Being Nyjah Huston

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find Kicking off Black History Month with star power, Nyjah Huston joins The Pivot to talk about his rise to the top and managing the pressures of success and stardom. Sitting down with Ryan, Fred and Channing, Nyjah describes his childhood with a Rastafarian upbringing and how his strict lifestyle growing up with his father shaped the man he is today. Despite not speaking in over six years, Nyjah credits his father for helping him stay the course to becoming the best at his craft and providing him with the discipline to rewrite the history books. The guys discuss the differences fear and injury play into skateboarding while comparing it to football and the game they played for years. As the highest paid skateboarder living a young, loose lifestyle in Southern California, Channing and Ryan don’t miss the chance to ask Nyjah to dish on his bachelor lifestyle and what it’s like to be a single young black man who has With years at the top winning back to back championships and events, Nyjah explains to Fred that it was hard to tune out the naysayers but he remained humble and grounded which ultimately allowed him to bounce back and Pivot when an unexpected fall came his way. After a disappointing Olympics performance where he was the gold favorite, Nyjah took time to reflect upon the experience and open up on what went wrong and the aftermath of his experience. Joined by Chervin Jafarieh, Founder of Cymbiotica, who is a mentor and spiritual coach to Nyjah, the conversation further explores the importance of mental wellness and the necessary habits to sustain success at a high level and obtain optimal results in athletics as well as all areas of life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake-up call at 5:55 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  What up, dawg? What's up, my dog? Ain't nothing, man. Did you go to sleep, though, for the tats on your legs?

• 0:37Channing Crowder?

  You going to sleep to get a tattoo, bro?

• 0:38Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so like Joe Hayden, OBJ, they'll get to...

• 0:41Channing Crowder?

  It's rich.

• 0:42Speaker 03

  No, he has a tattoo!

• 0:43Ryan Clark?

  I like the part that I have to fight through a tattoo.

• 0:46Speaker 04

  Me too. It makes it so much more rewarding.

• 0:48Channing Crowder?

  When I got mine, you bring a bad woman with you, and you see that you taking that pain, and you stare at her and look her in the eyes.

• 0:55Ryan Clark?

  And she like, "You hard."

• 0:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's what it is.

• 0:58Ryan Clark?

  Shut the hell up, that's not true.

• 0:59Speaker 03

  That's what I did, yeah!

• 1:00Ryan Clark?

  That's not true.

• 1:03Speaker 04

  I like that.

• 1:26Ryan Clark?

  All right, listen, guys. We back on the pivot. We got Freddie T., Randolph, somebody who's truly pivoted. Someone who, as an African-American, as a black man, is a skateboarder. Nigel Houston. And that's different. And the other part of it is, too, this is something like you jumped into the X-Games at 11, right? You got on the circuit at a young age. What was it that made you want to excel at that? Because it's even... Thinking about you, reading about it, it was that like your pops didn't want y'all involved in like team sports.

• 1:55Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:56Ryan Clark?

  Right? It was about individual sports, which is different from all of us, because we all played football.

• 2:00Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, it's so different.

• 2:01Fred Taylor?

  You just started at seven, right?

• 2:03Speaker 04

  I started at five. I was even pushing around a little bit when I was four. I was like rolling around on my knees. Then when I was five, I was getting it going, but my dad was a skateboarder back in his teenage years. Had like a half pipe, close to where he was from, but his parents, I mean, skateboarding was at such a different point back then. It was looked at as not nearly a way that you could make a living or make money. It was looked at like a hobby or something fun to do. So his parents weren't supportive on it. So I think when he had me and my brothers, he wanted to get us in it as soon as possible. And I think, I think the main reason why I excelled so fast was just that like, that pure love for, for the craft and the art of skateboarding. Because it is so much more than a sport and it's actually just starting to get looked at more as a sport lately with it making to Olympics and stuff like that.

• 2:46Ryan Clark?

  So when you look at skateboarding, you keep, you know, and we keep saying, obviously it is a sport.

• 2:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 2:51Ryan Clark?

  Like, what is the, the thought on being a skateboarder in the sense of athleticism and being an athlete? You know, you talked about excelling and loving it because, and, and being good at it because you loved it. But do you feel like it takes a certain level of athleticism though, to be a great skateboarder?

• 3:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I feel like it's something that took a, a long time for people to realize. And a long time for skaters to start taking that part seriously and realizing like, if I train and if I work out and if I strengthen these other parts of my body and take it more seriously, I'm gonna be able to skate better, I'm gonna be able to skate for a much longer time. And I mean, us, us skateboarders, we, we take a beating basically every time.

• 3:33Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, listen, dawg, I'm gonna be honest, bro. Like, we all play football, and you know what I'm saying? Like, I, I understand that. Like, I understand the physicality that's involved in football. I'm gonna put these pads on, I'm gonna try to split you in half. It is what it is. The things that you guys have to endure, the type of injuries, right? The type of collisions, the falling and all those things. Like, it is different. How do you kind of, in your mind, understand those things and embrace them in order to be great?

• 3:57Fred Taylor?

  Is it, is it a skateboarder's code to not show pain?

• 4:00Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 4:00Fred Taylor?

  I've seen a ton of your videos. I've watched you skate. You don't flinch.

• 4:05Speaker 04

  I would say it's a mixture of those things and just so much, when you're trying, if I'm skating a big rail, a 20 stair rail, there's just so much hype, so much adrenaline going through your body that like, most of the time when I do take a really hard slam, if I hit my head or whatever the case is, I will still have that determination to still want to get up and go for it again. I think that's something that was just kind of instilled in me from when I was a kid, because when I was young, my dad did push me really hard. When you're a skater coming up, it's a big thing to do your first hand rail. Like it's one thing going to a skate park and hitting a little flat bar, hitting a rail down a stair setting in the park, but when you're actually skating your first hand rail in the streets at a high school or a college or a business, wherever it's at,

• 4:49Speaker 04

  that's like a big step in your beginning skateboarding years. So I did my first one when I was six and then the years after that, my dad was just pushing me like, like 13, 15, 16 stair rails when I was nine years old. And I mean, I was scared as shit, I'm not gonna lie. I was scared as shit, but it definitely instilled like a fearlessness in me.

• 5:09Channing Crowder?

  And that's the thing too, because if you read up on it and all, they talk about how overbearing your dad was. On what happened, but even listening to you now, like, you respect him for how overbearing he was? Like what's that dynamic? Because all of us as parents and parents out there are gonna watch, that want their kid to be successful, but also what's that threshold of?

• 5:32Speaker 04

  I know, man, it's an interesting balance because I mean, I'm not gonna lie, like when I was going through that, so much pressure when I was a kid, skating contests from him putting pressure on me, like wanting me to go out in there and win all the time, and also pushing me to skate these big rails, like it was, it was hard. It was hard and it took a lot of fun out of skateboarding at the time, which sucked because I loved skateboarding so much no matter what, that I wanted to be doing it, but it was just so much pressure all the time. But now when I look back on it, I'm like, would I be where I'm at right now? Would I be the person that I am if I wasn't raised that way? So I'm definitely thankful for it.

• 6:07Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, that was the question I had for you. Do you think you would be here without your pops? But being that he was so hard on you. At what age would you just go out there and do it on your own? Because when you do it on your own, that's when you crossed into being passionate and, you know, wanting it yourself, not having to have somebody in your back pocket to say,

• 6:30Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 6:31Fred Taylor?

