South of the Black Sea lies the country of Turkey, which serves as a separation between the Middle East and Europe. Its particular location makes it culturally special, as it is heavily influenced by both sides yet, at the same time, preserves its unique flavor. Istanbul, the third largest metropolitan area in Europe and Turkey’s main city, is host to 13.26 million people. Half of the city is in Europe, while the other half is considered to be in Asia. With its dense population and unique cultural identity, there’s no doubt that Istanbul is a place where you can find all sorts of colorful characters and cartoonish faces. In a matter of just three days in this hectic city, I managed to run into some of the most exclusive faces in my whole career of People Watching. Everywhere I turned, there would be funky characters staring back at me. Istanbul is definitely a city of mooks, and today we just scratch the surface by giving you a taste of its streets. We present to you: The Beautiful People of Istanbul.

The People Watching scene in Istanbul is on a whole other level. On every corner you will find some of the most exclusive faces to bless God’s green pastures. When I saw this beautiful specimen, I stopped in my tracks and did a double backflip out of sheer excitement. Look at that mug… it’s so exclusive, you can’t even tell if he’s from the past or from the future.

Wuddup, maing! Hustling that Vitamin C e’yday!

It seems the more East you go, the bigger the mustaches get. I’ve truly developed a science on the mustache vs. location theory. In America, most people are clean-shaven and will only let their mustache grow in November. As you cross the Atlantic and get to Western Europe, you find smaller mustaches like the French ones that are split in the middle, or the Italian ones that are thin and curl upwards. But the more you go East, the more you start seeing thicker and funkier mustaches. Once you reach countries like Turkey you got a fucking ferret under your nose like papi right here.

The sport of Sleeping in Public is full of colorful characters and top-notch competitors. While normal people tend to exclude themselves in quiet places to get their sleep on, this city’s Public Sleep Athletes will choose the rowdiest and loudest part of the city to take a nap. This world-class champion is so comfortable next to his piss pond that he can even smoke cigarettes in his sleep without waking up.

Even the workplace is perfect terrain to practice the Sleeping in Public discipline. Looks like the scarf business will not pick up this year, but at least my man has good chances for the Gold medal at the Sleeping in Public Mooklympics 2012!

Only in a place like this can you find people who practice the sport of Sleeping in Public… while standing up! From afar it seems he’s waiting calmly pressed against the wall, but it’s only when you approach that you notice homeboy is catching z’s in the upright position on downtown’s busiest street.

In most countries, the graffiti writer always has the same type of look and physical description. Most graffiti artists roll around town with the classic hoodies, baseball caps and windbreakers stained with paint spots. Honestly, I can spot y’all from a mile away. However, in Istanbul it seems graffiti writers are 40 year-old ballers wearing white suits and designer frames. Shout out to the kid Berrny, rocking moptags in front of everybody like it ain’t no thing. If a police officer comes around, just throw habib a stack of Lira and walk off while puffing your cigar.

My boy here rocking the ill black and gold suit is selling Turkish crunk juice on the block. This drink is some shady vinegar-water with marinated cabbage, carrots and pickles. I tasted one of these fine delicacies and had diarrhea for the rest of the week. But then again… I haven’t shit solid since 1996, so it’s all good in the hood!!!

My Turkish peoples got mad love for the Mook Life. This father and son owned a corner store on the main strip and asked us to put stickers up all over the front of the shop. Also, I gotta say their homemade freshly-squeezed fruit juices definitely hit the spot. Respect!

When you’re a father of five in your mid-50s and you’re still hustling pretzels on the block… les yeux.

When you’re a father of 5 in your mid 50′s and you’re still hustling pretzels on your head because you can’t even afford a cart… les yeux en TABARNAK!

I’m guessing this is the Istanbul version of Mount Rushmore. As my tour guide mentioned, these statues were designed to pay respect to a great line-up of historical figures. You can tell that so much detail and precision went into the creation of these monuments. And once again, the mustache theory comes into full effect.

This man’s face looks like he’s lived through six wars and five food droughts. He’s so tough that he probably washes his face with sand in the morning and brushes his teeth with a rock. To top it off, he’s got a doo-rag under his hat and he’s rocking brand new Clarks.

Major swag in this place. This jacket looks like it came out of an early 2000s Dip-Set music video, and even then Cam’ron couldn’t style this joint like my main man right here. Let’s not forget the matching hat and the cartoon strip scarf coming out of the backseat of his chair. BOOM! What’chu know about that?

There’s no prettier smile than a smile with only two teeth on the top row of your mouth. It’s all good, you don’t even need to open your jaw anymore next time you take a sip of that EFES beer!

Guitar Grandma straight out of Purple City. When looking at her whole attire, the color coordination was so out of this world that I thought: this must be what Killa-EF feels like when he watches Discovery Channel on LSD.

I have no idea what this instrument is, but duke was rocking that shit like he was headlining at Woodstock. He was a definite street celebrity, because his bodyguard to the right was ready to knock my paparazzi ass out when I tried getting too close.

On the bridge that splits the city in half, you will find fishermen at every hour of the night and day. Throwing their line into the polluted water below, there seems to be a steady flow of three-eyed fish to be captured and sold to the local restaurants. It’s like if you had hoards of fishermen chilling and catching fish from the Jacques Cartier bridge in Montreal. This OG looks like he has many years in the game, you can tell he came prepared with his full-on waterproof suit and that cigarette holder stylishly popping out the side of his mouth. It’s like if he’s ready to go on a one-week camping trip in the wilderness… the only problem is that he’s in downtown Istanbul.

Istanbul is definitely a city filled with street hustlers. People will sell you anything, anywhere and at any time. It’s like a giant bazaar, where every corner or alleyway has someone trying to get you to buy the most random of things. There’s so many people hustling everywhere that these guys had to go behind the staircase railing to find themselves a decent spot to set up shop.

There is also the Mobile Hustler, who walks around town with his ambulant Flea Market cart. However, it seems he apparently went into someone else’s territory, because he was sporting a black eye on the left side of his face.

I haven’t got a clue what this guy was selling or trying to do, but he seemed so happy to see me pay attention to him clapping away with those mini-cymbals. I came back a few hours later and he was still there, clapping away in the same position with a big ass smile on his face.