Brandon Westgate | Quartersnacks

SURFBOARD…SURFBOARD

Daily News December 23rd, 2013 · 1:06 pm · 3

swsanta

#MERRY #CHRISTMAS #TO #ALL

R.I.P. to founding Three 6 Mafia member, Lord Infamous, who died in his mother’s house of unknown causes this past Friday. Carroll was the only dude to skate to Lord Infamous in a major video part with his second section in Fully Flared, but there’s also this old Bryan Herman Pharmarcy part and not-so-old Adrian Vega part.

People in Yemen don’t have a whole lot to do, do they?

Thrasher spoke with Brandon Westgate about his flatground flip tricks, among other things. “It’s a trip when a flatground trick that’s easy gets people stoked more than things I killed myself for.” Relate-ability v.s. Gravity, man.

Theories of Atlantis interviewed all the dudes from The Brodies video.

Boil the Ocean’s “Now That’s What I Call Skateboarding” / Top 10 Parts of 2013 countdown has begun. Miles Silvas @ #10 and Donovan Piscopo @ #9.

Our homie Joe Cups (of Lurkers notoriety) is selling his new project, Stay Away, over on his website. Teaser here. He also has a new commercial for Vans Vault with some familiar faces in it.

A new promo for the Westchester-based PFP3 video.

Adidas in the Pacific Northwest and Norwegian Huf in…Norway.

The best and worst of Montreal skateboarding over on the Dime site. Ritch Homie Swain A.K.A. Lord SMS also put together a Dime mix last week.

Career-long Wu-Tang devotee, Gino Iannucci, talks about Wu-Tang.

We talk about the two respective “Shit” remixes: Despite everyone coming to terms with Drake over the past twelve months (us included), Pastor Troy is on the Atlanta remix. Pastor Troy > Drake, therefore the ATL remix > the regs remix. Last part in the next Baker video should be edited to the original song. E-mail me maybe???

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Remember when the Knicks drafted Andy Rautins so a bunch of Syracuse alumns could cheer for him in garbage time over Lance Stephenson? Whatever, he’d be playing for Denver right now if they had :(

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ON MY SURFBOARD…SURFBOARD…

On Westgate, Nollie Flips, BSOTP12M, etc.

Daily News December 17th, 2013 · 12:53 pm · 14

Tween favorites and Leo Gutman aside, Westgate is the only legit Ishod withstanding case you could make for Best Skater of the Past 12 Months. (We’re not saying “SOTY” anymore to avoid any “There’s politics behind it bro!” proclamations from those privy to the obvious. BSOTP12M strives to be as objective as possible.)

His new Emerica part is obviously closer to the Gravity end of things than any plain old video part. However, Westgate’s superhumanness always gets brought back to earth because he does the best looking, most un-Battle of the Berrics-homogenized flip tricks of any young skater today. The terrain he does them on is sorta irrelevant; every part this dude puts out leads to a Kalis comparison, even if the spots they typically skate are nothing alike. Distinct-looking flip tricks are relatable because everyone knows the feeling of “Wow, that was a good one” on a trick they otherwise do a hundred times a day. It does not matter how much lower the ~~bar~~ orange cone may be set in our individual cases. (But maybe it does help that Westgate’s best examples aren’t done down stairs. Speaking of which, are there any #relevant stair skaters besides Reynolds, Herman and Forrest Edwards anymore?)

The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2011: 5-1

Features & Interviews December 31st, 2011 · 6:45 pm · 3

2011 is over in five hours. Here are the final five. Have fun tonight everyone.

Previous installments: #25-21, #20-16, #15-11, #10-6, The Best Video Part(s) of 2011, The Year in Rap.

5. The Rise of 12th & A Rap

As 12th & A’s stronghold on New York City skateboarding waned, it began to rise as an epicenter for New York City skateboard *rap*. With artists like ASAP Rocky, Odd Future, and Krayshawn getting deals off YouTube videos, the young skaters of 12th & A drew inspiration from their D.I.Y. attitude, and set out to make a name for themselves in perhaps the only professional world more overpopulated than pro skateboarding. Slicky Boy remixed Ice Cube and has been promising a mixtape all year. The Stoned Rollers took Lex Luger out of the trap and the strip clubs, and brought his trademark thump to the skate spot. And Black Dave, perhaps 12th & A rap’s greatest success story, is one-for-two with making it onto WorldStar with his videos.

