City in Smoke

When you hear Lenox has the fire wifi…

Naquan Rollings dropped a quick edit of his crew’s first session down the Brooklyn Banks 9. There are some beautiful pieces of flip trick #form in there.

Not even a few hours after it finished, the YouTubers compiled all the stories and Insta posts of the footage from the Hardies x Supreme event at 12th and A this past Saturday. Features obviously Tyshawn, but also Karim Callender, Troy Gipson, and Who Kid in the dunk tank.

Aaron Herrington and Lurker Lou hit the Staten Island flatbar park and more in the latest installment of Village Psychic’s “Lurking With Lou” series.

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Fall Biz

A grainy Jeff Pang via That’s A Crazy One

Seems like the skateboard world has still collectively been regrouping since Glory Challenge Weekend? Or everyone just went out to Paris for fashion week? Because it’s been slow as shit out there for any #interesting #skate #content.

If we were exiled from New York, we’d probably have the easiest time relocating to Paris (similar distractions/fashionability/volume of “Summer Trip To” clips), so just to practice: 1) Thierry Gormit has a sick new part over on Free with a Lucas @ Republique cameo. Who is gonna be the first one to do a trick into the East River though? 2) Swedish slappy poets, Poetic Collective, make the obligatory “Summer Trip to Paris” edit. 3) Skate Jawn has a Remy Tav interview. Big year for footage at the Louvre. 4) Le Dome is a go again. Shout to Rick Owens for the tip.

Looks like Tony Hawk is an avid QS #TRENDWATCH reader.

This half New York / half Tampa Sam Bellipanni part has some cool Columbus Park tricks, and lines at the Banks are always nice to see.

This Ricta commercial filmed around New York never misses a chance to remind you that you’re watching a wheel company commercial. Also, only one of those spots could be considered “crusty.” *Queue up this classic 12th & A quote*

“Skaters in Cars Looking At Spots” is just called “Skaters in Cars” now. The new one is with Louie Lopez. We should steal this concept but have it focus exclusively on claimers. “Didn’t you say you were going to nollie back heel those steps but can’t do those on flat?”

A 19-year-old who just happens to be the best native skateboarder from New York City opened his own Caribbean-American restaurant in The Bronx. Congrats, T.J!

Need more Glory Challenge content? Probably not, but Village Psychic interviewed everyone waiting outside two weeks ago about who they thought would win the World Championship Game of S.K.A.T.E.

Team Nightwork” via Kyota’s iPhone.

Basketball player and wallie noseblunt extraordinaire, Justin Henry, is the latest guest on The Bunt.

Jeff Ihaza re: Lil’ Wayne being hip-hop’s best skater, though I think Rich the Kid would wash him in S-K-A-T-E.

Quote of the Week
Gentleman Who Was Almost Maced By Montreal Police: “There was just a riot outside the bar.”
Charles Rivard: “Yeah, the city just does that to promote drinking.”

Kinda like this loosie from the winter and “Back From The 80s” more than anything on The Carter V.

Monday, Call the Girls, Get ‘Em Linked Up

Photo by Jason Lecras

We have a capsule with Nike SB releasing this Saturday, April 14. It’s definitely our best one! More info soon ♥

Gonna throw in an early left field link, but the Pass~Port in Greece edit is the best (i.e. watched it more than once) trip edit that’s dropped during 2018’s Winter Getaway Footage Dump Season (yes, I know Australia is in the southern hemisphere.) It’s always nice to learn of some nice new songs in a skate edit too :)

“That’s what I keep telling myself, ‘maybe in ten more years.’ Those ten years go by and I’m still not ready. Actually, I’ve come to terms with it, this is it.” Skate Jawn interviews productivity legend, Dave Caddo.

“In a Warhol-esque version of a future skate industry where 1% of pros earn lavish salaries and the rest ball for position, will everyone have their own brand, with price-points scaling higher in accordance with gnarliness and footage releases?” Boil the Ocean on pros’ t-shirt ventures, and the cult of Jerry Hsu’s Sci-Fi Fantasy brand.

