The 90s skate video that changed the face of counterculture

“When I shot Busta Rhymes (in ’91), he was completely unknown. It was a random event of kids just fucking around. But over the next few years, things became exponentially more serious. The rest of the world had not yet heard of Wu-Tang Clan but in NYC they were already notorious. When Stretch called me to say that Method Man and Ghostface were coming over, I dropped whatever I was doing to go film them.” During the rise of the Trip parties and the emergence of the Stretch and Bobbito radio show, another series of key events lead to the birth of Zoo York in ’93. Eli explains, “Having a little reputation from doing NYC nightclubs, I got offered the chance to start Phat Farm, a new clothing company backed by Russell Simmons of Def Jam. Being an early adopter of Photoshop and Illustrator, Russell got me all the computer equipment I wanted (an extremely expensive undertaking in the early ’90s).” “At the same time, due to crooked partners, SHUT Skates lost their warehouse and Bruno and Rodney abandoned ship. Rodney was caught off guard and got evicted from his home. I had an extra room at my place so...