i found this great article on a good friend of mines profile( i know kind of hypocritical)
felt good reading it
INTERNET KILLED THE GHETTO SUPERSTAR By Frank Castle
Years ago, if you were hardcore, you were involved in some pretty deep shit – living life on the fringes of society, not giving a fuck about what was popular or the ‘in thing’. Nonconformist, hardcore lifestyles were for the true diehards who were willing to risk being ostracised by society for what they loved – whether it was graffiti, punk music, tunnel infiltration, porn or any other subculture that was frowned upon by society at large. For decades, real hardcore porn was outlawed in most of the Western world – porn shoots took place in total secrecy. Its stars were at risk of serious criminal charges and were under constant threat of arrest. Ron Jeremy (undoubtedly, the king of hardcore porn) was investigated by the FBI, for his involvement in the formative years of the US porn industry. But he stayed strong, kept it going – filming in secret locations, dodging the police and keeping the underground porn movement alive, until it was legalised. Likewise, graffiti was a very difficult subculture to gain access to. In the 80s, fair enough, you could go down to a writer’s bench and find x amount of the top vandals in any given town. But to actually get down with these people, go to train yards and do some damage, was another story. Back then, it was almost exclusively an illegal pursuit. You’d live the hardcore lifestyle from the time you woke up until you went to bed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That was it, GRAFFITI. Steal your paint, bomb the top deck of the bus, bomb the tubes inside and out, sneak into yards, get chased by the Old Bill, get raided by BTP – real hardcore living that infected a generation. Everything was done in secret. Sure, Subway Art revealed some of the methods writers use, but there was still so much that was shrouded in mystery – that graffiti really was an enigmatic culture that was penetrated by very few. Nowadays, however, the term hardcore is losing its sting. The true meaning of hardcore, in my humble opinion, is being eroded. The main perpetrator behind this dilution of hardcore is the Internet, and anyone who wants to buy into a subculture that they never would have had access to if it wasn’t for the Internet. Anything you can think of from the darkest, sickest porn, to the strangest, most out-there tunnel explorers, branches of Al Qaeda, brain-washing cults, month-long raves in deepest Ukraine and everything else in between. The only limit, really, is your imagination. Ok, so you might still have to try and infiltrate some of these subcultures that are so freely available, but how many of today’s youngsters learned everything they know about the subculture they represent through the Net? Quite a few, is my guess. How can you ever call yourself a hardcore graffiti writer, when all you did was log on to Google, type in graffiti, find an online shop, order your ‘Trackside Pack’ – containing 6 silvers, 6 blacks, a mask and gloves – and then used Google Earth to find directions to the best trackside plot in your area? Likewise, how can you call yourself a true exponent of the underground Cataphile movement in Paris, if all you did was log on to the Net, look up the Catacombs and get in touch with some guys who agreed to show you the secrets of Paris’ underbelly? In the 21st century a hardcore way of life can often be contrived – many try to tick all the boxes, replicate what’s already gone before them and live out their so-called hardcore lifestyle, according to the rules and guidelines they read on the Net, rather than simply living and breathing it. That’s not to say that every young person out there can’t be a diehard. Far from it, but nowadays it’s very rare to find an authentic case, and even rarer to see it maintained. We live in an age where everyone has to conform – even the most rebellious individuals find it difficult to fight against the unstoppable force of conformity. It’s nigh on impossible to defeat, so why not go with the flow, eh? We’ve all done it – dyed our hair black and gone goth, got a tattoo, painted a train, injected heroin, joined in with ten other guys to fuck a whore on camera… Whatever it was that you did, with the intention of becoming a hardcore rebel, going against the grain of society, you went out and did it. But it’s all been done before, only more authentic, more original – with no agenda, just straight up real – so it was pointless, right? In 2008, I truly believe that the real hardcore fuckers are the ones holding down a 9-to-5 and still doing their own thing on the downlow. Representing their true beliefs, while fooling society at large into believing they’re just another conformist number. Infiltrating the old boy’s network, the UK’s elitist institutions, playing the game, but winning. Why? Because we haven’t lost our essence. We may be physically trapped in the rat race, but our brains run on different fuel and, when we have our own time and space, we let loose. There’s a whole generation of new hardcore rebels out there leading that double life – working hard, keeping up the façade and enjoying a large slice of hardcore. In essence, what I’m trying to say is, hardcore – whatever it is you’re doing in terms of lifestyle or mentality – is something that you really can’t buy into. Hardcore is an old school mentality and a way of doing things that many aspire to, but few can replicate. Those that do manage it, are either ostracised or so deep in the ‘Matrix’ that you’ll never know.
