Empire Barber Lounge

Words provided by: Sasan Sayyar

Video produced by: Sasan Sayyar 

For those of you who don't already know, there's a fairly new "barbershop"  located inside the Sunvalley Mall in Concord, CA. The formal name is Empire Barber Lounge, and to call it a mere barbershop would be inappropriate. This is a classy and luxurious establishment, home to some of the Bay Area's finest barbers and their skills. Disguised as a barbershop in the mall, Empire Barber Lounge showcases the peak standard among the local barbering scene and is never not packed, boasting an average 2 hour wait for walk-in clients. The artists in here are specializing in tapers, fades, styles, shear work, you name it! From classic gentlemen's cuts to modern styles, Derek (Owner) and his Empire troop are versatile and can accommodate just about any hairstyle you can dream of. I strongly recommend you make it a priority to visit this shop if you're in the area and get yourself a nice haircut, kid. 

Back when I would get cut by my comrade Austin, at VIP Barbershop, I'd see Derek a couple chairs down perfecting each and every one of his cuts. Austin let me in on the lil' secret about a new shop in the works, and after that I was anxiously waiting. Seeing Derek branch off from where he was previously at, and open up his own barbershop and be extremely successful in doing so... to say it's inspiring would be a severe understatement. I could just imagine the countless hours that were spent dreaming & planning this shop, and the dedication is absolutely undeniable. The moment you step in Empire you can clearly see that hard work was used in surplus while putting this place together. Anyways! Before I keep writing in excess, let me just say thank you to Derek and the rest of the crew for always 1) keeping my appearance presentable and 2) always allowing me to come in and spend some time with my camera. From shooting photos at the grand opening to the latest, this little video clip I put together of Derek himself performing on Mr. Chavez. Any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated. 

Cheers,

Sasan

Derek, owner of Empire Barber Lounge, goes IN on a fresh cut... need I say more? Filmed in the Sunvalley Mall, Concord, CA.

#FreeMeez

If you’ve been able to keep up with me I have been very blessed to travel a lot this past month of May. I was working in ATL day in and day out in a studio with some dope artists at Bangladesh Music Group. I’ll keep the story fairly short and skip all those details for now. On my trip to Miami I was working in the studio, and partying some of the nights with Fabulous.. you know, looking at all the beautiful ladies at the beach Memorial weekend. I was really only supposed to stay for two days which ended up becoming four. On one of my days off I decided to go check out a spot, you know the regular Meez Missions if you’re familiar. I can’t go into full details about where i was but I suggest no one try and do what I did.

So on my way back from Atlanta after about three days being there I was heading home to THE YEE (Bay Area) I had a stop in Charlotte. So I’m casually walking through the airport to go to my next flight to SF. As I’m walking to my gate I see three TSA agents walking toward me I’m like wow this is fairly unusual so I switch my walking pattern and as soon as I go to walk on the other side they switch over as well. In my head I’m like man WTF did I do! These three guys approach me and say “ Sir you need to come with us.” Back to my thoughts I’m like WTF why is this happening to me right now. They take me to this backroom where I’m greeted by two agents. Now mind you the spots I went to in Miami I can’t say they weren't classified or there wasn't “No trespassing violators will be prosecuted” signs all over it. The usual stuff you see when going into a place you’re not suppose to be in.

Here's where it gets ugly. These guys ask me 100 Million questions and I’m answering them with ease; I’m not lying about anything. They proceeded to search my Camera, Laptop, iPhone, and everything laid out on the table. But they go on and on about what I was doing at this place (Cant be named) I’m like well I’m a photographer so yeah I'm going to go look at that place. They keep telling me all this protocol and Felony stuff but being from where I’m from we don’t say anything so I continued to either kept my mouth closed or a Nod or NO NO NO i deny it all. Long story short i wasn’t suppose to be there and I don’t even know how they found out I was there but they were serious as $%#&! I made one phone call to my good family lawyer who obviously got some power cause these fools were ready to take my black ass in. One of them walked back in the room and told me I was free to go. I'm not even too sure if I was supposed to get off that easy but I know one thing, it was a crazy experience to be in that postilion. I Finally was able to get another flight where I met with my lil brother and I told him the light version but if you were able to catch the snapchat story it was so in depth. He is a great story teller because he’s hella animated with it. Someday he will play me as a main character in one of my movies. But this was just an update about what type of things I be getting myself into, so until the next time i get locked up for something, it is #FREEMEEZ. 

Words and photographs by Omeez Jones

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