Episode 68

full
Published on:

29th May 2024

Skateboarding and Hip Hop: A review of All the Streets Are Silent (2021)

All the Streets are Silent is a 2021 documentary which details the close connection between the vibrant subcultures of skateboarding and Hip Hop in the late 80s and into the 90s. Along the way, we see some legendary rappers in their early days on the come-up. 

Topics discussed:

  • Skateboard crews in New York City helped promote and propel the culture of Hip Hop. 
  • Club Mars was a major venue for any hip hop act trying to break through into the big time.
  • Like Club Mars, a lot of superstar rappers got early exposure on the Stretch and Bobbito radio show. 
  • Watch this film to see the origin stories of the Zoo York and Supreme streetwear brands.
  • The Zoo York mixtape was the flashpoint of skateboarding and hip hop's symbiotic relationship – which helped blossom both sub-cultures into multi-billion dollar industries. 

Also check out:

Our episode on Untold: The Rise and Fall of AND1

Resources for sexual assault, suicide, and drug abuse.

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...skate!

Mentioned in this episode:

Content Warning

This episode contains some discussion of sexual assault, suicide, and drug use starting around the 25:58 mark. Please take care as you listen. If you're in need of resources related to these situations, please check out the links elsewhere in the episode description.

Transcript
Speaker:

Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show

that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with

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the magic of movies.

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Today, we're discussing All the Streets

are Silent, a documentary chronicling the

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convergence of hip hop and skateboarding

in New York City from:

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We're three old heads who put their old

heads together to vibe on these films for

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you.

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I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker,

longtime hip hop fan, and I got to see

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Moby play Maxwell's in Hoboken for the

MusicSnobbery fifth anniversary show.

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So if you know, you know.

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I'm JB, 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, long

time hip hop fan.

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And I owned this one skateboard here as a

kid.

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This is a Nash Jammin' soundboard.

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It actually had a radio built in on the

bottom, but the darn thing never worked.

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After multiple attempts and changing out

the batteries.

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But yeah, I'm not a big skateboarder, but

I had this one.

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Nice, nice.

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I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan.

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And I also used to try to skateboard, but

I wasn't very good.

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I was more of a BMX bike person.

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In this episode, we'll answer the

question, how influential was the

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skateboarding subculture to the rise of

hip hop in New York City in the late 80s

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and 90s?

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We'll give you five key takeaways to make

a smarter hip hop movie fan.

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All the Streets are Silent is a 2021

documentary, which details the close

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connection between the vibrant subcultures

of skateboarding and hip hop in the late

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80s and into the 90s.

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Along the way, we see some legendary hip

hop acts in the early days on the come

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-up.

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And here are five things you need to know

about All the Streets are Silent

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Skateboard crews in New York City helped

promote and propel the culture of hip hop.

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Club Mars was a major venue for any hip

hop act trying to break through into the

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big time.

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Like Club Mars, a lot of superstar rappers

got early exposure on the Stretch and

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Bobbito radio show.

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Watch this film to see the origin stories

of the Zoo York and Supreme street wear

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brands.

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The Zoo York Mixtape was a flashpoint of

skateboarding and hip -hop's symbiotic

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relationship which helped blossom both

subcultures into multi -billion dollar

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industries.

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Alright, so let's get into it and talk

about that first takeaway about skateboard

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crews in New York City helping to promote

and propel the culture of hip hop.

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As I'll talk to it a little bit, tee it up

for one of you guys as well.

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So I just thought that, you know, these

cultures, these two subcultures were very

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similar in the fact that there's also,

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They express kind of a sense of rebellion

in New York City, which breeds originality

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and creativity.

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These kind of two subcultures emerged like

at the same time and grew and supported

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one another.

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And I just thought it was awesome that Eli

Gesner, who documented this and narrated

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it, was just a genius for doing so.

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But you want to talk a little bit more

about how these skateboard crews

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these skateboard crews help to promote

teleculture?

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Well, yeah, so they were both kind of on

outskirts.

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I mean, skateboarding in New York, I mean,

they were actually kind of divided at

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first.

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You see, most people viewed skateboarding

as a white sport or something that white

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kids did in the suburbs.

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And hip hop, you know, at the time was

primarily on Black and Latino.

