Where the !#[cent]k is the muska?!

How you living?

Good. Good. I'm just out here in LA.

You were on top of the skate world busting the biggest rails, setting the fashion trends, and keeping up with dudes like Rowley and Koston. What happened?

Same shit, dude. Nothing's changed. Get ready, it's coming. It's coming, people. Same shit everyday: skating, skating, skating.

Every day?

Hell yeah. Well, maybe not everyday ... if I'm hung over.

What's the longest you've been off the board? Ever?

Maybe a few weeks from injury. But after partying, maybe I won't go jump down a 20-stair handrail the next morning, but I'll still get on my board and hit the streets. Just because I'm not in every magazine doesn't mean I'm not skating. I may not be on the craziest mission like I was at one time to grind the most stairs, but skating's always skating. That's in my blood and that will never change, whether you see me in a magazine or not.

When's the last time you busted a big Muska-style handrail attack?

How many stairs counts for one of those? Kids are kickflipping 18 and shit.

'Cause they studied the videos very carefully. I paved the way for them, and now I continue to try and hold it down.

As well you should.

I definitely understand how everybody would portray me exactly like you said, but when you do something so much in life and that's al! you fucking do every single day and that's your job, sometimes you've got to step away from it a little bit to enjoy it again.

That's what happens to all of us. You've got to prioritize things.

Living in the land of Hollywood, there's a lot of distractions in life out here. Whether it's getting in goals you want to achieve outside of the skateboard industry, whether it's partying, whether it's girls--there are a lot of distractions in the land of Tinseltown.

Are you a Scientologist yet?

Hell no, fool. Hell no. I'm a Muskatologist.

What five records must every DJ have in his trunk?

Wu-Tang's 36 Chambers--let me think of some new, hot shit I'm spinning. What else do I rock? Duran Duran Greatest Hits, any day Z shit's always good, and any Biggie.

What's your sponsorship status these days? Boards? Shoes? Trucks?

Basically like I said, since stepping away from the industry I haven't been in connection with everybody, and since the Circa thing went down I've just been living life. I made some changes; I was skating and then basically I took a little vacation for a minute and have just been traveling the world and hanging out with friends. There's always something brewing up; I don't stop. I'm always creating one way or another. But basically, no shoe deals. I don't even have a wheel sponsor; Ghetto Child isn't in business. I've got Shorty's and Indy and that's what I'm representing right now.

Did you really live in a hotel for a year?

Yeah.

What hotel?

The Chateau Marmont.

Describe an average daily Muska schedule.

Everyday holds something new, man. Basically my life consists of being in LA right now. I wake up and go skate with the homies, call 'em up, go down to Brooklyn projects and kick it, get some breakfast--we've got a mini-ramp there--skate there, maybe hook up with some local skaters like Dev-1 and Minniek and maybe Braydon. I've been skating with him lately, little Baker kid.

He's all grown up.

Yeah, he's all grown up. He's at my house fight now.

What goes on in those velvet-rope clubs?

Dude, anything you could imagine. If you turn on the TV and see it, that's what it is. Hollywood is here; it's fun times, man, addictively fun times. I've got it too good. I wish I'd never been introduced to the club scene.

What's the gnarliest bender you've ever been on?

A bender, what's that? No, there's missions, dude. I've been on crazy party missions, stuff that I can't explain; you'd just have to be there and live it. Everything from penthouse suites in Vegas and Miami--chilling in the Shore Club--to going to the fashion shows in Paris; I've done it all in the past couple years, man, and I've had a hell of a fun time while it's gone down. And skating the whole time doing it.

Oh yeah, you've got to bring a board.

It was a tour that wasn't chartered by Thrasher.

Where's the strangest place you've ended up after the buzz wore off?

Well, I'm always in control of what I'm doing. I don't get wasted and lose touch with where I'm at. There have been so many crazy times. One time we were raging in Miami--I had this little movie part out in Miami and then we started partying that night and ended up the next morning, straight from the club pretty much, on a private jet with one of the Princes of Iran headed to Vegas, then partied in Vegas for like four days, and then came home. It was pretty crazy.

What would you say to people who think you're looking a little on the heavy side?

Yeee-ah. Money gets you thick.

Catch us up to speed on what's going on in the MuskaBeats world.

Still listening to music, man. With the MuskaBeats we didn't really release it at the level that I'd anticipated, and it was basically a lot more money put into a project than was made on it, but at the same time it was one of the best times of my life to be able to work with the artists and basically fulfill the dreams of mine with that album.

Nobody beats the biz, right?

Nobody beats the biz. No, I still be hustling on a bunch of beats. I've got a lot of beats going right now, but I haven't recorded any new artists lately because I don't really have distribution for my music. You know, you can only put enough energy into something where there's money going to be coming back. So I'm trying to figure out distribution before we drop another project.

What's your relationship with the Hilton sisters?

They're my homies. I moved across the street from them and we just became good friends, and we tear it up on the town. We party. Can they hold it down with the Muska?

They can hold it down. They can keep up.

But you said money gets yon thick, so how come they ain't all wide?

I don't know. I guess it doesn't happen to the girls.

What else are you up to when you're not skating?

I'm a non-stop worker, Jake. I've been working on this clothing line a lot lately. I've got a four-color silk-screen press at my house and I'm just doing everything in-house and designing on the computer, video editing--everything. I've been really crazy into computer graphics and video editing and designing logos and different shirt designs. That takes up a lot of my time.

Why does skateboarding need the Muska in 2006?

Because, man, it's boring without me. I may be taking a break from the skateboard industry; I didn't say I took a break from my skateboarding. Hell no. If you come down here, you'll catch my ass any day on the streets of LA skating. I don't see any of the other pros skating around in the street. I don't drive to the spots and pre-plan every kickflip back lip I want to do on the handrail just to get the sequence and get the angle. You can catch me skating more real than anybody in the street on any given day in Hollywood. Come down here and see for yourself. Fuck all you haters.

Perfect. One last question: Thrasher magazine, 25th Anniversary, what's the deal?

I love Thrasher. I should have done more for you guys over my whole career, man. It's my fault. I love you guys, Jake. You guys are the shit.

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