The Monday Media Diet with Kenta Osborn

On Keep Magazine, The Spirit of Loving, and Side Car Charlie

Kenta Osborn co-founded Keep Magazine. He’s the very interesting and talented son of the great Todd Osborn. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

I’m the co-founder of Keep Magazine, I do graphic design, I make music, I make clothes, I film, I take photos, I direct, I edit, I make websites, I create art physically and digitally- and that’s about it on the creation side of things.

I started Keep Magazine at the start of this year with my friend Madani who’s in the U.K. It started off with the intention of becoming an actual magazine, but after many improvements and changes through moments of realizing ‘man, this stuff is actually really bad.’ We are now at a point that we are happy at. We’ve evolved it so far that it isn’t even a magazine anymore; the main attraction is the website itself, it resembles a file directory where each interviewee gets their own ‘folder’ full of their own ‘files’ alongside the interview. Each interview comes with a unique experience as well. For example, my favorite one is the Soup Kills interview, which requires you to beat a game to reach the interview.

I started doing design in 2019 when I was in middle school off of paint.net. I would create concept graphics for brands I liked at the time, and after a couple of years I would get my first couple commissions which kept me motivated. During this time I also branched out into other territories such as music video editing, and album cover designs. This led to me meeting a lot of people in the Chicago underground rap scene, and eventually making my first trip there to go to a concert that I made the flyers for. Getting to meet everyone and experience the culture in person for the first time was definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had, and from that day I knew this is what I wanted to do. Not just making flyers of course.. but being involved in that scene.

I’m currently based in Michigan, living with my partner and my kitten.

Describe your media diet.

My media diet recently has been consisting of YouTube, Instagram, and lots of music.

When I watch videos, it’s usually something to do with travelling, clothing, podcasts, or interviews. Oh, and tons of Counter Strike videos. I miss playing that game, but I don’t have the time for it so I make up for it by watching it in the background as I work.

With Instagram I mainly use it for business purposes. I run multiple pages on there, and I use it to communicate with people and find new people for Keep Magazine.

Music is definitely one of the greatest things ever. If I had to pick to be blind or deaf forever I would definitely hesitate, but still choose deaf. My favorite artist right now is Edward Skeletrix, and my favorite song specifically by him is Real One. I highly recommend it. I tend to have about 10 songs in my playlist at a time, constantly on rotation until I slowly find better songs that I replace them with.

What’s the last great book you read?

The Spirit of Loving, by Emily Hilburn Sell. It’s a book full of quotes related to love. It’s nice to see so many perspectives about the same thing.

What are you reading now?

I’m not currently reading any books. But I’m reading lots of text messages.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

I don’t exactly have a favorite publication, but most of the books I read are self-help books. When I read those, I go to the table of contents and look for chapters that are related to things that I believe would actually help me.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

Keep Magazine.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

Definitely Demus. It’s just YouTube and Soundcloud with no ads.

Plane or train?

There are multiple aspects to this. First is the pre-boarding experience. Airports are awesome, they look cool, you can walk around, go to shops, and sit at your gate and work at your laptop and feel productive. With train stations, you sort of just stand around. When you’re in the air on the plane, you get to see views from high up, but I tend to get headaches from the motion. When you’re in a train, you see views from ground level, and it tends to be a smooth ride for me. Finally, when exiting a plane, you can be waiting around for a while if there’s a lot of people. On the train, I can get off in a few minutes. In conclusion, train.

What is one place everyone should visit?

Definitely Japan. If you’re into clothing more specifically Harajuku. When I first went to Tokyo I thought Shibuya would be the most awesome spot, but there’s only really a couple streets with stores that I think are really cool. Harajuku on the other hand feels like entire neighborhood blocks just filled with endless small niche stores that are actually interesting and full of character.

My favorite store in Harajuku is Side Car Charlie. It’s a vintage store that’s in an apartment building, and the guy owns both of the apartments on the second floor so you can walk across to each side and it’s the same store with two different cashiers. They have the most insane collection of vintage clothing I’ve ever seen, and it’s all GOOD vintage too. Along every single wall are stacks of t-shirts from floor to ceiling, and they have several racks filled with all sorts of rare graphic tees, military clothing, pants, and more.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

Seditionaries by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren has by far been the most impactful rabbit hole I’ve fallen into. I found out about it when I was listening to a song, and the cover of the song was a photo of Sid Vicious wearing his infamous swastika shirt. I had no idea who he was at the time, and seeing that shirt on him intrigued me so I dug deeper. From there I found out about the Sex Pistols, then I saw the clothes that they wore which were Seditionaries. I found the clothing graphics; which were so vulgar and obscene, to be extremely cool. To be brave enough to wear something so provocative especially in a time like the 70s is something I admire. Everytime I tried wearing my Destroy t-shirt I would cover it up with a jacket because I was afraid of being attacked for it. Anyways, the reason this rabbit hole is so impactful to me is because it’s still my favorite collection of clothing to this day. No other clothes give me such a dopamine rush just by looking at them.