Menace Epicly Laterd

The first time I heard of Menace was May 1994 at the first Slam City Jam contest. I had just finished my exams and wanted to get out of town and skate. Jody Morris, who grew up just outside of Ottawa, had moved out to Vancouver a few year prior and was on staff with TWS. He was maintaining two residences at the time... one in Cali and one in Van. I had kept in contact with him over the years so I called him up and he suggested I come out. I showed up a few days before the contest and hooked up with him and Kareem, who was also staying at Jody's place. It was pretty strange to be tagging along with these guys. Menace was barely off the ground at the time... all they had were shirts (the one with the star on the front and "Menace all stars" on the back. Gino is wearing one in the line at 1:03). Joey, Fabian and Eric were all there for the contest. Kareem gave me one of those shirts, which was pretty cool, and he won the contest that weekend which was even more cool.

It's interesting to see this retrospective of how Menace started out. I was never a huge fan of the team or the image but they were a part of the Rocco empire so I did end up riding my fair share of their boards. I never lived in the ghetto or inner city with no money. Quite the opposite actually... I grew up in the burbs and my family was well enough off. Hopefully we get to hear Kareem's side of things. Joey's comment on them not being the best or most innovative but having the "image" was bang on!

Keep an eye on VBS for the rest of the episodes.