Frozen in Carbonite Presents — Song of the Summer x Video Part of the Summer 2019: Sponsored by Popeye’s

Words by Frozen in Carbonite

It was the best of chicken sandwiches; it was the worst of chicken sandwiches.

At press time, I have yet to experience the already-legendary Popeye’s chicken sandwich. The saga — almost Dickensian, if you will — continues. First, I called around to see which area franchises carried the sandwich to no avail. When I inquired as to when it would become available, they responded with some variation of “whenever the owner decides to sell the sandwich.”

I felt like a schlub, like I was calling around on a Jordan release date asking, “uhhhh when are y’all gettin’ a restock?” In the subsequent weeks, the sandwich has taken my area by storm, leading to football-field-long drive-thru lines and signs that flat-out say: “WE ARE OUT OF CHICKEN SANDWICHES.”

Like I said, the saga continues…

HOWEVER, in the waning days of summer I achieved one of my goals of the season:

Hanging out at a tiny rooftop hotel pool.

The pool was located here in Virginia, not in the Meatpacking District or wherever. The bar didn’t have Aperol, so I drank some kind of artisanal White Claw. I don’t know what I was expecting in terms of clientele (50 extras from Girls or some shit?), but families, twentysomething folk, and some old retired couples were all vibing together.

ANYWAY, here are the videos you probably watched and the songs that rang out this summer while you waited in line for a chicken sandwich.

Lil’ Nas X f/ Billy Ray Cyrus — “Old Town Road (Remix)” x Pat Burke’s Nightmare Van part

Who doesn’t love a redemption story? The residual love for Slave (the brand) and Pat Burke’s skating in particular, surprised me in the wake of this part. I attended the Richmond premiere: when this dude’s name appeared onscreen and the opening guitar chords of Concrete Blonde’s “Joey” echoed through the Byrd Theater, the energy was palpable.

Like Billy Ray Cyrus’ character in the most popular song of all time, Burke has returned home after a series of trials of tribulations. The main difference is, of course, instead of driving around town and shopping for high-end athleisure with a lady friend, Burke drove around town and fucking murdered all our spots.

City Girls — “Act Up” x Korahn Gayle’s Cover Version part

Part starts @ 17:33, but it should begin from there when you hit play :)

PERIODT.

There are a myriad of things of which to be afraid in this world. Climate change. Global recession. #Politics. This summer I added another one to the list:

A City Girl taking all my money.

The most inescapable song this summer, “Act Up” served as another example of Songs of the Summer penetrating my consciousness by the kids at my job breaking into song apropos of nothing. I became aware of the U.K. vid, Cover Version, in a similar fashion, as people in every skate media outlet that I fuck with praised it.

I have written many times about the overpowering bleakness of U.K. footage. However, the collective technicality of the skating in this vid blew the doors off that point of view; it’s as if the crew watched Trilogy and said “let’s do that — but here. PLUS EVEN MORE TECH.”

PERIODT.

This plan of attack is even more admirable because every spot in this video has some kinda issue. For example, there’s a perfect ledge reminiscent of the BAM (R.I.P.) of old, but it’s in the middle of a traffic circle, you have to ollie over a patch of cobblestones to approach it, and the ground is those slate tablets that feel weird. Korahn Gayle’s part leaves the most vivid impression here, as he takes advantage of every miniscule marble outcropping like a City Girl taking advantage of a naive bottle service patron. Standout tricks include a switch heel 5-0 over a British version of the J.Kwon gap-to-ledge, and a fully tweaked out fakie hardflip down a set that no doubt had the worst run-up imaginable.

YG F/ Tyga – “Loko” x Bobby Worrest’S Facades part

Part starts @ ~11:00, but it should begin from there when you hit play :)

This fall, Sylvester Stallone decided to bless us with a fifth (sixth? tenth?) Rambo film. Based on the trailer — and the “STAY OFF HIS LAWN!” tagline — we find our hero protecting his home turf from some really bad dudes.

