interview by Jonathan Becker

What got you into skating?
When I was younger, before I even skated, my mom threw this contest every year. It was this whole street culture event, a bunch of graff heads would go there, local MC’s, skaters would go for the skate contest, and b-boys would have battles or whatever. I was growing up going to that and I never paid attention to any of the skating until one day, there was a set outside of the park. I was going to use the bathroom outside of the building where it was and I saw this guy ollieing the six stair and was like, “Woah, that is not what they are doing inside the park.” This dude is outside of the park skating, that’s sick! My cousin left his board in our backyard and I found it the next day then started skating on my porch. Black Sheep Skateshop used to sponsor the event when she did them and around the last year my mom did the event, Josh (the owner) gave me a complete with a legit set up.  

Do you remember what the set up was?
Dude, it was a Black Sheep Mountain Dew collab board. I swear to god it was the sickest board ever and it was a 7.5. This was around 2011 and I remember I put a giant Neff sticker on the nose. Wish I still had the board, it was so ill. 

When did you start riding for Black Sheep?
Right after I could skate again after having knee surgery, maybe the end of 2019. The homie Danny who owns Stardust Skateshop in Moorseville, NC, he put in a good word for me with Josh and everything kind of started from that. He used to be the manager there and run the shit with Josh and Richie. Danny and I were just skating Eastland DIY together in the mornings by coincidence cause I would just skip school and go there. We were talking and he was just telling me to come by the shop. At first they ended up giving me a job at the shop and I didn’t even ride for them or anything. I guess it all just worked out. 

In what capacity were you involved with Eastland DIY?
I helped pour some crete, I helped redo a bunch of stuff there. I helped fend off local fiends, I was there everyday, so I was just in the loop. I’d make sure no one skated something until it was ready, I remember my homies and I running people out who were trying to mess with shit. But yeah, helping build stuff and giving ideas for what should be made. Steve (Barrett) would just ask me, Jermaine (Whittaker), and a few other heads what we wanted to see next, or if we had any ideas for the space. I wasn’t out there building every single thing we had, but I definitely had my hands in some of it. 

Is this around the same time that all the homies come together and become the 5301CLT crew?
Pretty much, I want to say Eastland started late 2015 early 2016. Then the first 5301 video came out late 2018 early 2019. All of us would just go skate there cause it was close to pretty much all of our houses. There was no other place to go skate, we really didn’t have any skateparks unless you were trying to go pay money or wear a helmet. So that was the meet up, if you weren’t going to skate street you were there. You didn’t really have a choice honestly. It was just the local, everyone who skated went there so you just got to meet everyone in the scene. For the people that are older than me, it kind of always has been the same. The DIY generations in Charlotte, NC were pretty much in the same vicinity or town which just so happened to be not that far from my parents place growing up, so I would always go to all of them. When I moved out, all of them were about 5 minutes from any place I ever lived in Charlotte and they are all on the East side too. 

Let’s talk about the 5301 van, how did it become the communal car for y’all?
Realistically what happened was we had planned a trip with 12 people from Charlotte to Nashville then Atlanta. We figured we should probably rent a van and I swear to god after googling Sprinter vans I saw a flyer for a contest in Fayetteville, NC that was a best trick and the winner gets a Dodge Cargo Van. So we all went out, three cars deep and thought “If ten of us go at least someone has a shot at winning this thing so we can take this trip.” I ended up winning it and a week later we went on the trip. 

Did you even register it or you just sent it?
Hell no, it wasn’t registered or anything. We had dead tags, that thing was fucked. No insurance, I didn’t worry about any of that until we got back. 

I’ve heard some sketchy stories about it, what were some of the gnarly things about the van?Probably just the lights cutting off. Towards the tail end Jermaine told me some crazy stuff about when he was using it and it would just die while he was driving so I don’t know. I let Ethan (Kaplan) drive it to Myrtle Beach and he was telling me he was coming back down some backwood road and the lights kept cutting on and off. It was my van and I think out of all the homies I drove it the least. I had just gotten a car two weeks before getting the van, but we weren’t going to fit 12 people in the Toyota Corolla. 

You took the Toyota on a bunch of other trips though right?
Yeah, I took it up the coast because our lease was ending and we had a gap between the new one and the old one. So I just needed a break from Charlotte and took the back two seats out to convert it into a little camper basically. I made a bed in the back and got a Planet Fitness membership so I could shower at the gym. I quit my job at that time too so I was just DoorDashing to make money. I was just buying food and paying for gas while going up the East Coast skating. I went from Charlotte to Richmond then went to DC. From there I went to Philly and stayed in NYC for three weeks after that and then went home. 

