Over the past 10 years an undeniable bond has emerged between hip hop and freestyle snowboarding and skiing.  From dominating the soundtracks on shred flicks to the park rat saggin his draws so low you wonder how he actually rides, hip hop is everywhere is snowboarding.   No where is the bond more visible than on the Jersey shred scene.  This past weekend our boys at BrakeFast Records told us they were heading up to Mountain Creek, NJ for 3rdRailJam.com, an event that could really harness the connection.  A rail contest,graffiti,freestyle battle, b-boys and girls breaking moves and an after party headlined by The Ruler himself , Slick Rick.  We had to go.

We showed up just in time to catch the finals of the Rail Jam and watch A-Class from Brakefast Records take the battle and win the right to open up for Slick Rick at the after party.  The energy at the after party was contagious, the DJ kept it old school and as the next song would spin the crowd would let out a collective “ooooohhhhhhhhhh”  and hands would fly as a favorite hip hop track from their pasts kept them fired up. Circles opened up into break battles.  There was an unexpected but awsome appreciation for the history of hip hop in the room.  A-class’s stand offish style brought a good contrast to the crowd and soon heads were standing militant, bobbing their heads, with hands in the air, the collective defiance that is hip hop.  As we waited for The Ruler I think we were all asking ourselves if he still had it or was he just some over the hill icon showing up for a paycheck.

As Slick took the stage the place erupted and you could tell by his reactions that he was almost surprised to see the appreciation of classic hip hop that these snowboarders had.  After all, he is a living ambassador for the roots of hip hop and he quickly pleaded his case.  After the entire crowd sung along to “La Di DaDi” Rick instructed his DJ to play new school hip hop tracks vs old school tracks and asked the crowd to vote, old school tracks unanimously won every time with the crowd reacting more and more with every classic.

For an hour an half Slick Rick put on a hell of show, he looked like a guy who showed up to go through the motions and get paid at first, but as soon as he felt the energy of the crowd he became The Ruler.

Snowboarders know the roll that hip hop plays in their sport, at the 3rd Rail Jam a hip hop icon found out about it and didn’t disappoint.  Check out 3rdRailJam.com for tour dates and locations.