The Hiut Denim year book 3. Arrived earlier this week. It’s a beautiful thing. Not just in print and production values but also the words contained inside.
On Oct. 25, 1990, a little-known radio station operated by Columbia University, WKCR 89.9 FM, launched a new show that altered American culture. New York City was living in its Hip Hop moment, it was indeed the golden era.
The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, from 1990 to 1998, starred two of the most unlikely characters in radio broadcast history, bonded by their love of music and the culture of Hip Hop: Stretch, the innovative DJ, originally known as DJ Skinny Bonz from E. 96th St on the Upper East Side and Bobbito Garcia, from W. 97th St, well known for his skills in the city’s other art form, playground basketball. Together, they built one of the most influential voices in Hip Hop history.
Their weekly show opened at 2 am but would often go long into the night as future legends arrived to free-style live on air. Big L performs with a young Jay Z, Nas delivers lyrics from “Illmatic”, which many critics still name as the greatest Hip Hop album of all time. Notorius B.I.G. comes to acknowledge the show’s influence as Stretch and Bobbito became ground zero for an evolving underground culture. Helped by connecting to an antennae on top of the World Trade Center, this show on a college radio station had up to 200 thousand listeners. Soon, tiny WKCR earns its own nickname…89tec9, the badge of true street cred. The Source has named The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show “Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All Time.“
25 years later, Bobbito directs an award winning film about this iconic period, “Stretch and Bobbito: A Film about radio that changed lives”. The film chronicles the many personalities and MC’s who graced the mic as well as his long relationship with Stretch Armstrong. This was Hip Hop before the tsunami of money, shootings and technology. The film chronicles the show as it lives through an era of dramatic change in Hip Hop culture.
In the Fall of 1993, I arrive at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland from New York to work as a Creative Director on the Nike account. On my first week, Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike calls the agency to express a concern that the brand was losing relevance on the streets of New York, the mecca of basketball and Hip Hop.
That phone call changed my life.
After winning a small internal and external pitch for the assignment, I quickly assembled a swat team to get on the ground in New York City. In order to win the right to solve this challenge, I assembled a small swat team who was connected to the street to not only learn but more importantly demonstrate that this was not yet another ad agency approach to marketing. Making ads would not be my first priority….showing cultural empathy, respect for the social fabric and giving recognition to the change-makers of the past and present would be the first step. This had to be about long term commitment and respect…rather than so-called creatives stealing from someone else’s world and calling it “conceptual”. Trust was paramount.
This effort would not be led just by a team of researchers or planners but by creative people who would earn the respect of the street, a very different definition of creative culture. To this day, my best creative collaborators have been those who are truly immersed into culture, those who can effortlessly roam from one creative discipline to another, those who are completely ambidextrous in their ability to find insight and inspiration through cultural experiences.
The idea of being connected with the most inspiring influencers began with small steps. Whether it is contemporary artist Tom Sachs or Tokyo’s major connector Hiroshi Fujiwara; working with such influencers and Nike, began with our efforts in New York City, creating a philosophy and network for future connections.
For the New York project, Bobbito was the first influencer we interviewed, in his apartment as he shared his love for the city’s style of basketball, its relationship to Hip Hop culture and origins of sneaker love. He opened his closet to us and we listened to his stories from local urban mythology. This video led to many others with key leaders in the culture, on the playgrounds and in each of the 5 boroughs of New York City. Bobbito became a trusted friend and collaborator for many projects over the years.
The resulting project we created for Nike in 1993 became known internally as City Attack, our term of endearment for being relentless on authenticity, for getting deep in local culture, to never be superficial in our expression of the social history, to find ways to support the neighborhood and to inspire the next generation while paying respect for those who paved the way. If a lot of advertising is self-reverential, City Attack would always be about earning the respect of the audience. Authenticity was the cost of entry…our responsibility was to collectively grow our Cultural I.Q. and creatives must lead the way. It is perhaps this process of thinking and engagement that may have been my greatest contribution to the Nike brand over the years.
The actual creative work from City Attack was appropriately named “NYC” and Bobbito was one of the early storytellers in our campaign which launched in New York in 1994. I began our conversation with New York through a series of outdoor images and TV spots which were a single take with no edits and without the traditional placement of a logo at the end. Bobbito was the storyteller in two of these Nike “NYC” spots as we expressed our appreciation for the city’s unique style of play.
Later, Bobbito appeared in Nike’s first entertainment content project, a television show, “Hip Hoop Tour ” created by Wieden + Kennedy and produced by Radical Media. This was a 30 minute special that we edited to air on the WowWow network in Japan. In one episode, Bobbito attempts teach a 3 on 3 basketball team from Tokyo to trash talk in preparation for their upcoming game in New York City.
Today, 22 years later, I am no longer a partner at Wieden + Kennedy, but proudly, “City Attack” is still a part of Nike’s global marketing and communications lexicon. Our philosophy of building personal networks, enhancing our Cultural I.Q. and challenging traditional marketing remains a way of thinking there.
Watch the film, “Stretch and Bobbito”, and see why Bobbito Garcia, aka Kool Bob Love was such an inspiration to me and why he will remain “kool” for a long time to come. Bobbito is now a noted documentary filmmaker, writer, DJ, streetball player/coach, television personality, sneaker expert and one of our most respected Hip Hop historians. He is the embodiment of a modern creative director.
And at age 49, he still has one of the best “inside hand-changes” on any playground.
That alone will make any Legend most.
John C Jay
President of Global Creative
Fast Retailing
Shown: Bobbito Garcia, 1994. Soul of the Game by Workman Publishing, featuring Bobbito Garcia amongst other streetball legends art directed by John C Jay, it was named “!4 Most Beautiful Books in the World” by the Copenhagen Museum in 1997. Plus it won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Leipzig Book Fair.
Nike 1994 “NYC” Air Force 1 basketball shoes created for this City Attack effort.
Be sure to follow Bobbito on social media: @stretchandbobbito on Facebook/Tumblr/Instagram and @stretchandbob on twitter.
Bobbito’s personal handle is @koolboblove on all platforms.
A story of culture and those that influence it… From 1993 and brands still struggle to get it this right today.
