For years, Northern California has produced groundbreaking street talent, starting as far back as S.F.'s Curb Dogs crew and Ron Wilkerson (a Nor Cal transplant in the late '80s.) That tradition continued into the next two generations, as Solid Bikes grew up in popularity throughout the Sacaramento area and a new breed of raw street talent descended on the streets of San Francisco.

Enter the new generation: Team K.I.L. Hailing from the Bay Area, with the addition of some fresh faces from Portland, Ore., Team K.I.L. consists of Scott Bannan, Andrew Bentley, Nick Black and Dylan Sparkman, and Team K.I.L. is hitting the streets hard.

In their latest video, a quick 2:03 mission titled "2 Days with Team K.I.L.," the crew destroys a wealth of spots in both Sacramento and Portland over a two-day period. In between some elevator rap sessions, Team K.I.L. throws down on burly rails, technical manual pad setups, rail hops, and Northwest skateparks.

And Team K.I.L. doesn't fall into sub-section of street riding. They do it all, from huge rails to gaps to tech to flatland-inspired street lines, keeping it fun but getting it done.

The easiest thing we could say is that Team K.I.L. really does "kill."

Check out their video on their Nike Chosen Page.

The Chomp Proper crew from Maui -- Dege O'Connell, Matt Meola, Hank Gaskell and Albee Layer -- has all the ingredients for success in Nike's Chosen contest:

1. Four guys who are all actually best friends. This is important.
2. Ungodly ripping. Not absolutely necessary, but it helps.
3. A wave-rich and isolated hometown where the boys can run wild together, because really, there's not a lot else to do.
4. Solid talent behind the camera to help bring out the solid talent -- and character -- in front of it.

So it's no surprise that Chomp Proper's anticipated first video drop is a banger. Here's a breakdown of exactly what they've done right to capture the creativity, camaraderie and progression that the Chosen contest is looking for.

0:10
The basketball scene opens with Dege lacing up some well-placed Air Jordans. Nice touch in a Nike-sponsored competition. Use whatever edge you can find.

0:20
The start-stop pickup game reveals a lot about the crew: it shows that they know each others' personalities and skills; we hear each of their voices; we see them chasing herds of animals in a Haiku field, riding ATVs, rope-swinging into a freshwater pool and playing street ball. Already they have depth beyond just surfing.

1:30
The surfing begins in earnest, filmed over the course of three days on Maui at the boys' home breaks. Sure, they're lofting threes and getting barreled, but they're also sharing waves, smiling, and butt-boarding five-foot closeouts. In other words, fun isn't neglected and the Chomp Proper crew doesn't take itself too seriously. Also, crucially, we see them actually surfing together as a crew.

3:30
The clip -- slightly longer than others in the Chosen lineup thus far -- ends with the crew's name clearly presented and the boys' faces featured close-up so we can familiarize ourselves with these rising stars.

One of the most respected skateshops in the country, Pit Crew, just outside of our Nation's capital has thrown it's hat in the ring and it's pretty much on from the very first sight of the RT Mulligan and Benji Ross' Plymouth Horizon.

This video has a good mix of dorking around, bombing hills good times and straight up shredding. And that drainage ditch spot these two skate basically will make anyone jealous. These two do a good job of showing what they can accomplish in an afternoon in their hometown with nothing more than a bro-cam.

Let's see what your spots look like. Show us what you and your homies do on a summer's day? This is your chance to live like a pro just by filming you and your crew being yourselves. Let's see it.

LINCOLN PARK
Lincoln Park in East LA was designed and brought to fruition by Nike and Nike Pro Skater and LA native Paul Rodriguez aka P-Rod. With it being Paul's stomping ground it only made sense that Lincoln Park be the first stop on The Chosen bus tour. What away to set things off. Tons of crews and the homies turned out from all parts of Southern California to session the park, skate with P-Rod and catch a performance by Hanni El Khatib.



The Chosen bus tour is also a great chance for rippers to get seen as P-Rod discusses in this video of the night's festivities. Listen closely to Paul's final words, "Only you know you're special and being CHOSEN will follow."

If you know you're special, let's see it. The Crew Video contest is well under way and it's anybody's game right now. With just over a month left to film and submit your crew video time is of the essence.

GET THOSE VIDEOS TURNED IN!

You don't want to regret it later. This is your chance to make it big.

And if you're on the West Coast, make sure you catch THE CHOSEN tour as it comes through your town.