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But you see how they, because they were

both on outskirts of what was the main

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stay of Manhattan.

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that they started to kind of come

together.

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I mean, skateboarding, a lot of times

people view it as a nuisance, it gets in

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the way, causes traffic, you know,

whatever, accidents, people get harmed or

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whatever.

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So they kind of stayed to the side and

were kind of trying to find a way to make,

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to get into the mainstream of what was

going on in Manhattan.

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Because, you know, Manhattan at the time,

of course, you know, you had multi, you

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know, at the time million dollar

industries going on, you had banking and

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everything going on all throughout the

city.

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And hip hop at the time wasn't, it wasn't

mainstream at all.

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It wasn't nothing like we see now.

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It was primarily like underground and you

couldn't, they didn't play it in discos or

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anything like that.

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So yeah, I mean, it was just the perfect

blending and the perfect marriage of two

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subcultures.

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You see the kids trying to make it and

trying to look for something better.

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And you have hip hop artists who were also

at the scene or they're trying to get into

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the scene, trying to make themselves.

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get themselves to a better place as well.

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And I mean, it just, I mean, the

documentary, it was pure genius to just

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record what was going on and have that

hindsight of, okay, I'm just gonna record

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this and just kind of put it away for

later.

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And like you said, that I was like, wow,

like if you really knew that he actually

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was documenting this historic happenings.

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I don't even know if he had the idea that

it would get as big as it did now, but I'm

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thankful that we were able to watch this.

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DynoWright?

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gonna Add your thoughts to this.

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yes.

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For one thing, totally agree.

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The amount of archival footage shot by Eli

Gesner is astounding.

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And as a filmmaker, I feel validated that

he just shot everything.

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He never turned the camera off, it seems.

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So, you know, years later, 30 years later,

it all came very useful.

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And so, big ups to him for doing that.

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this documentary did really feel like a

skateboard mix tape too.

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Like it had very much felt like, you know,

hip hop soundtrack to not only the

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skateboarding that happened, but like the

counter cultural stuff that skateboarding

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hip hop was doing.

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Like this rebellion, this like expression.

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You didn't really see this in the other

sort of main pillars of hip hop, like

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It's another way of graffiti, right?

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So to skateboard in the middle of the city

You know, I remember a lot of people

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thinking that graffiti and skateboarding

were kind of as similar kinds of nuisances

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in urban areas and so Fast forward 40

years later and it's like celebrated.

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It's multi -billion dollar industry.

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That's kind of funny It's a nuisance until

it makes money and I can get into that

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later with Supreme but

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Really, really worth watching just for

that kind of like time capsule like you

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like to say JB.

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Yeah, that's one of my favorite phrases,

time capsule, because there's the archival

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footage that you mentioned of the rappers

and skaters.

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Yeah, the graffiti, like you mentioned, is

also seen a lot on the skateboards

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themselves.

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You saw on the back of mine, there's like

some graffiti, almost a good percentage of

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skateboards have some form of graffiti on

them, and the stickers and all that.

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And artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat,

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Keith Haring, like they emerged from the

scene.

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And I think DMC, Darryl McDaniels said,

you know, like the skaters, they're really

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like punk.

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And then they started shifting and they

really liked hip hop because it was like

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underground and it was out of the

ordinary.

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And it was kind of the sense of rebellion

and outsiders.

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And then it kind of followed the same

trajectory of the Beastie Boys.

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The Beastie Boys started out as like a

punk crew and they morphed into a hip hop.

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into a hip hop act.

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There was a synergy between the

skateboarding crews and the Beastie Boys

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as well.

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And I think, you know, a lot of these

characters you see in here are, you know,

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true.

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but these are the people in a scene like

Harold Hunter was the the black skater was

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one of the faces of the movement and that

was like unique to have a Black

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skateboarder and then you know he helped

propel the hip -hop culture as well.

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hip hop culture.

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Yeah.

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I mean, even like you talk about, you

know, punk and hip hop lyrics, a lot of

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the lyrics, some of the lyrics were very,

very much the same too.

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You know, just different, you know,

different genre of music, but same message

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coming across.

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You know, we want kind of what's ours and

we're tired of being overlooked.

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know, We want, we want something better as

well.

