Beagle Is Dead :: Skateboarding & Skateboarding

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This was taken from the Thrasher’s March ‘08 Issue, interviewed by Michael Burnett.

Do I understand correctly that your Krew hooded sweatshirt has been outlawed in L.A. public schools?
Yes, it has been banned. They say because it can zip up over your face.

You can zip it up over your face so you can’t see out?
Yeah. I guess they see it as a bad thing because they think it empowers kids to do bad things, like zip it up and have a food fight or something. Maybe play with other kids in class. I just seen it on the news, and it was trippy to see it.

Is it weird to see your three-color design Krew hoodie get copied by so many other companies?
Yeah. It sucks, dude! I do notice that. But I think the kids can tell the authentic from the fake, so they’ll figure out what’s real and what’s not.

How’s the Sober Mind Power program going?
It’s going good. just trying to get more people down with i! We want to get more people incorporated in the situation.

No relapses?
Nah! no relapses. i’m having a good time staying faithful.

So before the big session today you went to church. How often do you go to church?
Every Sunday.

What kind of church do you go to?
Christian. It’s tight. The pastor skates. It’s really real.

What do you think God looks like?
I don’t know.

Is he white?
Yeah, I guess.

Does he have a beard?
I don’t know. Probably. I don’t know what to make of it. Everybody has their different ideas about it. I just know I go to church and believe in Him. White, black, yellow or green, I believe. If it wasn’t for Him I would never be in the places I’m in, or would have been to the places I’ve been to. I gotta believe.

Alright, let’s talk some skate talk. You seen that Lakai video?
Amazing!

Who had the best part?
Mike Mo.

You ever seen him out on the streets?
Yeah, he skates Paul’s with me.

Is he as solid in real life as he is in the videos?
Yeah. Pretty much, yeah.

Can you name all the members of all the French Connection?
Nah.

Gimme one.
I can’t.

I’ll give you a hint, Lucas…
P. Puh, I can’t say his last name, but I know it starts with a P.

Lucas Puig, correct! Can you name the Royal Fam?
Mike Mo.

That’s a common misconception, but the Royal Family is actually the dudes from England, not the guys who ride for the trucks.
Oh yeah. Well, they’re all tight, anyway. That video blew my mind!

They’re getting hella tricky in that video. Are you down to get that level of tricky?
I thought we was in a time when you couldn’t do too much more on a skateboard. That video really opened your eyes that there’s more that can be done. It really raised the bar, more and more. Especially Guy Mariano’s part–and Marc Johnson. Koston, too. All their parents were amazing. They really showed the skateboard world there’s still a lot more room to progress, a lot more to do. It’s funny. Going into it I thought it would be one of them situations that would crush your ego, like “Oh man, the shit I thought I was doing was important.” but I didn’t take from it like that. I watch it everyday before I go skate. I use it like a motivational tool. It gets me hyped to skate.

Have you got a noseslide to tailslide yet?
Nah, I ain’t got that one yet, but I be flipping in and out of tricks more.

What did you think when those French dudes started skating to that bangin’-ass gangster rap?
I did notice that! Yeah, they maniacs for it out there!

Do you think Europeans love rap more than Americans?
Nah. They love it everywhere, but over here it’s on another level.

I know you’ve done some music for a couple of videos, but do you work on music regularly?
Yeah, in my free time.

What inspires you to write something down?
At night when I get home from skating. Ten or eleven at night when I get to the house, winding down, throw on a beat and rhyme to it, write something down.

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and have to write it down immediately?
Yeah, I’ve got one of those little voice recorders at the house. I’ll just put it down on that and go back to sleep.

Sherm told me that Lil’ Wayne is the king of hip-hop right now. Who do you think is leading the charge?
Fly Society. For sure.

Unlike a lot of kids your age, you support your family.
Yeah, for sure.

How many people do you care for?
Four.

Does it put extra pressure on you to know that you’re not just kickflipping for one, you’re kickflipping for a whole family?
Yeah, but in a sense it gives me a lot of motivation at the end of the day, too. I take care of my grandma. I’ve been taking care of her for a while and I use it as motivation. I just look at it like I’ve been blessed with this position, and the best thing that I can do with it isbe able to give back to my family. It’s all beneficial to me, all around.

What’s the hardest part of being the best black skater in the world?
Oh man! It sucks, dude!

What did you think when you saw that ad?
I don’t know. I don’t think of myself as the best in the world at anything, I just do it because I enjoy it and love it. At the same time, when you have the best skater in the world, that’s Andrew Reynolds, telling you that, I just have to take his word for it. I can’t knock his judgement on nothin’! That dude been doing it for years! He’s been puttin’ it down for years! He’s still puttin’ it down over all of our heads! So if that’s what he says, I just have to respect it.

You’re right. That’s an expert on opinion you’re dealing with.
Exactly. Yeah.

You ever get the Gershey Squirts?
Stop! Stop, dude.

What’s this Deathwish situation? Is it that Powell dude? Is it a new Baker company? What gives?
Yeah, it’s the new company they’re doing off Baker, like a Girl and Chocolate type situation.

Does it have anything to do with Powell?
Ah, hell no! Heck no.

What does it feel like to be a God-fearing man and sit in the van next to Satan’s Disciple, Sammy Baca?
Sammy’s awesome, dude. That dude’s got a good vibe. They asked me last if I wanted him to get put on Baker and I’m like, “Hell yeah!” That dudes sick! He rips. I feel like everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, too. I respect other people’s outlook on life, so it don’t bother me. He’s a solid dude and he skates real good.

You seem really happy-go-lucky. What makes you really, really mad?
When I can’t do tricks. Falling. I can lose my temper.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?
Throw my board around. Break it. Typical. Leave the spot.

Do you keep up with current events?
Like what?

Politics. The war. International news.
Nah.

Are you excited for Barack Obama?
Yeah. I respect him running. I hope he wins.

Will the United States be any different if we have a black president?
Honestly, for me, no. I think the government system runs itself regardless of who the president is. The congress and the corporations and all that are the ones really running things and the president is just there to make you feel comfortable like someone reliable is in charge. At the end of the day, I don’t really feel like it’s up to the president. It’s bigger than that one man. I pay my taxes so I ain’t gotta worry about them bastards.

I heard you’ve got some fancy new internet project going on.
Yeah. It’s me, Paul and Jereme. What makes it so good is that you get to see the new stuff about us all the time. We’ve got new footage, photos, and everything that’s going on with us. When I was a kid we didn’t get to see it as much–what your favorite skater is up to, what’s the new tricks or whatever. You had to wait for the mag or the video to come out, but now you can see something new almost every day.

What spots do you check out on-line?
YouTube, sk8site, MySpace, different clothing spots. I go on-line for that.

Do you get bummed when you see your video part on YouTube?
Nah, I used to. Nowadays I just see it as more exposure. I learned to overlook a lot of stuff. I used to get bummed on a lot of stuff or take stuff personally, but at the end of the day it’s really not harming me. You just gotta learn to deal with it. Everybody ain’t always gonna agree with you or do what you wanna do, so you just gotta accept that and keep moving. As I get older ad progress and become an adult I realize that everybody ain’t gonna like me and everything I do, but that’s not up to me. You just gotta keep looking ahead.

Tags: Baker Skateboards, Terry Kennedy, Thrasher Magazine

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.