  Let me push, let me kick your ass.

• 6:33Speaker 04

  I mean, see, that's the most confusing part where I, I mean, I haven't talked to my dad in a lot of years now, but if I, if I were to talk to him again, that would be one thing I would want to ask him about is like, why did you feel the need to push me so hard when you saw how much I lived in anyways?

• 6:46Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 6:46Speaker 04

  I was literally the type of kid where I woke up, I had a little setup in my backyard, woke up at like 7, 8 a.m., homeschool, did like, and actually even before I even did my homework, I would go out in the backyard before I ate anything, skate for like an hour or two, my mom would have to beg me to come inside, eat my food, do my homework.

• 7:02Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 7:03Speaker 04

  Skate all day, and I would literally be in my garage, in like a small little square space in my garage, doing hundreds of kickflips over and over, and my, my mom would have to beg me to come inside and eat dinner. Like, that's just how I was as a person.

• 7:14Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned, you mentioned not talking to your pops, but listening to you speak of him, you speak of him with reverence, you speak of him with respect.

• 7:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:24Ryan Clark?

  Like, what is that relationship like and why don't y'all speak?

• 7:29Speaker 04

  Man, it's a, it's a complicated one, um, but to put it simply, I think it was really him trying to hold on to my skateboarding career.

• 7:39Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 7:39Speaker 04

  And him being my manager and just my, my guy in skateboarding for as long as possible, and then letting that get in front of and be more important than just having a relationship. With me and, and my other siblings.

• 7:52Ryan Clark?

  How, how long has it been since you spoke to him?

• 7:56Speaker 04

  Like seven, seven, eight years? Yeah, it's been a minute.

• 7:58Fred Taylor?

  Do you think he looks at his skating career and looks at how good you were gonna be? Do you think he pushed you for that reason to be great because he wasn't as good as you were?

• 8:10Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of it was him being a strict person and a strict father in general. And then also wanting to see me be the best I could and push me hard. But yeah, I mean, it's a complicated situation. Like, it's definitely confusing on how something like that can mean so much to someone that they would allow it to like mess up the relationship with myself and my other brothers and my sister, you know, it's confusing.

• 8:34Ryan Clark?

  And so, growing up, you spent time here, time in Puerto Rico as well, right? And then eventually, you left there. What was growing up like, kind of having those dynamics and your mom say, "Okay, nah, like, I think this is the best decision for us"?

• 8:50Speaker 04

  Oh, man, interesting childhood, very, very interesting, yeah.

• 8:53Ryan Clark?

  This is crazy, you know what I mean?

• 8:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I never went to normal school a day in my life.

• 8:58Ryan Clark?

  Was it always, like, you never went to normal school because you were always gonna be a skateboarder? Was like, that the thought, or it was just they wanted to homeschool the kids?

• 9:06Speaker 04

  No, even more than that, my dad was a rasta. My dad was a true rasta.

• 9:10Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  I mean, I totally back that lifestyle. I think it's a really natural, healthy, positive way of living.

• 9:18Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 9:18Speaker 04

  But I do think there are certain people that can kind of take it too far and kind of become judgmental on people that live normal lives.

• 9:28Ryan Clark?

  That don't live that way, right, right.

• 9:30Speaker 04

  So he never wanted us to go to normal school. He never wanted us to really like be kicking it with kids that were doing normal things, you know? Never went to the movies once as a kid, never was able to like watch normal cartoons or TV shows.

• 9:42Ryan Clark?

  Was it just like a total disassociation or distancing from the world? I guess mainstream, right? The world, world, like, you can't watch a cartoon, bruh?

• 9:51Speaker 04

  Yeah, it was basically just trying to keep us like secluded and like just under his wing as much as he could. And I mean, when I look back on it now, I think it was a sick way to be raised, you know? But when I was a kid, I was like, like, if I could just go to school one day and just be a normal kid just for a day, like, I should be tight.

• 10:10Ryan Clark?

  And now, when you look back on it, you think it's dope that you were raised that way? Or is it kind of like, ah, like, I feel like it would have been different had I been normalized, I guess, would be the...

• 10:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, I mean, first off, I don't think I would be where I'm at if I wasn't raised that way. In a very like disciplined, strict way. And I think that had a lot to do with transferring over to my skating and how much dedication I had to go out there and practice all the time. I mean, yeah, I missed out on a lot of fun when I was a kid, but I've I've made up for it the past few years.

• 10:39Speaker 04

  It's all good.

• 10:40Channing Crowder?

  I bet you have.

• 10:41Ryan Clark?

  Dating and all that, like you didn't.

• 10:43Channing Crowder?

  I always gotta get to women, because that's my.

• 10:45Ryan Clark?

  You too, that's what you do. So ask him.

• 10:47Channing Crowder?

  When did that dictatorship stop as a as a part of your life?

• 10:52Speaker 04

  When I was 15, that was like 14, end of 14, 15. My parents got divorced. My mom got custody of us because I hadn't seen my mom in a long time. And, yeah, that was when I could start kind of being my own person. Started getting my own friends, you know, hanging out with some girls and just just figuring out who I am as a person, you know?

• 11:11Fred Taylor?

  When'd you cut the dreads off?

• 11:12Speaker 04

  That was a year after when I was 16.

• 11:14Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 11:15Speaker 04

  And.

• 11:15Ryan Clark?

  Was it was it a thing your pops wanted you to do with the hair or?

• 11:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:19Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 11:19Speaker 04

  I mean.

• 11:20Ryan Clark?

  It's a roster lifestyle.

• 11:21Speaker 04

  Because I'm not gonna lie, like, they were sick to have and it was such a big part of my personality and just my myself as a skateboarder. But they were getting really long. So when I would skate, they would get in my face a lot and it would. I mean, I was used to it, so I could still skate good. But it got to the point where I wanted to ask my dad and be like, dude, like, I don't know what I'm gonna do about these things. Like, might have to might have to switch this up and like, cut them off soon, but ah, he would have lost it. He would have lost it. He wouldn't have had that.

• 11:46Fred Taylor?

  Did they do anything to your balance?

• 11:48Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, Freddie T, that's Freddie T.

• 11:50Fred Taylor?

  I wanna know.

• 11:51Ryan Clark?

  That is really crazy, bro. Like.

• 11:54Speaker 04

  Dude, it was a lot of hair though.

• 11:56Fred Taylor?

  I don't trust guys on the football field. They got dreads hanging like you.

• 12:00Ryan Clark?

  That's why he was sorry.

• 12:01Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 12:01Ryan Clark?

  That's why he couldn't play.

• 12:02Fred Taylor?

  I don't trust those type of guys on the football field.

• 12:05Ryan Clark?

  You're sorry?

• 12:05Channing Crowder?

  No, this is power like Sampson.

• 12:07Ryan Clark?

  That's not power.

• 12:08Fred Taylor?

  It's not power.

• 12:09Ryan Clark?

  No, it's not power. That's why, that's why.

• 12:10Channing Crowder?

  I ain't no, I'm not no roster roster, but you understand what I'm saying.

• 12:13Ryan Clark?

  That's why you went home early.

• 12:14Speaker 04

  I mean, first off, I don't think anyone on the football field's got got dreads out there like that. Mine were like.

