What are you up to today? About to go skate?

I’m just at my crib right now resting. Was going to go get a haircut and then go meet up with Dustin later to skate.

Where do you get your haircut?

I’m in Montreal, so I’ve never gotten my haircut here. I usually go to a West Indian or Jamaican barber, but there’s a shop down the street that looks pretty valid, so I’m gonna go.

Hopefully, they don’t fuck you up. Where are you from?

I live in Toronto, Ontario. It’s in Canada, but my family is from Jamaica, though.

Have you been to Jamaica? You got family there still?

Yeah, last summer I was there for two weeks, and I try to go as much as I can. My family lives in St. Anne, which is Bob Marley’s area and where his memorial is. It’s really natural. Good energy and good vibes.

You were in New York recently right?

Yeah I was with Baker, just hanging out, and we also went to the Poconos. We went to some cabin to do a lookbook for Alltimers, so I was out there doing some modeling. It was sick.

Do you come to America a lot?

I try to. I don’t mind staying in Ontario, or Canada at all. But for a lot of these trips with Alltimers they want to be in America for sure. So this year I went to a lot of states for the first time. Canada is really big, like if I were to drive from Toronto to Montreal, it would be like six hours. And there’s no way I’m driving to Vancouver, it would take like two days. America is tight because you can just go all over in a couple hours.

Is there anything you miss from Canada when you’re in America for awhile?

I get kind of intimidated having no healthcare there. I mean Toronto is a very diverse city, there’s so much different food you can try, and different spots that are amazing and multicultural. But New York has everything Toronto has to offer times ten. It’s just way bigger and I always try to travel with an open mind so I don’t miss things too much. I can be out of Canada for a long time.

Where else have you been that was sick besides Jamaica and America?

We did an Alltimers trip to Mexico City, which was amazing. But my favorite would have to be Athens. The food was amazing, we went in the winter so it was nice cool weather, sweater at night, the city is always alive and everyone is doing something day and night. I loved that place. I want to try going to Costa Rica and go see some monkeys and alligators though.

Do you take photos or film?

I used to shoot photos a lot actually. I used to live in a hood in Toronto called Jamestown in Rexdale, but my mom really wanted to get out of there for us and our future. So we moved really far outside of the city to Mississauga for ten years. It’s deep in the sticks, but still the same shit you know, government housing. So I was really trying to just do something because when I started skating, all my friends skated too. But eventually they all got caught up in gang shit, and whatnot, and stopped. Around that time people started rapping around me too, but we would always film skate videos and shit. I used a little Canon t3i with a fisheye and my friend Kirk Harriot had a VX that he taught me how to use. Then I started filming music videos with my friends who were rapping, got a better camera, then just kind of moved up. I started shooting photos for rappers around me and stuff, slowed the skating down like three years ago, but then I kind of just put the photo stuff to the side and started skating more. Photos and videos have always been something I fucked around with though, I’m just always taking a picture with anything.

You mess with film or mostly just digital?

I mean films cool, it’s really sick. The best movies and the best photos are all done on film, but it’s just so expensive. Digital is really tech and all, but for where I was and what I was doing it made sense. Because I was trying to go corporate and get good gigs or whatever. But film is another world that I respect, and I’ll dabble, but I can’t claim it. And shit, at this point you can just slap on a Portra 400 filter, and it’ll look chill.

Which do you like more? Filming for parts and sitting on footage, or just doing things and putting them right on Instagram?

Take time. The thing is, the way I grew up skating was for parts. For as long as I can remember we just had the camera that all the friends can use to film, we go out on skate missions, get footage, someone else would edit it, and we’d all put our little parts together. As soon as I stopped doing that, I felt like I stopped progressing. I liked filming a trick and then just kind of forgetting about it. I liked that whole process, but looking at Instagram, I just get so unmotivated. If anything, I’ve been trying to post on instagram, like at skateparks, since there’s so much you can do. But street right to Instagram? That’s lame, just film a part for sure. 

Do you spend a lot of time on the internet?

Too much. I try to not follow celebrities and shit, I don’t use Twitter or anything. I’m mostly just on Instagram and Tumblr looking at photos and cool stuff like cars and what not. I kind of just follow a bunch of car pages, so I’m mostly just watching a car review or some shit so it’s not too bad. I’m learning something.

Do you have a car right now?

No. In Canada the insurance for me since I’m under 25 is like $400 a month, and my rent is already too high living in the city, so I just couldn’t afford it. Until I figure out real money I’m just window shopping.

What do you do in the winter? Can you skate?

I try to work, get a freelance photography job here and there. PA stuff so I can soak up some knowledge, because down the line I do want to get into that world and the film industry eventually. Try to stay active and go to the gym once in a while. There is a dope indoor skatepark where I used to live, it’s called CJ’s, actually it’s pretty lame. Not talking shit here, the park is okay, but it’s just crazy because there’s so many kids there. You could be trying something and potentially land right on a kid with a scooter. But the winter is pretty depressing otherwise. I’ll binge watch anime episodes, or play games.

What video games you play?

Apex Legends on Xbox. I think I play every single day, and it’s free too. Forza so I can customize some cars. Right now I’m playing Zelda on the Nintendo Switch, it’s so tight.

Are you hyped weed is legal in Canada now?

I don’t smoke too much. I try not to, but yeah. It’s crazy to me that it’s legal now because I’ve seen so many homies get locked up for it and it’s sad because they ruined a bunch of people’s lives for something that’s now completely legal. It’s really good that in the future kids don’t have to go through that shit, and worry so much about hiding their weed, that’s lame. Selling it is one thing, but just a couple grams shouldn’t make you feel sketched.

Do you think being a Canadian skater it’s harder to get shine?

Oh yeah. I was just talking about this the other day. I’ve seen people who for sure deserve more shine. I’m 21, and when I was 15, the guys who were 21 were definitely better than me now, but now they’re just working in trades welding or doing plumbing. They should have had a career but they just got no light on them in their prime, which sucks because they had to pave the way for kids like me. They showed me what to do and how to fix spots before I even knew what bondo was. They made it skateable in Toronto and they got no light. Shout out Kirk Harriot because he literally put me on to everything, and I don’t think he got the shine he deserved. There’s a lot more of them too, but he was dope.

How did you first get hooked up for skating?

I kind of never really cared about sponsors too much. All I ever really wanted was a board and a discount for some shit. There wasn’t any skateshops near enough to me, and my mom doesn’t drive, so when I was 13 I wasn’t gonna hop on the bus for an hour or two. The closest one was West 49, which is just like a Canadian chain store that was kind of a skate store. There might have been like 500 of them at one time. They’d have a little flow program where there would be four kids from the area on the team for each store and they’d get 40% off. It was a dope program because there’s only a couple core shops in Canada, and being a kid like me you don’t really have too much so that’s the perfect deal. That was my first sponsor. In high school they were just hooking me up with shoes and boards, so that was really dope.

Got any last words or shoutouts?

Shoutout everyone in Toronto, Jivcoff, Jacob Bouleo, shoutout Jesse Williams, fucking Kirk Harriot, Tatum Dorier, Zach Baker, Pryce Holmes, shoutout the whole Alltimers team, Vans Canada, fucking Gio Vaca GOAT. Shoutout Bob, I don’t know much love to everyone.