Heavy Airplay All Day With No Chorus

There are a couple skateboarders who have grown synonymous with skating to songs by a recurring artist: Geoff Rowley to Motörhead, Pat Duffy to Primus, Danny Way and Colin McKay to Metallica, Bam to H.I.M. (lol). Given how influential some of those parts were, the artist’s music grew tethered to the skater’s career. Some only had to skate to one in order to carry the tune as their theme song (Appleyard to Placebo, Tony T. to Mötley Crüe, Jahmal to Gil-Scott Heron come to mind here.)

Unless we’re counting Smolik and the Federalz, Darren Harper’s friends, or the fact that I always edit Connor’s footage to Future, it’s tough to think of a pairing in rap*. Except one — Rodrigo TX and Prodigy of Mobb Deep.

*EDIT: Somebody had to email my dumbass to remind me of Gino and Wu-Tang. D’oh.

The more classic Mobb Deep songs got a decent amount of burn (pun intended hehehehehehe) in early issues of 411, just as many of the aforementioned names skated to more canonized songs by their respective music spirit animals. With the exception of “Keep It Thoro” — some of the most quotable three minutes that exist in rap — Rodrigo didn’t skate to the set Mobb Deep canon. He skated to songs that were released in outtakes compilations (“My Priorities” in éSpecial), Prodigy features on fuckin’ Boogz Boogetz songs (Gold Goons), and even sample sources to Prodigy songs (see the second half of his Parental Advisory part.)

Prodigy couldn’t ask for a greater spokesperson to carry his music’s legacy in skateboarding. R.I.P.