• 12:18Fred Taylor?

  No, your dreads was crazy.

• 12:19Speaker 04

  Thick, like, bombarded, real roster dreads.

• 12:22Ryan Clark?

  Right. So what you're saying is Channing Dredge is like cute, like, it's like soft, like what he got. Nah, listen. Nah, this is a safe space, bro.

• 12:29Channing Crowder?

  You can say beautiful if you like.

• 12:30Ryan Clark?

  Hey, bro, this is a safe space. So what you're saying is when you look at his dreads, those necessarily aren't the dreads that you're talking about. That's like some pretty boy.

• 12:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's a little softer, not not the real deal.

• 12:42Ryan Clark?

  Thank you.

• 12:42Speaker 04

  Not the real deal.

• 12:45Ryan Clark?

  I let him say, your ass better not say nothing crazy now.

• 12:49Channing Crowder?

  I didn't say nothing crazy.

• 12:50Ryan Clark?

  I come across the table with that teal ass sweatshirt.

• 12:53Channing Crowder?

  First off, my sweatshirt hard.

• 12:54Ryan Clark?

  Ain't nobody scared of you.

• 12:56Fred Taylor?

  Can we get back to my question though? This is a serious question.

• 12:59Ryan Clark?

  Did it throw his balance off?

• 13:00Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 13:01Ryan Clark?

  You know, one of the best skaters in the world, like.

• 13:03Fred Taylor?

  Something happened. He just said he didn't like, he got tired of the dreads.

• 13:06Speaker 04

  I mean, more than the balance, it was them just getting, getting in my face all the time. If they would have probably gotten like six inches longer, then I would have started like rolling over them when I like landed off a trick and I'm like more, more bent down. So that was the real situation, but I mean, let's say I just had him again. I was used to it. I had him my whole life.

• 13:25Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 13:26Speaker 04

  So it was, it was cool at the time, but if I just threw those things on again, yeah, I probably would have skated the best.

• 13:30Fred Taylor?

  So that first competition, after they were gone, you showed up to the park.

• 13:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, everyone was saying I lost my powers or could have lost my powers.

• 13:36Ryan Clark?

  So dog.

• 13:37Speaker 04

  But then, but then I won my next contest though, so.

• 13:40Ryan Clark?

  So listen, bro, let's be straight up. You're a good looking dude. You skateboard. Ain't a lot of us skateboard. You live in LA, swimming everywhere. I know you party. What's it like being a young superstar like in your world though?

• 13:56Speaker 04

  It's tight, man. It's, it's.

• 13:57Ryan Clark?

  Hell yeah, it's tight.

• 13:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, it is. It is.

• 14:00Ryan Clark?

  Like you got a girl, you bounce around with girls.

• 14:03Speaker 04

  No, no, no. I've, I've been at a girlfriend for like two years now.

• 14:07Ryan Clark?

  Okay. She dumped you?

• 14:09Speaker 04

  Uh, no, that was a mutual thing.

• 14:10Ryan Clark?

  Okay. It's never mutual.

• 14:12Speaker 04

  Wasn't the right time. Wasn't the right time.

• 14:14Channing Crowder?

  That's always a lie.

• 14:16Ryan Clark?

  It's never mutual, bro. Like it's never, you never get in the conversation like, you know what babe? I don't think this working. The other person goes, you know what babe? I think you're right.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  No, no, no.

• 14:26Ryan Clark?

  That's not how it happened, fam.

• 14:27Speaker 04

  That's not how it happened, but we were just like, we, we were serious for a while and then we were just on and off for a while, you know, that goes. Then it got to the point where you say, what are we doing? You know, it's just not, not, not, not the right time yet.

• 14:37Ryan Clark?

  So what you doing now? I mean, listen, it's okay. Like listen, dog, if you sit up here and you be like, nah, man, like, you know, I'm kind of running through them a little bit. It's not gonna change how they look at you because they already know you running through them. You know what I'm saying? So just be honest, right now, are you playing the field? Like, what you doing? This is what Channing normally does. And I don't know why he's being super nice to you. So I'ma do it.

• 14:56Channing Crowder?

  Nice guy, man.

• 14:57Ryan Clark?

  So I'ma, so I'ma do it, man. So like, what's like, you gotta be living the superstar Dirk Diggler life.

• 15:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, it's fun, you know?

• 15:05Ryan Clark?

  Gosh, I know.

• 15:06Speaker 04

  It's fun, it's fun.

• 15:06Ryan Clark?

  I'ma live through you right now for the next 10 minutes, dawg. God, I've been waiting for this.

• 15:10Speaker 04

  Ah, it's fun. I've had a lot of fun nights here, actually. This is my first time ever being here where it hasn't been going off, going crazy. But I mean, yeah.

• 15:16Ryan Clark?

  So like, when it's done? You gonna hit the phone and like, make sure it's jumping by the time we leave?

• 15:21Speaker 04

  I'm chilling this month. I'm on my shit this month. So, I've been sober all month. I've had a big New Year's in Arizona with a bunch of friends and just going sober all month. But next month, we'll get back at it.

• 15:33Ryan Clark?

  My dog said he gonna jump it off for Black History Month.

• 15:36Channing Crowder?

  He gonna appreciate it this February. But like, my whole thing, like the skaters, when I was coming up. And it's funny, like, the athlete thing, and I always get criticized because I really, I question what's an athlete, what's not an athlete. But what y'all do, like, watching you, like I said, Fred, I watch the videos, brother. Like, that's some athletic crap you do.

• 15:54Ryan Clark?

  Man, it's crazy, bro. The coordination.

• 15:57Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, so I give you that. But growing up, like, it was the, it was the druggies. It was the guys in the vans with the big pants. And yeah, they were the guys that, you know, smoked joints behind school, like.

• 16:09Ryan Clark?

  But you smoked joints, though. And you wear big pants because your knee's big as hell.

• 16:13Channing Crowder?

  And you don't wear no socks.

• 16:14Ryan Clark?

  Listen, I do have on socks. I wear no-shows. You got on crew socks.

• 16:20Channing Crowder?

  What's wrong with them ass crew socks?

• 16:22Ryan Clark?

  No-shows is the way to go, you sons of bitches. No-shows.

• 16:28Ryan Clark?

  Okay? But, but, but that, but the stigma.

• 16:31Channing Crowder?

  Sorry, dawg. But, bro, the stigma of that, like, what I thought of skateboarders.

• 16:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:36Channing Crowder?

  Growing up, like, you had, you have to change that? Like, are people surprised? Like, when they look at you, like, you're an athletic dude, like, you're well put together. Like, I thought you walk in here, be fat, you know, maybe athletic.

• 16:47Ryan Clark?

  Why would he be fat? Just be, just be, just not an athlete.

• 16:51Speaker 04

  I know what you're saying. And it is something that, like, I was one of the first people that started actually working out and like, posting on it about social media. I got a lot of hate for it, I'm not gonna lie.

• 17:01Ryan Clark?

  For training?

• 17:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, just like, that's just how skaters are a lot of the times, you know? They're just like, I mean, now, not so much because people have realized more that it actually is beneficial in a lot of ways.

• 17:11Ryan Clark?

  And this might sound stupid, so...

• 17:14Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 5:55 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 17:44Ryan Clark?

  You like Tiger Woods of skateboarding.

• 17:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, I've heard that a few times.

