Robert Brink - Writer

Kevin Taylor

August 28, 2007 | Skip To The Comments (1)

Kevin Taylor
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag September 2007

What I like about Kevin Taylor is he's the type of dude to nollie nosegrind a ledge while everyone else is just plain nosegrinding it. He and I played phone tag for three weeks prior to this interview. There were plenty of times he was supposed to call me or be ready for my call and just straight flaked on me. I was pretty frustrated, honestly. That is, until he told me he was just busy skateboarding all those times. And upon realizing that Kevin is essentially a total skate rat, I instantly and involuntarily forgave him.

You're a busy dude. I've been trying to get a hold of you for three weeks!

Yeah, just always skating, that's all.

You skating a lot of street spots or FDR or what?

Just skating here all the time. Street spots mainly.

You seem like a quiet, mellow guy. I'm trying to learn that a little more myself.

Yeah, patience, grasshopper. I'm just not into talking a lot I guess… only when the liquid courage comes out. My friends call me "Jekyll and Hyde."

You get all wild and go out on the dance floor and stuff?

Oh yeah it's cool. I like dancing.

How many people mistake you for Kareem Campbell?

Ah man, a lot. Either him or Clyde. I get Clyde Singleton more now because we kind of look similar.

Kids today probably know Clyde more than they would know Kareem.

Yeah, I get the Clyde a lot but I don't mind. I love Clyde.

So what do you say to a kid, like "No I'm Kevin"?

I say "Yeah I'm just Kevin."

Do they still want your autograph at that point?

Yeah, they do.

I heard you're afraid of dogs?

Oh yeah. It's just from never growing up with pets, like my mom wouldn't let us have pets. So just in the neighborhood ya know, walking through alleys and dogs would pop out. I was always scared of dogs.

You're the one who always gets chased by dogs when you're out skating, right?

Yeah, it always happens to me, shit, it's like a magnet. They come right to me.

You think it's some cosmic power in the universe—they know you're scared of them?

Yeah I think so. They don't mess with anyone else.

Have you ever tried like to be friendly with them? Like reverse psychology?

Yeah, only if it's my friends dog 'cuz I know them and I can be friends with them and trust them. When I trust them I'm cool with them, if I don't know them then I'm scared of them.

Did you ever get attacked by one?

Yeah I got bit on my leg once. Just like a snag. He didn't really bite me but he ran up on me and was scaring me pretty bad.

So how did you get the Nickname "the God"?

My friend German [Nieves] started calling me that and it just stuck. 'Cuz we listen to like a lot of Wu Tang. I was actually on the street the other day and some kid from West Virginia came up to me like "Oh, the God KT!" I was like, "What?" It was funny.

When you were growing up skating, who did you look up to?

This kid in my neighborhood actually. His dad built jump ramps and he was a little older than me. But he just taught me how to skate. I didn't have a board so I just went on his board. He's actually an amateur boxer now… kinda weird.

Who gets ya stoked in skating these days?

My favorite skater is Rodrigo TX. I like that guy a lot.

What's Philly like now that LOVE is gone?

We're in the neighborhoods now, in the hood parts. Skating with all the hood kids. It's fun because you go to the basketball court or whatever and you trade. Kids will ride your skateboard you play with their basketball for a little bit.

Yeah it seems like in the last two years Philly just dropped off the map.

Downtown is dead—it's like a ghost town. You go down there on a Sunday and there's no people and it's just dead. They made it really bad. The city just wants to make money off the apartments. LOVE Park is a place for dogs to shit now. It's kind of a big toilet.

Do you think your career as a pro would have been different had you moved to
Cali at some point?

Nah, I'm pretty much satisfied the way it's going. I don't think that would change anything. I've been there tons of times and I know a lot of people and its cool.

Who was your first sponsor?

My friend from Pittsburgh, Jason Tracy, he had a skateboard company called Little Skateboards.

And then it was Capital, and Aesthetics for a while, and now Zoo York for a few years already?

Yeah, I like to stay faithful for what I'm about and not jump around from team to team and stuff like that.

You sort of seem more low profile than many pros. Is that a conscious decision?

Yeah, I just don't wanna be a crazy guy. I just take whatever people give me and don't actually go crazy. If you take it slow and easy you'll eventually get what you want.

There have been a lot of team changes at Zoo in the last three or four years, how are you feeling about Zoo right now?

I'm pretty much stoked with the team. Its' fun. It's perfect actually. We got a video coming out later in the year.

How much longer do you envision yourself being pro and making a living off of it?

I don't know. You have to put a big question mark on that one. I have no idea. As long as they allow me to skate…

Are you on the Zoo York shoe team?

Actually, tomorrow I'm all set to go sign the contract.

What's the best advice anyone's ever given you?

My uncle said "If you ain't right, ain't nobody right."