Desmond Billie Interview

Leyla: Okay, so. Thank you so much for coming out to this spot to talk to me about your skating. I figured the Golden Gate Fortune Factory was sick, it embodies culture, luck and hope. Similar to skate. So, I would like to brief and inquire on how you got into skating— a lack of transportation? Was it something deeper?

Billie: Originally, when I got into skating I lived in Antioch at the time (an hour east of San Francisco) and basically, I was just in my apartment complex and then some kid came with a skateboard. He already knew how to do ollies and stuff like that, and then we all kind of rode the skateboard until the point where it broke. 5 or 6 of us all started to skate together. A company by the name of Think sponsored of one the skaters in our group. He showed us how to film and what the tricks were. From there, we started our own skate team. We did our own thing. It had been three years, and then I moved to Richmond where I met my friend Jonathan.* This is where my sponsorship happened. Some kids from the city became my homies: Nico*, Sam and my homie Tafar* we all started skating. We did the whole little FTC thing, a little video through FTC skate shop.

Leyla: Where was this filmed?

Billie: The video was filmed all around the bay area. FTC helped us print the DVDs and make t shirts, and they premiered our video. That’s basically how I got into skating.

Leyla: How old were you when you started skating?

Billie: When I was 12, and then we just started skating and making edits and stuff.

Leyla: Tight. When did you realize you were serious about skating? Was it a fun activity or did this progress into you wanting to pursue pro?

Billie: Honestly, that was never the goal at the beginning. We were just skating. Casual. But, then you got to start making money. But, I don’t know. Skating is kind of weird on that end. Yeah, definitely though. We all started to get sponsored and shit. Realized we could make money off this. And start going on trips and stuff like that.

Leyla: Definitely. Tell somebody who knows nothing about skating on how to get sponsored. What’s the process?

Billie: It is not anything that just anybody can get up and do. I don’t know, it's weird. Yeah, you can get sponsored and go pro and get on a team, but a lot of a times, it is rare. A lot of skaters live in random ass cities, so typically it’s kind of hard. For me, it was kind of because of the circle I was in. Living in Antioch, I didn’t really know nobody. I moved to Richmond, that’s when I saw my first pro skater, Karl Watson.

Leyla: Who’s that? You skate for Maxallure currently?

Billie: He owns Maxallure. And, yeah. I do. I was on a bunch of different board companies and a bunch of different shoe sponsors. To sum it up, you get sponsored through content. If you are a marketable person, it helps— it’s about your footage. But nowadays, there’s instagram. It’s kind of based on your following. You can be weak. You got a few hundred follows on the gram, shit you all good. Marketing material. Sponsored at the end of the day doesn’t really mean anything, unless they want to take you on trips. Free shit don’t mean anything. Shit like that. All of people are sponsored, but sponsored aimlessly. No direction, that’s the thing about skating. It’s an interesting business.

Leyla: You’ve seen North Hollywood by Illegal Civilization. Thoughts?

Billie: Shit, I be feeling bad because all my homies in it but I ain’t seen it yet.

Leyla: Well, the main character’s life revolves wanting to go pro. He gets picked up by a group of older guys skating who help start his career. Is that still relevant in the skate world?

Billie: See, it can happen like that. But let’s just say some random person lives in Mississippi. What person is gonna know somebody who is pro in a random ass place? That shit only happens in a place like San Francisco or Los Angeles, where pro skaters actually are. For people who live in nowhere, it depends on how good you are. Skaters are judgmental. It boils down to how they perceive you. If you do one weird thing, it’s over.

Leyla: Let’s talk about POC and that sort of representation in the skate community.

Billie: Fuck, I don’t even know how to explain it. There is a lack of person of color representation in the skate community. It’s a spectrum. For sure, like, it is almost as if you have to prove yourself twice as much being a person of color. I don’t think I would have ever truly be sponsored in the skate world if it wasn’t for Karl, because he gets it. He’s a successful person of color. I’m more than skate. I got to try twice as hard. It’s weird. People that aren’t around black people all the time, they feel some type of way when black people act themselves. My white friends that I hang out with, have a lot of black friends. But, the type of skaters that hang with their own kind— man, I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s fucking weird. They try to put black people in “highlighted” positions because of that reason. It’s kind of weird. There’s not too many black skaters who are pro.Black Folks Can’t Tap Into Their Inner Success.

Billie: You know who Kevin Scott or “K Bands?” He starts rapping, posting shit to promote his rap. He was sponsored by DGK for skating. DGK means “Dirty, Ghetto Kids,” it contradicts the name, you know what I mean? He gets kicked off for promoting himself that way. It doesn’t make sense. You got some other people doing weird shit like alternative rock, some white shit and they get praised. This don’t sit right with me. Supreme can use rap music and people are like, “Ah, sick.” When the first Instagram edits started to happen, people started to get mad with rap. People started to embrace hiphop culture and skateboarding is definitely on some weird shit.

Leyla: Thank you Desmond. Let’s end this how we started. If you could give readers a fortune, something you get when you crack open a fortune cookie, what would it say?

Billie: That is the hardest question you’ve asked me right there. Probably something like, “Learn more.” I honestly believe that, the more you learn the more you earn. It’s simple.