• 17:48Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, because you think about it from one ethnicity, right? And the other thing, like Tiger brought in a different mindset

• 17:55Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 17:55Ryan Clark?

  to golf, right? The working out, the training, all of those things. And then obviously, he's black. And so with you being as athletic as you are, doing what you do, how do you recover? How do you keep yourself in shape for that? Because Tiger kind of eventually got to a point where he wore himself out. And so you partying, you living, then you're training. How do you recover and get yourself back ready to go?

• 18:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. It's just, it's got to be a balance, you know? It's something that I've definitely learned over the years. And back when I was first starting to party and drink and stuff, I would literally like rent out houses and throw big parties the day before a contest. Wake up hungover, like not feeling good, but like, I mean, you guys know how it is when you're younger.

• 18:41Ryan Clark?

  Hell, yeah.

• 18:41Speaker 04

  It just doesn't hit you the same. I would never do that now, ever.

• 18:44Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 18:45Speaker 04

  I wouldn't even party like a few days before.

• 18:47Ryan Clark?

  Is it more respect for the game now? Or you just feel like you can't be at your best like that?

• 18:51Speaker 04

  I just feel like I can't be at my best, physically and mentally.

• 18:54Fred Taylor?

  The biggest pivot in your life? You know, you went to the games and you didn't place, right? Is that a big regret? Was that because of the partying? I read a piece on you. You spoke about, you know, your mental state. You wasn't where you wanted to be. And, and, and after that, I hear you went and got somebody to help you get back on track.

• 19:16Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, I definitely wouldn't say it was because of anything party wise, anything specific like that. It's just, I mean, when you think about it, like skateboarding is, it's so technical. There's so many things that go on in landing these tricks. Minor foot placements, minor balance being off a little, a little wrong. And honestly, we were feeling crazy out there because of the heat too. It's the hottest weather I've ever skated in my life.

• 19:40Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 19:40Speaker 04

  But even, I'm not, I'm the last person to try to make excuses. I think for, compared to anything like that, it was just a mixture of a ton of pressure. And, and just, just kind of like overthinking too much, you know? I mean, it had been like two years, because it was, the Olympics was supposed to happen in 2020. So it was just so much time to think about what was gonna happen and how much pressure I have and how much, how, how so many people expect me to, to win or place and do well. Um, I think that was the main thing. Because, because as a skateboarder, you just, you want to go out there and you just want to skate. You want to have fun. You want to skate like you are on a normal day, you know? And I'm not gonna lie, the trick that, I was skating pretty good in the first part of the contest. And the trick I fell on a few times, that was a trick, like I was so juiced up to try that.

• 20:25Speaker 04

  And then it got, it got to the point where, I mean, I was clearly just thinking too much. Because I wasn't doing it like I would normally be doing it when I was practicing at a skate park, you know?

• 20:33Channing Crowder?

  You said you were gonna try it. You try it in competition? Like, as football players, like we practice every call, we practice everything. I'm sure, I'm sure he had to practice that a million times though. But as you're going, what's it called, the half pike? The, the, the, the little rampy?

• 20:51Channing Crowder?

  Is it the ramp?

• 20:52Speaker 04

  I'm not Tony Hawk, bro.

• 20:55Channing Crowder?

  Come on, man.

• 20:56Speaker 04

  Come on.

• 20:57Channing Crowder?

  But like, as, as, but as you're doing the rails and all, like, do you have? That boy said a rampy though. Why he do his hands like this though? The rampy goes up. No, but, like, a- as you're, as you're performing, is it all set or like?

• 21:10Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, it's that.

• 21:11Channing Crowder?

  You'll hit and then you'll say, you know, I'ma try this shit. I'ma show out.

• 21:14Speaker 04

  No, it's that. You, you basically know what you're doing out there. You're practicing your tricks before. But, I mean, this, skateboarding's dangerous. So like, I'm not, I, I have my own private.

• 21:22Ryan Clark?

  That's why I ain't doing it, dawg. It's dangerous. I don't do nothing dangerous, bro.

• 21:26Speaker 04

  Oh yeah, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna throw you out there and have you hit handrails, but.

• 21:28Ryan Clark?

  Cause he's, he's soft.

• 21:30Speaker 04

  We can get you to learn a little, little kickflip or something, a little ollie.

• 21:32Ryan Clark?

  Channing, I'm not soft. Like, do you ever watch this jump?

• 21:33Ryan Clark?

  But no, the story.

• 21:34Channing Crowder?

  This man's talking, you cut him off talking about you scared of the, the, the, the ramping.

• 21:38Ryan Clark?

  Bro, the, the things that this man does is different than anything we've ever done. Yes. When, when he's talking about these different, these, these different tricks or these different moves, those aren't things that we're accustomed to. Like, he's comfortable with that. It would be different if he put a helmet on, try to do what we do. I think that's the same thing about what he does. The athleticism that he has to has and the understanding of that, but also the lack of fear of if I fall, if I fail, is different than what we got. And so like, stop being stupid and just let me ask this man a question. Back to what I'm saying. So, but like, when you talk about going into the games and being your Nike athlete, obviously you have other things that make people want to be associated with you.

• 22:23Ryan Clark?

  You're handsome, you're, you're black. It's, it's, it's different in, in the world that you're in. The boy got his own shoes. But he ain't bring none, so I don't fool with the mic right now.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  I got you guys.

• 22:31Ryan Clark?

  Did you, did you feel like, was, was, was it that pressure too, though? Was, was it the pressure of feeling like you're supposed to make it, you're supposed to win it as well?

• 22:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely felt a lot of that. Um, I mean, I've always been the type of person that's put a lot of pressure on myself to win, win, win contests.

• 22:46Speaker 04

  I feel like that's a reason why I've been successful in winning a lot of contests. I mean, before that, I'd won a few championships in a row, a ton of X Games, and a lot of that just has to do with me being so competitive and me telling myself I have to go out there and win and do well. But I think, if anything, most of the pressure I felt compared to what I normally would would just be from like, representing America.

• 23:08Ryan Clark?

  Oh wow.

• 23:09Speaker 04

  Cause that's just, that's like a next level of pressure.

• 23:11Ryan Clark?

  It's, no, that, that's different. Like, I always say, like, the, the Olympics and being an Olympian is a different thing based on like how you feel about representing your country.

• 23:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 23:21Ryan Clark?

  You know, like, we, we never had to deal with that. Like, I can be honest, I didn't care what logo I had on my helmet. Like, I was worried about the name on the back.

• 23:27Fred Taylor?

  It also goes back to the conversation we had with Micah Parsons, rookie sensation with the Dallas Cowboys. He said, "We are stars. The playoffs in the NFL, you know, you become legends."

• 23:41Ryan Clark?

  That was good.

• 23:42Fred Taylor?

  You know, and what you've done with the X Games, street skating, you know, you're big, you're a star. Everyone loves you. Now, when you're on another platform, the Olympics, it's time for them to, you know, to recognize you as a legend.

• 23:56Ryan Clark?

  Just then, standing in that podium.

• 23:57Fred Taylor?

  You become immortal. So, I can understand how those pressures can mount.

• 24:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 24:03Fred Taylor?

  But I can't wait to see you back out there.

• 24:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, and I mean, that's, to your point there, that's something that I've tried to kind of change my mindset on over the years, because when it comes down to it, I've been skating pro contests for what, 16 years now?

