A good friend of mine send a message if I wanted to join him for a Newcleus concert. Assuming it would be anywhere close I said. Turned out that they played in London. Now that we’ve got some extra time on our hands the hunt for a cheap flight started. KLM had a city trip for €240 which included 2 nights of hotel leaving from Amsterdam. Not bad. Ryanair however offered a €41,12 return from the local airport in Eindhoven. Option 2 it was. The early departure meant that we were in town (well, Stansted) in the morning with the concert taking place at night. On the agenda were a couple of things, the first being Manor.place, that new Palace X Nike park in South London. We arrived to all doors closed but heard some noise coming from the inside, knocked on the door and were welcomed to take a peak. Amazing place really.
Next up: Leake Street Arches, the graffiti tunnel near Waterloo station. With Google Maps in hand we managed to find it but as with most places you’ve never been to, it takes a little effort. From the tunnel it was only a 300m walk to Southbank so we added some more steps to the step counter to see what was happening on a Sunday afternoon in January. Lots of skateboarders were tearing up the place and several people on bikes, but wheelie bikes. Doing tricks, jumping the banks and popping wheelies. Right next to it is the spot where Drew Bezanson jumped from a bank to wall. It still doesn’t look like it’s possible but the video proves it. That wall is 5 meters away, two meters up,
Last weekend, Helmond was the spot. Urban Matterz 9 went off—street art, beats, bodies, bars. From dawn it felt like the city was breathing Hiphop. Graffiti colors slapped on walls, BMX pumptrack and miniramp popping, crowds gathering, phones out, cameras rolling. The energy? Uncontainable.
Legends & Legacy
They called in the heavy hitters, and they showed out. Cash Money & Marvelous repped that raw era—spoken word precision, loosies, masterful rhyme schemes. When they stepped on stage, time warped back: boom bap, conscious lyricism, real talk. DJ Cash Money was back and has kept his level up since last time we saw him perform at Diamonds in Eindhoven which must have been in 1988. Chill guy as well, straight outta Philly.
JVC Force, a crew that don’t need much introduction, brought their old school swagger; they laid tracks with the kind of punch that reminds you why hip-hop was made to hit. The breakbeats echoed, the crowd bounced. When Strong Island came up the place erupted.
Coke La Rock – man, pioneer status. To see him bless the mic in Helmond? Priceless. He dropped
The Sugar Hills trails in Aarle-Rixtel really started running back in 1990. It was also the first year a jam was thrown to open up the outdoor season. The March/April date remained on the calendar for the following 30 years. The name of the jam was dubbed the Mini FATJAM as the younger brother of the FATJAM that has taken place in the same town since 1988. Unfortunately over the past two years the global pandemic forced us to pull the plug and no events were possible in the way we envison them; having fun together. But guess what, the Covid situation is allowing us to invite the BMX family and friends to make a trip down to Aarle-Rixtel again on 2 April without any restrictions as long as we don't exceed the 500 maximum capacity. So do yourself a favour and make sure you show up early in order to "get in".
Bring your bike, a chair, your friends, some food, drinks, a good mood and you'll fit right in. Red Bull will handle the wings for the riders and their sound car will be set-up for tunes all afternoon. It's free to participate, it's free to spectate, it's free to park, it's free to use the toilet. We've collected some goodies from our sponsors (Thanks to @ridetsg / @paulsboutiquebmx / @fatbmx) so make sure to join the special session at the Sugar Hills Trails at 16:00hr. The trails are open for a session starting from 13:00hr and offer smaller jumps for beginners and the KILLER jump for the pros. It's an opportunity to ride dirt even if you are not a 'dirt' rider. The trails can handle some serious rain so no worries about the spot not being rideable even when snow is expected in the days leading up to the Mini FATJAM. We will ride!
On Sunday 23 September 2018 another edition of Urban Matterz will take place in Helmond, Netherlands. Also this year they're providing ramps and an airbag for BMX riders to use. The 040BMXPARK obstacles will be set up at De Cacao Fabriek during the annual Hip Hop festival. The free festival will provide good vibes and good times. The obstacles present:
1x Airbag 8x6
1x quarterpipe
1x bank to bank 3x2
2x bank to bank 1x0,2/0,35
3x rollers
1x ledge
2x rail
The festival on Sunday 23 September starts at 10:00hr and ends at 18:00hr.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.