By Steven Roberts

BROOKLYN, New York — Despite having existed for 60 years, Puma celebrated its birthday with a trio of young acts on Monday evening. Still young at heart, the German-based sportswear company threw a party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg featuring up-and-coming artists Charles Hamilton, the Knux and Chester French.

"If you look back on any old hip-hop DVD, all you see is Puma," Hamilton said. "It's a cornerstone in hip-hop fashion, and when they hit me up about it, I was like, 'Cool!' "

Clad in his trademark pink shirt, the 21-year-old Harlem MC performed a short set of tracks from the mixtapes he has released in rapid succession. Hamilton, who was featured in last week's "Mixtape Monday" for his Sonic the Hamilton, has already released another, newer mixtape, Intervention. He said he's been releasing so much music as part of what he calls his "Hamiltonization Process," a buildup to the release of his first proper album, The Pink Lavalamp.

"Basically I want people to see that I present work to the fans and the listener, so that they can feel where I am coming from, as opposed to listening and saying, 'Oh, that's cool music.' " Read more...