Hip Hop & Skateboarding: Two Cultures Colliding
It seems skate culture & hip-hop culture were long lost relatives, soon to be connected for the better of both cultures. Which makes sense, considering the similarities they both share. Both give freedom and creative expression, while also, being a force of a youth movement with being submerged with attitude and rebellion. From soundtracking skating games to appearing in music videos to effecting hip-hop fashion; Hip-hop has embraced skating culture like a close affiliate, but when did the colliding of 2 worlds begin? It’s safe to say, things kicked into gear in the early 2000s. for the mainstream perspective. It’s safe to assume skaters in the 90s weren’t just skating to NOFX and other skate punk bands but balanced it out with Del the Funky Homosapien and the rest of Hieroglyphics, or Gravediggaz. However, in the 2000s, we saw hip-hop mingle with skating.
Pharrell, who outside of producing half of the 2000s with his partner Chad Hugo, had a fond love of skateboarding himself. In a 2008 interview with the Guardian, he expressed love of the sport saying: “The first sport I got into- and the one- that has had the most impact on my life is skateboarding. Most people think skateboarding is for some kid with blonde hair from suburbia”. Which he brings a fair point of another similarity to these cultures. As hip-hop is predominately black culture, while skateboarding is particularly seen to be a sport for white men. They both give off a stigma of intimidation that you can’t be apart of it when in actuality, you’re very welcomed to join. “He went on to compare Hip-Hop and sports saying: “Sports teaches you discipline & execution, that’s what’s required in music” Pharrell didn’t forget his roots in skating, hell his nickname is “Skateboard P”, throughout the decade he kept his skating roots in his work. Showing skateboarding in the video for Frontin’ in 03 & later in 04 for the Drop It Like It’s Hot, he had Terry Kennedy make a cameo. Even starting his skate team and referenced it on 06’s, Mr. Me Too by Clipse: “Ice Cream sneakers, I signed my first skater” referring to skating Terry Kennedy. In the Guardian, he explained the skate team saying: “It’s my way of keeping in touch I send kids around the world, put money in their pockets. I’m trying to spread culture”.
2006 wouldn’t be the year of the Ice Cream Skate Team, that year same year Lupe Fiasco released his single Kick, Push (and I know what you’re thinking, yes I know this is interpreted about selling drugs. However, Lupe himself has gone on the record and stated the song is just about skating and nothing more). Though Lupe isn’t much a skater himself, he paints a great picture of a man and his skateboarding journey in his everyday life. Being the subject matter, it’s pretty remarkable the success the song had achieved, including being nominated for a Grammy in 07. Though it’s not like this the first time the skating directly linked to the music. Tony Hawk skating games, not only being a popular series, in the 2000s were soundtrack by hip hop tracks as well including the likes: Del the Funky Homosapien, Aesop Rock, Xzibit, Redman, etc. But you can sense it has more of a backpacker niche, yet, this wasn’t holding it back.
Year after Kick, Push in the new decade of the 2010s, we were introduced to a Californian collective comprised of vulgar mouth rappers and skaters called Odd Future. Influenced the by skate culture & and coated in Supreme (we’ll get that in a bit). Tyler the Creator and the rest of the crew helped the represent the merging of the two. Though Tyler admitted he isn’t the best, stating in Puss Puss Magazine: “I f***ing suck [now]”, still doesn’t take away his love of skating, considering he put a mini skating rink in his GOLF Le Fleur store in California. Joey Badass & Lil Wayne expressed their fondness of skating with Joey collaborating with Adidas for their Skatingboarding 2014 Fall/Winter Collection. Lil Wayne after being released from prison took on the sport. In 2017 with an interview from ESPN he said: “Skateboarding is very therapeutic to me because I don’t have to think about anything else, period,” Even releasing a video of him skating in 2018 called, “ Sorry for the SK8”. Rich the Kid is another active skater, who has shown clips of him showing off his skills on the board. But, it’s a bit more than rappers skating, it’s the fashion as well.
Thrasher & Supreme have been synonymous with streetwear and hip-hop fashion. Numerous rappers have worn these brands, from Odd Future, Migos going back to Dipset, so the skater streetwear has become a mainstay in Hip-Hop. Leading to 2018 with Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s. A coming of age story as an ode to his adolescence, blending his love of hip-hop and skating, featuring music from GZA, Souls of Mischief and a (SPOILER ALERT FOR HIP-HOP HEADS) cameo from Del the Funky Homosapien. Jonah elaborated on the importance of both for the film saying to Highsnobiety: “The main ambition of the film was first and foremost was to skateboarding, that it was respected & it comes from a place ambition”. “Hip-Hop is the same thing, I grew up listening to rap music, to me Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, and Tribe were to me like the Beatles were to my parents” He went to explain the paint represent that both cultures are worthy of respect and need to get that from those who say otherwise.
Whether we see Jay-Z or Drake skating doesn’t matter, at the end of it all, the sport has become another aspect of Hip-Hop, expanding the horizons for many and giving hip-hop another branch on its family tree. Yet, I wonder if rollerblading will ever become a thing for rappers.
