Ghetto Child is Back w/ the Same Team | Long live the 90’s revival

Skateboarding used to be huge and Chad Muska was bigger than Jesus. And he roamed God’s earth on Ghetto Child wheels. As fast as the late 90’s Shorty’s style blew up though, it blew out. No longer was technical hiphop dance wear popular.

Enter 2016 and the 20-year style cycle has come around and the 90’s are back. Perhaps bigger than they were even in the 90’s!  So why not bring back the biggest brands of those days. Most those guys running them are still dreaming about the glory days of partying with Paris Hilton and getting mobbed by skate groms in foreign countries anyway. One of the first of many comebacks is being led by Ghetto Child wheels and they have the original team to back them.

Jenkem Mag interviewed the original brand manager, Benny, who was only 19-years old at the time of original release. He’s back for round two…

 

How much do you think Muska was making during his heyday? A million bucks a year?
Oh, I don’t even know… He was making a lot. Everyone was making a lot of money in those days. All those guys like Peter Smolik and Steve Olson and Chad, they all had pro shoes and great clothing sponsors. After Fulfill The Dream, I think everyone was making a lot of money. I kind of miss that time. I think once shoe companies started having teams it took away the importance from board companies having teams, because the board company team was the team back then. Then when shoe companies made videos, because there’s way more money in shoes than in hard goods, it just kind of changed the dynamic because that’s where everybody was putting their main focus. 

In the era of skateboarding I grew up with, the board companies were the shit and that was it. Whether it was waiting for the new Plan B or Girl video, that’s what it was all about. I wish it was like that still but I don’t know. Things change, right?

 

Did you ever party with Muska and Paris Hilton?
[laughs] No, but trust me, I tried. There was a time where we were at Chad’s and we were hanging out and then Nicole Richie came over, or at least she came to the door [laughs]. They all lived on the same street at that point. That’s about as much of that world as I saw. People were hanging out back in those times, especially after Chad did that album. We were cruising around LA once and we ran into Special Ed. He’s a rapper from the 80s and 90s and we bumped into him in the streets and Chad was like, “Ed, what’s up?! Come back to the house!” He came thru and freestyle’d at Chad’s house, it was rad.

 

Click over to JENKEM Mag for the Q + A w/ original and current Ghetto Child brand manager Benny.

 

 

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