T. Eric Monroe creates skateboards to honor Hip Hop icons,and buying them benefits THHM

T. Eric Monroe
Visual Artist, Photographer, and Author
Self-photographed (via iPhone) in Los Angeles, California, 2022

August, in New York City anyway, is overwhelmed with merchandise, apparel, and memorabilia that celebrate Hip Hop’s 50^th birthday. All respect to the big stores and the online retailers, and The Hip Hop Museum, thanks to the collaboration and contribution of two exceptional artist/producers, is the place to buy your HH50 apparel, gear, and for the first time ever, skateboards.

Responsible for the majority of merchandise selected, refined, and sold by THHM is Tramp Daly, founder and owner of Sure Shot and THHM Director of Merchandise and Licensing. Recently, during a discussion about the newest in our retail, he declared, “As people who have been working in the culture, we want to apply elements of Hip Hop culture to other communities. When we design merch, we’re creating art.” 

The application of this truth was in full effect when Tramp came upon skateboards designed by visual artist/photographer/author T. Eric Monroe, who was making them for his website subscribers. This effort was a synchronous one: known by most as one of Hip Hop’s most prolific portrait photographers, Eric has been skateboarding, for fun and as a competitor, since his early teenage years. His photographs of skaters (including his first published photo of Kathy Zatko, the first woman ever to skate and place at Pace University’s The Brooklyn Banks’s contest in 1988, appeared in January 1989’s issue of Thrasher), are as much a part of his portfolio as his photos of Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Nas, Wyclef Jean, Erykah Badu, and Big Pun (and his son).

So, skateboarding and Hip Hop. Both were created in underground cultures and, as Eric reminded me, they did this “with their own language, style, and modes of expression.” That’s their shared origin, and what about the doing, the performing? Little did I know that, according to Eric, “Hip Hop, like punk rock, was the soundtrack for skaters. We listened to music that made us move. If ever watch a skater doing tricks, especially freestyle skateboarding, it looks like they’re breaking.”

Eric aligned Hip Hop and skateboarding through photography, and among their similarities is how “capturing the right moment in one frame tells the story, including what trick the skater is doing.” Storytelling, something this writer has been about for a while, is core to Eric’s work in how he tells a visual story: “within Hip Hop or music photography, it’s about capturing a beautiful, personal moment that tells a story about the person.” 

Unlike most skaters and visual artists, Eric was in both of those worlds. He wanted some of his fine art portraits to live on skateboards. So, on an art platform that people respect, which is also used as a vehicle for fun and transportation, he chose to place his photos “on a narrow space that really brings the viewer’s eye to space where they can feel – visually – what they’re seeing.” From there, the boards were built.

Scroll down two-thirds on THHM Merchandise Store home page to see T. Eric Monroe’s tees featuring portraits he shot, and the skateboards he designed that are being made to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50^th. When you order a skateboard, it will be made for you – a bespoke board – and 30% of sales will go to The Hip Hop Museum. For this honor and gift, we thank Eric and Tramp.

Tupac Shakur Smile Skateboard

by T. Eric Monroe
30% of profits go towards The Hip Hop Museum

Besides ‘Pac, Eric’s boards honor The Notorious B.I.G., De La Soul, EPMD, Ice-T, KRS One, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, RZA, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. The skateboards are available here, and “Suspended in Time,” the collection of the tees displaying Eric’s legendary portraits, is here. When you celebrate Hip Hop’s 50^th birthday, consider buying something that presents “special moments of Hip Hop artists we love and respect, in a portrait and on a canvas you’ll want to hang as art and use as a vehicle.” 

I couldn’t have said it better. Thank you, Eric.

by Kate Harvie, Contributing Writer for The Hip Hop Museum (originally published August 2023)