Skate, Hip-Hop, and Weed: Street Culture at Its Finest - Part II
Celebrating 50 years of hip-hop.
*This article is part two of a three-part series on cannabis, skate culture, and hip-hop.
N.Y.C. Skate Scene and KIDS Help Define a Generation
By the mid-nineties, street skating grew tremendously in popularity, and hip-hop (and probably a lot of weed) helped to charge up-and-coming skaters’ creativity with its music and aesthetic. A brand new lifestyle was born, cross-influencing open-mindedness, curiosity, cannabis, idealism, and innovation. Oh, Streetwear (yes, with a capital “S”) developed thanks to the early influences of hip-hop, its more contemporary subgenre, gangster rap, and skate culture globally. Skaters had and were figuring out creative ways to evolve the sport, which meant leaving the empty backyard pools and vert ramps for city sidewalks, park benches, trash cans, and whatever else they could land a trick on.
Often most notably, Harmony Korine’s coming-of-age drama entitled KIDS featured innovative street skaters like Harold Hunter and Justin Pierce, as well as the rest of the O.G. Zoo York skate team, portraying themselves as a ragtag group of city kids navigating serious issues like AIDS, poverty, being a part of marginalized communities, and dysfunctional family units.
At the same time, the world got a real glimpse of what contemporary street culture was like for REAL kids living in N.Y.C. at the time- where friends and fun reigned well over the cold, hard truths of reality. Including blunt smoking, boombox blasting, and street skating was crucial to accurately represent the time and what it was like to be there.
If you want to know more about N.Y.C.’s scene in the mid-nineties, check out this year’s new indie documentary, which premiers at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, entitled All Streets are Silent. It offers an authentic glimpse of 90s culture, frozen in a long-gone New Yorkian “Youthtopia” that thrived nearly thirty years ago.
Skaters Mainline the Mainstream
As the rise in popularity of hip-hop and skateboarding continued to blow up, it opened up many opportunities for the leaders of the scene(s) to make money, especially in the skate world. Streetwear brands began popping up, and new brands were being built around the success of the genres.
Supreme Opens Its First Retail Location
The original Supreme store opened on Lafayette Street in the Lower East Side in the spring of ’94. It established itself as the first lifestyle brand representing hip-hop, skate, and street culture. Supreme was THE spot to get all your gear and hang out with the homies. Supreme did everything from hosting events to selling apparel and accessories to making skateboards and sponsoring skate teams. Actors and extras from the movie KIDS were the store’s first employees, including the Z.O.O. York crew.
Today, Supreme is a hugely popular global brand collaborating with big players in the cannabis industry like Mike Tyson and high fashion staples like Louis Vuitton. With the shared D.I.Y. ethos of these collaborating cultures, Supreme found wild success over the last three decades, proving to be one of the first to break ground and find a way into the mainstream.
Chad Muska’s WeedStashPocket Skate Shoe
Original ad for Chad Muska's éS Skate Shoes.
A few years later, after the original Supreme store opened, Chad Muska, known for his street style, wearing baggy pants and long white tees, rocking a ball cap and boombox along with his skateboard, was killing the game. He also monetized off the budding skate industry by producing the first $100 skate shoe. His infamous WeedStashPocket shoes hit the retail shelves in ’98. Primarily inspired by Air Jordans I.V.s, which were the SHIT back then and still are), the éS Muska signature model was the only one of its kind and featured a stash pocket underneath the shoe’s tongue.
The shoe was obviously perfect for skating, and if you had hollow trucks on your skateboard, you might have figured out how to use it as a pipe (yes, it’s true- you can do that!), then you’re all set! Those knee-long nineties pockets could remain empty and light for better agility to settle the sickest tricks.