Dates are as follows:

June 17+18 @ Windells Camp at Mt. Hood, OR

June 21 + 22 @ Woodward West, CA

June 24 @ O'Neill's Santa Cruz, CA

June 25th @ Santa Cruz Boardroom, CA

June 28th @ Santa Barbara, CA

If your crew's Chosen campaign is in need of a muse -- or if you simply want to watch rad surfing laced with creativity, camaraderie and progression -- then here's a list of study materials to get you started: 8 iconic surf crews as immortalized in these classic films. Watch, learn, and remember: talent imitates, genius steals.

(Creativity/Camaraderie/Progression rated on a 10-point scale)

Drive Thru Europe

Crew: Pat O'Connell, Kelly Slater, Benji Weatherley, Rizal Tanjung, Ry Craike

Story: As with all the Drive Thru films, there's an RV stuffed with buddies and surf craft roaming some foreign land after waves and hysterics. This time it's Europe, and the juxtaposition of Old World class with the Drive Thru crew's lack thereof makes for quality entertainment.

Creativity: 6
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: Drive Thru South Africa, Drive Thru New Zealand, Drive Thru South/Central America


Stoked and Broke

Crew: Cyrus Sutton, Ryan Burch

Story: Two laid-back friends from Encinitas, CA embark on a local surf trip south along the coast. The caveat: they have no money and no wheels. They get by on the kindness of strangers, their own ingenuity (and bare feet), and perpetually positive attitudes about everything. And they rip, on any piece of equipment imaginable.

Creativity: 7
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 6

See Also: The Present, Sprout, Riding Waves


Shelter

Crew: Taylor Steele, the Malloys, Rob Machado, Joel Tudor and many more

Story: An old farmhouse in Australia becomes the crew's adopted home for two months of surfing, exploring, making music and crafting this film. Friends and heroes drop by to add layers and stories: Nat Young, Mick Fanning, Taylor Knox, Kelly Slater and more.

Creativity: 7
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: Thicker Than Water, A Broke Down Melody, The September Sessions


Second Thoughts

Crew: Timmy Turner, Brett Schwartz, Travis Potter

Story: Three Huntington Beach surfers escape Bro City to a deserted island in deep Indonesia. Armed with a camera, a goat, some rice and supplies, they live out the feral fantasy in a sort of Survivor meets The September Sessions barrel fest. This is what happens when crews go bush.

Creativity: 6
Camaraderie: 7
Progression: 9

See Also: The Ombak, Burning the Map


What Really Went Wrong?

Crew: The ...Lost Enterprises family, including Chris Ward and Cory Lopez

Story: This is a best-of film piecing together bits from the classic Lost videos of the 1990s, when the brand was actively battling surfing's dominant squeaky-clean image. Brilliant surf footage, dangerous activities, and a hallowed artifact of surfing's culture at the time.

Creativity: 5
Camaraderie: 7
Progression: 9

See Also: The Decline, What's Really Goin' Wrong?, What's Really Goin' On?

Trilogy

Crew: Andy Irons, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson

Story: The film itself doesn't present an arc or a story, per se -- it's just amazing surf footage from AI, Taj and Parko broken up by interviews with the boys. But the real story is behind the scenes: three hyper-competitive friends in a years-long game of one-upsmanship that drove them to create one of the best surf videos of the new millennium.

Creativity: 4
Camaraderie: 5
Progression: 9

See Also: Campaign, Stranger Than Fiction

Loose Change

Crew: Taylor Steele, Rob Machado, Benji Weatherley, Taylor Knox, Shane Dorian, the Malloys, Kelly Slater and more

Story: This favorite from the Steele collection uses the surf-skit-surf format to look at what the Momentum generation might be like if they'd never surfed. Rob Machado is a slacker, loping through town and life with a bad mullet and no ambition, and running into the rest of the crew (in their non-surfer iterations) along the way.

Creativity: 8
Camaraderie: 6
Progression: 8

See Also: Focus, The Show, Good Times, Campaign


The Endless Summer II

Crew: Pat O'Connell, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver

Story: An update on Bruce Brown's original masterpiece sends a shortboarder (Pat) and a longboarder (Wingnut) around the world to taste the waves and flavors of life. They run across lions, monkeys, sea snakes, crocodiles, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater and more in this hall-of-fame film.

Creativity: 8
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: The Endless Summer