Video Premiere: Shades of Culture "Hip Hop Sh!t"

Remember Shades of Culture? Well, you should. The trio, comprised of Revolution, DShade and DJ Storm, have often been credited as one of the pioneering acts in Montreal hip hop, largely due to their ability to break out of Quebec and gain recognition Canada-wide. They also broke barriers by not aligning themselves solely with other hip hop acts; they did a considerable amount of touring with skate punk bands, and managed to win over audiences who didn't consider themselves receptive to hip hop.

Founded in 1992, their first tour was with Washington D.C. based punk band Bad Brains, and they toured extensively for 11 years, approaching 2000 live shows during that time. During their run they shared the stage with hundreds of bands, including Ice-T, KRS-One, The Pharcyde, NoFX, Ten Foot Pole, and even Eminem and the Backstreet Boys. (Ask Revolution about the Eminem bathroom story.)

A few months back we featured DJ Storm in The Local just after the release of his latest album Kicks, Snares and Hi Hats Vol. 1, which features a brand new Shades of Culture track "Hip Hop Sh!t." The video, filmed on location in the Bronx and Harlem, just dropped today and it elicits a perfect blend of 90s nostalgia and a fresh optimism that twenty years later you can still step up and show the kids how it's done.

If you're not familiar with Shades (or if you just need an amazing walk down memory lane), you can check out the 1998 video for "Mindstate" below. The album was produced by Dave-One of Chromeo and DJ Choice.