“Couple manuals, couple flatground.” Imagine skating for 34 years and still being this fucking good. Pocket‘s latest “Followed” episode is with the goat Daniel Lebron. They really got the pacing of life thing figured out in Spain. Big love to the Mexican families in L.A. ♥
The Duplex dudes out of Florida have low-key been putting out some of the best independently-released, no media-outlet-backed videos of 2021. “Five-Six-One,” their latest, is absolutely no exception. That Leap of Faith clip over the lady is so wild, plus Jake Sanso goes off like usual. Peep their earlier releases: “Sk8 Wing” from May + “Duplex 2” from January.
Skating writ large prides itself on a “no rules, bro!” ethos. #Menswear, an entity with which skating has become increasingly intertwined of late (via Vogue Skateboarding Magazine, etc.), has all kinds of rules. No black belt with brown shoes. No wearing white after Labor Day. One’s tie can’t go past one’s belt. Skating has no such faux pas — except for MAYBE brand-mixing — i.e. one can’t wear a Venture shirt if one is skating Indys or Vans socks if you’re wearing Nikes.
But what if I told you that skaters have curated their own sartorial code for decades — painstakingly color-coordinating their shoes, shirts, hats, and even spots? However, the modern-day thrift store aesthetic has left color-coordination by the wayside, even as color-blocking seemed to make a comeback last year, or some shit. So, in conjunction with New York Fashion Week, enjoy this retrospective of color coordination while you’re waiting to get into the Wang party or whatever.
R.I.P. Shorty’s, a place that showed the world the positive power of skateboarders adopting a forgotten corner of the world, and being left the hell alone in it. QS is hardly a transition skating-based enterprise, but there was something magical about each and every visit we took out there, even if it barely involved skateboarding on some days. Grateful to have been a partof it insome tiny way. Thanks to Andrew and all of the boys, and best of luck on the next chapter.
“You wanted a skate shoe that you and Sheffey could go to the club in.” “That’s the goal, yeah.” A lot of guys who started brands give interviews about starting brands, but Sal Barbier is a guy who you should listen to if you want to hear a guy give insight on starting brands. Thanks for the shout out man ♥
I’ve heard friends who don’t skate anymore and barely follow skateboarding say Jamie Foy is their favorite skater. Can’t knock that one. He’s got a couple New York clips in this Jenkem video of a recent Diamond trip.
“Does US sports apparel manufacturer New Balance and its ‘Tricolor’ executive production team deserve credit and reciprocal shoe-purchasing decisions for coaxing forth the most complete PJ Ladd video section since the Iraq war’s onset?” — Boil the Ocean re: the rumored-to-be PJ Ladd part in the upcoming New Balance video.
We let Crazy T take over the QS IG story last Thursday, and couldn’t let the fun fade into oblivion after 24 hours. Still watch the Eminem video five times a day.
Thanks to everyone who supported the QS For Street Machine project. Some stuff still left on the webstore. Anyone who ordered over the weekend should be getting a shipping confirmation in the next 24-48 hours :)
Quote of the Week: “Lil’ Uzi is rap Blink 182.” — Pryce Holmes
Watched this guy Ruben Spelta skate at Milano Centrale this past summer and it was insane. Dude is a good follow on Instagram, but this compilation video should bring you up to speed for now. Who’s everyone got for best steez 2k16 award?
“I wish Brandon Turner was wearing a Bronze tee when he switch Hardfliped Carlsbad in the Guilty video.” Skateboard Story interviewed Peter Sidlauskas from FlipmodeStick Up Kids Bronze. Link to the “How I’m Living” video please :)
“And I guess I’m also saying that Tiago, if you care bud (which hopefully you don’t) you should maybe consider changing your name to Trevor, switching from Mountain Dew to beer, and getting on Anti-Hero or something.”
“There is no reason that a campaign born out of the streets cannot be intelligent and incisive.” Something that is probably going to come in handy in Tr*mp’s litigious America: Love Live Southbank’s Guide to Saving a Skate Spot. (The city of Barcelona is restoring Sants, by the way *side-eye Emoji*)
Hey did you know that there was a moment when Dill and A.V.E. might’ve got on Aesthetics at its inception? Sal Barbier got Chromeballed.
“Don’t put this in one of your stupid edits, dude.” “NY Times Vol. 20” via LurkNYC.
“Tood” is the new one from Rios Crew, Hungarian skating-with-backpacks devotees.
R.B. just uploaded some raw footage of Zered, Eli, Westgate, Tierney, Dela, et al. skating around the city from a summer or two ago.
Part two of the Right Coast Tour with Freddy and Quim is now live.
Did you know there was a time when John Cardiel had a pro snowboard, and Burton advertised in Thrasher? Our bud Alex Dymond just released a book entitled Snow Beach, which chronicles an era when snowboarding was very much an offseason activity for skaters, with tons of crossover via fashion, style, etc. from skateboarding.
The new Watermelonism video, “Keep Biting,” is premiering at 2nd Nature on Thursday. Flyer here. Music by the world famous DJ Thando of “Needed Me” remix fame.
“Dipset: The Movie” — a big topic around here some ~ten years ago — is back and is actually still great. “You’re so ugly I could hear it through the phone.”
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Sooooooooo, ANYWAYYYYYY…
Quote of the Week: “I just found out through Google that I have chlamydia, I should bounce.” — Name Withheld
Today marks ten years since the release of The Inspiration, which was 95% of the way as incredible of an album as TM101, this website’sfoundingpieceof scripture. (Even did a tribute post to it the day it leaked online, and distinctly remember listening to nothing else that winter.) There really is no greater three-peat of motivational speaking than the first three Jeezy albums. The guy has nothing left to prove #jeezysaves.
Anybody who follows professional sports knows that February is a deadzone. NFL is over, ESPN pretends to care about MLB spring training, 80% of the NBA is in a mid-season slump, and hockey is hockey. So in 2013, sports media decided to fill up February programming slots by giving the most ubiquitous athlete in the history of sports even more attention because of his 50th birthday. There may one day be a better player than Jordan, but there probably won’t be one with better marketing and merchandising. (See: Any Kobe shoe.) If you have been alive for over a decade, you’ve likely owned something with a Jumpman on it; Lebron could fulfill his promise of eight championships, and still wouldn’t make it to that level.
Jordan’s career had been as much about championships as sneakers and advertising. M.J. will forever be “the greatest,” because he existed at a moment when an athlete could revolutionize a sport to a point that his personal brand influences something as distant as skateboarding.
The shoe parallels are obvious: Anybody who saw the Bones Brigade documentary (it’s on Netflix Instant, by the way) remembered that the Dunk/Jordan 1 was a skater favorite long before skate boutiques got SB accounts. The Caballero (before it got cut down to the Half Cab) had a bit of Jordan DNA in its design. The brand would even become indirectly responsible for the unfortunate air bubble craze of the late nineties.
February is a deadzone for skate content too, so here is a look back at some of the skaters who have most visibly been inspired by Jordan, sometimes beyond mere footwear.
