What was the scene like in the mid-‘90s N.Y.C.?
It was insane. You couldn’t roll to a skate spot without finding at least 5-10 people already sessioning it. Probably way, way more. There were a bunch of crews out of every borough. Not to mention all the surrounding areas. So with only a certain amount of street spots in N.Y. and no real parks back then, you were always guaranteed to run into someone rolling at any one of them.

How competitive was it?
The level of comp with anything in N.Y. is tough. People from out here seem to take things to heart and make things personal. So if you try a trick, say someone else at the session was trying it, and it would all of a sudden turn into a battle. But that was good because it pushed you to be better and to step your game up.

Who did you look up to?
Come on man, I’m from your era, bro, my brothers and I looked up to all you guys. The God: Chris Edwards, Arlo Eisenberg, my dude interviewing me right now, The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Mr. Mike Opalek, and I’m proud to say that I can actually call all you guys my friends after coming up following you guys. But if you ask me who my favorite skaters were back then, hands down T.J. Webber on street and Manuel Billiris on vert.

Was there an East Coast/West Coast rivalry?
Nah, man, I think that was being played up because of the Biggie and Tupac beef that was going on back then. Every time I went out to Cali I chilled with everybody. I always received nothing but love. I still do.