There are a couple of simple parallels that can be drawn between hip-hop music and skateboarding, both were underground highly creative sub-cultures that over the past few decades have grown to become an accepted part of mainstream popular culture and both inform and are influenced by the world around them. Art, fashion, design, cinematography and much more are embraced and impacted upon… hip-hops influence on skateboarding is clear and vice verse, just maybe not always in a good way. De La Soul however are a group that like the best skateboarders have a timeless quality to their output, and likewise while their fortunes and popularity may waiver their vision has always remained true. The group themselves may not be skateboarders but their appreciation comes from an enlightened position and is worth celebrating - they definitely get it, which is more than can be said for most of the external forces that try to co-opt skateboarding for their own ends.

In light of Nikes recognition of this and perhaps in a renewed effort to bring some kudos back to the skateboarding division, SB are releasing (in a typically hiphop fashion?) a remixed version of the De La Soul Dunks that debuted a decade ago. Here at Welcome we’re fortunate enough to have an in with the group so we reached out to Kelvin 'Plug 1/Posdnuos' Mercer to supply us with his answers for a new feature on the blog - ‘Five x Five’. He’s a busy man (De La have a lot of projects in the works) and typically he saves his verbosity for the studio.

It might blow up but it won’t go pop…

Kelvin Mercer ‘Five x Five’.

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