Adam Yauch interview in Supreme mag

A short interview with Adam Yauch appears in the Fall/Winter issue of Supreme magazine. Supreme is considered the "home of New York City skate culture." Because Supreme's brand is very popular in Japan, its magazine is written in a mixture of English and Japanese. Yauch's interview in the current issue is written in Japanese. I asked my friend Hitoshi to translate the interview. His translation follows:

ADAM YAUCH / musician, movie director

I often used to go to Supreme, when I lived at Nolita. I could see my friends like Pooky(?) there, but I considered Supreme more like a place for having good conversations. When I was in high school, I played for a punk band and I used to have fun at a record shop called Rat Cage. Just hanging in front of the shop, talking about music, and sometimes getting acquainted with some cool guys...That was Supreme in the 90s for me. Whenever I went there [Supreme], I could see the skaters hanging out and hear their music. It was not just a skate shop, it was the hub for the skaters. That's what street culture is, right? People come out of nowhere and they gradually make their own culture. I usually love to put my head to many places, get some pieces of information, and meet a lot of people. There were many places for activities for various subcultures and when I went there, I could meet people who were interested in the same culture. NYC is such a place. After I moved to Tribeca, I don't go there as much as before, but I make it a habit to go there at least for my favorite musical events. I also go there for Tibetan Buddhists' events and movie festivals.

Recently I made a movie called "Gunnin' for That #1 Spot." My friend was running a basketball tournament, and I thought it would be interesting to follow the top players. They reminded me of myself when I played for a punk band, but they were so sophisticated and, in a certain sense, more adult than I expected.

We organized a movie division at Oscilloscope, the Beastie Boys' studio. It's like an indie label in music. Once I began to attend movie festivals, I realized the huge gap between major studios and small independent movie makers. I often heard, "This is really a good movie, but it's so tough to sell it..." It's stupid to bury good movies in such a way. So I thought I should find ways to distribute them. I think we'll be able to release good movies from now on.