Back in the
old days, it was really rare to see some real street riding. Most of the mini videos back then
consisted of kids jumping off kicker ramps in their driveways. Or some fly out tricks at a local
skatepark. Among the few street crews back then, Scooyork was one of the most
well known. They were skitching
the backs of taxis in Manhattan traffic. Not giving a damn about anything or
anyone, riding the city all night till morning. I first met Hep Greg out in San
Diego for the SD2 comp back in 2007.
Greg’s one of the few original riders left of Scooyork. Through the
Brooklyn Street jams to numerous video parts, Greg has been keeping the street
scene alive in NYC. I went up to
Queens last weekend to kick it with Greg and Logan Fuller. This is what we got into.
 |
| Hep Greg - reinforced Razor promodel - 1st Brookyln Banks Jam - 2007 |
Yoo Greg,
How was sandy? Did y'all take a dip in the lakes of
Manhattan?
No swimming, but me & Logan went out during the storm,
trying
to feel the power of nature haha.
 |
| Logan & Greg at the Globe |
Probably
after many buckets and liquor no doubt, I heard it
made some sick
spots, did you get to shred them before the
city took them out?
 |
Sandy destroyed NYC but that didn't stop them scootaasss! - Jaythio Arriagada
There was one spot in particular that I got to ride, it was this
tree
that fell and made an A-Frame out of the sidewalk. It was
siiiick haha.
it might even still be there, I’m not too sure.
|
That's
crazy, hurricane spots are rad. so tell me a little bit
about Scooyork,
how did it get started? Who were the OG's?
 |
| Scooyork 2006 |
Scooyork started with Michael Lee and myself. We met Jon Reyes
&
Chris Zackowitz in like 2004, and started riding the city with
them. As time went on, we met Rahmel Lafayette, Elmer Ferreiras,
Steven Sanchez, Brian Murphy, and a whole bunch of other riders.
Once we all discovered SR, we decided to buy a POS canon
handycam, and just started making videos (with no real
knowledge of what the hell we were doing.) We became known
because of the fact that we rode in a city, and started to
really
expose urban street style riding into the sport (along with the
philly crew). Most people at the time were just hyped on the
razor
wave, and all the videos that razor put out were mostly in
skateparks or just filmed around some so-cal suburban towns. I
think that’s what brought us so much attention at the time, just
the fact that our videos were such a different vibe, and so
fresh to
the sport.
 |
| Young Elmer Ferreiras |
I remember
this old video when razor came to visit NYC, Jarret
Reid did a
backflip up some shit, Were you there when that
went
down?
Nah, that was even before we all met each other. I remember that
photo too; off a kicker up the 4 set in Union Square.
 |
| This shit kinda tallll doe |
Haha soo
old, anyway, what's the scene like in NYC now? It
seems like
a pretty big hub on the east coast, does that get
you
hyped?
Hell yeah dude, the Tri-state area scene is getting soooo big.
NYC
is definitely the Hub of the street scene though, jersey's got
that
whole park flow goin' on. It’s awesome to know that what we
started here is growing everyday.
 |
| Hep Greg tall ass frontboard yo |
 |
| Smokin' ehehehhehehe |
That’s
awesome, so who you mainly ride with these days? Is
there any
underrated dudes who've been killing it on the low?
 |
| Logan "gives no fucks" Fuller |
Well, Logan fuller moved into my house in like April, so I've
been
mostly riding with him this year. But there's alot of local
shredders who have been killing it; like Gabe De Asis, Yara
Hanes,
& David Martinez. They're all gonna have footage in a video
I'm
putting together. It'll probably drop in the spring of next
year.
 |
| Yara NIGGAA - wallride |
Does this
video have a name yet? Any chance of seeing a
promo
sometime soon?
 |
| Yara with a massive railhop |
No name yet, no promo yet either. Still have a lot of work to
do.
I'm sure ill put out some kind of promo within a few months
though. Keep yo' eyes open!
 |
| the "spot keeper" |
Oh we
willl. So I noticed you guys are starting to get a lot of
park out
there, some still with no scooters. Do the skaters and
scoot
riders get along out there?
Usually skaters won't bother me and the other older dudes... it's
the same problem as it is everywhere else, they hate on the
younger kids with no park etiquette & the little ones whos'
parents just bring them to the skatepark because they're fuckin'
clueless.
Skateparks are a fairly new thing in NYC, we used to have
one in each boro, now there are sooo many.
 |
| Hep Greg leaning through the curve |
What might
you say to a wee little scooter rider standing in
everyone's
way? Or should I say, some advice for the rats out
there.
Usually I’m really polite to the little clueless razor kids; I
just try to
be nice to them so they actually listen to what I'm telling
them.
For the younger kids who ride freestyle scooters, I usually just
keep it a buck, and tell them to watch what the fuck they're
doing
or someone’s gonna slam into them.
Sometimes I talk to kids
parents and whatnot, so that they can understand what they're
bringing their kids into. It’s not a playground, its a skatepark.
 |
| Subway with Logan & Greg |
Wise words,
so real quick, what's the best thing about being
a scooter
rider in NYC? And what's the worst?
 |
| this one for the young niggazz |
Best thing about being a scooter rider in NYC is the fact that I
can
get anywhere on my scooter in less time than it would take to
use
public transit. if you have a group of dudes cruising through
the
streets, you can stop traffic, cut through tight places, hop
onto
sidewalks, and skitch buses and shit. It’s the funnest thing in
the
world cruising with a crew. Scooters are easily the best urban
commuting device. I cant really think of a downside to riding
here,
maybe the fact that the weather is so erratic, it's sometimes
hard
to find good days to go out and shred.
Fuck yeah,
any words you wanna say to all the uk duders out
there?
GET OUT OF THE SKATEPARKS!
Go cruise the streets with your blokes, the UK
has tons of sick spots.
 |
| the young scoo-yorkers |
Good looks for the interview & throwback photos Greg
- McKeen