• 24:17Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 24:17Speaker 04

  I've been winning them since I was 15. So, I mean, I've had a very long, successful career. So, sometimes I go out there and I feel like I'm just being too hard on myself and it might help hold me back sometimes, instead of just like thinking of it like, I mean, when it comes down to it, skateboarding is a very young sport.

• 24:34Ryan Clark?

  So, we got, so-

• 24:35Speaker 04

  Most of the dudes winning out there, 19, 20, 21, and that's just the reality of it.

• 24:39Ryan Clark?

  So, you know, I asked you earlier about being able to recover. We have somebody here that kind of helps you along with that, so I want to bring Shavion in.

• 24:49Fred Taylor?

  Say his name loud. Say his name loud.

• 24:51Ryan Clark?

  I'm not saying his last name. I am very good at what I do, but I have limitations.

• 24:56Fred Taylor?

  Jafaria. That's it.

• 24:58Ryan Clark?

  Jafaria.

• 24:59Fred Taylor?

  Right, right, right.

• 24:59Ryan Clark?

  That's fine.

• 25:00Fred Taylor?

  This is a fun conversation.

• 25:02Ryan Clark?

  Shavion.

• 25:02Fred Taylor?

  Shavion, which means King of Lions.

• 25:05Ryan Clark?

  King of Lions. King of Lions. So, the parts you play in his recovery, in his career, how do you feel like that's helped him? Because I feel like, like in talking to him, I feel like he's the next level skateboarding athlete.

• 25:19Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 25:19Ryan Clark?

  Right? Like, you know, they have guys that just go out and do it, dudes who've done it their whole lives, and then he's taken it to a next level. How do you help him in that?

• 25:27Speaker 06

  You know, beyond just the biochemistry and looking at the anatomy, it's a spiritual approach, you know, in terms of lifestyle, emotional response systems, how he's dealing with pressure, how he's dealing with not having to force things and let things flow, because it's such a technical sport.

• 25:45Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 25:46Speaker 06

  And one inch.

• 25:46Ryan Clark?

  When you say, when you say force things, is it just in like the actual act of skating or just life period?

• 25:52Speaker 06

  Everything.

• 25:52Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 25:52Speaker 06

  Yeah, cuz what, you know, when, when he gets on that board, I mean, it's embodying his whole ecosystem, his inner consciousness of how he's approaching life. And I think that goes across the board with all sports and all people's careers. We all have a purpose in this life. He's obviously chose a purpose that is part of his karma and he's here fulfilling it. You know, I see these things, it's just part of my upbringing, it's part of the tools that I've been given by whatever god source. And I'm able to tap into that and kind of just let it flow and bring assistance to it without trying to tell him what to do or get in the way with what he's doing.

• 26:30Channing Crowder?

  And how long y'all work together?

• 26:32Speaker 06

  I'd say it's coming up on three years.

• 26:34Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 26:35Speaker 06

  Is it two and a half, three years?

• 26:36Channing Crowder?

  Did you see, did you, did you see a change, like automatically? Did you, did you see it like, you know, I know like.

• 26:43Ryan Clark?

  Or feel it.

• 26:44Channing Crowder?

  Not, yeah, feel it, like not, not, not, everybody knows if you don't drink and party, you're gonna feel better because it's not stuff in your system, but just like you're saying, that holistic side of everything, the positive energy.

• 26:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I feel like a lot of it just has to do with even just surrounding yourself with people that, that have that type of energy and mentality, you know, and just like good vibes like that. And yeah, I mean, I feel like something that's interesting though is like we've, I mean, we, yes, we, we work out, we take care of ourselves and stuff, but I've even, even expressed to him that sometimes I feel like when I'm overthinking a contest, let's say, let's say I tell myself, all right, I'm gonna, there's a big contest coming up, I'm gonna be sober for a whole month, and I'm gonna really concentrate on this, I'm gonna practice every day. When I do that, I swear, I, I don't skate as good.

• 27:28Ryan Clark?

  So you say, so you say like when you

• 27:29Speaker 04

  It's so annoying.

• 27:32Ryan Clark?

  When you change your life to be better, you don't skate as well?

• 27:34Speaker 04

  It's happened to me a few times now and I, I think it just has to do with me

• 27:38Speaker 06

  Cause it's not your comfort zone.

• 27:38Speaker 04

  Thinking too much and being like, alright, I did, I've been doing this the past month, so I'm supposed to be skating good. So it's just having that in my mind instead of just flowing naturally.

• 27:47Fred Taylor?

  It goes back to you putting that pressure on yourself.

• 27:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:50Fred Taylor?

  That's all it is.

• 27:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:52Fred Taylor?

  You know, you wanna put that pressure on yourself. I can tell you a quick story because I had a life coach, a mental coach, and what we always talk about is negative, negative equals a positive, like math, right?

• 28:03Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 28:04Fred Taylor?

  What happens is

• 28:05Speaker 04

  Three right, take a left?

• 28:07Fred Taylor?

  You always look for positives in any negative situations, right?

• 28:11Speaker 06

  Hundred percent.

• 28:11Fred Taylor?

  You have to insert yourself like that. Uh, my, my old team, Jacksonville Jaguars, they, uh, they hired a guy who just recently passed away, Trevor Mowat, and, uh, he worked a lot with a lot of guys around the league. Uh, Russell, um, Wilson just had an amazing speech on YouTube talking about, uh, Trevor, and he changed my entire life. You know, not that I was, you know, down on myself, but I was just hard on myself. And I hated to get hurt and I hated to do things the right way and get the results that I would get when I was doing things the wrong way. Much like what you were saying. So I can understand how your mind can play tricks on you because you now you're, you're overthinking

• 28:52Fred Taylor?

  and you're pressing, right? But it's, it really goes back to you just being hard on yourself and you wanting to be great.

• 28:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 28:58Fred Taylor?

  And that's okay.

• 28:59Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:00Fred Taylor?

  You know, you just have to find that line and put, you know, that part over there and just take this part to the competition with you. You'll excel.

• 29:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 29:09Ryan Clark?

  What was the conversation like after the Olympics?

• 29:14Speaker 06

  I mean, I, I, I didn't say anything to him after the Olympics. I wasn't gonna say much to him. I sent him love, you know, like I do with any athlete that I work with or anybody in the business world or anyone. And, um, you know, it was just like, alright, let's just get back on the horse and keep doing it again. You know, and.

• 29:31Ryan Clark?

  So for, so for you, obviously skateboarding being a, a, a new event at the Olympics. And so it wasn't, it wasn't like you could grow up, you know, like if you run track, you grew up your whole life thinking of being an Olympian.

• 29:43Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:43Ryan Clark?

  Right, being a gold medalist or, and like different other events, but like skateboarding wasn't necessarily like that. And then all of a sudden, it becomes an Olympic event and you're the guy.

• 29:54Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 29:54Ryan Clark?

  You know what I'm saying, like you're like, you're the, like, dog, like, you got a Nike, like, you got all these things going on. Is getting back there and kind of redeeming yourself, is that something that's important to you? Or you're kind of like, you know what, I'm just gonna live, it is what it is.

