Pharrell and the Ice Cream Skate Team

Pharrell Williams is best known as a member of the Neptunes, the production team behind smash hits like Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” and Nelly’s “Hot In Herre.” But he’s a skater at heart: growing up in VA, he rode rails and skated ramps through junior high and high school. Now he’s giving back to the sport he loves with the Team Ice Cream, a group of mostly-minority skaters he’s been mentoring. Their first DVD recently came out, and we called Pharrell to talk a bit about it:

 

 

WILLIAMS: Well, it was something that I got turned onto when I was a kid. It was something that just seemed interesting, you know? There were just like a few cool tricks that people around my neighborhood knew and they would go and skate at this place called the Snake that’s no longer in existence. When I was a kid, you’d go -- the Snake was pretty much like this bowl but it was in a shape of a snake, and it was made of asphalt.

 

WILLIAMS: Yes, I was like, nine years old. But quite honestly I don't know too many Black folks that grew up skating.  I mean, if people say that they have, you know, most of them are lying. That’s what we did as kids. It was available to us just like any or any other fun thing to do.  Then I call myself Skateboard Kid it wasn’t because I’m Tony Hawk -- it ain’t that.  It ain’t even ‘cause I know Tony Hawk. It’s because when I was a kid that was one of the things that I really enjoyed doing, where my friends were like, shooting basketball and they could tell you every play that was going down. 

 

WILLIAMS: It was like, when you watched the Tony Dorsett game, you know what I’m saying, Tony Dorsett was on the Cowboys, [the other kids] could tell you every play.  I didn’t know what the hell was going on. But for me, like I used to skate and, you know, I went to Chuck Norris karate. I was a funny little eclectic kid. 

 

WILLIAMS: I just wanted to give back to kids who probably otherwise wouldn’t get that kind of attention.  And, you know, to inspire other minority skaters, that there are other things out there to do in the world. That’s all. I ain’t saying that, you know, we’re the only Black team, but I used to say, I want to be one of the first Black teams.  But when I said that, what I meant was I wanted to be one of the first ones that really put it in light, and to really inspire all the kids to do whatever they do.

 

WILLIAMS: You know, skating is hot to girls, and it shouldn’t be a means to get girls, but it’s just an example, like, you know, it’s actually in vogue.  And I hope the world starts skating because we need to open up more doors for skaters and for them to do more stuff. Now they’re getting television shows and a lot of great things are happening for them. And I want skating to be just as big as f*cking basketball. So whatever I can do to help, that’s what I’ve begun to do.

 

WILLIAMS: Just like their personality.  You know, those are a bunch of wild kids! It takes a lot to jump down 40 stairwells, you know what I mean?  And so, the same guy that does that, quite naturally is not going to be this quiet little humble kid.  He’s going to be wild and crazy and that’s just funny, so we just tried to capture that, pretty much.

 

WILLIAMS: Very rarely. The last time I skated was like last Christmas.  And I busted my knee right the f*ck open.

 

WILLIAMS: Yeah, but it’s all good. I mean, I have a ramp in my house. That’s cool. It’s just for fun, man.  You know, I don’t claim to be some skater or this, that and the other.  I ain’t that.