Summer Thoughts/ Kids in the City
Summer has been weird. Eighteen is a weird age. You think you’re grown, when you’re still a child. Growing up in the city is an unique and strange experience. Drugs, booze, and sex are all in an arm’s reach, if you really want it. There are so many vices, it is so easy to get lost.
The city can be a wonderful place, but it’s also fucking terrible at times. There’s this creative energy you’re not going to get anywhere else, but at the same time there’s something sinister and consuming. There’s always a feeling of competition and negativity. Everyone is on the come up and there are so many people that leech off of the city and others.
In some aspects streetwear, skate, and rap culture has a negative underlying tone. They come from the streets. Excessive drinking and drug use are glorified in these cultures. Skating is literally pushing on a piece of wood, destroying public property, making loud ass noises, and hurting yourself. In a strange way there is something attractive about it, about not giving a fuck about if you get hurt or if you’re annoying pedestrians on the street. Most of these New York kids I talk to are depressed, especially the kids with clout. Non of that shit really means anything. Shit, all we do is try to flex on each other and try to get one over one another. Everyone is depressed or high out of their mind to hide it.
I wanted to drop some new tees for the summer. They were just some ideas I had in my head that happened to share an underlying theme of delinquency and the city.
Graffiti is an overused concept in streetwear, but it’s so closely intertwined in everything. You can’t miss it if you grew up in a city. People really live and die for this shit. It’s territorial and it’s everything they have to show for. A quote I love from an artist is, “there will always be laws, but that doesn’t mean everyone will follow them”. The city is kind of a lawless environment to us kids. At times, it feels like we forget there are actual laws till a buddy gets busted. It’s crazy how much shit goes down at the city parks. Washington Square Park has been THE SPOT for kids, skaters, druggies, and the crazy. (Tompkins too! but Quatersnacks already did a sick tee) It’s the first spot I’ve ever smoked at and many weird nights have ended in the fountain. It’s just a spot where the kids have always gravitate towards The look book was shot by me and Ian Vasquez and huge thank you to Chris and Miguel for repping the tribe.