• 30:09Speaker 04

  I mean, do I want to make it to another one? And will I be hyped to be there and do my absolute best to do better this time? Yeah, absolutely. I'll be, I'll be super hyped to make it to another one and I, I think I definitely can. But as you were saying, we don't grow up as skaters and, and think like, oh, like we're, this is, this is the top. We're making, making it to the Olympics and like now we're there, like let's go, everything, this means everything. It's absolutely not how skateboarding is.

• 30:37Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 30:37Speaker 04

  To, to me and I think.

• 30:38Ryan Clark?

  So what's, so what's.

• 30:39Speaker 04

  Well, it is now.

• 30:40Ryan Clark?

  So skating, like what's, what's, what's your dream? Is, is it, cause like for us it's Super Bowls.

• 30:45Speaker 04

  If you don't really know about the other aspects of skateboarding and how important street skating is and the more cultural, culture, lifestyle of it, then, then yeah, it can kind of seem that way to the public. I mean, that's something that I've been trying to educate more people on that don't know about skateboarding in interviews and stuff like this. Like, there's so much more to skateboarding than, than contests in general and the Olympics, is there's so much more to it than that.

• 31:09Ryan Clark?

  Like it seems, it seems almost like, and this is, I'm super elementary in this. It's almost like dudes being great mixtape rappers.

• 31:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 31:18Ryan Clark?

  And in the sense that it's more about the art, right? It's more about the culture of what we do necessarily outside of the accolades. Because winning the Olympics is for us. You know what I'm saying? Like if you're a gold medalist, we look at you different as a country, right? Like as a people, but necessarily within your own culture, it's different. You know what I'm saying? Like the same way, like Lil Wayne's my favorite rapper of all time, right? And people say he hasn't had like the greatest commercial album. And then I point to all the other stuff he's done because like that's the stuff I feel. Great analogy. And so for you culturally, for us, it's different. Like when we see you, I support and I love it because I see you.

• 32:02Ryan Clark?

  But everybody that does what you do won't.

• 32:05Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 32:05Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? So how do you make what you've done transcend? And if there's another young African American like you, how do you make him say, you know what? I want to be that dude?

• 32:18Speaker 04

  I mean, I think with skateboarding, it's having that right balance. And I think that's something that I'm very thankful that my dad taught me well as a skateboarder. Because most skate dads being raised that way, they're going to want you to just practice at a skate park every day and win contests. That's where their head's going to be at. But my dad did have that knowledge and was like, I want my son to be more than that. I want him to be a true skateboarder. So I'm going to teach him about street skating and going out there and being a real skater. And that's something I really thank him for. And that's really how you, how you build your legacy as a skateboarder. I mean, yes, yeah, winning contests is tight, but in my eyes, the best, my favorite skateboarders ever, they weren't big, really big contest guys.

• 33:00Speaker 04

  They were just really sick skateboarders all around.

• 33:04Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 33:04Speaker 04

  Did they do good in contests sometimes? Yeah, but.

• 33:07Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 5:55 in 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 33:37Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, and then like you said, because RC brought up like being Tiger Woods and Jackie Robinson.

• 33:42Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 33:42Channing Crowder?

  When you're that guy.

• 33:43Ryan Clark?

  He's that dude.

• 33:44Channing Crowder?

  But you see the, you see the pushback. Tiger story, Jackie Robinson story, you see the pushback. Have you ever had those situations as a black man?

• 33:54Ryan Clark?

  As a brother.

• 33:54Channing Crowder?

  And skating, like is there any stories where you were like, like you felt as if, okay, I am a black dude in this sport. I'm breaking down walls, but there's gonna be some pushback with all of that. Every time that's happened, there's always pushback.

• 34:08Speaker 04

  I mean, I mean, definitely, yeah. I would say the main thing is, um, it took me a long time to get my first like solid professional contest win. And that was when I was 15. I'd been skating since I was 11.

• 34:22Ryan Clark?

  You heard what you said? It took you a long time and that was when I was 15.

• 34:26Speaker 04

  Yeah, but.

• 34:27Ryan Clark?

  You were a child, bro.

• 34:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, but there was, there was a few contests. I got so many second places throughout like 12, 13, 14. And I'm not gonna lie, like there was a couple of times where like everyone thought I was gonna win. But I mean, I was just, I was, I was a black kid out there skating with these long ass dreads. And a lot of people didn't know about my like kind of situation with my dad. He wasn't like the nicest dude in the skate industry. And I think a lot of these, the mixture of these things caused me to, for it to take a while. Like I really had to earn that shit.

• 34:57Ryan Clark?

  You know, like listening to him, it seems like he's trying to take a holistic approach.

• 35:03Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 35:03Ryan Clark?

  To what skating is. You know, listen to him say, you know what? A month out, I'll stop drinking or I'll stop partying. What do you feel like you add to what he's doing to help him be the best athlete he could be? And I think it also transfers and leaks into other sports as well. So like, what is that thing you say, okay, this is what we need to focus on. Here's how we need to work that you give him that's different from other skateboarders?

• 35:29Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I'm the master formulator for symbiotica. So I make a lot of high-end nutraceutical products.

• 35:38Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 35:38Speaker 06

  Very high-end supplementation. And, um, he's been on these formulas for the last, how long? Two years?

• 35:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, two years now.

• 35:46Speaker 06

  About two years. And so he's getting nutrition that 99% of his opponents aren't getting.

• 35:53Channing Crowder?

  So, so break that down.

• 35:55Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I'm about to say.

• 35:55Channing Crowder?

  What exactly?

• 35:56Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what he was talking about.

• 35:58Speaker 06

  Nutraceuticals. So live. Living supplements that the body recognizes as food as opposed to a powder or a capsule.

• 36:07Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 36:07Speaker 06

  I designed liposomal formulas. This is pharmaceutical grade, you know, bioavailable concepts.

• 36:13Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 36:13Speaker 06

  And I've been doing this for a while. These things are basically like eating the most organic food on earth, which is not really available anymore. The soil shot, which is where we're supposed to be getting our nutrition from. This is turning all of those nutritions into supplements. And he's been on them for two years. I have some other world number one on this as well. And my entire network and our entire crew, we're all eating and taking care of ourselves to the highest ability. So the mind and body connection is perfect. Okay.

• 36:46Fred Taylor?

  So do you have to be vegan or?

• 36:47Speaker 06

  No, it's nothing. We're qualitarian. So I'm a qualitarian.

• 36:51Ryan Clark?

  Explain qualitarian.

• 36:52Speaker 06

  I put quality in my body. I don't listen to isms. I don't get into the veganism. I don't get into this or that. I believe in putting what's best in my body based on information and discernment, not judgment, but based on information. And so we put in scientifically proven the highest level of octane into a world number one athlete.

• 37:12Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 37:13Speaker 06

  So he can rage, he can have the best time ever, and he can recover. So we can clean the blood.

• 37:17Ryan Clark?

  And so is it more like if Nigel goes out, he comes, he comes to LA, right?

• 37:22Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 37:22Ryan Clark?

  He living.

• 37:23Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 37:24Ryan Clark?

  This, this, this, this black history month, right?

• 37:27Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah.

• 37:27Ryan Clark?

  I'm gonna hit him up, I'm gonna hit him up next month. Cause black history month, we finna live.

• 37:32Speaker 06

  That's right.

• 37:32Ryan Clark?

  Right? It's black history month. He come down to LA, he lives. He comes back to see you on a Monday after a good weekend. What's the, what's that protocol like?

