Five Favorite Parts With Karim Callender

📷 Photo via Keith Denley

The 2025 Q.S.S.O.T.Y‘s Five Favorite Parts was a bit of a journalistic “My War.”

Not because he didn’t want to do it — he was really hyped to do one — but because he began getting in his head about what to include. Too many parts! Too much stuff he loved. (Speaking from experience, an abundance of beloved parts is better than the opposite experience: getting on a call with someone and it’s, “Umm… uhhh… what was that Jake Johnson part where he skated the thing again?”)

Karim didn’t know whether to go with the stuff he grew up watching, the stuff that has gotten him hyped recently, or to big up his biggest homies. He legit asked if he can do a Top 20. It should come as no surprise to any QS reader that the platform that has been screaming “your friends are your favorite skaters!” from the rootops for a decade-plus insisted that he go with the third option. He was happy he did once we wrapped up. And so are we, because this is probably the most beautiful, wholesome Five Favorite Parts edition yet — a glimpse into the people who made Karim who he is. And of course, his favorite part that they’ve put out ❤️

They say don’t meet your heroes, but when your heroes are your boys (or girls!), you can probably avoid that common pitfall ;) My favorite skaters are Antonio and Karim, and I can attest to the fact that you’re probably cool meeting them, too :)

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Antonio Durao — “Best of 2013 Joeface Remix” (2013)

This part is O.D, bro. I was tripping when this came out. I knew him from being in competitions together, and every time we’d see each other was always fun. Once I knew him more, I realized he’s one of the best humans ever. So open, the funnest dude to be on a trip with, and the nicest dude ever. In this world where stuff is kinda serious, like we gotta be on time to be in the van to go and do this certain thing, he reminds me that the most important thing is to have fun. If you’re battling a trick and pissed off — if you sit down, take a sip of water, and have fun with it, you’ll probably do it.

The part starts and boom, he switch frontside flips the Flushing six block. Everyones knows that shit is humungous. And he did it before they redid the floor [at the bottom]. Then it cuts to the Gino handshake — are you fuckin’ kidding me? I also love that he’s on some skate rat shit in this part, skating rails in deep Queens. The clip with the lights turning on [for the night session] has always been so funny to me.

I used to bump all the Maybach Music shit with my O.G. homies back in the day and as much as I love the Dipset Waters & Army part, this song gets me so hyped to skate.

Nik Stain — “Skate Clip” by Johnny Wilson (2018)

I was on a session at CBS when I first moved in with Drew [Andrew Wilson], and saw Nik flyinggg. I sat down thinking, “If I slam into this guy, I’m going to be fucked.” I’d see him in Johnny’s old edits with the ripped-up Dickies double-the-size, belt hanging out and a fucked up Spitfire shirt. I couldn’t figure out where he was from. Then you meet him and he has a heart of gold.

His form is crazy. He almost reminds of Reese Forbes or Donny Barley in Eastern Exposure videos. Super strong, fast as fuck, very simple tricks, done well. Powerful, fast skating is the coolest to me. When I want to get hyped, I just want some fast-paced shit. I love his John’s Vid part too, but I’m choosing this one because of the song.

And the nose manual he does [on the side of the Manhattan Bridge] is one of my favorite nose manuals ever. That’s not a spot.

Max Palmer — Call Me 917 #2 (2019)

Me, my friend Ryan, and a bunch of my childhood friends used to skate under the B.Q.E. and we’d always see Max skating there looking like a punk rocker with a crazy handlebar mustache and mutton chops. I remember thinking, “Whatever this guy’s on, he’s dope. His trucks are loose as shit, and he doesn’t give a shit.”

He has this trait that reminds me of Tony [Antonio Durao] in that it’s all about having fun. He’s skating spots that a lot of people wouldn’t even consider a spot, and making it look awesome. It’s the pure definition of “it’s not what you’re doing, it’s how you do it” — and have fun doing it. He’s trying these intricate tricks for such a long time. The ledge will be between the wheels and his truck, and it’s all so impressive and fun to watch. It reminds me of the first time I watched Daewon in a way. We all have this challenge: “if you can do this trick on Max’s board…”

His work ethic is unmatched, and his endurance is unbelievable. Max is exactly ten years older than me, and he skates longer than any of the younger skaters on any trip. We were rooming in Paris on a Limo trip for the Noah Mahieu intro video. The kid inside me is always tripping like, “Oh my god, I’m on a trip with Max Palmer.” He takes off his shirt and he’s held together by KT [kinesiology] tape. It was like a science textbook looking at the human anatomy: it’s on his back, knee, shoulder, ankle. He had a roll of it like it was a roll of Gorilla Tape, and I remember thinking, “Holy shit, you’re really about it.” He’s very in tune with his health. He eats well, goes to Chinese herbalists, stretches all the time, and does all the right things.