Along the same lines, noted John Rambo aficionado and hometown turf killer Bobby Worrest hit us with yet another (similarly lost count at this point) plaza-centric part. Including a super casual switch backside nosebluntslide, his section in the D.C. video, Facades by Gang International, serves as yet another reminder of Worrest’s status as one of the preeminent street assassins of our time.

Another highly prolific artist, [DJ] Mustard managed a comeback of sorts with a solo record and production on “Go Loko,” which hit hard in the ride around the end of June to set the tone for the rest of the summer.

Drake f/ Rick Ross – “Money in the Grave” x Mike Arnold’s “MIKE” part x Casper Brooker’s Trust Fall part

Part starts @ ~0:38, but it should begin from there when you hit play :)

“Money in the Grave” dropped in the wake of the Toronto Raptors’ NBA Championship and reminded us why Drake and Ross function so well together. Like most effective collaborations, they bring something different to the table that adds up to more than the sum of its parts: Ross with the luxury drug trafficker shit, Drake with the more personal reflections.

Brooker and Arnold collaborated contextually in different videos, but similar concepts that hit us at the same time: Arnold with the more #newage trick selection, and Brooker with a more traditional ledges/flat/gaps approach, sprinkling in a ride-on grind here and there for #thekids. Observed as a whole, these parts showed why the U.K. is so #sohotightnow and powered a ton of mid-summer sessions.

Polo G f/ Lil Tjay – “Pop Out” x Matt Militano’s Vanish part

My kids listen to Soundcloud Rap. Like, literally on the Soundcloud web site.

As a result, when I hand them the aux, they put me on to a ton of new shit — mostly rappers with a three-letter acronym in their name. “Pop Out” stood out.

The Slap message board serves a similar purpose: sometimes there’s a thread about a video that one NEVER would have heard of otherwise, and it ends up containing some intense shit. Case in point, One in a Million alum, Matt Militano’s part in the Philadephia-area video, Vanish. Suffice it to say, the kid has glowed up big time since his stint on the most infamous skate reality show in history. He attacks the Muni benches with some of the most technical concepts ever seen there, including a bluntslide dolphin flip out (I think?) and a frontside bluntslide backside 270 kickflip out (?). The grind on a fence with horizontal bars at the top of a bank also approaches a Mark Gonzales-level concept. Militano is pretty fucking close to making The Leap™.

Young Thug f/ J. Cole and Travis Scott – “The London” x Ross Norman’s “Transmission” part

Thug finally makes it onto one of these things. Full Disclosure: I am a very, very casual Young Thug fan, but I fuck with So Much Fun, especially “The London,” which dropped at the apex of the summer and continued to ring out at #thelocal this summer. However, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t declare that “Fuck your IG, I’ll put something on your sonogram” is one of the most cringe-inducing lines in recent memory. At this point, Thug is almost like the Tool or Grateful Dead of rap or some shit. He does what he does, his fans fuck with him, and most of us sample this and that without deep diving.

Although not as prolific as Jeffrey (who is?), Ross Norman has also developed a cult-like following as one of that last plaza technicians in the United States. His latest part for Politic continues on the same trajectory as previous works: use Trilogy as the template and build from there. Like Thug, he even enlists some of his bros (all distinguished Last of the Mohicans alums). He busts two regulation-sized ledge NBDs (for those who still care about that shit), and does a manual down the Roslyn bank that we haven’t seen since the World Park…or maybe Dave Mayhew’s Maple days.

+++++++

Welp, that’s it for Summer 2019. Maybe they’ll write a skater into Euphoria season two. Catch me next summer with a backpack full of Popeye’s chicken sandwiches, and a bottle of Aperol at a bathtub-sized pool in Williamsburg or some shit.

EXTRA SHOUTOUTS: the new Tool LP, that Marak Zaprazny pro part, #skatetwitter alum Ryan Lay’s part in the Welcome vid, and that Yuri Facchini part where he did the Daewon trick.

[Ed. Note: 917, Lotties, etc. all count as fall videos.]

Previously: 2018, 2017