As long as street culture has been around, there have been artists who set out to document it. Some chose photography as their medium of communication. Some chose video. And some chose the written word.
Before the Internet was a thing and blogs like this one were all the rage, there were magazines. Most started from humble beginnings documenting a local scene, and some transcended that local scene and became authorities on any and all things related to the culture. Those magazines, and pride themselves on high-quality, well thought-out words and photographs. You can learn a lot about what's going on in the culture from their articles and interviews, and they all deserve a spot on your bookshelf. We want you to get some new reading material (reading is important), so here's 5 of our favorites
Sneeze
Based out of Vancouver and New York, Sneeze aims to "expand the street-inspired culture of skateboarding to unexpected references, people, places, and images". They've had everyone from A$AP Rocky (pictured above) to Lil Yachty to Lucien Clark cover their magazine, and it's presented in a unique fold-out style so each and every page can be hung as a poster. Frequent Supreme collaborator Kenneth Cappello (he shot the iconic Dipset and Raekwon photos) contributes regularly as well.
032c
Founded in Berlin in 2001, 032c covers fashion, art, and politics. They're known for their in-depth profiles on designers and artists, having covered everyone from Raf Simons to Rei Kawakubo and Pablo Picasso, and have received contributions from the likes of Hedi Slimane and Jurgen Teller. 032c is definitely not "light reading", as their articles are long in length and great in depth, but the amount of knowledge in their pages is extremely impressive.
Ollie
Focusing on fashion, music, BMX, and skateboarding, Japan's own Ollie Magazine shares the "really cool style and information generated from the street scene, from a single point of view". Even if you can't read Japanese, it's still a magazine that you can enjoy, as their loud layout and aesthetic is unlike any other magazine on the market. Co-signs from the likes of Tyler, The Creator, Nigo (both pictured above) and Pharrell don't hurt matters either.
Hypebeast
The print version of one of the most influential street culture websites on the Net, Hypebeast Magazine offers a simplistic, high-quality layout, and unlike the short, 150-word blog posts the site has become known for, the magazine features in-depth features on the people, places, and things that are relevant to the culture. They're a "source for understanding fashion, culture, and lifestyle", and engage you in a totally different way from the website, while still keeping its famous essence.
Highsnobiety
Highsnobiety has always prided themselves on producing great quality content on their site, and that certainly lends itself to their print magazine. It's refined, elegant, and packed full of the rich, dense content you're used to reading from the German cultural juggernauts. Any time a magazine can get a Kobe Bryant feature, you know they're gassed.
There are more great magazines you can explore too, like Grind, I-D, Paper, and many others, so be sure you dive in. There's a lot that you can learn in their pagers, and the more you know about the culture, the better.
Have you read any of the magazines on this list? If so, which is your favorite? Which magazine looks the dopest to you? Hit us up and let us know on Twitter, check our Facebook page for updates, and, as always, be sure to follow us on Instagram for all the fire pictures you can handle.