Lil Wayne’s protégé CurrenCy is into skating, streetwear, and hip-hop, but he’s no “Mr. Me Too.”

Jayson Rodriguez; Photograph by JARED RYDER It wasn't always cool to be into hip-hop, streetwear, and skateboard culture. As a kid, Currency had to defend his love of skating, a hobby that his homies deemed too "white." But now that hip-hop skaters are trendy, Currency has to face another kind of backlash. "Some people feel like I'm exploiting what they do, because it's popular right now," explains the 25-year-old. "But there's always been black skaters. It doesn't belong to one race."

Born Shante Franklin, Currency grew up skating on the east side of New Orleans but switched to rap in his teenage years. ("From time to time I still get out there and bust my ass," he says.) After a few local deals failed, Currency signed with C-Murder's Tru Records in October 2001. But when C-Murder went to prison, Currency quit rap to focus on Fly Society, his own line of  10Deep–style T-shirts (inspired by Complex, he says). But fate intervened when Currency ran into Lil Wayne at a celeb basketball game in February of 2004. With that co-sign, the former No Limit soldier relaunched his rap career.

On his hipster-free debut, Music To Fly To, Currency steers clear of trend-hopping clichés. "Me saying, I'm a skater, is like someone saying, ‘I used to sell drugs,'" he admits. "Prior to this situation, every hurdle I just got pissed off, because I figured it was more bullshit. There's always setbacks and hurdles, you just gotta keep going." In other words-kick, push, coast.

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