Jahmal Williams | Quartersnacks

Started From the T.F. Now We (Still) Here

Daily News April 29th, 2013 · 5:02 am · 8

india

QS shirts have been spotted in some odd locations: “Holi Thirteen” by Brandon Kuzma. (P.S. If you’re still trying to get an early order in, e-mail quartersnacks [at] gmail, though quantities remain limited. Otherwise, our webstore will re-open in June with new product. Supreme New York and Exit Skateshop in Philadelphia also have them in stock.)

Don’t you guys miss when the Green Diamond was more #street? :(

These guys are still mad street.

The French blog, Café Créme, has a new interview with Quim Cardona. His 2011 Chrome Ball interview goes deeper on some of the topics they discuss though.

The Wall Street Velvet Rope Bail. Worth watching two or ten times.

NY Skateboarding rounded up New York-related bits from recent magazines, which include the photo side of Adidas’ New York barge last year and Walker Ryan’s insane trick at the Courthouse.

Black Dave has a “First Try Fridays” segment with Eric Koston over on the Berrics.

The new Cliché video, Bon Voyage, is out on iTunes today, and most shops have the DVD in stock. The video is what you expect (though a bit less European given some recent roster additions), including a solid part from every grown-up’s favorite skateboarder, Lucas Puig. The line he does at Pulaski Park is likely the best line you’ll see all year (seeing pros just do a simple, not-Torey-Pudwills-long backside tailslide on a ledge is awesome, especially in 2013.) Also, “Best Line of 2012” title holder, Pete Eldridge, continues to skate with cigarettes and has a solid shared part with J.B. Gillet. If anyone at Cliché is interested in producing an American rap re-edit of Puig’s part, we’re all ears.

#Art Updates: 1) Jeremy Elkin put together a video of Jahmal Williams’ recent Hopps installation at Labor Skateshop. 2) “Eastern Suns,” an art thing which features Jahmal, Dan Drehobl, Bosco, 30 Pack Pat, and others will have an opening reception at Da Fish on Sunday, May 5th at 7 P.M. Flyer here.

~~Trife~~ Moronic Look of the Week: They actually knobbed this “sculpture” on Houston and Broadway.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Nate Robinson (yes, Nate Robinson) came one point shy of Michael Jordan’s record for post points in a playoff quarter in a triple overtime win over the Nets on Saturday. Is Nets gear 80% off everywhere yet?

Follow @quartersnacks

How insane is it that the President of the United States walked out to DJ Khaled as intro music?

The 360 Flip’s Less Attractive Sister: A Study of the 10 Greatest Varial Flips in Skate Video History

Features & Interviews April 26th, 2013 · 5:54 am · 57

top 10 varial flips

The varial flip occupies a strange space in skateboarding. It’s pigeonholed as a little kid trick — a midway point between the kickflip and 360 flip, and sometimes even the first flip trick learned by a kid who found the shove-it motion easier to land on than a straight up kickflip. Beyond that, it has a far better looking, more shapely and marketable sister trick: The varial flip is the Khloe to the 360 flip’s Kim and Kourtney.

Even when you run an image search for “varial flip” (every result is hideous), Google is right there with “360 flip” as the sole related search. Except when you Google “360 flip,” the term “varial flip” ceases to be relatable. No need to backtrack.

google varial flips

As observers of professional skateboarding, an eternal question burns in our minds every time a pro does a varial flip: “Why wouldn’t he just do a 360 flip?” Whether you agree or not, 360 flips infallibly share the “you can never have enough of them” category with ollies, kickflips, backside tailslides, or anything else you’ve seen Keith Hufnagel do several times in each his Real parts, while the varial flip remains a lumpy oddity that sets alarms off for critics of trick selection. No company would dare introduce a new rider with a varial flip ad, and Skechers certainly had no intention of calling Khloe for their Super Bowl commercial if Kim was unavailable.

Surely the most standard of 360 flips is superior to the greatest varial flip — if such a thing were to exist. Is there even such thing as a “great” varial flip? We set out to find an answer to this question. Here are the ten instances in which the Khloe Kardashian of flip tricks looked jussst right, by ten of skateboarding’s Lamar Odoms.

