A bit of a preface: After a long, detailed chronicle of Lil’ Wayne’s skateboarding pursuits throughout 2012, we vowed to ease off coverage at the start of this year. We never took the protective, “OMG this is what’s wrong with skateboarding!”-outlook like many other sources for skateboard commentary. We merely observed just how insane it was that a thirty-year-old guy who happens to be one of the biggest pop stars on earth, decided to take up skateboarding and got better at skating transition than a good 40% of the Quartersnacks Office. If the guy wants to skate, let him skate — it’s not like he’s pushing past the security window at some midtown spot with fifteen kids and getting everyone else kicked out. He wasn’t bothering us. We eventually lost interest, as is the case with most 30-year-old rappers doing odd things long enough for their novelty to wear off.
Anyone who has spent time reading QS knows it’s really a rap site. New rap, old rap, underground rap, radio rap, country rap tunes, shiny suit rap, strip club rap — we love it all. Not an editorial decision goes on here without rap somehow being figured into the equation. “What would Jeezy do?”
After a summer of seeing Connor Champion’s Instagram posts, which landed him in a different city every two days, we learned that he, Kyle Berard and a few others, were on tour with Lil’ Wayne, skating on stage amidst the most seizure-inducing lighting technology imaginable. We finally had an inside source that could discuss what being on a rap tour with one of the most recognizable rappers alive was like, and he just so happened to skateboard on it.
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How did you get hit up to go on a Lil’ Wayne tour?
I’ve known Ryan Clements since I was a kid. He used to work for Skatepark of Tampa, and Lil’ Wayne’s people hired him to staff the skating part of his tour. Ryan knew I was a big Wayne fan, so he called and asked, “Do you want to go on tour with Lil’ Wayne for two months and skate on stage?” Before he said anything else, I just went “Yeah.” They didn’t tell Ryan any specific details, so I didn’t know what to expect.
Who else was on the tour?
It was me, Kyle Berard, Jeremy Knibbs, this kid Yo-Yo who rides for TrukFit, and Wayne’s little cousin, Dante. I’ve known Kyle since I was young, and all the other dudes were sick. I couldn’t ask for a better mix.
What was the first day like?
I flew from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama the day after they called me. We just showed up to soundcheck on the first day and saw two small quarter pipes, one large quarter pipe, and two small handrails. They were just like, “See what you can do.” At first, there was a routine where we would all go after each other. But when Wayne got on stage, he stopped the music once he saw what was going on and said, “Fuck that routine shit, just skate.” It turned more into a jam session for each show.
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