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So these crews were out there doing their

thing and then enjoying some of the hip

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hop.

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And then our next takeaway was Club Mars

was portrayed in this documentary as such

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a major venue for any hip hop act that was

trying to break through into the big time.

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We saw that Yuki Watanabe was a co

-founder of Mars and he had been a club

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owner elsewhere.

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And it was kind of like Eli and his crew

had

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Eli and his crew had befriended Yuki he

starts up the Mars club and that really

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opened up the doors for a lot of these up

and coming artists which goes to that time

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capsule motif that we're talking about.

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you want to take us through like some more

about the Club Mars and what you

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discovered there and some of the acts?

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Yeah, so Club Mars became one of those

clubs that, like I was gonna mention

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earlier, you know, hip hop wasn't

necessarily playing in a disco, but Club

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Mars gave hip hop a voice and a stage to

present itself so people could come there

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and hear kind of whatever they wanted to

hear.

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And it wasn't necessarily just a hip hop

club.

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Now Mars had multiple floors.

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Each floor had a different theme.

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So you can go throughout the floors and

hear different genres of music.

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But the one thing that made Mars unique

was that it did include hip hop in that

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format of layering through the different

floors.

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So you'd have many, many different, many

acts that will come through different DJs.

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You know, know, one of my favorite DJs is

New York State, where Funkmaster Flex got

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his start there.

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Moby got his start there, Dres.

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Well, actually, the Black Sheep, both of

them started there as DJs, and Dres

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decided that, hey, while I'm here, I'm

gonna show them I'm also a lyricist, and

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started rapping and rhyming.

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And they ended up becoming an actual act

from playing there as well.

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We're seeing Busta Rhymes emerge on the

scene with the Leaders of the New School.

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DMC was also there regularly.

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He talked about, and mean, you know, if he

was there, Run was there.

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So, you know, he was talking about the

different acts from their generation that

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would come through as well.

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But yeah, it was the place to be.

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And even the skateboarders who weren't

necessarily dressed in traditional quote

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unquote, nightclub attire were allowed to

come.

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through there and then they would come

through the basement entrance and they

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would come up into the club and they would

hang out and mix and mingle amongst the

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different artists who were there.

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And then with the release of the film,

Kids, they were like celebrities.

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They were talking about, yeah, I was

hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio or I

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was hanging out with this guy and that

guy.

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So they were almost like local celebrities

that were kind of.

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you know, embraced by the artists

themselves from being there.

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And it was just a phenomenal place.

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And it looked like a really cool

environment.

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I mean, I've definitely heard of the club.

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I didn't necessarily know who Yuki

Watanabe was, but yeah, it was amazing.

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I know.

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DynoWright, reflections on what we saw

about Club Mars.

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Yeah.

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So from Club Mars sprang a lot of things,

including copycat hip hop shows.

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They talk about Sean Combs starting a

different thing called Daddy's House that

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was trying to bite off that vibe.

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And then from Club Mars came the Phat Farm

clothing label and other clothing labels.

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So Russell Simmons started Phat Farm.

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That sprang forth from Club Mars.

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Rappers got their start there, as you

mentioned.

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I think they said that Zoo York's

headquarters was like a block away

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eventually, I think.

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Yeah, so that area of New York, very

fertile for this creative expression.

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And Club Mars was the place to be for

that.

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Yeah, I was fascinated by Yuki Watanabe's

story.

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He also had a club in Boston called Club

New York, ironically.

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And he had given Afrika Bambaataa and

Grandmaster Flash gigs, as well as a young

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Madonna.

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That was crazy.

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And then Boogie, you mentioned a whole lot

of acts, but also Almighty Kay Gee from

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the Cold Crush Brothers and Kid Capri with

all his mixtapes was out there, DJ Clark

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Kent.

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Q-Tip would stroll in, Guru, Kool Keith,

Ice Cube even came out from the west

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coast, the Jay -Z footage with Jazzo,

absolute legends, absolute legends, yeah.

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Yeah, and even like, not even hip hop, but

other cultural pop culture icons and

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celebrities like Mike Tyson would buy out

the place on occasion, like buy out a

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floor, etc.

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And Vin Diesel was a bouncer there for a

time.

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And then was it Yuki?

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Was Yuki said, I can't remember the guy,

the Zoolander guy.

