What’s up Lorenzo? How’re you enjoying New York so far?

I’ve never been here to skate and it’s way more fun than I’ve ever had, even though it kind of sucks that you have to take the train everywhere.

When are you going to move here?

Oh dude, don’t do that. It’s coming soon, I’m trying to graduate first. It’s expensive to live here if you don’t have your shit straight, and I’m definitely trying to have my shit straight. 

What are your thoughts on Virginia? Tell me about where you’re from.

Virginia’s cool. It’s laid back, but the skate scene is pretty divisive. I wish people would connect more because that’s the point of skateboarding. 

Do you see that division issue improving or do you think it’s a lost cause?

It’s getting better honestly. As much as I can’t stand the scene sometimes, I’ve made so many connections and I love all the friends I have now. There’s always hope, but there was a point where it was just way too divisive and way too political. It almost seemed anti-skateboarding and it was super weird. 

Who are some of your biggest influences on the board?

First off, Alexis Sablone. She’s like top to bottom inspirational. If you want to go local, all my little homies, Frank, Ray, even my big homie Kwamena, they all inspire me to do better and to be better. They remind me to have fun, that it’s not all serious. The old heads like Shane, how he’s still skating is so sick. Skating with those guys you can see the path where you were, the present, and where you want to be. They all help me to see the fun in it still. They’re not only focusing on getting clips, we can be like, “let’s fuck with this curb for an hour.” That’s skateboarding, it’s more about fucking around than always getting clips. 

Do you think enough people prioritize the right stuff?

Yeah. You should cherish the sweet moments, and don’t let them inflate your ego. That shit is so disgusting. It should be about you wanting to have fun. Skating is free therapy. 

What about some of your musical influences? 

My music taste is kind of basic, but I love Blood Orange. Prior to that, Toro y Moi, ODB, Max B, Ab-Soul, and Earl have all been huge.

If you could only pick one part to watch for the rest of your life what would it be?

I’d have to pick something lo-fi, it can’t be too brute. I can’t get hyped on something too brute forever. Either Dill in Photosynthesis, because he’s the GOAT, or Eli Reed’s Red Balloon because it’s very stylish. You need to emphasize how you do it, not what you do. Oh yeah, and Louie Barletta in Man Down. 

How would you describe the climate of skateboarding right now?

I like all the small brands. I would rather encourage a small brand than somebody else that would come in and appropriate the culture and do something else with it to make a lot of money because they have the capital to. You want companies that come from skateboarding. The Olympics is going to come and we’re gonna have more eyes on us. Everyone really needs to band together, because we’re either going to do something great or fuck ourselves. If we got our shit together and didn’t fight we’d rule the world. We’d have so much influence. We want it to be authentic, skateboarders thrive on that (authenticity). So why don’t we take this business shit and make it authentic. 

So you’re saying that more skateboarders need business degrees?

Fuck no. More skateboarders need to get buddy buddy with the business niggas and finesse them. If you put your whole life into something, you shouldn’t also have to drive Uber to support yourself. 

Have you read any good books lately?

My favorite book from the last year and a half has been Between the World and Me. It’s by Ta-Nehisi Coates who writes for Black Panther Comics. It’s a book about how the black experience in America is really weird and people don’t really want to acknowledge how unfortunate it is. I’ve given my copy to three or four different people and they all loved it. I gave it to my girlfriend who was like, “thank you for this. I now have a different perspective on how you have to navigate.” His literary device is a letter to his kid, telling him “look out for these things because they will be the death of you, and here’s why.” It’s low key visceral but it’s not in your face.  

That sounds like a good read.

It makes me think about how black kids in skateboarding have those same pressures. As black skaters, we deal with all these things in this book, but couple that with the common perception of being a skateboarder and some people will think “this is the most garbage kid ever.” People perceive you as all these bad things and it’s way worse. It can feel like you can’t win but even through that they still skate. If you look at Tyshawn you can see that he doesn’t give a fuck, he’s being authentically him. You can see people gravitating to that, like little white kids on Instagram wearing durags. When you’re young and you’re a skateboarder the race thing doesn’t matter, you want to emulate your favorite style or your favorite skater, not your favorite color. It’s sick as fuck, I have so much hope for the future.

Best styles?

Ray Barbee, Alexis Sablone, Al Davis, Dill, and Dylan of course. 

I was told to ask what is your favorite drink to get at the bar.

Haha fuck you Jonah. White Russians.

You sure that’s right?

Or anything fruity haha. Passion fruit drinks are tough. I have zero ego when it comes to drinking, everyone knows drinking sucks so why not make it fun? 

Do you think humanity is going to make it?

You want me to be real with you? My existential anxiety has been on 100 recently. Not that it seems helpless, but climate change is gnarly, political shit is getting gnarly, people are becoming polarized. There’s a lot more hate and a lot more division, but only on the surface. It’s just the media projecting that. It does make me feel like this shit might not last. But human tenacity is pretty gnarly so I don’t think we have anything to worry about. 

Any shout outs?

Shout out to my family, to my girlfriend, and to anybody that supports me. Super shout out to any skate shop though because what they’re doing is so hard right now. They’re doing the Lord’s work. They’re doing the most thankless job and to do that is incredible. I could never walk into a Zumiez comfortably. I could not buy something online comfortably. There’s a lot of stuff I can’t do comfortably that I can do in a skate shop. You need that.