Weekend Listening: Hopps Skateboards & DJ Ross One Present — ‘Keep It Moving Volume 1’

Daily News April 19th, 2013 · 12:58 pm · 7

ross one - keep it moving vol 1

This will either be a triumphant soundtrack to the second Knicks playoff win in twelve years, or a consolation prize for a weekend sullied by a Paul Pierce step-back jumper with three seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Our friend Ross One — one-half of the duo behind the winter 2011 classic, The Notorious Party Boy Soundtrack — mixed up a bunch of funk and soul staples in collaboration with Jahmal Williams and his great skateboard company, Hopps. Aside from being a solid hour of the sort of music you’d hear in a Hopps clip and an array of sample sources, it’s a reminder of just how many great songs have gone un-used in skate clips. (It’s okay to leave the Big L alone sometimes, guys!) Is it actually possible that nobody skated to Aaron Neville “Hercules?” It feels like it should’ve been in three San Francisco-based skate parts by now. Provided the imaginary Nate Jones comeback we’re hoping for is under way, he should follow up his Real to Reel music supervision with it. Also, Guy Mariano should’ve skated to “Miracles” in Pretty Sweet.

Check out Hopps’ spring commercial if you have yet to do so. Have a good weekend.

Related to today and #musicsupervision: Guru passed away on April 19th in 2010. Here’s our two-year-old post about Gang Starr and skate videos.

Beyonce Blackout Joke Links

Daily News February 4th, 2013 · 7:00 am · 3

bodega cat

(We have already made it obvious that we are fair weather football fans.)

Power surges aside, it has been a slow news week.

A devout skate archivist needs to scan the entire Big Brother “Black Issue” and put it online for Black History Month. Bob Shirt has a few scans, though not the comprehensive issue: Kareem Campbell interview, Kareem interviewing Keenan Milton, and a Jahmal Williams interview.

After exhausting Lil’ Wayne coverage in 2012, we promised to move past his skate-related pursuits in the new year. Then, he stalled on a quarterpipe, and made it rain on five strippers. So there’s that. (Screenshot here if you don’t want to sit through eight minutes of Lil’ Wayne footage. Shout out to the person on Facebook who reported that photo as inappropriate due to a heavily pixelated tit.) Even so…

The One Up Skateshop crew in Pittsburg always puts out quality videos, so here’s a new Nick Panza part and the first half of their 2012 promo.

Do you think this kid could boardslide around the entire rail at Marcus Garvey?

Listen to Roctakon rant about DJing, Chief Keef and sorority girls in Megadeth shirts.

Our good friend Jason Lecras has an interview up with Staf magazine. The words are in Spanish, but the photos are still great.

There’s a new, kinda boring commercial of Kyrie Irving skating at the Berrics. But expecting an NBA player to do anything on a skateboard besides stand on it might be unreasonable. (How about putting Uncle Drew on a skateboard?)

Git Buck is a new Providence, RI-based video with what looks like a good bit of New York footage. They uploaded a select part here and you can watch the teaser here.

Spot Updates: In case anybody cares (nobody cares), the scaffolding is off those seven-stair rails on 95th Street. Slowwwwww news week, man.

Astute Observation of the Week: “This is pretty much the absolute limit of how ‘good’ a video part is allowed to be before it becomes unwatchable.” — Canadian Connor regarding Ishod Wair’s Sabotage 3 part

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week — Throwback Edition: In light of the Raptors trading for Rudy Gay, here is perhaps the greatest NBA video ever…”Raptor Fan goes nuts after Rudy Gay shoots Game Winner.”

Quote of the Week:

quote

— The Most Insane Response to “How Was Your Birthday?” Ever

Follow @quartersnacks

Another cold-ass week ahead. Stay warm.

Jahmal Williams: The Lost Tapes

Video & Remixes January 25th, 2013 · 5:30 am · 6

Photo by Josh Stewart

Well, “lost” in the sense that a lot of this footage isn’t easily YouTubeable.

Here’s a Manolo-esque mix of footage from a dude whose name should be brought up more in nerd-out conversations about the best styles in skateboarding. Some of the clips are from Logic and E.S.T. issues, some from random Florida videos that came out in the early-to-mid-2000s, a few bits from the first few Hopps commercials, and some have never been used anywhere else. Jahmal has benefited from two of the finest instances of music supervision in skate video history, so needless to say, picking a song wasn’t easy.

Also, be sure to keep up with Hopps. (P.S. They have a webstore now.)

Alternate YouTube Link