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I was like, Ben Stiller?

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it guys?

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like skinny, skinny guy, I was like, I

guess Ben Stiller had like a day or two as

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a bouncer somehow.

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I was cracking up.

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Yeah.

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bouncer here.

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i think it was around from 88 to 92 was

when Mars was really in in full force and

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then unfortunately due to some gang

violence outside the club Yuki had to shut

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it down but yeah club Mars you were saying

you were just looking BooGie elsewhere

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there's like some facebook groups and some

other youtube videos about club Mars back

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in the day

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absolutely.

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Yeah, you could definitely go down a

rabbit hole looking for old Club Mars

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footage.

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And again, there's definitely a Facebook

group.

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I was like, wow, that's pretty cool.

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It's like a support group.

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It's called, what was it called?

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yeah, Club Mars NYC 1989, Facebook group.

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Yeah.

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It's like a reunion page.

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It's like I see those things with like

Dancing On Air and stuff.

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If you were on Dancing On Air back in the

80s, join this club.

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man.

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with all the girls with the Aqua Net and

everything.

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Yeah, that's right.

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Philly heads know what's up.

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So our third take away is like Club Mars,

a lot of superstar rappers also got early

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exposure on the Stretch and Bobbito radio

show, which was part of Columbia

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University.

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That was a Columbia radio station.

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Dyno Wright, you want to talk a little bit

about Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show?

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We see a lot of early footage shot by Eli

Gesner, early Busta Rhymes early Method

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Man and Ghostface free styles and It's

hard to imagine now a radio show that

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people would stay up to listen to and

record on cassette tapes

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I can't think of anything that happens

right now that's just like that.

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We live in such a time -shifted society

that there's such a thing as appointment

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radio.

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This was appointment radio at one in the

morning.

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So you skate all day, you go clubbing, and

then you end your evening listening to a

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radio show from an Ivy League college.

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You can't hardly make it up.

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But that's what they did.

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That's wild.

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I mean, there was no SoundCloud, there's

no internet, you know, and if you want to

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hear the latest and greatest like up and

coming acts, if you were really into hip

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hop, that's where you would hear hear them

on the Stretch and Bobbito show.

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The footage of Busta Rhymes freestyling

and then Jarobi from A Tribe Called Quest

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was in there and several other guys that

it just blows your mind.

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Large Professor.

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BooGie, what are your memories of you were

talking before the show about Stretch and

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Bobbito, how you had heard of them back in

the day and even in Newark and stuff.

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You want to talk about your experiences?

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yeah, so yeah, Stretch and Bobbito, they

were a hip hop staple.

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I mean, I didn't necessarily stay up and

listen to the radio that much to hear them

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as they were live, but I definitely

recall, you know, walking through downtown

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and you see vendors, you know, street

vendors selling, you know, Stretch and

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Bobbito 'Beato mixtapes.

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So you can buy a mixtape and actually

hear, you know, some footage from a

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Stretch and Bobbito show.

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And some of the mixtapes would be like a

greatest hits.

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And it would have like all of the latest

hip hop freestyles that would come through

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the radio show.

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I remember also when they used to go up to

the Rucker Park and when Bobbito was like

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the announcer and he would just have some

of the funniest stuff to say.

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And kind of like, actually, yeah, he would

be...

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Kind of like how And-1 got their start.

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He would be on the mic announcing and then

somebody got their ankles broken.

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He had all kinds of jokes for them or

somebody lit it up and it was on fire.

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He was on it.

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And I always thought they were pretty

cool, but the way they started out was

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kind of funny too.

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I remember they were talking about this

one DJ and in the documentary was talking

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about the guy and they were saying, he was

really tall.

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I'm thinking, I wonder if that's.

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if that's that's that's stretch Armstrong.

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And then they started saying something,

I'm like, nah, that's not him.

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And then I remember they started

mentioning the toy and I'm like, yeah,

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they coming back with it.

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The toy, yeah, stretch Armstrong, the toy

that stretched really, you know, really

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elastic.

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And I was like, yeah, that was him.

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But yeah, those guys were, you know,

they're still revered throughout the

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community.

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You know, they contributed so much like by

boosting a lot of these guys.

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start now.