What was one of the more memorable trips you have been on and why?
Probably when you and I went cross country. We pretty much stopped everywhere and I had never thought that I would do anything like that. It was super last minute too because it was pretty much back to back from staying in NYC. Then I broke my toe two days before we left, so we were on the road for a month and I had a broken toe and couldn’t skate. That was crazy. I remember we drove into Albuquerque, NM, I parked and looked at my foot and the whole thing was swollen from it being broken and driving. I was like “Oh I should go get this checked out” and that was already like two weeks into the trip. The whole time in my mind I was thinking to myself that I would be able to skate at some point during this trip, like there is no way I’m going to go cross country and back and not skate once! But that is exactly what happened. Still probably the best trip I have ever been on though.

Had any of your trips in particular led you to believe you were going to move to Philly? How did that go down?
I don’t even think I had gone to Philly before going up the East Coast. I’m pretty sure that was the first time and I was only there for like three days staying with the homie Collin Underwood. We just went out and filmed. In my mind I was like, I may move to any of these cities that I stop at but I have always been infatuated with the skate history in Philly. I kind of felt like NYC was too fast paced for me at that time. I feel like when I stayed with you in NYC and it rained for a week straight that just really bummed me out. I really hate being in NYC when it rains. It is just a whole different experience I guess. Not everything is sunshine and flowers, but that just really bummed me out being wet on the train and shit. That shit sucks bro, the train smells bro OD. I guess Philly is also just the easiest city to travel to and from in the Northeast. So in that way it kind of emulates Charlotte in a way because Charlotte is geographically the easiest city to travel to and from in the Southeast. They are both cheap too, straight up. 

You started making “5301Mix”, what does a typical track list sound like from your playlist?
I can’t even tell you what to expect, I honestly started making them to hear what songs my homies were listening to. So every song in every mix is one song from each homie in 5301 and I just throw them all together. I’ll remix a song or two, here or there. I was only able to do it because Jahmir Brown showed me this DJ app he had on his phone. I got that and would just be at Nocturnal working and be on the DJ app my entire shift. Smoking weed, mixing songs, and gripping boards; that sounds like a solid eight hours to me. 

How did you get involved with FTP and what they have going on?
I have a bunch of homies working and skating for the brand and just wanted to do something with my homies. I wanted to feel like I was a part of something with people that I have relationships with prior to me being on a team with them. Not be as anxious like going into somewhere not knowing anyone. I had some homies there asking me about it, saying they could put in a good word. That is my whole fucking extent of everything, just someone putting in a good word for me. 

Nice, are you working on anything with them or what are you working on right now?
As of now I have just been sending HD stuff over to Peter at Bronze. My other stuff I have been sending to Chris at FTP. Just trying to skate. 

How did you get plugged in with Bronze?
There was a DC trip to NYC and we were at Pyramid Ledges. I was chopping it up with (Justin) Hearn and Will Marshall not even talking about skating or anything. Then like two months later I got a random DM from Matt Velez saying, “Yo what up, my name is Matt. I help film stuff for Bronze. We are doing a DC shoe collab, if you had any plans on coming out to NYC it would be sick if you came out and filmed.” I genuinely really don’t know what was up but from what I was told maybe Will put in a good word for me. It’s all word of mouth for me, shout out to Will and Matt and everyone at Bronze. And Peter and Pat for sure!

What’s your set-up looking like these days?
I don’t know if you want me to nerd out, but its an 8.0 FTP board with 14 ¼ wheel base and it is 32” in length, black Mob grip cause we don’t fuck with Jessup over here, 5.2 Ventures with the purple bushings, some 54mm 97a Pig Wheels, Bronze hardware, and some Bones Swiss bearings with the spacers on the inside of the truck and shields on them. I’m still skating DC’s for sure, I know there hasn’t been a TM for a few months but I still have some heads over there taking care of me. 

You like skate history but what about the Slap message board?
Yeah I am on Slap everyday for sure. I think I read Slap before I brush my teeth in the morning. Been on there for maybe 8 years. I usually just read shit, but maybe I’ll stir the pot, The people on there are mad funny.

What’s the most random job you have had?
Before I moved I used to paint murals on buildings with my homie. It was pretty sick because I am not artistically talented at all so I am not sure why anyone trusted me with that shit, but it was dope. The dude is pretty well renowned and just does murals of his art on business buildings and inside corporate offices and stuff. He had put some of his stuff on boards and hit me up to make a video to help promote the boards by cruising around the city with it. He hit me up like six months later and was like “Yo do you want a job?” Shout out Kyle Mosher.