In 2006, rap came of a certain age. It was the ten-year anniversary of Jay-Z’s first album, and he celebrated it by performing the entire thing in a highly publicized Radio City Music Hall show. Rap had enough longevity and had resisted enough fads to reach a level where some of its best acts never had to record a new song again — and they’d still be able to sell out venues for the remainder of their careers. (Fwiw, Jay was “retired” at this moment.) Our culture already accepted this from the Stevie Wonders, Aretha Franklins and Billy Joels, but it was around this point that hip-hop made the turn. Jay, Kanye and Wayne can call it quits on making new music today, and still pull a Barclays Center crowd in 2039 by giving the people what they want.
Congrats again to Antonio Durao on the pro board. Despite the recent growth of #skatetwitter, skateboarders are still way more partial to the ‘gram — so we’ll just leave the thread of Antonio odds ‘n ends that we have been compiling since July on here for the non-tweeters to peruse.
Genny is making edits again! His latest features some bro cam + a bunch of alternate angles from a handful of more proper projects released over the past twelve months. It ends with a sick iPhone slo mo of T.J’s fakie flip over Bond Street, which is basically just a barometer for believing anything done on a skateboard from now on, e.g. “Can you believe so-and-so did that?” “Well, T.J. fakie flipped Bond Street, so yeah.”
Quintessence is a new video from Sam Mccormick that was filmed from 2013 to 2019, and features an overview of every piece of New York crust or diamond-plate that was sought after in each of those years, kinda on a Now That’s What I Call Cellar Doors 2015 vibe. Includes full parts from Joseph Delgado and Neil Herrick at the end. (Jackmauh is a sick last name, btw.)
Lurker Lou is having an art show for his “Purple Shoe Lou” project this Saturday, May 4. 269 Humboldt Street. (Grand Street L train…does that thing run on weekends rn?) 7-10 P.M. Flyer here.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week:C’mon. We’re sympathetic to the Thunder’s plight in that its oddly reminiscent of the “good” Knicks teams from earlier in the 2010s (moreso now in the Russ-only era…not the whole “drafting three MVPS and only having one left” thing), and we’re obvs massive Russ fans at the QS Sports Desk, but Dame’s shot was one of the most iconic playoff moments in any of our lifetimes. And apparently Portland-based skate filmer, Tristan Brillanceau-Lewis, who put out Portland Public Skating 2 last summer, in addition to a bunch of other videos, shot this close-up angle of Lillard’s game winner.
Quote of the Week: “This drink tastes like melted Spongebob ice cream.” — E.J.
Hearing there was a “b sides” Jay-Z concert at the re-opened Webster Hall the other night made me want to track this part down, so here it is. Zered pretty much has the two best Jay-Z song parts, and both are for “b-sides” (“Lobster & Shrimp” had a video and everything, but that shit is buried in the pile.)
With some 58,000+ signatures and proper organization, skateboarders have, at the very least, delayed the reconstruction of the legendary South Bank spot in London. The group behind the the preservation has applied to grant the space “village green” status, which protects historic places for sports and pasttimes. Meanwhile, the Small Banks are a rotting carcass of bricks, dust and heroin needles.
With Outdated behind us, Elijah Cole insisting that the Cathode video is coming out “next month” is the new Kevin Tierney insisting that J.P’s video is coming out “next month.” Anyway, new here’s a new promo for Cathode.
Chrome Ball has been going out with a bang by posting a new interview each day. Marc Johnson’s is likely the best of the bunch, and confirms some of the speculation that went around why certain people weren’t as prevalent in Pretty Sweet as we had hoped. Good to hear his “lost” Tilt Mode goof-around part from the Bag of Suck-era has been found, considering the somewhat goofy Man Down part is his best.
Quote of the Week: “I feel like people who drive Smart Cars do, like, smart-ass shit.” — E.J. upon seeing a Smart Car weave between two construction cones
Did anyone actually root for the Brooklyn Nets this season? Did Hov only do that so hopefully you won’t have to go through that?
This article about the making of Kids and what happened to the cast since 1995 by Caroline Rothstein is better than the movie itself. It mainly focuses on Harold Hunter and Justin Pierce, but manages to catch up with just about everyone with any sort of role in the film. An absolute must-read for any nineties east coast skate nerd.
As expected, Boil the Ocean weighs in on the sponsor resignation of the century, in addition to living a post-Pretty Sweet existence, Greco’s new part, and of course, Mark Suciu. “Is Mark Suciu actually a 40-year-old bro who had been quietly filming in various towns under assumed names over the past 15 years, and is the steady release of footage a sign that he may have died sometime early last year, leaving the executors of his estate to periodically drizzle out tapes to sponsors in a Tupac-like series of posthumous releases?”
To remind us of simpler times, we upgraded the quality on the 2009 Mind Field re-edit.
2011 ends in less that four days. Wow. Previous installments of the countdown: #25-21, #20-16, #15-11. Final installment goes online December 31.
10. Lucas Puig Re-Legitimizes the Noseslide
The northeast may be the last place on earth that does not fully buy into the ballet of flip-in-flip-outs synonymous with the modern day noseslide. We were delighted to see Lucas Puig, one of European skateboarding’s most agreeable technicians, be the one to bring back a completely glitter-less version of one. Puig’s re-induction of the noseslide into acceptable territory for line choreographers has already been felt in videos since his Transworld spotlight, most notably via Stefan Janoski in The SB Chronicles.
Note: Whether or not this trick is acceptable for those under the age of 25 (i.e. those who have not been skating long enough to remember when the noseslide was an acceptable ledge trick) is a controversial subject.
