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H-Street’s Hokus Pokus, released in 1989, will always be a milestone in skateboarding history. I don’t know if it was the exact moment the tide turned, but plenty of people do give it that credit. Vert wasn’t yet dead but street was new, it was exciting, and it was exploding — innovation was spilling all over the sidewalks and there was really a sense in the classic videos of that era that something big was happening.

What we now know as modern skateboarding was in its violent genesis — ironically, at the same time one of its most revered pioneers was in his twilight. Matt Hensley is undoubtedly a legend, but only a year after perhaps his most seminal video part was released he abandoned his career to pursue a variety of other ventures. In some ways, that was an incredibly strategic move (although probably unintentionally so) because skateboarding will forever remember him at his absolute peak.

As a perfect example, here’s a video for Historics’ cover of Sub Society’s “A Lot Less.” The original song was featured in Matt Hensley’s Hokus Pokus part, so for the video, Patrick O’Dell gathered a rag tag group of skaters (including Heath Kirchart, Alex Olson, Braydon Szafranski and Spanky to name a few) to cover his tricks. It’s a pretty awesome concept, and a great tribute to one of early street skateboarding’s best.