About HH x Collaborations

Honesty Hour could not survive as an organization without the community we’ve built, and continue to build. Part of that community building mission involves partnering with incredible artists and entrepreneurs to share their stories and create collaborative pieces that showcase the unbelievable level of talent drive and compassion that these creators have. Building on our focus  of person-to-person engagement through program curation, we hope that HH x Collaborations can serve as a vehicle for the global exchange of ideas, values, skills and experiences.  

The first volume of the HH x Collaborations: The Black Excellence Collection highlights the unique design and entrepreneurial talents of Rahzizi Ishakarah and his streetwear brand BLEX. BLEX is a clothing brand that challenges the negative and damaging stereotypes of Blackness and seeks to spread a new image of Black people by engaging with spaces that have been commandeered by white people including surf and skate cultures. We were inspired by Rahzizi’s mission to lead by example and how it guided him from his humble beginnings in Jackson, MS to a thriving, and still burgeoning, career as a model, creative, and entrepreneur in Los Angeles. 

The Black Excellence Tee 

The line drawing design represents the community that we are building at Honesty Hour. The continuity of the line symbolizes the existing connection between all of us that we work to help people recognize. Our brands’ values of building community, leading by example, and advocating for those who have been silenced served as guiding principles for this collaboration. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Color the Water a nonprofit organization focused on creating a community for BIPOC to reclaim space in the ocean through joyful, defiant and anti-racist surf lessons, celebrations, education and media.

Black Excellence: An Honesty Hour Production 

Black Excellence, an Honesty Hour production, is a behind-the-scenes look at  Rahzizi Ishakarah’s journey becoming a professional designer, model and entrepreneur. The film explores how navigating art, athletic and academic spaces as a gifted child helped shape Ishakarah's identity, and led him to found his design company.

The film challenges the notion of what it means to be Black and excellent. It evokes the discomfort Ishakarah experienced when he couldn't be entirely defined by the labels "artist," "athlete," or "academic." With BLEX, Ishakarah seeks to expand positive representations of Black people existing in spaces that they are not often associated with, specifically in surf and skate cultures.

Ultimately, we hope this film will inspire the world to reimagine the existing conception of what it means to be Black.