Interview by Marcus Waldron. Photos by Sean Coates.
You never know where things are going to take you. For TJ Atoms making music with his friends, skating, and hanging out downtown has led to starring in a major TV show produced by the RZA. We talk with the Philadelphia native about the making of Wu Tang: An American Saga, and catch up on his other projects.
What’s up man?
Big fan of Skate Jawn homie!
Yo respect! Did you start doing music first or skateboarding?
I started skating first bro. I started skating at City Hall, Love Park, when Love was there, and Cecil too. After that, I linked up with a couple of homies who skated and that’s when we started the Bakery Boys. That’s when we really started making music.
I remember seeing you guys at Love Park, I feel like you were there all the time. Do you have any stories from there?
I remember the last couple days of Love, it was freezing fuckin’ cold. We had trash cans on fire! People were still going down the Love gap. I just remember thinking, “How the fuck are people skating this hard in this cold weather bro?” It was definitely below freezing. My feet were fucking frozen. All I could do was pose and skate around. It was legendary. I remember getting chased out by bike cops, I mean y’all probably still do, but that shit used to be crazy. They took their job so seriously. Even as an adult, I don’t understand why bike cops went so hard against skaters.
You been skating much?
I always got a cruiser board. I stay with a cruiser board, but I don’t really skate as much as I used to. I’m actually writing a skate movie that I’m shooting in Philly, that I’m gonna have to catch up on my skills for. I’m gonna need some extras too so I’ll probably call Skate Jawn for those and get a reporter down there.
You been following skating much? Watching videos?
I keep up with a couple homies. I haven’t seen a video in a minute now. I know Ishod still killing shit, that’s the homie. I keep up with the homies that I’ve seen come up. Jahmir Brown, that’s my guy.
So I’ve heard this story, you said you were chilling in the park one day and someone came up and cast you for this music video right?
I was just chilling at Rittenhouse, we probably just got kicked out of Love Park and I was just chilling. Some lady just came up to me out of the blue, “You got the style I’d like for this video.” It ended up being an August Burns Red video. Shout out August Burns Red, heavy metal rock band. I never really listen to heavy metal at all, but for me to get in their video helped me actually start my acting career low key. So that’s like a rare fun fact bro.
What was the filming for that music video like? Was that your first time on a real set?
It was the first time I was on a real set. It was like a fuckin movie set. They had trailers and food, you know how it is with skater bro, we were really outside trying to get food. Like we used to steal from Wawa type shit. But they had free food, they paid me, I was like “Nah this is it.” We fuckin’ lit a car on fire and we busted out the windows with bats. I was sold after that bro, I was like, “I think I wanna be an actor now.” I was fully submerged in music as well so I was like music is dope, but that whole experience is different.
When you went in to audition for the Wu Tang: An American Saga, you tried out for Raekwon, right? What made you go for him?
I had no choice, they just had an audition process and my agent will just see something that’s kinda similar to the characteristics that they’re submitting and the director will say yay or nay. They basically called me in for Raekwon and I knew I didn’t look anything like him so I just did my best and they called me back in for ODB out of nowhere. I didn’t think I could do ODB, but I went in a few times, and they ended up sticking with me. They made a great decision. They got crazy insight for that though because I didn’t think I was ODB at all.
You’re pretty much self-taught. Do you have any actors that you would say are big influences or anyone that you speak to for advice with acting?
I don’t really have any acting OG’s yet, I’m fairly new but people I grew up watching like Tupac, Denzel, Will Smith, those are the people that inspire me with what they bring to their characters. They’re traditional actors, but they have their own twist to it. That’s what acting is about to me, bringing a little bit of yourself to the character.
Are you working on a clothing line?
I’m actually setting up a photoshoot right now. It’s a high fashion streetwear brand. I’m definitely getting a skate team so if any skaters reading this, go reach out to me @tjatoms on IG and Twitter. I’m trying to do it big man. Probably gonna do a skate video for the first couple months, go on a tour you know what I’m saying. I’m a super fan of the skate world. I remember those Chocolate videos and Fanatic videos where they could just go on tour and skate, that was a part of my childhood so I wanna do some cool shit like that.
What’s up with your music right now, got an album you’re working on?
Yeah, I got a dope ass album about to drop in a few months but I’m gonna start dropping singles. I might drop one tomorrow actually, it’s called “Potato Chips.” It’s the first song on the album. I’ve been working hard on music man, just making sure my sound is on point and making sure my quality of music is better than the quantity. You know a lot of people put out a lot of shit and it all sounds the same. Nobody sounds like me, so I just make sure the quality is the best I can put out. I might just drop that shit tomorrow for y’all.
You planning any music videos for this new stuff?
I got a bunch of music videos in the cut right now I’m just sorting out the footage actually. I edit some of my music videos myself, I’m like a one man army. I chop the video, I make the song, my homie shoots the videos. I’m working with other directors right now, but I got a bunch of videos in the cut that I’m about to start flooding the streets with.
Do you think skateboarding has helped you get to where you are now or helps you do what you do?
To be honest, if it wasn’t for skateboarding I don’t know where I would be. Skateboarding helped me get out the hood physically, showed me a new life. I met new people, and it put me in certain places. If I wasn’t skating I wouldn’t have been downtown that day, I probably would have been somewhere in the hood with the homies. Since I was skating I was downtown able to have that opportunity present itself. So that’s why I keep skating dear to my heart cause I really don’t know where I would be without skateboarding.
Respect man, thanks for doing this. Anyone you want to thank?
I wanna thank the whole Wu-Tang Clan, God, my mom, you know the people that supported me, Baked Life. It was a whole group of people, the community. Shout out to the community.
