The Sickest College Student
Last week I went to Philadelphia to do the most intimidating task an adult can do; infiltrate the skating community. Where would I begin? The first day consisted of me loitering around skate parks at Cecil B. Moore and outside the Municipal building like a fourth grader too scared to talk to a girl at a middle school dance.
At that rate I was never going to infiltrate the skating community. But I had to find a way, especially because Temple has the biggest skating population of any college in America, and with campuses shut down due to coronavirus, the new Big Men On Campus are the dudes who can do the sickest tricks.
Gone are the days of the quarterbacks, it's all about who can shred on a quarterpipe.
Luckily I found the leader of the skaters, a dude named Jahbulbatron, aka Jahmir Brown. He's legitimately the best skater from Philly skating in the city right now. He has "the glow."
The story took a million turns; fighting, protests, prostitution. My biggest takeaway is that skaters had a community all their own, one into which I deeply wanted to be accepted.
I learned a ton. Baggy, in. Skinny, out. Posing, not cool. Being authentic to your craft but also not shady, cool.
Not to spoil the video, but I was also joined by local college student J Griff. J Griff unleashed a trick no one had seen before, in fact one that had never been done before, in this video. He calls it the Cancel Flip. If you see anyone else try this next-level shit, you know that they got it here first.
As always thank you to the people that helped make this video possible, including Jahbulbatron, J Griff, Mike Wallace and Mike Obes on production, and the countless other skaters we shot in Philly.
Bussup.