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Like now, if you want to get your start,

all you got to do is just sit in your room

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and record something and put it on

Instagram or Facebook or whatever.

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Back then, it was almost like you had to

prove yourself, go somewhere and just

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freestyle.

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You couldn't just say handwritten rhymes.

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You had to prove that you had a lyrical

skill, a lyrical prowess.

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And those guys provided a format for that.

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So the community of hip hop and culture

should be grateful to them.

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for allowing that to happen.

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Yeah.

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The take away number four is we're saying

watch this film to see the origin stories

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of the Zoo York and Supreme street wear

brands.

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We see these names and these brands out

there, but you're really gonna see how

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they originated by seeing this film.

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I know that briefly, Eli was called by

Russell Simmons to start a Phat Farm line

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of clothing as well, which was really the

first hip hop clothing line.

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And then Zoo York.

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Zoo York was launched in July of 93, close

to where Mars was headquartered.

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But that was after Mars had shut down.

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But it was interesting to see how these

startups would take shape and then take

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off.

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Boogie or DynoWright, you guys want to add

to origin stories of Zoo York and Supreme?

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Supreme.

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I can share about Zoo York and Supreme a

little bit.

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My brother happens to be a very big, long

time Supreme fan.

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So I got wind of it early on.

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But what's fun about Supreme in particular

is that they took their logo.

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They basically bit off of an artist called

Barbara Kruger, and they mentioned this in

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the film.

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So.

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see that too.

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But Barbara Kruger, her art is about

capitalism and so it's kind of

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deconstructing capitalism.

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And so the choice to copy her style for

the logo is either inspired or ironic or

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maybe ignorant.

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I don't know.

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It's kind of funny because at first

Barbara Kruger wasn't that

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wasn't all that bothered by it.

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And it was when a different streetwear

brand called Married to the Mob copied

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Supreme.

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She put them both on blast.

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And I should read, I'll read the thing

that she responded to with this.

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Her response was, what a ridiculous

cluster F of totally uncool jokers.

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I make my work about this kind of sadly

foolish farce.

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I'm waiting for all of them to sue me for

copyright infringement.

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So good.

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But, you know, what works well about the

actual logo itself is that it's very

356

:

recognizable.

357

:

It's only white text on a red rectangle

and it works.

358

:

So they've gotten a lot of mileage out of

just that.

359

:

And I know Boogie can talk about their...

360

:

their drops and their collabs and the

craziness that happens at 10 o 'clock on

361

:

drop day.

362

:

Yeah, so yeah, like first, like I didn't

even realize that Zoo York and Supreme

363

:

were skating brands.

364

:

I mean, that blew my mind because like

where I live at, you don't really see many

365

:

skate, we don't see any skateboards really

at all.

366

:

I mean, unless you go a couple of minutes

outside like maybe South Orange or

367

:

Maplewood, but mostly around here, you

don't really see too many people on

368

:

skateboards.

369

:

But yeah, I definitely was familiar with

Zoo York and Supreme.

370

:

And I actually own some, I actually own

items from both of them and they had no

371

:

idea that they were skating brands.

372

:

But while I think Zoo York might've faded

a little bit in popularity, Supreme is

373

:

still going very strong.

374

:

I mean, they do these crazy collaborations

with Nike all the time where they'll take

375

:

like a pair of sneakers that are pretty

basic and really well known.

376

:

Like for instance, they'll take the Air

Max sneakers.

377

:

very plain format and they'll slap that

logo on the side and those things will

378

:

sell out in a matter of minutes.

379

:

Like if you don't log on to the site at 10

am to get that drop, it's gonna take a

380

:

minor miracle to get them at retail.

381

:

And when I say like at retail, I mean,

they're retailing for at least 200 bucks

382

:

for the sneakers.

383

:

And if you miss the retail, you can pay

upwards of thousands of dollars for one

384

:

pair.

385

:

This one has the Supreme logo on the side

of them.

386

:

And that's just the sneakers.

387

:

They'll have hoodies and rain windbreakers

and windbreaker pants.

388

:

And it's just crazy.

389

:

But all stemming from skateboarding.

390

:

It's like, what?

391

:

Yeah.

