This past weekend I was invited to a music video shoot by a friend who was helping out by being the DJ.  A little info about the video shoot:

Group : Far East Movement

Song : Round Round

Soundtrack : Fast and Furious 3

I brought my car in since they needed cars to use in the music video of the fast and furious type...modified, customized, etc...

Back in the day, about 7-8 years ago, customizing and modifying import cars was just something kids around LA would do.  It was coined "underground" and if you knew how to do it, you were looked highly upon, revered almost.  The common mentality shared amongst the majority of everyone in this underground world was that their car was the best and your car is basically shit compared to thiers.  With this attitude, you were driven to do what you could for your car to outperform any other.  The more girls you could get, the more smoke you could burnout, the more illegal street race wins; all of these were the goals, but the trick to it was that you would act like you had all 3 even before you had 1 of any. 

This would result in a world of violence where if you couldn't hang and pose the attitude, you'd quickly be eaten up alive. 

Attending this video shoot immersed me into a world I felt like I had never seen before.  Guys with cars nicer than mine coming up to me to give credit for doing my car up so well.  I saw multiple exchanges of enthusiasts complimenting others and giving suggestions, feedback etc, even some offering to help out.  I thought what has happened?  I wasn't in Kansas anymore...

So a number of thoughts come to me as to what has occurred and resulted...
This import culture when I was heavily into it was only happening in LA, thus it being coined "underground".  The rest of the US had no idea this was going on in southern CA.  The culture's popularity is now the opposite end of the spectrum, with it being saturated throughout the US, let alone the world.  Magazines, websites, books, movies, toys, anything and everything has found this as an extremely profitable marketplace.  From what I observed this boom in popularity was a result of the movie Fast and Furious coming out.

Did this culture change because of the market reach of the movie?  Does the same "underground" culture exist in LA but is now a minority since so many "good citizens" we'll call them have adopted to the culture thus overpowering the number of OG's?   Did the culture work like an ant colony and realize as a group that by working together it could further and better itself?  Or did everyone just grow up and get tired of fighting?

I believe it is all of the above and am intrigued to have watched this culture mature,  from a diminishing gang of thugs to a thriving network of enthusiasts.

-Jesse