Terry Kennedy

The Triple Threat

By Ben Westhoff

08.11.08

Terry Kennedy is not just the best African American skateboarder in the world—as claimed by his admittedly biased sponsor, Baker Skateboards—he’s also a rapper and an actor. The 23-year-old former captain of Pharrell Williams’ Ice Cream skateboarding team starred as in Viva La Bam, and also stars in Bam Margera’s upcoming film, Minghags. Kennedy spoke to Antics about skating, sobriety, and why David Beckham is his role model.

What’s Minghags about?

It’s mostly Bam being funny, and there’s some [scenes] of me being funny in there. I’m also in a movie Street Dreams, which features Rob Dyrdek and Big from Rob & Big. It’s strictly about skateboarding, about our whole culture.

Tell me about your teetotaler-support group, the Sober Mind Program.

Yeah, man! It’s all about no drinking, no smoking, no partying, staying focused on being positive, but still having fun. It’s funny how once you put your mind to something, what you can do. I didn’t party and drink like that anyway, but I remember it still had an affect on me, like being tired, not wanting to get up the next day. It’s about that extra boost of energy. Nobody wants to promote the fact that being sober is a cool thing. So, I’m going to take the stand and say, “Look at everything I can do, based on not being drunk and not being high.”

You were called “Compton…Terry” but you’re from Long Beach. Do you still live there?

Nah, now I live up in the Valley.

What was the hardest part about growing up there?

All the gangs and all that. The negativity I got from skateboarding, being black. All the stuff I had to deal with. [People] called me white.

What is the trick you’re most proud of ever pulling off?

Fakie Lip, down in Australia. I was pretty psyched, because nobody really does it. I was like the first to do it down a big set of stairs. I was in Melbourne. We filmed it.

What’s a difficult trick you’re working on right now?

The last trick I was trying was the front side blunt slide, kick-flip out. It’s difficult because once you get into one of the tricks, you slide, and then you have to kick-flip out, so it’s like two tricks in one.

Tell me about your rap group, Fly Society.

We’re working on our album now, trying to get it out by the end of the summer. We’re like 80 percent almost done. I met [group member and former Lil Wayne affiliate] Curren$y, and he was the one who told me he liked my sound and said we should do a song. I didn’t think nothing of it, but then he put it on MySpace and it got a gang of hits, and it just kind of took off from there and started to build.

What’s the theme of your album?

It’s just our culture, man, young fly flashy, put your mind to it, do whatever you want. It’s about the uniqueness of our own society, about encouraging people to have self-esteem. Fly Society is for everyone. It’s like skating—it’s universal.

In 2005 you were randomly shot, once in the jaw and once in the forearm. What was that all about?

I don’t know. In situations like that, you just have to kind of take it with a grain of salt, because you can never really find out [who did it or why]. But I feel like, at the end of the day, I learned so much from it and it helped me value life more. Like, if I don’t take advantage of everything in my life now, I’m a dummy. Surviving something like that made me take life seriously. To go full throttle—in a positive way—is all I’m about now. I just want to be great. I look up to Kobe, to Tiger Woods, to David Beckham. Them dudes are great. Those dudes are in a weight class of their own. And they don’t do none of that [reckless] stuff! To hear stuff like that is so motivating. I want to be great, I want to be powerful. Being around Pharrell all the time, it tripped me out how powerful that dude was. All he did was just work, work, grind, work. I’m not 10 percent of the person these people are, so what gives me the right to slack off my life? I don’t want to steer nobody the wrong way, cause I don’t want nobody to steer me the wrong way. All these kids look up to me, and I’m blessed, so I’m going to do right. I’m going to be great on a skateboard and be blessed all around, accept my position and be blessed with it. And that’s it!

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