• 37:42Speaker 06

  Well, he's, he's taking a lot of the nutrients going into his alcohol escapades.

• 37:48Ryan Clark?

  Right. So Monday through Friday, you're like, dog, you finna go act stupid. So I'm gonna take care of you.

• 37:53Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're getting him mineralized. We're getting the vitamins in him. We're also putting products in him that act as another kidney filtration or another liver filtration. So it takes the burden off his liver. Your liver govern, governs your, your aptitude. The liver governs your anger.

• 38:09Ryan Clark?

  By the way, Channing, I have a missing piece of mine. Yeah, you need to give him some of that.

• 38:14Speaker 06

  Yeah, I heard you have a spleen issue.

• 38:16Ryan Clark?

  No, no, he has no spleen.

• 38:18Speaker 06

  You have no spleen, so the spleen is a fist-sized organ that sits under your left rib cage. And it's the only organ that's not hooked up to your entire GI tract. It's actually hooked up to your main artery and your blood vessels. So if you don't have a spleen, that means that you're not filtering blood properly. And that you're susceptible to red blood cell diseases and white blood cell diseases. So there's a lot of things that I can assist you with to make sure that you're ahead and above anything that can cause any kind of bacteria, staph infections. These things are permeating throughout our entire known universe.

• 38:53Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 38:53Speaker 06

  And it's in the foods, it's in the water and all these things. I take a very, very scientific, holistic approach to my lifestyle.

• 38:59Ryan Clark?

  That's dope, bro.

• 39:00Speaker 06

  And, yeah, it's...

• 39:01Ryan Clark?

  Shut up.

• 39:02Fred Taylor?

  See, I'm in Florida, but I love, I love all of this. Like, can you hook me up too?

• 39:06Speaker 06

  I got you.

• 39:07Speaker 04

  You guys need the product. They really work, they really work.

• 39:10Ryan Clark?

  So you feel like, do you feel like you have what you do, you have elevated because of some of the things that...

• 39:18Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, even, yeah, even before I met him a couple of years ago, I was raised extremely healthy. I was raised vegan, 16 years. Didn't, literally didn't eat meat, didn't eat, wasn't allowed to eat ice cream, candy, no dairy, nothing. And now, I mean, I'm kind of on his vibe, just like quality, healthy food. You know, I do eat meat sometimes, but I'm not going to go eat steak every day, you know?

• 39:38Ryan Clark?

  Right, grass-fed meat.

• 39:40Speaker 04

  But, but, yeah, I mean, I really have noticed the difference, just like energy-wise, mind clarity.

• 39:47Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 39:48Speaker 04

  When I'm at a contest, or when I'm, when I'm stressing on trying a big trick and, and just feeling like I'm there mentally.

• 39:55Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 39:55Speaker 04

  And, I mean, I think longevity, I'm sure, is one of the biggest things, and I want to be doing this as long as possible.

• 40:00Ryan Clark?

  So like, when you look at Tony Hawk, like, Tony Hawk's the guy, like, he had a game. And it's cool because he always posted things that, like, people said, "I thought I saw Tony Hawk." Or, "I was talking to a guy that looked like Tony Hawk." Like, like, those things, you know? Do you think you could have that type of longevity and become that type of star?

• 40:18Speaker 04

  I do think it's possible, yeah. I do think it's possible. I mean, it's very different because he, Tony Hawk isn't a street skater, he's a vert skater, you know?

• 40:26Ryan Clark?

  Okay, so that's a different thing than what?

• 40:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, rampy, rampy.

• 40:29Ryan Clark?

  A little rampy.

• 40:30Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 40:36Speaker 04

  Half pipe, half come. Ramp. Vert ramp. So yeah, that's called vert skating.

• 40:41Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 40:41Speaker 04

  You skate the big ramp and I mean, these guys can, they can skate street a little bit too, but that's really what they, their profession is, is vert skating. And it was a lot bigger back in the day when Tony Hawk was doing his thing.

• 40:51Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 40:51Speaker 04

  A big thing that elevated him was landing that 900 in X Games.

• 40:56Ryan Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:56Speaker 04

  You guys remember that moment?

• 40:57Ryan Clark?

  I do, actually.

• 40:58Speaker 04

  That was like the biggest thing that really put him to the next level. And I mean, us skateboarders, we have to thank him for that because we, skateboarding probably wouldn't be in the Olympics if there wasn't for moments like that.

• 41:08Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 41:08Speaker 04

  And then obviously it was the video game that really helped them get to that next level as well. But yeah, I mean, street skating is, it's, it's, it's much different. It's much more of a, it's a lifestyle, you know?

• 41:18Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:18Speaker 04

  We're literally going out there and skating cities. We're, we're not going to the skate park and filming and practicing every day. It's so much more than that, you know?

• 41:26Channing Crowder?

  It seems as, you know what I'm saying, like you said, he landed the 900.

• 41:29Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 41:29Channing Crowder?

  Like that's, like, what's your unicorn? Like, what's that?

• 41:32Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, what's your thing? Like, I gotta, like, if I can do this, I could be Tony Hawk. Yeah.

• 41:38Fred Taylor?

  What's your defining moment?

• 41:40Speaker 04

  What's my defining moment?

• 41:41Fred Taylor?

  You visualize things. What's your defining moment?

• 41:44Speaker 04

  That's happened or hasn't happened yet? I think, I think, I think there's a chance that it hasn't happened, yeah.

• 41:50Ryan Clark?

  What, what, what made you, like, what made people focus and be like, oh, he the one?

• 41:54Channing Crowder?

  Oh, see, you Google him, says highest paid skateboarder. One of the highest paid skateboarders of all time now. Let's be honest now.

• 41:59Ryan Clark?

  I Googled him.

• 42:00Channing Crowder?

  We Googled him.

• 42:00Ryan Clark?

  I Googled him.

• 42:01Channing Crowder?

  Highest paid skateboarder. So you're one of the highest paid skateboarders.

• 42:04Ryan Clark?

  But is it so crazy that he don't even bring shoes to people when he got shoes?

• 42:07Channing Crowder?

  Twelve, bro.

• 42:08Ryan Clark?

  Nine, ten and a half, coach.

• 42:09Speaker 04

  I got you.

• 42:10Ryan Clark?

  Ten and a half, coach.

• 42:11Channing Crowder?

  But no, like, yeah, so what made you one of the highest paid skateboarders of all time? And then what's gonna take you over?

• 42:17Ryan Clark?

  To icon level.

• 42:18Channing Crowder?

  The edge, icon level.

• 42:19Speaker 04

  Yeah. What made me there? Oh, man, highest paid skater. It was, uh, it was really, really my consistency in contest skating.

• 42:26Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:27Speaker 04

  Because throughout the years, when I started winning when I was 15, 16, those next few years, I was like literally winning 90% of contests.

• 42:35Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:35Speaker 04

  And that's just kinda unheard of in skating because even if you are the best guy out there, the stuff we're doing is so technical, it's so easy to mess up every now and then.