392

:

So the chronology of it was Zoo York

launched in July of 93 and then Supreme

393

:

opened up April 1st, 1994, which gave you

skaters like a nice place to hang out and

394

:

socialize.

395

:

The lines became outrageous with the

popularity.

396

:

It was a massive success, Supreme stores.

397

:

Yeah, yeah, I remember walking by the

Supreme store when I was in New York.

398

:

This was like maybe about, I would say

maybe like eight or nine years ago.

399

:

And I walked past the store, like it was

packed inside.

400

:

I mean, but I was like, yeah, I can't

afford none of that stuff.

401

:

And I just kept walking.

402

:

I can't do that.

403

:

Yeah, it's crazy how this smaller

subculture would grow to become such a

404

:

lucrative business.

405

:

And we'll get to that in our next point

here, which is a final takeaway.

406

:

This is, go ahead.

407

:

Yep.

408

:

we should mention Kids, the Larry Clark

film from:

409

:

commercial for Zoo York.

410

:

Before the Zoo York mixtape, which we'll

get to in the next takeaway, comes out.

411

:

Kids comes out in 1995.

412

:

It's a...

413

:

The documentary, well it's not really,

it's not a documentary, but it's basically

414

:

like almost like a historical fiction

about the youth skateboard culture in New

415

:

York.

416

:

It launched the celebrity of Harold

Hunter, one of the famous New York

417

:

skateboarders who was also Black and so

that, we mentioned him earlier.

418

:

And also it launched him probably maybe

into his downfall too, because he didn't

419

:

live much longer after the movie came out.

420

:

I just remember seeing it that summer when

it came out and I still get kind of chills

421

:

about it.

422

:

It was very affecting.

423

:

There's a lot of sexual assault in this

movie and it's pretty gritty.

424

:

I remember thinking I needed to take three

successive showers after watching this

425

:

film.

426

:

So very affecting, very powerful film that

centered around the skateboard culture

427

:

back then.

428

:

So definitely watch this documentary.

429

:

and then go see Kids because you really

get to see it in action.

430

:

I had the same reaction when I saw Kids.

431

:

It was during our college years and I was

like my jaw dropped because it's called

432

:

Kids and these kids these are literally

kids teenagers and so much like you said

433

:

sexual assault, there's abuse and drug use

smoking and chaos.

434

:

Yeah, at such a young age.

435

:

Yeah, I was, I was.

436

:

these guys were some of these folks that

were featured in this documentary were the

437

:

stars in that movie.

438

:

movie.

439

:

Yeah, I remember I saw it much later and I

don't remember how I stumbled upon it.

440

:

I think I was watching something and they

mentioned it.

441

:

I said, okay, I remember hearing a name

and I went and watched it.

442

:

I think I was probably in my 30s when I

watched it.

443

:

So like you're jaw dropping and watching

it, you know, in your late teens, early

444

:

20s.

445

:

I'm watching it in my 30s and I'm like,

what?

446

:

Like, I'm looking at it, I'm like, this is

crazy.

447

:

This is absolutely crazy.

448

:

But I mean, it's the reality.

449

:

I mean, that was their reality, you know?

450

:

So, you know, good, bad or ugly, I mean,

or indifferent, that's what they lived.

451

:

So, I mean, I just used it as a study of

what was going on at that time.

452

:

Mm -hmm.

453

:

And so the final takeaway is the Zoo York

mixtape was the flashpoint of

454

:

skateboarding and hip hop's symbiotic

relationship, which helped blossom both

455

:

subcultures into multi -billion dollar

industries.

456

:

So, yeah, to see the growth of such, of

these regional subcultures, well, hip hop

457

:

was, as we talked about in prior episodes,

was regional, you know, starting in the

458

:

South Bronx, and no one knew it would go

this far, like Biggie says.

459

:

Biggie says.

460

:

The skateboarding also was small

subculture.

461

:

You had Tony Hawk in California out West

and people thought that was just out

462

:

there.

463

:

And then, you know, this subculture of

skateboarding here in New York and just

464

:

blossomed and the two subcultures kind of

fed off each other for a bit there.

465

:

Boogie, you want to talk a little bit more

about that?

466

:

little bit more about that?

467

:

Yeah, I mean, so the Zoo York mixtape was,

I mean, I'm not gonna find an equivalent

468

:

and I would liken it to the And-1 mixtape,

which we mentioned on previous episodes.

