Being that the editors of this site hail from Minnesota and live in New York City, we as a blog are painfully ignorant regarding what goes on in the US anywhere south of Iowa. In an effort to expand our world view, we reached out to our friend and Richmond, Virginia native Gerrard Barwell for some recommendations on videos from his home town.

Toxic Turdz

Brought to you by Will Rosenstock and DJ Williford, this 2011 comic book themed homie video, chocked with plenty of BARF (local art bruh) animation helped put the Virginia skate scene on the map. Toxic Turdz showcases some killer skating from a handful of the most fun-to-watch skateboarders Richmond has to offe, including the high flying Josh Swyers and Andrew Cauthen, the smoothest tech god that side of the Mason Dixon. They even left some room for Mr. Crocket to give his old home town a little talking to. Fear not, Toxic Turdz is available for your full viewing pleasure in your Internet browser's Youtube aisle. Go peep!

Shhhhh.... Mom's Sleeping

Welcome to the world of The Freaky Dudes, a squad of flip kickin', wheel biting guys from all over Virginia who now call Richmond home. This video is core: there are no names before parts, all parts are shared, and the video's creators opted for tropical fish and sacrificial deer instead of titles. These dudes ride any and everything they can, not stopping at grass, dirt, trees, stairs, or even cars. You name it; one of these nasty little pimps will ride it. This video comes equipped with plenty of slow-mos (usually not of skateboarding), a bit of green screen (the best kind), a SIIIC Monster Energy plug, and even a Drake cameo. Although the full video cannot be found online, but there are plenty of Freaky Dudes clips in existence to give you an idea of how these guys get down.

Dominion 5

This is the fifth installation in a series of videos produced by Richmond's number one skate shop, Dominion (now known as Venue). D5 dropped in 2002, so you know that the pants worn in the video are baggy, the soundtrack is primarily hip hop, and you can bet your bottom dollar there is a fisheye strapped to a VX2000 behind just about every clip in this thing. I chose D5 simply for the nostalgia factor. You'd be hard pressed to find a Virginia skater who didn't have D5 in his/her top 5 Richmond videos of all time. Finding a full copy online is pretty well impossible, but there are links floating around on the Youtube. There was a rumor that surfaced implying that Venue has copies for sale (DVDs!!!), but don’t quote me on that. Either way, get your eyes on some of this footage ASAP for a little insight into the source of Richmond's unique flavor. Also, don’t forget to peep other quality selections by Venue skate shop like, Main Course and Old Dominion.

City Series: Richmond, VA