THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN HYPEBEAST MAGAZINE ISSUE 27: THE KINSHIP ISSUE AS “SKATING DOWN HOLLYWOOD”. FIND OUT MORE HERE.
For HYPEBEAST Magazine: The Kinship Issue
ILLEGAL CIViliZATION
“When I started filming skating, I told my mom I wanted to quit all that and I also wanted to quit school. I was in fifth grade.”
“Skateboarding is like the mafia. Once you’re in, you’re in, and you can’t get out.”
Can you tell us more about the core members of Illegal Civ and what their roles are? How do you navigate/decide what you choose to do for yourself as well as for Illegal Civ?
You’ve said before in another interview, “You can go anywhere in the world and you see someone with a skateboard; immediately you connect with them and be their friend,” and that they’d have a place to stay at your home. Can you tell us what skate culture and its community means to you? Have you seen the impact of Illegal Civ on the community or skate culture since you’ve started it?
Man, skate culture to me is everything. Skateboarding is everything. I’ll love skateboarding till I die. Skateboarding is like the mafia. Once you’re in, you’re in, and you can’t get out.
I mean, I’ve definitely seen Illegal Civ have an impact on the skate community for sure. But I think I’m the wrong person to talk about the impact. You’ve got to ask other people. I think us making movies is a big impact. I think the new deal we just did with Universal is a big step in a new direction.
I feel like we’ve just brought a new audience to skateboarding. Ballers—you watch Ballers, you see the Illegal Civ skate crew. We’ve really brought skateboarding to Hollywood in the most authentic way possible with Mid90s and Ballers. And we’re about to do it on a whole other level of authenticity and just, like, realness with North Hollywood. So I can’t wait.
Having known Tyler, the Creator since you were 15, how has your relationship with him or Odd-Future informed Illegal Civ?
So watching Tyler build Odd Future and build himself in the GOLF brand has really, for me, been like a blueprint, where I saw him start the Carnival from nothing and build it into what it is today. I saw him start out at the Roxy into today. He’s touring stadiums. And he’s been able to build it on his own terms at his own pace with his friends. And that’s what I’m building, except in the movie industry.
When Tyler did it in music, it was the first time anyone had done it that way in music. In movies, we’re doing it our way and it’s the first time anyone’s ever done this. People have never released movies, done events, done music festivals, done clothing that goes into stores the way that we’re doing it. No one else has done it in skateboarding. It’s so exciting.
There’s no doubt Illegal Civ has developed and grown a lot over the years. Have there been any unexpected turns for you and your crew?
Oh, there’s been lots of unexpected turns, man. There’s been lots of failures, lots of conflict. But we’re here and it’s all good at the end of the day. It’s all good, baby.
Finally, looking forward, Illegal Civ has done films, apparel, music and events—where do you see yourself and your crew going next? I heard you’re starting a music label?
We are building the First Teen Movie Studio. That’s what I want to really drill into people’s heads. And what I want people to get from this interview is that we’re building this generation’s version of Disney or Warner Brothers or Paramount. But at the root of it is skateboarding and the feeling of being a teenager. So, that’s where we’re headed, baby.
Yes, we have a deal with Universal Music. Our clothing is distributed by Bravado. We have a record deal with Justin Lubliner and Interscope. It’s very exciting. The point of doing that deal to us was so that we could hopefully have our own artists do soundtracks and make singles, and one-offs and special music that’ll exist in our skate videos and in our movies. It’s so exciting, so exciting.
Regardless of generation, youths have always found solace in communities who share similar interests, be it the Mod subculture of the '60s, the Woodstock hippies of the '70s, or the Punk movement of the '80s. For Illegal Civilization founder Mikey Alfred, the skate community is what he calls home. “Skate culture to me is everything. Skateboarding is everything. I’ll love skateboarding till I die,” says the 24-year-old, and it’s easy to see why. At the age of 10, he had already started filming his peers skating, and it was in this community that Alfred would go on to make significant friendships with other talented individuals, including Tyler, the Creator, Na-Kel Smith, Mac Miller, and Davonte Jolly. Many would become members of what the front man now calls the First Teen Movie Studio, hoping to provide a haven of connection and companionship for youngsters all across the globe by “only making movies for teens.”