469

:

So as Stretch and Bobbito are having their

shows or as different artists are coming

470

:

through, we're at this time going through

Mars, there's all kinds of archival

471

:

footage and recordings from both.

472

:

and they had the idea to play video

footage of skateboarders throughout New

473

:

York doing their different tricks and have

the backdrop to these performances.

474

:

So you get a very contrasting view to what

most people realize, most people outside

475

:

of the city view skateboarding as like JB

said with Tony Hawk and you know.

476

:

palm trees and they've had the perfect,

you know, skating parks and things like

477

:

that.

478

:

Now we have, you know, these skateboarders

in the urban jungle of New York City with

479

:

hip hop backdrops to their tricks and, you

know, it spreads like wildfire because

480

:

it's so intriguing.

481

:

It's like, it's catchy.

482

:

It's the new thing.

483

:

It's against the norm because it's not

playing, you know, the popular songs that

484

:

you're hearing necessarily on the radio,

but you're hearing this new stuff, the

485

:

stuff that, you know, is coming out.

486

:

And people want to be a part of it.

487

:

And then you explode from there.

488

:

You can go to the Supreme store or you

might run into one of these guys there.

489

:

You're wearing the same gear as the guys

were wearing in the mixtape.

490

:

It's an instant connection.

491

:

You don't have to go out of your way to

make that connection.

492

:

You can just...

493

:

walk down the street or we're gonna walk

around a corner and go to the store and

494

:

just instantly be connected.

495

:

Yeah.

496

:

Unifying force between somebody mentioned

it in the documentaries like others also

497

:

like these rich kids and these these poor

kids and like skateboarding kind of drew

498

:

folks together and also with hip -hop hip

-hop culture and skateboarding There was a

499

:

guy Vinny Ponte was mentioned.

500

:

He was a DJ and a skateboarder.

501

:

So he was like doing both things promoting

both cultures and I think he was tight

502

:

with Raekwon so

503

:

Yeah, it was pretty cool to see all that.

504

:

And then you flash fast forward to where

we are over the years.

505

:

It's skateboarding, which used to have its

own competitions with the X Games.

506

:

It was kind of like, this is extreme

games, extreme games.

507

:

And now it's into the mainstream with

being added to the Olympics over the

508

:

years.

509

:

And as we're recording, we're gearing up

for the Summer Olympics in Paris.

510

:

And you'll see skateboarding, half pipes,

and all types of things there.

511

:

And then the money aspect of it.

512

:

of jumping in.

513

:

DynoWright, you want to add to the

blossoming of the subcultures.

514

:

Sure, you can see it's fun to see the

origin of you know skateboarding and Hip

515

:

-hop as these components of culture and

then you get to see the end result, the

516

:

end stage of it where Supreme gets

acquired for 2 .1 billion dollars?

517

:

That's quite a valuation for

518

:

crazy.

519

:

Streetwear brand, a skateboarding

streetwear brand.

520

:

The Zoo York mixtape in 1997 is the point

where it becomes more widely known,

521

:

mainstream.

522

:

You see people wearing Zoo York and

Supreme and not have a connection.

523

:

They mention this in the movie.

524

:

They talk about who's a poser and who's

not.

525

:

At this point,

526

:

At this point, it doesn't matter anymore

because it's so mainstream that you don't

527

:

have that connection anymore to actual

skating.

528

:

The movie ends with this kind of, here's

where we are now.

529

:

It's almost like it's part of the backdrop

now, but back when it was hot, it was

530

:

white hot.

531

:

Yeah, I like how they did kind of like an

epilogue at the end where it showed you

532

:

some key statistics regarding both

cultures.

533

:

How skateboarding surpassed like a $2

billion industry.

534

:

I mean, Supreme itself sold for $2

billion, but then like hip hop and R &B

535

:

surpassed rock and roll in popularity and

sales in:

536

:

And there was a one skateboarder,

Hufnagel, who had his own brand.

537

:

He sold his own brand for $63 million.

538

:

It talked about, unfortunately there was

the tragedy along the way you mentioned

539

:

Harold Hunter, he would die of a drug

induced heart failure around age 31.