2011 ‘Real Street’ Parts AKA The New Zoo York Promo

Daily News June 29th, 2011 · 1:47 pm · 11

During last Thursday’s NBA Draft, Quartersnacks, along with those who follow our Twitter account, took upon the task of drawing parallels between skateboarding and professional basketball, mostly by way of pointing out which skaters would be #1 overall picks in their respective draft years. We settled on a variety of conclusions: Guy Mariano in 1991, Eric Koston in 1992, Arto Saari in 1998, Paul Rodriguez in 2000, Mike Mo in 2007, Torey Pudwill in 2008, how skaters would be drafted out of skate shops, how Coliseum would’ve won the NCAA title in 2002, and finally realizing that most of the #1 overall picks somehow go to Girl (Cory Kennedy in 2010) and Chocolate (Raven Tershy in 2011) due to their highly astute front offices. Rick Howard wouldn’t be a bad GM for the Lakers. (That team can go to hell, though.)

If you don’t follow basketball, keep in mind that #1 overall pick does not necessarily equate to the “best” skater, as Larry Bird (#6), Michael Jordan (#3), and Kobe Bryant (#13) were not #1 picks. Manu Ginóbli was #57, and he went on to lead the Spurs to three championships. Then there are obvious draft busts, like Jereme Rogers going #1 in 2003, or Jovante Turner going #1 in 1989, only to have a short lived prime, a la Bernard King.

Someone insisted that Zoo York was overdue for a #1 pick, but sometimes, three top five picks in seven or eight years helps you build a better franchise than one #1 overall, and a bunch of picks above #15 in proceeding years. Look no further than this year’s batch of X-Games “Real Street” videos for evidence of that.

Zered Bassett: Apparently, the kink at the Courthouse Drop is just a regular ledge now. And it’s good to see that the rail they put up at that Washington Heights bump isn’t stopping some people. Zered should’ve won the whole thing last year.

Brandon Westgate “On My Way To Mars” Re-Edit

Video & Remixes June 17th, 2011 · 3:22 pm · 7

“When I was in California, some kids asked me what we listen to in New York. I said ‘Racks on Racks’ and Lady Gaga.” — Matthew Mooney

As current and trendsetting as New York is made out to be, we are perpetually late on terrestrial “urban radio” hits. This phenomenon explains why “O Lets Do It” was a fall 2009 hit for below the Mason-Dixon, and only a spring 2010 hit for New York, or “Make It Rain” being a fall 2010 strip club anthem for the south, and our gentlemen’s cabarets not receiving notice of its popularity until winter 2011. (Note: Boston might be even more behind — they were still playing “Stunt 101” on the radio in 2009.)

With summer 2011 being four days away, the office was in panic mode regarding how best to utilize Future and YC’s springtime hit / tribute to the Federal Reserve, “Racks,” before it becomes a “throwback.” Having no footage of our own, we began considering the re-edit route. Though Emerica’s brand aesthetic doesn’t quite go with YC and Future’s imagery, we noticed that Quartersnacks’ parent company, Trap Stars Entertainment actually sponsored Westgate’s large gap-to-bank ollie midway into his B-sides. So, proceeding with this project kind of began to make sense, at least to us. Either way, you’re not on the right website if you’re looking for edits that make sense (Consult previous editions: Andrew Reynolds & Bryan Herman.) The non-sensical rap edits seem to be picking up steam, so feel free to refer to us as pioneers down the line.

Alternate YouTube Link: Keisha, Pam, and Nikki

The next challenge will be figuring out what the summer 2011 anthem will be. Let us all pray that it is not “I’m On One.” We have been covering the development of seasonal anthems on Twitter, and will continue to do so.

Previously: 10 Most Disturbing Frames From Brandon Westgate’s Stay Gold part