Even if it is in the Times + includes the phrases “daredevils” and “neoliberal training grounds,” Jeff Ihaza’s feature on how skateparks came to be understood, accepted, and built passes the litmus test of linkable traditional news outlet skate coverage.

Noah Johnson’s GQ profile of the GX1000 crew does as well. (Yes, Noah skates.) “It’s frustrating shit when you almost die.” Yeah, dying seems pretty wack.

While the Times may think we “won,” we also lost one of the best ledges in lower Manhattan this past week. The deknobbed ledge at Seaport that was more-or-less a go over the past year-plus is now knobbed not only for grinds, but for manuals too!

Weckingball is the latest guest on The Bunt.

Normally don’t care about “oh, so-and-so already skated to that song”-isms — especially in this fickle footage economy — but “Blowing Up Fast” holds a special place in many hearts. This guy does a line at Three Up Three Down, hypes up P-Rod, and has never seen Baker Has a Deathwish, which is totally fine because it’s almost ten-years-old now goddamn.

And on that note! Village Psychic interviewed Josh Stewart about the unwritten rules of #musicsupervision and editing gimmicks in skate videos.

Our friends from 2nd Nature did the “winter trip to Barcelona” thing.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Everyone else is on the Sixers playoff bandwagon orrrr?

Quote of the Week
Rob Harris: “Yeah, Baker is having tricks in everyone’s part in the Alltimers video.”
Adam Zhu: “Oh, so he’s like the Gonz?”

Out of the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope

kingobamamural

YO, massive shout out to the crew, politicians, shops and community in Providence, Rhode Island, on getting an approval to turn an underused corner of their downtown into a full-on block of a skate plaza. Let this be a precedent for cities across the U.S.

Also congrats to the boy Sean Pablo on going pro

“If they didn’t name me Genesis then my dad would have named me Jubilee, from X-Men, who was a girl. That would’ve been very funny. I’m glad they named me Genesis.” Sex mag (sure) has an interview with Genny re: growing up, DANY, etc.

Zered is on Alltimers, and has a new part out to reassure you of his decade-plus status as the east coast’s most productive pro, and the king of the worst spot in Queens ;)

“It’s still the same if I just don’t let myself become too jaded and reclusive. There are still endless possibilities.” Huck has a feature with Jerry Mraz, who they apparently dubbed “The Batman of Skateboarding.”

The ender of Pat Gallaher’s Insano part is insano. Great part :)

Josh Kalis and Mike Blabac talk about the state of the plaza in 2017 + other things, and The Muska reveals what was in his backpack all those years. Get well soon bud.

Antosh and the Canadians have a new one out on TWS.

“We decided to make the game more fun so that’s why it was never a realistic simulation of skateboarding. That was key to the success of the game.” Ironic that the reason maybe 50% of the people now in their late 20s started skateboarding was something intended to be an unrealistic simulation of skateboarding. Jenkem has the oral history of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Keeping a real skate shop open in 2017 is God’s work ♥ Thank you to all who do.

Rodrigo TX skates Three Four Up Three Four Down, T.J. does a bunch of crazy shit, and lol that there’s security standing at the bottom of the bank in every clip ever gotten at the Roosevelt Island Monument in this link to a clip with 54k YouTube views.

Boil the Ocean re: Lil Wayne’s proclamation that skateboarding is a better feeling than sex with an actress while her movie is playing on a screen in the background.

Canal uploaded a 30-min 2016 Year-In-Review compilation of Instagram videos.

A bit of street skating + a Maple tee in Quim and Freddy’s Portland, M.E. visit.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Isaiah is the second funnest player in the NBA.

Quote of the Week: “Only three things are keeping me sane in 2017: cocho, hucking, and the boys.” — John Choi

‘Do you want to go on tour with Lil’ Wayne and skate on stage?’ — An Interview with Connor Champion

connor1

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.

+++++++

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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