Interview by Smalls.

Photos by Toby Angel.

Jimmy P already ran through most of the early history in your Skate Talk interview a few years ago. You basically grew up in Capitol Heights, MD?

I was born uptown (DC) on Fairmont Street, but we ended up in Capitol Heights around 1986 or ’87.

And you got into skating through BMX?

What happened was, I was riding BMX bikes. My mother had bought me a skateboard for Christmas, but it was a big Executioner board. I didn’t really know what to do with it, just sit down and ride down a hill. I had an aunt who lived in Alexandria, and there was a kid in her neighborhood named Stephen and him and his friend had skateboards. I noticed that their skateboards were in some of my BMX magazines, in a California Cheapskate ad. So I asked my mom to buy me one of those boards. At first she thought I was crazy asking for a $100 board. She winded up ordering me a Jeff Kendall, Indy’s, OJs, and Vans, the whole nine yards. Then I started getting Thrasher magazines and I really got to see what other people were doing. That’s around the time when this guy Khalise moved to my neighborhood. I remember the first time we saw each other, he thought we were about to jump him, so he ran. We caught up to him and eventually became really good friends. He went on to tell me about the skaters in his old neighborhood around Potomac Ave – Adam Harding, Jesse Caldwell, his brother Graham. This was also around the time my first little crew started fading away and getting into other things. I was like, skating is what I fell in love with, this is what the fuck I want to do right here. Khalise took me to Adam’s house off Potomac Ave, and I was just stoked to meet another black skater that lived in DC. I had no idea about other black skaters here.

So there was a crew of black skateboarders in that neighborhood in the mid to late 1980s?

There was. It was Khalise, Adam, Jesse, Graham, this dude Patrick, Khalise’s brother Aziz, Randy Corey, Tim Bullock, Ron Parcells, Ahmed Dasha.

What do you think sparked that interest?

At first, I really wanted to surf, and that was definitely from movies, clothes, all that.

I guess skating is sort of the next best thing if you don’t have access to an ocean.

I can remember really clearly that the environment I was living in – I didn’t want to participate in that. For sure. So I found skating, fell in love with it, and once I really knew this is what I wanted to do, I found a group of friends that was for it, and it got me out of that environment. And that was a nice, peaceful thing. And remember, this is the height of the crack epidemic. I saw all of that shit go down.
So after I met Adam and all those dudes, we skated from his house near Potomac Ave metro station over to Jesse’s house in the Lincoln Park area. We get to Jesse’s house, and he’s got a little launch ramp. Brian Tucci pops up because he’s friends with all of these guys too, but he was from the North Capitol area, up by the hospital. When I first saw him, it was just like, “what is going on here?” Here I am, knowing how to ollie, kickflip, but still just learning. And this guy is doing two foot no-complys, ollieing over the launch ramp, and looking really, really good. Like damn, this is what I’m doing now, this is how all this shit comes together. We worked our way over to Archives, and it was just a bunch of skaters. Archives used to be more jumpin then Pulaski. When I say it was poppin, it was poppin, everybody was there: Steve Teague, Sheffey, Sonny Dukes, Ray Llanos, Hojin, this kid Kevin from Seven Waves, Dave Lim’s brother Jerry, obviously Pep, Chris Hall, Andy Stone, Jim Gordy, Eben Jahnke, this dude Jay Madrid. Like these were the guys before us, we stayed the fuck out of their way. So I’m intimidated now. I just sat the fuck down.

Had you seen any of these guys before?

Nah, nah, I had only seen skating in the Powell videos that my mom would order on tape.

And a lot of that footage was out in California and beyond.

Right. And so in my mind, that’s what I’m thinking, that’s where all the skating is going down. Ain’t no skating in Washington DC.

I wanted to ask about this Capital Skateboards ad (Pooch, Andy Stone, and Pepe Martinez walking down the sidewalk facing the photographer).

That photo was taken by Randy Bobbit. Randy is my brother. We took that photo up on F Street, back when it was jumpin, back when it had some substance, you know what I’m sayin. So that’s why the photo was taken the way it was taken. And there’s another one where we’re sitting and laughing on a cellar door, which was another Capital ad from the same day. This was in the beginning – letting people know this was happening. Right after we were all on Element together.

The Andy Stone Chrome Ball Incident interview goes into plenty of detail about founder Mike Agnew and the demise of Capital, but I was wondering what your perspective was?

What’s crazy is – do you remember Attitude? The skateshop? The two dudes that ran that shop warned us. Andy was more on the business side than me, I was just a skater. But I was friends with the Attitude guys, and I remember them warning us. I was just in Andy and Pep’s back pocket. But I never got a genuine vibe from that guy, never any genuine love. And then I got kicked off Capital.

Did he give you a reason?

He didn’t want to be straight up, but it was me. I wasn’t producing. In the beginning, I was stoked, he’s flying me here and there, going on tour. But my partying got out of hand. So that was that. But I already knew he just wanted Pep and Andy for his little thing.

Good on Pep and Andy for bringing you along with them.

This is our boy, we want him on the squad. But yea, I’ll be the first to admit ‘98, that’s when Pooch was just gone. I lost sight. My partying just got out of control. Which led to addiction. At that point I’m not even partying, now I need drugs just to function. So that’s how that went down. I have to give Johnny Schillereff a shout out. When I skated for Element, he really took care of me. He took care of all of us. When they started Capital, I could have stayed on Element, but I just thought I should stick with Pep and Andy.

Moving in a less-serious direction, what’s the most dice winnings you’ve walked out of the plaza with in one day?

That’s a great question. $271.

Was that recently or back in the day?

Back in the day I just sold product. We were shooting here and near back then, but it was much more about just selling product than anything. But I remember walking out with $271 just this year.

So what got you into shooting then? Because I always assumed that started in the early days.

We did shoot dice back then, but not like we do today. And really, I’ve just always looked at it as a way of building with the fellas. Building with the younger dudes, I taught them how to play. So it’s bigger than just coming down here and winning money, it’s a gathering. That’s what I really get out of it. I ain’t no hustler or gambler, I really enjoy the people and the shit-talking.

Who’s the best out here?

#1 is Rahzel. You have to know the game to play with him. I enjoy shooting with Rahzel. But I’m not gonna say Hojin, because he…it can get personal with him.

Like your friendship is on the line.

Exactly, because this is what he does. So I’m not gonna say Hojin. But I also can’t leave him out. Does that make sense?

He’s in his own category.

Right. But it’s definitely a newer thing – like Cairo know the game, Haneef, Hudson. But I remember Rahzel clearly, he always wants to get it poppin. And when Kevin ain’t skatin, when he’s winding down, he’s ready to shoot. I know I’m missing people, though.

I also wanted to touch on the old MLK Library. I feel like that spot doesn’t get talked about and a lot of younger dudes today don’t even know it existed.

Honestly, MLK for me was a dope spot, but when it was poppin, I was in and out. So if my homies were up there skating when I showed up, I’d skate, but it was never like “meet me at MLK”. That just wasn’t my spot.

But you still got something there for DC’s 411 Metrospective?

That was one of those days. Didn’t really skate, but I popped up and got a clip. Probably someone else’s board. Like that 180 nosegrind at the hung jury ledges, I remember that clearly. I wasn’t even skating then, Reda just called me like “I’m in town, let’s get a photo!”

Anything you want to close with?

I want to show love and gratitude for Brian at Crushed Skateshop, Maury from Venue Skateshop, Tyler Tufty, Stevie Williams, and Pulaski generations young and old.