• 42:42Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 42:43Speaker 04

  There's still not that much of a chance the same dude's gonna win every time. So, I mean, it got to the point where a lot of people hated me for it. I got so much hate around those years when I was like eighteen nineteen I was living I was starting to party while I was buying bought a Lambo bought a big house partying people hated me so much hate but yeah I mean I feel like those those years where were were were years that people really saw that like damn this kid's really really got got something in him that he's he's he's this consistent with skateboarding he can win these contests and I mean if I were to pick one moment in contests history it was probably winning my third street league championship in a street league is like a big like contest series in skating me and the the homie Yuto he was the one who won the Olympics Japanese kid

• 43:25Ryan Clark?

  yup

• 43:26Speaker 04

  we were battling it out really good contest

• 43:28Ryan Clark?

  I like the fact that you said a homie though I like that

• 43:30Speaker 04

  yeah yeah we're all homies out there

• 43:31Ryan Clark?

  I like that

• 43:32Speaker 04

  for the most part

• 43:33Ryan Clark?

  for the most part

• 43:34Speaker 04

  yeah

• 43:35Ryan Clark?

  that means some of that means some of them like me and you

• 43:37Channing Crowder?

  so somebody somebody popped up in his head

• 43:39Ryan Clark?

  yeah hey somebody somebody wanted to slap you know what I'm saying

• 43:41Fred Taylor?

  that that means when we're competing I'm trying to kick your ass we gonna be homies after this

• 43:46Speaker 04

  yeah exactly

• 43:47Fred Taylor?

  for the most part so it's all good

• 43:48Speaker 04

  exactly exactly

• 43:49Fred Taylor?

  it's all good

• 43:50Speaker 04

  um but yeah that was I mean there's obviously been a lot of a lot of good contest moments and stuff but if I were to pick one that hasn't happened yet I wouldn't even pick a contest moment I would pick maybe into this year me putting out um all the all the filming and the video parts I've been working on

• 44:03Ryan Clark?

  that's dope yeah

• 44:04Speaker 04

  I would put out a video part for Nike and Thrasher um later in the year and I've been filming for it for a couple of years and I mean a lot of the times these are the moments in skateboarding where where that that's what people remember you as that's your legacy you know

• 44:17Ryan Clark?

  is it is it more to you about the grind of it though you know what I'm saying cause like you've been doing this your whole life like literally bro

• 44:23Speaker 04

  yeah

• 44:23Ryan Clark?

  your entire life

• 44:25Speaker 04

  mm-hmm

• 44:26Ryan Clark?

  right and so and so you're you're putting out these documentaries and these videos of what you've been through is it more important to you to let people know like here's what you have to go through to get there than actually what getting there is about

• 44:39Speaker 04

  yeah yeah that I mean that's definitely a big part about it because I know a lot of my fans even see the videos I do and stuff and they're like oh like you probably did that it looks so effortless you probably did that so easy they don't know I've been sitting there trying that for two like two or three hours straight

• 44:52Ryan Clark?

  that's big right right right

• 44:53Speaker 04

  I was I was actually just battling a trick right down the street uh there was rail on sunset um two hours straight yesterday no water nothing And just going back and forth, trying it, trying it, trying it. Like that It takes so much patience and so much like determination to still like eat that many times and get up and still wanna do it.

• 45:08Speaker 06

  He walks up to my house, can't even walk sometimes. I'm laughing at him, filming him, cause it's hilarious, cause we make fun of his walk. And he's waddling up. I mean, he's, he's putting himself through some crazy. And you know, you guys know as football players, I mean, that's wild. You know, you guys are doing.

• 45:22Fred Taylor?

  See, but as football players, we show emotions.

• 45:25Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah.

• 45:26Fred Taylor?

  When, when, when you look at what, when you look at what he's doing, he doesn't show a lot of emotions from, from his falls.

• 45:33Speaker 06

  Right.

• 45:33Fred Taylor?

  To when he lands the tricks, everything's just consistent. You, you don't change.

• 45:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. A lot of concentration, a lot of concentration. Like, like when I, when I'm skating a spot like this, off of, uh, right here in Hollywood off of Sunset and people, people are seeing me asking for photos and like saying what I'm like, fuck, bro, I'm such a zone right now. Like.

• 45:53Ryan Clark?

  No, when you skating down the street though, cause I know me, like I'm an idiot, right? If you were skating down the street by me and like you jumped on a rail and rolled that hoe, I'd be like, say, bro, like calm the hell down. Like, what you doing? You know what I'm saying? Are you ever like, you know what I'm saying? Like cruising, you cruising through L A like, you know, kicking that hoe.

• 46:12Ryan Clark?

  And like you, we run past people, they be like, man, I can't stand this light skinned motherfucker that just rolled past me. You know what I'm saying? Like for you, do you wanna change the game? Do you wanna make skateboarding different? Or what is your ultimate goal? Like when you shut it down, right? When you like, you know what? The next time I skateboard, it's gonna be just for me. Like it's not, it's not, it's not gonna be, it's gonna be about for the love. When you shut it down, what do you want that legacy to be?

• 46:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna lie. Like it's gotten to that point where, where, I mean, that's really, that's really what it's turned into is just doing it for myself mainly because I've always wanted to, to grow outside of skateboarding and, and have a bigger reach and influence a lot of other people to, to wanna skate and a lot of other kids to skate. And I feel like I have gone to that level.

• 46:56Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 46:57Speaker 04

  So I, we, I do think sometimes I'm out there just beating myself up, getting hurt in the streets, rolling around in the dirtiest spots in the middle of, of the hood somewhere. Like we skate the most random spots. And I'm like, damn, like, I really don't have to be out here doing this.

• 47:11Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 47:12Speaker 04

  I, I live a good life. I make good money for myself. Like, I don't need to be doing this, but I need it. You know, it's just something that's just like instilled in me and something that I want. It really is a drug. It really is.

• 47:22Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 47:22Fred Taylor?

  And we need it, and it's not random by any chance. You know, and we, um, what we try and do is we always try and give back. We try to bring people from our demographic and our community into what we're doing, and we always keep it real.

• 47:36Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 47:36Fred Taylor?

  Right? We've never, ever, ever had a skateboarder, nevertheless a black skateboarder. So.

• 47:42Ryan Clark?

  Fred, because they ain't got none.

• 47:44Fred Taylor?

  It's just.

• 47:45Speaker 04

  But that's. No, they got some. They got some sick ones. They got some sick ones.

• 47:50Fred Taylor?

  That's what I'm saying. So this isn't, this isn't, this isn't random. For me, it's, it's, it's, um, God, for me, God put you here, bro.

• 47:59Ryan Clark?

  100%.

• 48:00Fred Taylor?

  We have a platform. You have an amazing platform, and it's really about giving back. So just to come and share and open up with us, man, is, for me, it's dope.

• 48:10Speaker 04

  No, it's been super dope.

• 48:11Fred Taylor?

  You know, you continue to, you know, I, I want to learn more. I want to see you grow. You know what I'm saying? I want to see how you guys change the whole game.

• 48:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 48:20Fred Taylor?

  You feel me? So it, it's dope for me. So with that said, I ain't got no more questions.

• 48:24Ryan Clark?

  I love it. So this thing though, I know you're not drinking, right? So I know you're not drinking, right? But when February get around, and you representing for Black History Month, I'm gonna go and give you this. Put, put this Happy Dad in your fridge, right? Happy Dad. You go, yeah.

• 48:38Speaker 04

  These are the boys right here.

• 48:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that's the boys, right? You take it, man, but Doc, we appreciate you, man, coming through, man. It was all love, man. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, man. Really appreciate you, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

• 49:17Speaker 07

  This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. And like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.