Illegal Civilization, also known as IC or Illegal Civ, is an American skateboarding company and movie studio founded in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

by Mikey Alfred. The brand produces clothing, accessories, skateboards, and videos. Outside of skateboarding, Illegal Civilization previously produced music videos, documentaries, and original short films. Illegal Civilization was affiliated with the hip-hop collective

Odd Future Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, better known as Odd Future and often abbreviated as OF or OFWGKTA, was an American alternative hip-hop Musical collective, music collective formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007. The group consisted of rap ...

. They filmed documentaries following the creation of

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been cited as an influential figure in alternative hip-hop during the 2010s. Tyler beca ...

's albums ''Wolf'' and ''Cherry Bomb''. Founder Mikey Alfred was a co-producer on

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill (born Jonah Hill Feldstein; December 20, 1983) is an American actor. List of awards and nominations received by Jonah Hill, The accolades he has received include nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, BAFTA ...

's debut film '' Mid90s'', and the film featured Illegal Civilization skate team members

Sunny Suljic Sunny Suljic (; born August 10, 2005) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Bob in Yorgos Lanthimos's 2017 drama '' The Killing of a Sacred Deer'' and as the voice and motion capture actor for Atreus, the son of Kratos, ...

, Ryder McLaughlin, Olan Prenatt, Kevin White and

Na-Kel Smith Na-Kel Allah Smith (born July 22, 1994) is an American skateboarder, rapper, songwriter and actor. Originally a skateboarder from the Los Angeles area, he was known for his association with the hip hop collective Odd Future, appearing in music ...

History

The company was founded in 2008 by Mikey Alfred and his friends. Initially, they filmed skate videos and handed out t-shirts around

. When Alfred was 15, skateboarder and rapper

introduced Alfred to

, and Alfred became

's personal videographer. Alfred passed out merchandise and DVDs while on tour with Tyler, the Creator and

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

, and Illegal Civilization began to gain recognition. In 2016, the skateboard distributor Baker Boys Distribution began distributing Illegal Civilization merchandise. In 2020, Illegal Civilization released the critically acclaimed ''Godspeed'' (2020)

skate video A skate video is a movie of or about skateboarding typically showing new Skate tricks, tricks and a series of skateboarders in a Montage (filmmaking), montage set to music. History Released in 1965, the short film ''Skaterdater'' is credited a ...

directed by Davonte Jolly. After the release of ''Godspeed'', IC turned Alex Midler, Kevin White, and Zach Saraceno pro. In May 2022, Alex Midler, Kevin White, and Zach Saraceno all quit illegal Civ after not being paid for over a year. In October 2022, Alfred gathered a group of unfamiliar and young skateboarders who were hardly known and posted a trailer to a new video he had planned titled ''Hell Week''. News about the upcoming video was unknown to the included skateboarders due to Alfred insisting that they were only going

street skateboarding Street skateboarding is a skateboarding discipline which focuses on flat-ground tricks, grinds, slides and aerials within urban environments, and public spaces. Street skateboarders meet, skate, and hang out in and around urban areas refe ...

and nothing more. A skateboarder named Lando Magik began to post his clips to Instagram. Shortly after, Alfred started to ridicule Magik on the company page for using the clips that he had recorded. Alfred used his equipment to make the recordings possible, so he regarded the material as private property of his own. When Magik asked Alfred to release the footage, Alfred facetiously mentioned a charge of $700 thousand for Magik to gain access to them. This caused controversy within the company and made the other skateboarders leave the group as well.

Filmography

In 2017, Illegal Civilization released a short film starring

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known by the stage name Mac Miller, was an American rapper. He began his career in Pittsburgh's local hip hop music, hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of 15. In 2010, he signed ...

. Later that year, they began releasing their original mini-series, ''Summer of '17'', starring Illegal Civilization members alongside cameos from rappers Tyler, the Creator and

Aminé Adam Aminé Daniel (born April 18, 1994) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He first gained notability for his commercial debut single, " Caroline", which peaked at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Aminé released ...

Feature films

* ''

'' (2021)

Short films

* ''Spark of Life (2011)'' * ''IC1'' (2012) * ''Tyler the Creator's Making of Wolf Documentary'' (2013) * ''IC2'' (2014) * ''Tyler the Creator's Cherry Bomb Documentary'' (2017) *''IC3'' (2018) * ''Godspeed'' (2020)

Mini-Series

* ''Summer of '17 (2017-2019) - (3 Episodes)''

Collaborations

* The skate team appeared in Season 4 of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television series, ''Ballers'', in 2017. * In August 2018, Illegal Civilization released 3 pairs of shoes in collaboration with Converse. * Illegal Civilization released a t-shirt in collaboration with

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

for the 2018 release of ''

Tha Carter V ''Tha Carter V'' is the twelfth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on September 27, 2018, by Young Money Entertainment and Republic Records. The album's release date coincided with the day of Lil Wayne's 36th birthday. T ...

.'' *The team were featured as cast and crew members in

's feature film Mid90s and released a merchandise collection to promote the film with

A24 A24 Films LLC, commonly referred to as A24, is an American Privately held company, independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. The studio is based in Manhattan. The company ...

References

{{reflist Skateboarding companies North Hollywood, Los Angeles Tyler, the Creator American companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in California Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles Film production companies of the United States Video production companies Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States