The Week Today, Now - 03/01/2022

We're back with the first Monday Links of 2022, bringing you the latest and greatest skateboard news from the festive period, including new full-lengths from Chocolate and Creature, OG Habitat in Barcelona, and Josh Velez's WWE-themed New Year part.

Photo: Milton Martinez takes the plunge with this hectic ollie into the bank from the Creature video, shot by Rhino.

New in-store: fresh shoes from Lakai, new Quartersnacks drop with artwork by the homie Nat Jones, and the latest collection of clothing, headwear, and decks from Hockey.

The fiends over at Creature released an early Christmas treat for those on the naughty list, dropping their whopping new 50-minute full-length video, ‘Gangreen’, which features 50 minutes of, well, everything you’d expect from a Creature video: big ramps, big slams, and a soundtrack that feels like it was picked by a 13-year-old Lord of Darkness. The video has a montage-y feel with the parts overlapping for the majority of it, which makes the video feel… long. But, hey, if you fancy 50 solid minutes of transition skating, tinnitus, and ‘YEEWWWWW’, then don’t let me stop you. I only made it through 10.

Bustcrew’s latest video by Will Rosenstock, ‘BODYFILLER’, features the perfect blend of beloved pros and local homies, with Quasi legends Dane Barker and Gilbert Crockett featuring alongside their Virginia brethren, in this fun-filled full-length which is guaranteed to make you want to go skating with the boys and find things to smash.

Chocolate released their new video, ‘Bunny Hop’, which starts out with a classic crail tap skit that might make you sharply exhale out of your nose at the very most, but this is quickly outshone by a second, less over-produced, ‘skit’ (for lack of a better word) which shows several of the Chocolate crew signing some form of legal waiver allowing them to legally skate a spot (or something like that, I dunno, I’m not a lawyer) which is actually a pretty bangin’ idea. Let’s hope they release the forms online for people to download. Despite the unusual order of the parts - I would have put Erik Herrera first and Carl last, but that’s just me - there’s some bangin’ skating from Chocolate’s newer faces like Erik, Jordan, and Carl, as well as a tasteful sprinkling of Chocolate OGs like Vincent Alvarez and Jesus.

‘Rat Ratz 6’ is a bangin’ new video out of Milan, featuring some faces you may recognise from Strobeck’s ‘STALLION’ video, except this time the video isn’t filmed terribly. The Italian youth bring the heat with a slammin’ soundtrack, chaotic antics, and ridiculously stylish skateboarding given the average age of the people in the video is probably 15 years old. Special shoutout to the guy with the glasses who did all the hardflips; clearly a man of taste.

‘Swiss [P]’ is a stylish new offering from Simon Perrotet and the OG.2000 boys which features wonderfully bizarre 3D animation that will leave you thoroughly confused but oddly satisfied. The skating, music, and animation all work hand-in-hand to give the part a sense of progression that builds up to the video’s epic climax, all while seemingly not taking themselves too seriously. TLDR: hardflip back nosegrind back 180.

Legendary filmer, Ben Chadourne, trades places in his new video, ‘J’Suis Pas Ben’, taking center stage in front of the camera rather than lurking behind it; and it turns out that he rips. The part features plenty of respectable hucks from Ben, as well as some tasteful mannies, alongside appearances from Ben’s homies like Bobby Dekeyzer, Paul Grund, and Hjalte Halberg.

Josh Velez, aka Wavey Dada, sent off 2021 with a bang by dropping his ‘New Year’ part straight to the ‘gram just before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve. Josh skates in Jordans to the intro music for legendary WWE duo, D Generation X, with clips from their intro edited into the part, and of course some signature crotch chops - and it might just be my favourite thing ever.

Two of New York’s finest, Hopps and Labor Skate Shop, have teamed up to bring you a wonderfully smooth new edit. The video features Keith Denley, Jahmal Williams, Faheem Allah, Dustin Eggeling, Joel Meinholz, and my personal favourite, Kyler Garrison, as they cruise round the Big Apple’s streets accompanied by a suitably jazzy number and some fun little animations.

Another jazzy offering from the Christmas period - this time from the other side of the States - sees Magenta’s Bayside division, led by Ben Gore and Jameel Douglas, floating through the streets of SF laying waste to many a front porch spot.

Episode 4 of the Sovereign Sect’s delightful ‘Memory Lapse’ series sees Habitat legends Tim O’Connor, Brian Wenning, Kerry Getz, and Fred Gall dominating the streets of Barcelona for ‘Mosaic’. Can anyone confirm whether this is the same infamous Habitat trip to Barcelona where Danny Renaud focused everyone’s boards?

One of the finest rollercoaster rail-chompers from Down Under, Rob Pace, has come through with a new part for Slam Skate Mag filled with crazy kink rails that even fellow Aussie lunatic, Jack O’Grady, would probably look at and say: ‘Nah man, shit’s fucked’.

Contrary to the title, ‘Not Another VX Video’ is in fact another VX video, but to be fair, it’s a pretty good one. Keenan Lewis has a bangin’ opening part, John Pankus comes through with some sick manny combos, and Anthony Anaya puts on a masterclass in slappies.

Meme of the week: