Barker Barrett’s history in skateboarding dates back to the ‘80s. He was an integral part of several movements that helped define street skating during its formative years. One of those was the formation of SHUT, which laid the groundwork for East Coast skateboard companies. He delves into the brand’s history on the latest episode of BS with TG.
It was the East Coast, urban, Dogtown… What’s funny is [duing] the time [when] SHUT was emerging was right there when Public Enemy made sense. When Chuck D says, “Radio, suckas never play me” is when SHUT was coming up—which is when hip hop was punk rock. This was not gonna get played. “It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right” was the only thing you heard on the radio. And you heard it all day with just stingers for things that were happening all day that they weren’t going to play on the radio. But also, they were the shop on Mott Street. Sonic Youth had a practice space in this building; and they used to illegally spray boards.
Watch the interview above. The bit about SHUT starts at 10:04.
UPDATE 03.29.19: Tommy just released Part 2 of his interview with Barker. We’ve embedded it below.
