The sound of spinning skateboard wheels has echoed through the streets of New York City for decades now, but it’s been a long time since a man like Tyshawn Jones has been behind that familiar rattle. Just 20 years old, the illustriously co-signed skater — who’s currently fronting the latest issue of i-D — has transcended his homely New Jersey-cum-The Bronx upbringing to become an international superstar on the scene.
Having been spotted throughout the city’s many skateboarding hangouts, turning heads as a kid for his unwavering resilience and dedication to the sport (“He just kept on going,” his mother says), Jones’s life story epitomises what it means to be young and ambitious in America. He got his big break in Supreme’s 2014 clip “Cherry”, in which he infamously ollie flipped into the New York Court House. In skateboarding circles it was, as his friend filmmaker Bill Strobeck tells us: “A super big deal”. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, TJ (as his closest friends call him) has had an insane five years, with everything from killer Adidas deals to being crowned Thrasher’s Skateboarder of the Year for 2018 (the final selection by the magazine’s late editor Jake Phelps). He’s also found time to open his own food joint – Taste So Good! – in the Bronx to give back to the community he came from. All this attributed to a kid who’s not yet old enough to buy a beer.
To get to grips with Tyshawn’s story, directors Matt Irving and Kirk Dianda went to New York to spend time with the man himself, as well as those who’ve been around him since the very beginning. It’s all here to see in the world’s first and most comprehensive documentary on Tyshawn’s life.
Everybody from his own mum to skateboarding royalty like the Lizard King, Tony Hawk and Silas Baxter-Neal make appearances in the movie, which you can stream in full right here. Take note: if you have your sights set on making it big in the skating world, Tyshawn Jones has re-written the blueprint.