My life can be broken into parts by passions: Lego/skateboarding/basketball/rap/family. I've long wanted to make a song about skateboarding and, with this release, finally got around to it. As skateboarding was the focal point of my life from 8th through 11th grade (not to mention was a constant when moving from Australia to the States), there wasn't a dearth of experience to draw into material. My apologies to Natas and Pushead references, both of which were left on the cutting room floor.
lyrics
And that skateboard of mine became a passport
A urethane wheeled limousine complete with crash course
Right thumb permanently bigger than my left one
Screaming voiceless when all my breath had left lungs
The friendships I made continue to this very day
The nervous bank teller hoping boys would go their merry way
Running from the mall security, hauling down back alleys
Green light means go, scared hearts in that valley
Cleaning out the bearings, swapping out the decks and trucks
Maintenance was a favorite, could never get enough
Summer job money gave me fuel to keep the habit up
Slimeballs and some Thunder trucks, I'm nabbing stuff
Had a Gator sweatshirt before he had went nuts
Silkscreened my own Bones Brigade sweatshirt, but the S sucked
Looked kind of like an R and that was junior high days
Speed wobbles were a killer, board it would vibrate
The colder a day, the longer the sting of a fall would last
Got myself leather gloves with the foam for the crash
Calling time and temp hoping the rain wouldn't fall
Wishing we had a skatepark and instead of a mall
Chris, Trevor, Ben, and myself, riding skateboards
The only thing I really wanted to do was skate more
We weren't that great, but we had a lot of fun with it
Same terrain came with new thrills with the sun hidden
Caballero with the Boneite, rolling on Vision XTs
Independent 159s and Schmitt Stix
Powell Peralta tail bone kept my ollies guilt free
My first pro model to this day I can still see
Snapped my Roskopp street at the bandstand
Blamed it on the narrow hip area, Van Damme
Each left kick ended up coated in shoe goo
The grip tape versus shoe battle that shoes lose
Cutting grip tape in ill ways with the snap blades
Finishing the job with paint pens to pass the black days
Mike McGill skull and snake taught me how to illustrate
Pretty much all I drew and did the illest takes
Animal Chin didn’t need to sweat me spilling beans
Skate videos constantly supplied the illest dreams
Bass line, Black Flag’s six pack mesmerized me
That I followed those breadcrumbs to more tunes was less suprising
Playing skate or die on my friend's Nintendo
And 720 on the Atari gnarly crescendo
Eighth grade dyed my bangs at Eric Bunde's with raw bleach
Right before school picture day, I'm the boss, please
Hook
The clinic parking curb so slick that we were scared of it
Hit that parking lot but wouldn’t dare touch it
Skating in my basement in the coldest Minnesota winters
Ducking so I didn’t clip my head, getting rolled and injured
Our bible, the California Cheap Skates catalog
And pretty much any dimension I could rattle off
Minis and fulls, wheel durometers and and truck widths
Thumbing through those worn pages gave me such bliss
The ramp you had to find a notary to sign the waiver for
Legendary older skaters, greater than the ways we tore
Riding down hill in the middle of the road
Invincibility is for the young who didn't know
Skateboarding isn't a crime, slap the sticker up
Ask my spattered Micky Alba shirt, I'm giving blood
Old scabs spilling fresh red after new falls
The abbatoir look complete with a few crawls
Had a pair of monster Rectors keeping my knees safe
Felt like a bullet proof jacket for each leg
Skatemaster Tate selling tapes on the back of Thrasher
Transworld felt like a sellout cause passion matters
Started following Juga-Naut upon hearing him break down life and rap relating to Kool G Rap on Crate808 and I've been a fan since. Wordplay, skill, the dope backdrops, what's not to love? Sankofa
supported by 6 fans who also own “Chris, Trevor, Ben, and myself”
Album of the year. In a fair and just world, they would be headlining festivals with this one. Big hooks. Vivid verses. Fingers-crossed, the instrumentals will get the vinyl treatment. Goodwill Hunter