540

:

And then there was another skateboarder

died, I think of a brain aneurysm in his

541

:

early 40s.

542

:

It may have been Hufnagel, I'm not sure,

but one of those guys died.

543

:

I think that was, I think that was Keith

Hufnagel.

544

:

And then.

545

:

turned a huge profit on his brand.

546

:

Unfortunately, he died not too long after

that.

547

:

And,

548

:

Yeah.

549

:

one of the other kids, guys from the Kids

had died, I think it was a suicide or

550

:

something.

551

:

So yeah, there was.

552

:

died of suicide not long after the movie

came out.

553

:

Maybe, I think it was 2001, I think,

around then.

554

:

Yeah.

555

:

There was a thing that, what Boogie was

saying is like these guys that were in

556

:

these crews and then some of them were in

the movie kids and they were recognized by

557

:

some of the celebrities like hanging out

with Leonardo DiCaprio and then somebody

558

:

said that Biggie had recognized Harold

Hunter at one point and it was like...

559

:

so it's like, wow, how about that for

these kids that are just like hanging on

560

:

the street?

561

:

That's pretty good.

562

:

You were in that movie, Kids?

563

:

Wow, I mean, it just blows your mind.

564

:

becoming celebrity and again this is

before social media and things really

565

:

going viral so that made it even more

impressive to be to be on Biggie's radar

566

:

and there was no no cell phones to take

videos no social media nothing to make

567

:

things go viral that's wild yeah and

568

:

in between when Kids comes out and when

Biggie gets killed.

569

:

So that happened really between 95 and 97.

570

:

That's pretty good.

571

:

Yeah.

572

:

Yeah.

573

:

But yes, eye -opening documentary for sure

about the connection.

574

:

I had no clue how intertwined these

subcultures were.

575

:

I knew there was some overlap with the

graffiti and the art in them both being

576

:

subcultures, but to see that all work

together in that symbiotic relationship

577

:

was interesting and powerful.

578

:

So I mean, I think we all, all three of us

really enjoyed this one, but I guess we'll

579

:

rate it like we normally do.

580

:

So BooGie for, All the Streets are Silent.

581

:

Bring that funky flick back or leave it in

the vault.

582

:

it in the vault.

583

:

I'm definitely gonna watch it a few more

times because I'm pretty sure that I'm

584

:

gonna grab some more nuggets out of,

knowledge nuggets out of this one.

585

:

DynoWright, All the Streets are Silent.

586

:

Bring that funky flick back, or leave it

in the vault.

587

:

Same here, bring that funky flick back.

588

:

As for me, I will also bring that funky

flick back.

589

:

I love these, what I call time capsules,

where you can see the archival footage of

590

:

these young superstars of the hip -hop

world.

591

:

There's definitely one thing to see them.

592

:

There's one thing to hear about it.

593

:

It's another completely different thing to

see them actually in their element.

594

:

Yeah.

595

:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a documentary.

596

:

Yeah, yeah, a documentary of 40 years in

the making.

597

:

It's pretty, it's pretty good work.

598

:

Yeah, right on.

599

:

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your

HHMC's JB, Boogie, and Dyno Wright.

600

:

Theme music by Boogie.

601

:

Whether you're listening to the podcast or

watching us on YouTube, please give us a

602

:

subscribe or a follow.

603

:

It's a real power Thanks for tuning in.

604

:

And remember, don't hate, skate!

605

:

What else would it be today?

606

:

NOOOO

607

:

Okay.

608

:

What a gem that is.

609

:

I miss my, it's like, now I miss my Nash

board with the graffiti on the bottom.

610

:

then Yeah, it's actually I was telling you

guys I actually won this one on Double

611

:

Dare so that's a

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About the Podcast

Hip Hop Movie Club
Harmonizing the rhythm of hip hop with the magic of movies
HHMC is brought to you by a trio of longtime hip hop fans: JB, an 80s and 90s nostalgia junkie, Boogie, a veteran DJ and graffiti artist, and DynoWright, podcaster and filmmaker.

Upcoming Hip Hop Movie Club events:

Aug 16 - House Party screening and talkback, SteelStacks, Bethlehem PA. More information coming soon!

More events to be announced! Subscribe to our newsletter and get updated on events: https://hiphopmovieclub.substack.com/