Frozen in Carbonite Presents — Song of the Summer x Video Part of the Summer 2018: Global Warming Edition

Words by Frozen in Carbonite

Everyone has their own theory about the point in time when summer ends and winter begins: fantasy football draft night, college kids swarming back into town, the first rainy Sunday when you bust out your favorite sweatpants, when the first beanie appears at the skatepark. (Maybe that’s not the best example, dudes would still skate in beanies* if there was a ledge in, like, Death Valley or some shit.)

ANYWAY, in my neck of the woods, the end of summer was marked by a quaint event at my local bar — perhaps the least “woke” event such an establishment could conceivably host: a bikini contest. Sunday night. Labor Day Weekend.

Unlike that one bikini contest that Ronnie “The Limo Driver” Mund hosted, this particular contest only had five entrants. The emcee set it off with a mandatory disclaimer regarding the importance of respecting women and a stern warning that anyone who failed to follow these guidelines would be removed from the premises. Subsequently, he asked the contestants a series of typical pageant-type questions like “if you were a number, what number would you be,” to which the young lady responded with the most predictable answer in the universe.

Nevertheless, another contestant triumphed that night and took home $500.

Before that, however, these songs and parts fucking powered summer 2018 — notable for a higher than usual number of according-to-Hoyle full-length vids and a lower than usual level of “IS THE FULL-LENGTH VIDEO DEAD?!” prognosticating.

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Travis Scott featuring Drake – “Sicko Mode” x Andrew Wilson featuring Hjalte Halberg in the Polar Vid

Did OVO Fest even happen this year? Only Drake has the gravitas to literally declare “winter’s here” and everyone looks around and nods as if to say “yup seems about right” like that Alonzo Mourning gif. [Ed. Note: This was written before the release of “Miaglobal warming, etc.]

The manner in which Drake and Scott trade verses mirrors the modern “no names/no traditional parts” strategy that vids like We Blew It At Some Point have pushed to the forefront.

By the way, who’s got the hookup on those purple Travis 4s? For skating, naturally.

6ix9ine – “Tati” x Dick Rizzo’s Mother part

Legal problems notwithstanding, it is impossible to deny former sandwich artist Tekashi 6ix9ine’s general impact on the cultural landscape. While the jury is still out on whether Mr. 9ine ever skated, Rizzo’s Mother part interpolates ledge tech, rail tech, and bump-to-bar variations into a new vision for mad real street skating™. Along the same lines, Tekashi formulates a myriad of N.Y. influences (Madball, Onyx, etc.) into some new shit so undeniable and anthemic that it inspires spontaneous dance routines on the train, or some shit:

Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign – “Psycho” x Paul Rodriguez’s Never part

Truth be told, we could have included any of the ten to twelve Dolla $ign features that crushed the summer. This one got the most burn on satellite radio in the ride.

Another prolific west coast artist dropped — based on rudimentary internet research — his first according-to-Hoyle part since that “Me Myself and I” offering, which got lost in the shuffle of the industry trying to figure out the post-#physicalmedia era in 2010. Looking back, one could make the argument that it’s a pinnacle of progressive schoolyard skating.

His last part in Never felt like an authoritative return from a true master of the genre — extra shout-out for bringing back skating in fitteds. Heal strong bro.

Drake – “In My Feelings” x Josh Kalis/Sabotage Crew part in DC’s Street Sweeper

Everyone who was alive in 1999 remembers the party when “Back Dat Ass Up” dropped for the first time and mass convulsions ensued. Drake revisits that vibe with this summer’s inescapable dance challenge jam.

Along those lines, DC shoes leans heavily on their late #90s #heritage brand equity and their Philly devotees. Kalis revisits the “farside”** backside nosebluntslide from that “King of N.Y” contest at ABC ledges, truly pushing the limits how long a human being can persist in getting up on them ledges. Mad inspirational.

Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin – “I Like It” x Tiago Lemos “Mid-Year Review” (via Village Psychic)

New York x Columbia & P.R., New York x Brazil. The most ubiquitous song this summer by a mile; my gym played it approximately 75% of the time I was there.

Following the pure savagery with which Lemos assaulted the skate world in 2017, he came through with a grip of assorted footage that the fine gentlemen over at Village Psychic were kind enough to pull together into a sick edit. Truth be told, a lengthy (albeit complete bullshit) absence from the U.S. has added an extra layer of devil-may-care to Tiago’s repertoire — hence the switch lazer flip on flat, abundance of du-rag footage, and noseslide pop-over-to-180-nosegrind thing.

Ella Mai – “Boo’d Up” x Ishod Wair’s “Back On My BS” part

You know how TNT always shows movies like An Officer and a Gentleman during the Superbowl? That’s counterprogramming (or some shit.) Along the same lines, Ella Mai dropped a cuffing anthem during the antithesis of cuffing season and scored one of the most played songs of the early summer.

On that same note, Ishod “S.O.T.Y. Every Year” Wair dropped a S.O.T.Y-level part with the S.O.T.Y. content wars three or four months away. Can’t believe he casually threw frontside halfcab kickflip noseslide shove-it (a trick I have patiently waited for someone to pull since, like, Virtual Reality) into a line in the middle of the part.

Shoutout that Palace Hawaii edit, “Lucid Dreams” (which my kids played 13,843,742 times in the ride), and that Chris Maloof part.

*shoutout @tinyhat_skatelife

**Does anyone else use this terminology? I’ve see “over the back” which means the same but doesn’t sound as cool. “Farside” sounds as if you’re entering another dimension or some shit.

Previously: 2017 — The Summer of Angst