Niko knows...CULTURE // Issue #28
What's going on in the #Nikoverse? ✨🪐 There's a ton of hip-hop, soccer, podcasts, basketball, football, and gaming happening. To sum it up: a lot of culture.
Yoo! Welcome back – great to have you here again!
Let’s catch up on what’s been buzzing across the culture cosmos lately – from desert stages and vinyl drops to futuristic golf and glitchy nostalgia. Here’s your recap of the last five stories making waves.
Best, Niko
#NikoKnows…HIP HOP
BOOM. 10 YEARS OF CHAOS: TYLER’S CHERRY BOMB GETS A LOUD REWIND
Can you believe it’s been a decade since Tyler, The Creator lit the fuse on Cherry Bomb? That beautiful mess of distortion, jazz, and genius just hit its 10-year mark — and Tyler’s pulling up heavy with a merch drop that hits just as hard.
To mark the moment, the GOLF WANG frontman cooked up a limited-edition anniversary capsule that’s part nostalgia, part flex. We’re talkin' fresh vinyls, wild box sets, and enough visual sauce to turn any shelf into a shrine.
Here’s the lowdown:
Vinyl heat: Three versions, all translucent, all. Blue dipped with the OG cartoon mask cover? Yes. Red and blue variants wrapped in that iconic album art? Also yes. Double LPs, double trouble.
CD packs: For the purists – complete with a poster to slap on your wall like it’s 2015 again and you just heard “FIND YOUR WINGS” for the first time.
Box Set madness: Graphic tee with the tracklist on the back (instant convo starter), keychain drip, artwork, and a stash box for… whatever you need it for.
This isn’t just merch. It’s a time capsule. A loud, chaotic, beautifully weird reminder of the moment Tyler threw out the rulebook and painted outside every line.
#NikoKnows…FESTIVAL CULTURE
MISSY TURNED COACHELLA INTO PLANET MISSY—AND WE JUST LIVED ON IT FOR 30 MINUTES
When Missy Elliott touches a stage, it’s not a performance—it’s a portal. On Coachella’s opening night, the icon pulled up looking like a damn Transformer, and the crowd? Shook in the best way possible.
What looked like a car onstage turned out to be Missy herself, fully suited in a futuristic, mech-inspired fit that screamed “only Missy could.” From the moment she stepped out, the whole festival got a crash course in why she's still untouchable.
The Fits Were Giving Missy Multiverse
One moment she’s Optimus Prime meets haute couture. Next? She’s in a throwback trash bag ‘fit, nodding to “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” like it's 1997 but with 2025 energy. Iconography in real time.
Classics, Remixed
She hit the crowd with “She’s a Bitch,” dropped “Get Ur Freak On”—but twisted it with a surprise blend of Ice Spice’s “Bikini Bottom.” That's how you bridge generations without breaking a sweat.
Visual Overload (In the Best Way)
Massive 3D Missy projections, tour-level set design, dancers shining like stars—it wasn’t just a set, it was a statement. She's not just performing, she's architecting culture.
Twenty-five-plus years deep in the game, and Missy still feels like the future.
#NikoKnows…GOLF
Golf, But Make It Street: Urban Hitters Collective Tees Off with Culture at Its Core
Forget what you think you know about golf. Serviceplan Culture and the Codex Agency launched the Urban Hitters Collective (UHC) — and it’s not just a movement, it’s a mindset shift.
UHC is built for the ones who swing clubs in sneakers, not spikes. For the creators who see golf as expression, not exclusion. The goal? Pull the sport out of its stiff, traditional shell and drop it straight into the heart of the city — where culture lives and breathes.
Where Streetwear Meets the Swing: This isn't your dad’s golf league. Think pop-up events, creator collabs, co-creation with the hip-hop community, and immersive golf festivals that feel more like block parties than tee times. From fashion to music to social storytelling — everything is part of the game.
This Is More Than a Game: UHC isn’t about how you play golf. It’s about who plays it — and what it means today. With a dedicated Culture Council and long-term vision, this platform is set to redefine golf as a sport that’s inclusive, visual, and rooted in modern identity.
For brands bold enough to break the mold, Urban Hitters Collective is your front-row seat to the next generation of sport x culture.
#NikoKnows…COACHELLA
CHARLI XCX TURNED COACHELLA INTO A BRAT CLUB UTOPIA — AND BROUGHT THE WHOLE POP GALAXY WITH HER
Just when you thought Brat Summer was done, Charli XCX said psych — and hit Coachella with a set that felt like a sugar-rushed rave fantasy straight outta Tumblr, TikTok, and the deepest corners of queer club culture.
Saturday night, the main stage went full throttle as Charli flipped Indio into her personal dance floor. Neon chaos, turbo-pop bangers, and a guest list that read like the Met Gala for alt-pop royalty.
First up, Troye Sivan — straight off the “Sweat” tour — rejoined Charli for a wild, hip-thrust-filled version of “Talk Talk.” “I’m so f---ing obsessed with you, Charli!” he screamed, and tbh, same.
Then came Lorde, rising like a mirage to tackle the “Girl, So Confusing” remix. The track’s whole “weird friend energy meets pop rivalry” dynamic played out live — ending in a hug that screamed growth, but make it iconic.
Finally, Billie Eilish popped in for the “Guess” remix, Charli yelling “That’s right, bitch!” before Billie slid in to finish the track and shake the crowd to its core. The two jumping and hugging? Pure serotonin.
Not just a set — a statement: Charli didn’t just bring back Brat — she canonized it. Fan-favorite cuts lit up the night, and she even threw in a few classics like “Unlock It” and “Blame It on Your Love.” Oh, and she closed with “I Love It,” because yeah — she co-wrote that generational anthem, remember?
#NikoKnows…MOVIE CULTURE
BLACK MIRROR MIGHT BE TAKING US BACK TO BANDERSNATCH — JUST DON’T CALL IT A SEQUEL YET
First, Charlie Brooker gave us Bandersnatch — a choose-your-own-mindfuck where '80s game dev meets existential dread. Then, he pulled us back into that glitchy universe in Season 7’s Plaything. Now? He’s teasing that we might not be done with Stefan Butler, Tuckersoft, and the VHS-era paranoia just yet.
In a recent interview with EW, Brooker casually dropped that he once had a whole storyline planned for a follow-up called Banderstruck. Never shot, never shelved — just floating in that twisted Black Mirror ether, waiting for the right format (film? episode? multiverse? who knows). “I might still revisit that well,” Brooker says with that signature devilish grin.
Plaything isn’t the sequel, but it is connected: Set 10 years post-Bandersnatch, Plaything isn’t a direct continuation — but it does bring back Will Poulter’s Colin Ritman and Asim Chaudhry’s Mohan Thakur. This time they’re orbiting around a new story: a ‘90s-era game journalist covering an eerie AI-pet sim called Thronglets. Spoiler: the game starts playing him. Classic Brooker brain-melt.
Bandersnatch let us pull the strings. Plaything makes us question who’s pulling ours. And Banderstruck? If it ever drops, don’t expect nostalgia — expect a whole new nightmare, maybe in a different decade, maybe in a new dimension of media altogether.
For now, Brooker’s playing it coy. But one thing’s clear: Black Mirror’s retro-future rabbit hole still has room for another descent.
