LEDGE-ENDS #1 – PEPE MARTINEZ
The early 90s proved to be a very pivotal phase in skateboarding. 38 mm wheels, purple and green pre-frayed Blind jeans, multiple flips, slide combos and hip-hop music became a staple for videos released at the time. You could almost say skateboarding was not as aesthetically pleasing on the eye as it may be these days, although this is when a select few of the first wave of street skaters began to filter through with the approach of the “it’s not the tricks you do, but how you do them” mindset.
Boards began to lift/pop off the ground, denims started to sag, and skateboarders styles became very stand-outish. The first guy to ever make a lasting impression on me (and undoubtedly on thousands of others) was Washington DC’s Pepe Martinez. Unlike a lot of his skateboarding peers at the time Pepe was one of those guys you couldn’t really fault. After a short, but oh so sweet, section in Underworld Element’s Skypager, Pepe produced – as I’m sure many who skated at this time will agree – one of the greatest early 90s sections ever, the curtain closer in Element’s Fine Artists. While most were busy skating ankle-high ledges, Pepe was doing his tricks on the knee high marble at Pulaski Park in DC. Pepe was probably most well known for his switch backside flips. Whether up, down, over or into, they were to die for. (I lost a tooth trying to be him in ’94, and to this day, still cannot do that trick!) Post Element, Pepe and a few of his East Coast counterparts, were involved in Capital skateboards and Nicotine wheels. This shit was tight! Toward the late 90s, Pepe seemed to almost disappear, with the demise of the aforementioned companies. He re-emerged in the early 2000s, with a few cameos in various East Coast vids, but never ever produced one last full part. After suffering a head injury, then a stroke in early 2003, Pepe fell down a flight of stairs and passed away due to serious bone complications. Pepe, you are a true legend and still a driving force for many.
R.I.P Pepe Martinez 11/3/1973-26/9/2003.
souvenir_pepe_remix pepe martinez from streetiv on Vimeo.
FINE TUNING
I know we ain’t all hip-hop heads, so if this is not your music of choice then please skip this section, or if you want some education please press play. First up we have Nas with It Ain’t Hard To Tell off of his debut album Illmatic. Released in 1994, Illmatic is a must have album for all lovers of the rap game. Personally, it stands at number 1 and it will stay number 1 for life. Illmatic is Nas at his finest, fresh in the game, representin’ QB to its finest and portraying the darker side of inner city dwelling with a grimy twist. If you haven’t heard it then you have obviously been sleeping, so get up and go get it! You are probably wondering what in the hell does this have to do with skateboarding? Well, nothing really, nothing at all.
STOMPIN’ GROUNDS…
We’re gonna get this section going this week with my personal #1 ‘Go to’ kicks from ‘b in the d’. I believe this shoe dropped in 1997, and damn they were the one of the dopest pairs of shoes you could ever put your feet into. Basically it was an Air Max you could skate in. Just put them on and they were good to go. The things I would do to have a pair of these box fresh (size 9 wht/nvy/gold if anyone has any hook ups…). One flashback that comes to mind is Muddy switch tre flippin’ (with a broken arm) into the big bank at the 1997 nats. Heads will remember that. Wow! I present to you the Axion Guy Mariano.
E-CLIPSE
Fairly self explanatory really. Here’s Dill, Clyde and Gino from the legendary 20 Shot Sequence, enjoy.
P.S. The line at 2:02 is boss. Entitled: ‘How to push switch properly’ with Gino Ianucci. This line could definitely be worthy of a remake perhaps?
LOST AND FOUND
Stamina Clothing Co. was created by the infamous Julio De La Cruz in the mid 90s. A host of mesh/training style gear, matched up with more generous sized clothing, were Stamina’s obvious stand out points. Not to mention a team consisting of the most official dope cunts in the game such as Marcus Mcbride, Jesus and Alphonso Fernandez, Enrique Lorenzo, Stevie Williams, Henry Sanchez and Lee Smith, just to name a few. If Polo Sport had a team, then Stamina would have been it. In a perfect world you would still be able to rep your Stamina swish-swish pants all day! Hats off to Julio for this, it’s a shame it had to end. Here are two tour clips from 1998.
Peace RESN97