Founded by Alfred when he was just 12, Illegal Civilization has accomplished, over the past decade, what other young creatives could only dream of. Securing its rightful place in the skate scene with the release of a series of skate videos and movies, the group has gone on to launch an eponymous streetwear brand, become the first skate crew to collaborate with Doritos on a graphic-heavy capsule, do a shoot with Alfred’s close friend Tyler, the Creator and Kylie Jenner for Vogue, curate and run a music festival with Redbull at the Pink Motel in Sun Valley, and even co-produce—with some members starring in—Jonah Hill’s highly acclaimed directorial debut, Mid90s.
With such a track record, Alfred’s creative brilliance is unquestionable, but for the young entrepreneur from North Hollywood, it was never just about himself. Illegal Civilization always worked as a collective. Everything they have accomplished has been a group effort—or, as Alfred calls it, “just all a family affair”—directed at giving back to skate culture and the community they came from. As Alfred grew, so did his team, both in size and in talent, and though Illegal Civilization originated as a skate team (and has never forgotten its roots), they are now far bigger than its founder or any of its members ever imagined: a creative empire spanning a spectrum of sectors. In an increasingly connected age, where the likes of Facebook, YouTube and Reddit have allowed for congregations of, and bonds between, those with similar interests, Illegal Civilization and its offerings manifest an intersection of cultures that flow through all contemporary lifestyles, all the while maintaining the core value of communion found in their very origins.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Alfred, who walked us through his 12-year-long journey of leading his group from just one of many skate teams in California to become the industry’s hottest collective.
What is your earliest memory of skateboarding, skate culture and filmography?
So I started filming skating when I was 10 years old, and I’m from North Hollywood, so I grew up Catholic, altar served. I sang in the choir under Mr. Paul Salamunovich. He directed the choir for the Vatican; he also directed the choir for Disney sometimes. He did the “It’s a Small World After All” choir arrangement. He was a legend, I have to say.
When I started filming skating, I told my mom I wanted to quit all that and I also wanted to quit school. I was in fifth grade. I remember the conversation. We were at Ernie’s in North Hollywood, across the street of the school I went to. And yeah, man, we had that talk and obviously she thought I was crazy, but my mom has been the personal assistant to Robert Evans for 36 years, and Robert Evans is the producer of The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, China Town—all the most legendary Hollywood movies ever. He says, “You want to do film?” I say, “Yeah.” He says, “Would you want to go to film school?” I go, “Yeah.”
The next summer, I did a kid film program at Columbia University in New York. On the last day you have to show your film, and I played mine. At the end, nobody clapped and the teacher gets on the mic, and he’s like, “Okay, next.” And I look around, crushed. Then the next kid goes up and, as he’s about to talk, I’m thinking, Oh my God, maybe film is not my passion. Maybe that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing. The next kid says, before his film plays, “I actually just want to tell you guys ‘'m so inspired by Jean-Luc Godard and Federico Fellini.” I'm looking at this kid, like, “Fuck you.” And his movie comes on. It’s eight minutes of people just walking up and down the sidewalk in New York with no story, no music, no nothing, and at the end he gets a standing ovation. The teacher gets on the mic, and he’s like, “I just want to say real quick, this kid is brave. This kid is inventive. This is what filmmaking is.”
After that, I just sort of had this eureka moment in class. Like wow! Okay. I have to study film. I have to take it super seriously and chase it because if I don’t, kids like this are going to tell my story. So I got back and I told Mom, “I’m never going to go to college. I’m never going to go to film school, but I know for sure I can work in movies and I can work in TV.”
The core members of Illegal Civ are Na-Kel Smith, Zach Saraceno, Kevin White, Sunny Suljic, Ryder McLaughlin, Aramis Hudson, Davonte Jolly, Tyshawn Jones, Nico Hirago, Kevin White, Mikey Palma and Black Mike. Pretty much everyone’s role is to skate and act. Jolly runs the skate program. Jolly’s the team manager of the skate team, and he also makes the skate videos, now that I’m making the feature films.
My goal has always been and will always be to make feature films. Now I’m doing that with North Hollywood. So I just focus on that. I just focus on making features and I let Shawn Rojas kill it with the clothing and he does kill it. Jolly kills it with the skate videos. Obviously I’m still heavily involved with all of it, but my main focus is directing movies.
“We’re building this generation’s version of Disney or Warner Brothers or Paramount. But at the root of it is skateboarding and the feeling of being a teenager. So, that’s where we’re headed, baby.”
Skating down Hollywood