BMX Video
Can I Eat?
Can I Eat? is Animal Bikes' 2004 full-length video, filmed by Bob Scerbo, which captured New York City street riding and defined East Coast street style.
Updated 4 min read793 words
Can I Eat? is a full-length video from Animal Bikes, released in 2004 and filmed and edited by Bob Scerbo. It is a street video shot largely in New York City and around the East Coast of the United States, built from sections by the Animal team and friends including Edwin DeLaRosa, Corey Martinez, Vinnie Sammon and Steven Hamilton. The video established the look and attitude of East Coast street riding for the decade that followed, and it remains one of the most influential street videos in BMX.
Background
Animal Bikes was founded in New York by Ralph Sinisi at the start of the 2000s as a parts company run by and for street riders. New York had a strong street scene, but it was underrepresented in BMX media, which was concentrated on the West Coast and in the contest world. Animal's advertisements and early footage showed a different kind of riding: pegs on everything, fast lines through crowded city spots, and no interest in ramps.
The brand's first video, Animal, came out on VHS in 2002. It was filmed by Jeff Zielinski and edited by Glen PP Milligan, and it included sections from DeLaRosa, Sammon and Scerbo.
Can I Eat? was the follow-up. Bob Scerbo, a rider and filmer in the Animal crew, filmed and edited it, and it was released on DVD and VHS in 2004. The main video runs about 26 minutes, with bonus material, and it was sold through bike shops and mail order, which was still how most riders bought videos at the time.
Contents and sections
Can I Eat? is structured as a series of rider sections. The whole video is shot in Scerbo's distinctive style: handheld, often on a fisheye lens, close to the rider, with the sound of the city left in. There is no narration and little slow motion.
- Bob Scerbo. The filmer opens the video with his own section, which fits the crew-made feel of the whole project.
- Vinnie Sammon. Technical and heavy on grinds, with the double peg and feeble variations that the Animal team was known for.
- The middle of the video. Sections from Lino Gonzalez, Jared Washington, George Dossantos, Tyrone Williams, Joe "Butcher" Kowalski and Steven Hamilton.
- Corey Martinez. A street section placed just before DeLaRosa's closing part.
- Edwin DeLaRosa. The section most people remember. DeLaRosa, from New York, closes the video, riding street with speed and commitment across the city's ledges, rails and banks.
- Bonus material. Extra footage on the disc, including a section from Joe Tiseo.
The spots are a character in themselves. Can I Eat? is a tour of New York street riding in the early 2000s: plazas, subway entrances, schoolyards and the kind of rough, waxed ledges that East Coast riders dealt with by default.
Standout parts
Edwin DeLaRosa's closing section is the standout and one of the most referenced street parts of the 2000s. It is not the longest or the most technical section of its era, but the combination of speed, spot selection and attitude set a template that street riders copied for years. His approach to lines, stringing several moves together through a spot rather than filming single tricks, helped make line-based riding the standard way to film street.
The filming itself is the other standout. Scerbo's camerawork, with its grain, noise and closeness to the action, became a style in its own right. Many street videos since have deliberately imitated the look of Can I Eat?.
Impact and legacy
Can I Eat? shifted the centre of gravity in BMX street. Before it, the dominant image of street riding came from the West Coast and from park-influenced riders. After it, New York and the East Coast were recognised as a style of their own: raw spots, pegs, brakeless or near enough, and a disregard for contest riding. The rise of street riding as the largest discipline in BMX owes a good deal to this video.
Animal Bikes grew with the video's reputation. The brand's products, especially its pegs and tyres, were associated with the riding in Can I Eat?, and the company's next video, All Day in 2006, continued in the same spirit.
Bob Scerbo's reputation as a filmer and editor was also made here. His approach to filming street, with the rider and the environment given equal weight, is now so common that it is easy to forget how distinctive it was in 2004.
Soundtrack
Corey Martinez's section is cut to "Layla", and Edwin DeLaRosa's closing section to "What Up Gangsta" by 50 Cent.
Related
- All Day: Animal's follow-up
- Animal Bikes
- Edwin DeLaRosa and Corey Martinez
- Street and the rise of street riding
- Pegs, double peg grind and feeble grind
- Writing on the Wall: a later video featuring East Coast street riders
Frequently asked questions about Can I Eat?
What is Can I Eat?
Can I Eat? is a full-length video from Animal Bikes, released in 2004 after the brand's 2002 video Animal, and filmed and edited by Bob Scerbo. It is a street video shot largely in New York City and the surrounding East Coast.
Why is Can I Eat? important?
It defined a particular style of street riding: fast, rough and grounded in city spots. Edwin DeLaRosa's closing section in particular influenced a generation of street riders.
Is there a sequel?
Animal followed it with All Day, released in 2006 and again filmed by Bob Scerbo.
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