VICE meets up with Hafiz Salleh, one of the co-founders of Skate SG, a community based project that empowers kids to take up skateboarding as more than just a hobby. We also meet Ooloo Island, an up-and-coming crew in Singapore – who show us around a couple of skate spots, talk about the culture and what the future of skateboarding in Singapore looks like.
VICE – Building a Skatepark of YouTube Comments | Can You Skate It?
Taji’s skate videos have received some hate in the comments. 🙁 In this episode of Can You Skate It?, Taji and veteren pro-skater Fred Gall turn your negative comments into a DIY skate park… to skate the hate.
Pro Skaters break in to an Abandoned Asylum | Can You Skate It? – VICE
Taji Ameen and pro skaters Eby Ghafarian and Leo Gutman head to explore the remains of an abandoned mental hospital at an undisclosed location in search of answering the age long question: can you skate it?
I Visited the Anarchist’s Skateboarding Utopia – VICE
Taji has always dreamed of visiting Skatopia, the skateboarding mecca in the middle of 88 acres of farmland in Ohio. Today his dream becomes reality.
Preparing Professional Skaters for the 2020 Olympics – VICE
With skateboarding now an official sport in the 2020 Olympics, unofficial assistant Coach Taji brought legendary Olympic Coach Ron, who has coached more than 40 Olympians over the years. Can Taji and Ron get these skaters prepared for the big day?
From Skater to Stunt Double – Vice
Ever since he was a kid, William Spencer has been pushing the boundaries of what a skateboarding trick can look like—using discarded barrels, rusty ladders, and lengths of chain to pull off one-of-a-kind tricks. Now, he’s turned his hobby into a career, going from an amateur skateboarder to a professional stunt double.
VICE met up with Will in Los Angeles to hear what inspired him to become a stuntman full-time, and to find out how he made it from the streets of LA to the glossy sets of Hollywood.
Brian Anderson on Being a Gay Professional Skateboarder
The skateboarding community worships Brian Anderson as a god, but for many years kept his sexuality a secret from nearly everyone in his life. Our guy Reda sat down with Brian and some of his closest friends to talk about being gay in the professional skateboarding industry and why he chose now to come out.
Pro Skateboarder Billy Rohan Talks About Living with Bipolar Disorder
Billy Rohan has the reached the highest of highs and the lowest of lowest during his career as a professional skateboarder. He’s gone from placing in some of the world’s top contests & having coverage in every major skate publication to sleeping on the street, to being named the New Yorker of the week for his work getting skateparks opened, to back on the street again.
Ali Boulala Opens Up About Life After Skateboarding – Epicly Later’d (Part 4/4)
This was before the drunk driving accident that killed Australian pro Shane Cross and put Ali into a coma. From the perspective of a Vice-made ‘Sk8 TV’ show, it was all way too dark and depressing to cover, so I never even considered it. We were doing episodes about Dustin Dollin shopping for pants at the time. Fast forward to a year or so ago, I posted a photo on my Instagram of Stevie Williams, where Stevie said ‘I want to do an episode your show, but I don’t want any of that depressing bullshit…’ and in the comments, Ali Boulala wrote, ‘I’ll do an episode, but i’m sure it will be all depressing.’ I contacted him to see if he was serious, and was soon on a plane to Stockholm to visit him. He hasn’t done too many interviews since the accident so I wasn’t sure what I would find. But staying with Ali for a week was nice, most of the trip was full of laughs and good food. You can see that he has not shut the door on the past. There is a picture of Shane Cross on his living room wall, and it always hangs in the air. But he is moving towards putting his life back together, and I’m proud of him for that. This is a heavy episode, and I want to thank Ali for his honesty. – Vice.