Cyrus Bennett — Limosine: Paymaster (2021)

Cyrus was actually one of the first people I saw skating my first time at L.E.S. Park. It was at a contest back when it had the shitty floor and manure piles everywhere. I’m so grateful to be friends with him; I absolutely love him. He’s so relaxed and on-point with everything. He’s always just vibing, skating like an animal — doing sick, solid powerful tricks. You see him skating, and you think he’s such a scary, gnarly guy, but then you actually talk to him and he’s so chill. He’s very professional, not saying much, and always handling business. It’s so inspiring.

I actually like his Paymaster part the most because of the song. It’s just hardcore vibes. We went to a Gorilla Biscuits show together recently, and we got to see how hardcore this guy was in person [laughs]. I really like his How Original part because I really like the way Jared Sherbert edits, but the song in this part goes so well. All his earlier stuff with Johnny is great too. His skating looks good with a lot of different types of music — he even skated to Raekwon in a part way back — but with the hardcore and how powerful he skates, they compliment each other the best.

Andrew Wilson — Krooked: “Pro Part” (2024)

Andrew is also a huge person in my life. We ended up living together, and he was an awesome guidance in the skateboarding world for me — and the world in general. He’d always have awesome advice, and be a dope big brother figure. Andrew got me back to the city. I lived in New York for a long time, but my mom moved to Georgia when I was 16, and I was couch surfing, living wherever until I moved down there with her. Drew got me a room when I was looking to get back to New York, and it was my first proper room. He was filming with Johnny a lot at the time, and he really flipped the script for me. I’m so grateful to have friends like him.

Drew does a lot of the most hairball shit, but so …chill. That boardslide [in Battery Park, 0:43 mark] is fucked up. Anyone else would’ve gotten brutally sacked trying that. He has such an original, creative style. He has a very interesting approach to practically every spot he skates. I was talking to our friend and roommate Paul Coutherut, and he described Andrew’s skating as using every single possible inch of transition in everything. It’s so cool to me: he’ll pop super high off the smallest bump. I love technical skating, but when you do a super stylish, solid front tail — that’s really the most impressive to me.

I still watch a lot of old 411‘s and Drew just reminds me of one of the O.Gs from back then, like Carl Shipman or Jerry Fowler. Just a proper-ass pro skater.

This part also has a lot of great homies mixed into it: C.J., Enzo, Odom.

Honorable Mention: Danny Supa — Mixtape (1997)

Previously: Salomon Cardenas, Diego Todd, Ish Cepeda, Will Marshall, Grant Yansura, Ryan Lay, Nikolai Piombo, Hayley Wilson, Frank Gerwer, Gus Gordon, Max Palmer, Etienne Gagne, Jacopo Carozzi, Nicole Hause, Matt Militano, Evan Wasser, Ryuhei Kitazumi, Sarah Meurle, Vitória Mendonça, Andrew Wilson, Ben Kadow, Chandler Burton, Pedro Delfino, Johnny Wilson, Nick Michel, Wes Kremer, Jordan Trahan, Ariana Spencer, Elijah Odom, Greg Hunt, Zered Bassett, Neil Herrick, Trung Nguyen, Nick Boserio, Elissa Steamer, Casper Brooker, John Gardner, Bobshirt, Brandon Turner, Shari White, Nick Jensen, Tony Hawk, Naquan Rollings, Jack O’Grady, Josh Wilson, Maité Steenhoudt, Jahmir Brown, Una Farrar, Chris Jones, Mason Silva, Beatrice Domond, Mark Suciu, Justin Henry, Breana Geering, Sage Elsesser, Bobby Worrest, Nik Stain, Anthony Van Engelen, Dom Henry, Bing Liu, Andrew Reynolds, Cyrus Bennett, Jacob Harris, Jamal Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Gilbert Crockett, Ben Chadourne, Tom Knox, Louie Lopez, The Chrome Ball Incident, The Bunt, Lacey Baker, Andrew Allen, GX1000, Brian Anderson, Gino Iannucci, Josh Kalis, Sean Pablo, Wade Desarmo, Chris Milic, Chad Muska, Hjalte Halberg, Danny Brady, Bill Strobeck, Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams