Kaep Does It

Sweatshirt KUON, shirt OVERCOAT, coat ADRIENNE LANDAU, necklace L. JARDIM.

In an interview, James and I got to unpack like two distant cousins at a family barbecue. An undeniable gift of James is his ability to bring you out of your comfort zone. I wasn't prepared to talk shop while he was in the middle of cooking pancakes. This conversation was organic as it traveled across a file of topics. And for those that may believe skating is just a set of wheels, a deck, and some bearings— you're wrong. Nevaskimp will show you that.

When did you begin skating? And what does it mean to you? 

So I started skating when I was about 13, turning 14. Before skating, I played basketball for most of my life. Like, when I first moved here from Jamaica, I moved straight to the Bronx. And then it was either I was gonna be on my block like or learn how to do something that I liked. I chose basketball. So I played 'ball for a little while, and then when I got to high school, things began to change. While my mom was very overly protective, as my high school was downtown. So, it was a lot when I wasn't in class as I was dealing with a lot. It was either old protective mom, or just me not being able to go outside because I wasn't old enough. I'll tell my mom like, "let me go downtown," and she would not let me go. My friend persuaded me to sneak downtown and one day, I just went. My best friend was the one who introduced me to skating, and in Jamaica I used to ride those BMX dirt bikes, so it was easy to go into skating. It was like the start of a whole new legacy coming downtown. I got into a park, I ended up meeting one of my one of like, the people that I looked up to for a very long time, and his name was Andre Beverley. I met him, made friends with him and from there, I just started going to the skate park over and over again. When you enjoy doing stuff, you're gonna put time and effort into it. You know, I mean, when you put time and effort into something, it pays off because people see the work that you do.

When did you know that skating would turn into like something you could do professionally?

Probably when I came back from college, I stopped skating for almost 11 months when I wanted to stay to college. I was gonna go get my Associates in auto mechanics. An auto mechanics is a vocation, and my father— He's the immigrant from Jamaica. He wanted me to get a job that was gonna have me currently in work and always in work so I wouldn't have to worry about stressing myself out, making ends meet. So, I was in school, and l was doing okay, but I wasn't happy. I was depressed, as I was away from all my friends for mad long. In Syracuse— that shit was not it. It was snowing every two days. When I came back from school, I made a promise to myself as I did what my mom wanted me to do so now, I'm gonna do what I want to do. I want to try to see how far I can go with that. So I was 17 or 18, and after I finished, I came back home. I'm gonna just fully escape and I'm gonna really focus on skating and making clothes because that's what I wanted to do. And I just did that for the next three years, man, faithfully. I went out every day, I was breaking myself off, I was scared like— yeah, hurt me. You hurt yourself on a daily basis. You sign up for this when you learn how to skate. And I started getting good at skating. From there, I had so much fun and I was getting some connections out of it. People invited me to places, and I'm starting to meet people I never met before. I'm getting offered like, photo shoots and that created a window to modeling. Skating honestly opened the doors for a lot of things for me.

So, that would be the same process that like helped you transition into the modeling world.

I got into the modeling world after designing a two piece set for my friend's daughter. He sent me the sewing machine and tools all the way from Belgium and I just— imagine a set of baby trousers and a baby bubble jacket. He was so happy with the finished product and asked if I wanted to take some photos. I didn't even know what modeling was like, that was not my forte. I was pretty self conscious. And I was camera shy. You know? I mean, don't get me wrong. I could be in front of a crowd, but it was just having a camera lens pointed at me. That just wasn't my ideal. Like, that wasn't what I was into. So, he invited me to my first photo shoot, and I did something for a men's fashion book that went well. People were asking me like, "yo, like, what agency? Are you? Are you fine?" I believe it's solely from me being with the right people and representing yourself the right way. Plus, speaking up when you're supposed to. Closed mouths don't get fed. I'm gonna say this to all the young, upcoming skaters that are trying to get in the industry or want to make the name somewhere. If you don't speak up, nobody's gonna hear you. 

Jacket, pants, and hat LOUIS VUITTON, necklaces L. JARDIM, ring BERNARD JAMES, shoes DC.

Your background is from both Jamaica and the Bronx. How do you think you'll impact the skating world? Plus, with what you've already done, how does it differ from other skaters?

 Jamaica is a very beautiful but corrupt place. Skate culture isn't really accepted. It's not even really popular right now. We just got a Skateboard Federation. So, it's like people just skate for the country now. If you're like good enough, or if you're accepted, and you get inducted into the US or the Jamaica skate team. I already have one of my peers already doing it, his name is Lucien Clarke. He was one of the first skateboarders to get a shoe with Louis Vuitton. He set the bar so high for himself. We kinda can't go further than what we've already done because what he's done is what people said that nobody could do and now, he's done that. Now he's on to bigger and better.

I think it's important to have different people from different backgrounds because I mean, on a mainstream level, a lot of skaters that are promoted are white. So that needs to be ruptured a little.

Tell me about it. Say it again for the people. They need to include a lot more melanated skin in the industry. Especially, in terms of what the ideal golden child looks like. Like, so many kids that I know have way more credibility, way more swag, way more style to them but have just been shunned you know? Just because they'd rather take a chance on a clouded up white kid. Nobody wants to say it but I will.

Definitely.

And it's the truth. It's alright to say the truth in life, because I didn't even think I would get an opportunity like this and now I'm doing it. So imagine if I could keep my mouth shut. I need to make sure that everybody who can relate to me or that can look up to me can support me, if they don't already. 

Shirt and pants OVERCOAT, coat ADRIENNE LANDAU, shoes DC.

It wasn't something I planned on asking but the pandemic, one of the biggest moments where they showed love to black and brown skaters. Do you feel companies have continued to show support or has it declined since then?

I feel like it was almost a publicity stunt because it happened during the pandemic. And then it was Black lives this and Black lives that. It's back to normal almost. It's like hard to speak on it because I don't really know and I'm not, I'm not fully in the industry. I can only give my opinion on it, you know what I mean? But yeah, I do feel like that. It made a drastic change where it was promoted on television amongst everybody. And then after the pandemic finished, now everybody's back outside. Nobody has anything to sit in the house and think about.

It's as if we took the physical masks off, but there's still a mental and psychological one. 

The pandemic literally shifted the whole world's demographic in terms of how they view everything. And it took a series of sicknesses and deaths for everybody to realize that people need to work with each other as a collective. 

That's a good segway. When it comes to your own brand, what do you want to do with Olyympian?

Olyympian is a skater street brand, as it's not high-end fashion. It's gonna be affordable for sure. But I would potentially move into a designer brand. If I want to indulge in more and more textiles and design aside then I'll do that but I want it to be affordable design. You are paying for the name, but you're also paying for the love. You're not paying for it because you see everybody else has it and those who might be doing better than you. It's mainly on how much swag you got. If you don't got no swag, don't put my clothes on as there's people with no swag putting on such expensive clothes, and still looking stupid.

Have there been any scary moments for tricks that you were trying to get down?

So to approach a trick that you've never tried before, you got to bring yourself enough mental and physical confidence to try the trick one time, only one time. The first time you ever try the trick will be the scariest time compared to any other time. It's scary because you haven't tried it yet. You're nervous, your nervous system is on edge. Your body is uncomfortable. You're forcing yourself to try something new. So, you gotta bring yourself enough confidence. If you get hurt on that first try you might not ever try that trick again. But if you really want that trick, and your mental intuition is telling you, "I need this trick and I will do this trick." You're not going to stop until you do that trick regardless on what the repercussions are. Whether you get hurt, whether you break your arm, whether you scratch your body up when you break a board— that's just what comes with skateboarding. That's why I said it's all mental. 

Jacket, sweatshirt, pants and shirt BALENCIAGA, bracelet L. JARDIM, rings BERNARD JAMES, shoes DC.

That's good for people to know, because a lot of people, may back out a bit just because of the fear of consequences. 

Yeah. People don't attempt it because they're scared of failure, and they don't want to fall. They don't like how it feels to fail or fail hard for the first time. Everybody who's met me— they appreciate my work ethic. I had to develop this work ethic. Like, I wasn't born with it, you got to develop it. I've done a number of things where I've had to trial and error myself until I felt that I was where I wanted to be and I'm still not where I want to be. You literally just have to say what you want and do what you want until it's in front of you. 

How do you avoid compromising your own authenticity?

Don't ever let somebody try to mold you into how you know you look. There's been a number of situations where I've dealt with and, people would want me to act a certain way or follow this code. If you can't be yourself when you're by yourself, how are you going to be yourself in front of a million people?