I haven’t seen the Rocco documentary, so have spent my whole skate life believing Rocco was this mythical Svengali type guy who turned the whole industry on its head then walked away with a big bag of cash.
After watching the Jenkem vid it kind of just feels like he just got lucky? Like Ian says, maybe that ruins his mystique a bit
Just watch it you div it’s the best skate documentary
I responded in the wrong thread.
Stoked to listen to this Rocco interview - big up Jenkem for the audacity.
Enjoyed listening even though it was deffo curated response-wise.
I was concerned by the pro-Numbers stuff at first but as it went on you could hear the wisdom.
Unsure what it tells us though or exactly how he’ll influence Sidewalk dist and their brands.
I enjoyed the reminder of how progressive he was skateboarding wise too.
It’s a bit of both but mostly the ‘mythical Svengali’ bit. Difference between Rocco and other mythical svengalis like Malcolm McClaren though is that Rocco could back up his sales acumen/communications talent with deep skateboarding skills/importance.
Funny that it sounds like Jenkem organised this themselves…
Hadn’t seen it when I posted this, and it’s nothing like as deep as it could or should be. Still, maybe there’ll be another Rocco interview to come. 
He’s part of something, but won’t be too involved. He’s chillin’, he just wants to have fun.
Hype around it makes it sound like it’s an interview with Elon Musk or the pope or something, he can’t be that busy influencing the skateboard industry so much he hasn’t got time for an interview?!?
Haven’t gone in yet, will try to find the time
He lives somewhere very remote, and just does family stuff. I guess it’s like asking a retired person to come back to work and do a few shifts.
Yeah I’m fully aware that Bod or Steve will have made this happen. But 
Once I realised this was mostly footage of a Zoom call, I had to abort due to ongoing work Zoom call PTSD.
He talks a bit about re-issues, he’s smart enough to know he can now sell his products twice (once back then and again now) with the nostalgia market.
His companies have the back catalogues that collectors would eat up all day long.
Sounds like he’s going to do it a way many people aren’t too, more marketing? Maybe a video about each board with the artist and rider? Sounds interesting from a skate nerd point of view.
He doesn’t need to shake up the skateboard industry again, that’s a young man’s game. For this generation to do (if it even needs it?)
Did he just get lucky or made his own luck?
If he doesn’t do the resissue thing right now he’s gonna miss the boat. Us lot from that era won’t be on this earth for that long and that stuff will be worthless to most people of the generations after.
Sell your collections people while you could use the money. Just kidding really.
The thing is that the more reissues are made and the more the images and graphics are cemented in the collective consciousness the more the value of the originals grows because they become increasingly recognised as being ‘important’.
We assign value to antiques and collectibles not just because of nostalgia, but because we recognise them as cultural artefacts that need to be preserved. One of the best ways for us to ensure a physical item is preserved is to assign a high value to it. Things that do not acquire value are often lost or disposed of.
Very true. They’ll still have value but I dunno, will they have the passion and nostalgia value or will they just appeal to people with in built collector genes? I’m unsure of the appeal outside of the users of that generation, but yeah, it could end up how you say. Would be good.
I randomly ended up getting sucked into collecting specialised transformer figures and have a shit load in my studio, worth a few bob but how long will that last? At least it’s there if I need it.
Was thinking about that recently. As an example, in 2044, will an 2024 Evan Hecox series be worth as much as a 2004 Evan Hecox series is in 2024. Should I buy a set now hoping it will be
What gives boards value? Is it the skater? The art? Scarcity? Era?
No offence to Carlise Aitkins, but I can’t see his boards reselling for the amount a Gino does. But do I only think that because he’s not my era, so I’m personally not assigning value in the same way
This is your answer
I really like Evan’s artwork but did it contribute to the culture of skateboarding in 2024 the same way it did in 2004?
Margaret Kilgallen, Chris Johanson, Evan and all the Beautiful Losers artists all had a lot of influence and are well respected but their era (in skateboarding) has passed really.
If you start by thinking about the cultural value the thing has, and work from there…it makes more sense. Maybe buy all the Always Do What You Should Do decks and put them in a cupboard for ten years.
That’s probably the best thing for those graphic design is my passion ass graphics
I agree but if you are only thinking of value and how much they’ll go up, then that’s probably the way to go!
