33third and the Importance of Reinvention

Online, I’ve known Matt from 33third since forever. He was an occasional visitor to hiphopinfinity, which was a harbor for all varieties of rap nerds and he had started an online store back then catering to dj’s. That eventually grew to also selling music and other items and in 2006 he opened up an actual physical store in Los Angeles to accompany the website. They still had the dj equipment but it was mainly a record store by then with a few other types of specialty items.

As I would talk to Matt then and in the following years, this was a man with a lot of worry on his mind. Matt’s a smart guy and he knew the picture was not good for his business. Music wasn’t selling thanks to the internet age and interest in hip-hop was waning. He experimented with different things. For a little while the vinyl was moving ok even as the cd sales tanked so he’d focus on that. But he could see it wasn’t going to be sustainable and as you could imagine it was eating him up inside. He was sure he’d be out of business in the near future and he started doing consulting on the side. Making plans for moving on.

Then one day he told me he had a new plan. He’d noticed that his graffiti supplies were the only thing not dipping in sales and that local writers were coming in on a regular basis out of need. Music fans no longer needed record stores but you can’t download markers and spraypaint just yet. And when those things run out, you need more. He already had some good customers who he knew would spread the word if he went all in on graffiti, he had connections and the knowledge. Even better, he looked around online and saw an open opportunity. So last year 33third the record store closed shop after two years of life in the real world and about five online. And born of that was 33third, graffiti supply shop. Which quickly extended to also become Mid-City Arts a gallery for graffiti art.

Now he hosts events like the “wall jam” below and his business is good. And I’m glad because he remains one of the best people I know to bombard with my own harebrained schemes when I’m looking for feedback. Everybody should check out the vid and if you’re an enthusiast, check out his store.