive. Check The Hundreds x Diamond new baseball-themed collabo tee. [High Snobiety]

Just what we need more fun with Legos. No Dee and Ricky. [Like Cool]

Shots Fired! Brooklyn Fare lets Starbucks know what’s up with its new packaging. [Josh Spear]

5. NINTENDO’S ACTUALLY MAKING SOME GOOD GAMES.
• Busting out with Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the completely new and unexpected Team Ninja collabo of the re-imagined Metroid, NINTENDO finally demonstrated that they still have some love for the O.G. gamers that put them on the map. After a past couple years of very disappointing nonsense like Wii Music and other stuff that not too many real gamers really care about, Nintendo’s shown that they’re still down for the cause and that there’ll be at least a couple good reasons to dust off that Wii—the Wii MotionPlus is none too shabby either and really steps the waggle game up a notch.

4. THE PS3 IS SERIOUS BUSINESS, BUT SONY STILL DOESN’T QUITE GET IT.
• With exclusives Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, God of War III, and MAG on the way, the PS3 looks to have plenty to distract folks. Still, SONY failed to announce a price drop and the rumored PS3 slim doesn’t appear to exist; unless these things change before holiday madness, this generation’s console war will be all but decided. To make matters worse, the new PSP Go’s two main talking points seem to be (1) at $249.99, it costs about 80 bucks more than the original PSP and (2) people can’t play their old PSP UMD discs on it—go ahead and purchase the extended warranty while you’re at it. Heavy Rain is very, very cool, though, and gamers, people, and penguins everywhere should pay close attention to it when it launches early next year.

3. MICROSOFT IS IN IT TO WIN IT.
• All of the big three had strong showings at E3 this year, but MICROSOFT emerged as the overall winner. With Alan Wake, Halo 3: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2, Mass Effect 2, and former PlayStation exclusive Final Fantasy XIII all dropping within the next year, the 360 is still the cat’s pajamas. The no-delay, instant streaming, full 1080p video service through Xbox Live and the new, beyond state-of-the-art camera-based motion recognition that they’ve got going on (see above) pretty much solidifies Microsoft in the pole position for the current and next gen (if the streaming 1080p actually works as advertised). Microsoft has eliminated the need for a Blu-Ray disc player and one-upped the Wii in its mainstream, motion-recognition appeal—Grandma won’t want to waggle a remote anymore when she can just scan a golf club and get down to business.

2. THE FUTURE IS A BIT CREEPY.
• Along with Microsoft’s camera comes a scary advanced kid named Milo as part of Lionhead Studios head and Fable series developer Peter Molyneux’s new Project Natal (they’re trying to get people to say it Nuh-Tall, but, for real talk’s sake, let’s keep it Nay-Tul, please). Natal and Milo use the new motion recognition camera to simulate the most advanced, ostensibly real world yet seen in the interactive entertainment space (or any other space too, for that matter) and it’s downright creepy and just a bit unsettling to see how effective and immersive the simulation is. When this thing really reaches critical mass, WoW addictions may end up looking downright tame in comparison to the socially deprived children who might end up getting attached to Milo and his other soul-sucking little buddies.

1. THE REAL E3 IS BACK!
• The one thing everyone will agree on about this year’s show is that a big Electronic Entertainment Expo is a fun Electronic Entertainment Expo and that the more the merrier—things still aren’t back to E3’s peak years of the early ’00s and some companies probably wouldn’t have minded a bit more traffic and congestion, but it’s plain to see that this is the way things are supposed to be and the mistakes of the past two years now stand corrected. Especially cool is that surprises were actually left as surprises (though we already knew about the Em/Jay-Z DJ Hero performance) without everyone knowing ahead of time during the press shows exactly what to expect—Final Fantasy XIV pretty much came out of nowhere at the Sony show and the new Castlevania received a loud round of approval. Things should be good to go again for next year and beyond and E3 looks set to stick around. Video games are the business, and business is good.

Of course the Standard NYC is retardedly awesome. What you thought? [Contemporist]

It’s official: Sony’s new PSP is…awesome (?) [Wired]

Shep Fairey on Venice- “F*** yo’ Bienalle – I’m the king of street art!” [Mash Kulture]

Vans x fashion homie Alexander Lee Chang. [High Snobiety]

The new Frank 151 is erotica-ed up. It seems like they should keep to the theme from here on out. Semi NSFW, obvs. [Hypebeast]

Good news: James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) is very much alive, hanging out with Will Ferrell and making a new record. [MySpace]

Today, the New York Times is reporting that the Japanese mega electro-brand is set to post $1.1 Billion in losses, and some analysts are guessing that it might even be as high as $2 Billion. If you’re a current stockholder, and you bought based on the projections that the brand was anticipating $2.2 Billion in profit come March, you are bumming. This marks the first year in the past 14 that Sony will post a loss. But if you ask us, the cards have been stacked against the brand for years. Read on to see the company’s 5 biggest mistakes that got them to where they are today…

DAVID MANNING YEAR:2000

• “David Manning” was a fake film critic that a savvy marketing exec over at Sony cooked up in the summer of 2000. Who needs real reporters when you can just make up the good press yourself? After the company got caught for this, and another debacle that used Sony employees to pose as regular movie goers broke, the corporation agreed to refund $5 each to dissatisfied customers who saw Hollow Man, The Animal, The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, or Vertical Limit in American theaters. Fail.

THE IPOD DROPS YEAR:2001

• The Sony Walkman was amazing. The Sony MiniDisc was amazing. It was better than a CD burner, better than anything out on the…wait what is that? An i-what? Oh shit. Game over.

MICHAEL JACKSON LEAVES SONY YEAR: 2002

• Was the King of Pop’s departure from the electronics brand of the 1990s a sign that things were going downhill? It depends on who you talk to. Michael thought Tommy Mottola was “the devil,” Sony said Jackson owed them tons of money. Either way, its not a good look for any of the parties involved, and since then, neither has been quite the same.

PS3 BUSINESS MODEL DOESN”T MAKE SENSE (2006)

• Video game platforms cost money to make, often more than people are willing to pay. This is not a new thing, and for years companies have been selling the actual device at a loss and re-couping losses through game sales. Unfortunately Sony posts an unusually high loss of $300 or so per platform (sells for $500, costs $800) and no one is buying the games. Oops. There is always hope that the PS3 hits the black in 2009, right?

SONY ENDS CONNECT YEAR:2008

• Aww. Another loss to the big Apple. Sony’s music store, Connect, seemed to have all the right ideas: proprietary music format, big money backing, and um… hm. Maybe this was a bad idea. This “L” in March really made you guys look like schmucks.

BLU-RAY FAILS TO TAKE OFF YEAR:2011

• Um. Sorry guys, Blu-Ray isn’t going to happen. Sure it’s cool to watch the fight scenes from Wanted in HD, but direct download and Internet-streaming video technology is getting better in quality and faster every day. By the time people actually get off their asses and re-purchase all those DVDs, direct-download HD content will be here. And you know what? You can’t scratch that shit. Oh, and while you’re at it, stop with the PSP ads on the NYC subways. It’s not going to happen.