A Brief History of Rappers Who Skateboard

Aesop Rock says he learned everything he ever needed to know growing up skateboarding. He told Magnet Magazine that the individualism of skateboarding appealed to him and that it taught him to carve his own path. Most importantly, the sport introduced him to hip-hop. Without skateboarding Aesop Rock might not even exist.

According to an interview with ESPN, Murs has been skateboarding since 1986. He earned his first board good grades: a Santa Cruz spike with black Tracker trucks, OJ II wheels, and half black/half blue grip tape.

Yo, you didn't know Tom Green rapped? The man went toe-to-toe with Xzibit and wasn't bad. Actually, he was pretty good. Now the idea of him skateboarding seems less absurd, doesn't it? Tony Hawk's Birdhouse Skateboards even gave Green his own signature board.

Many have called Skateboard P a poser, but Pharrell hardly hopped on a trend. The man has consistently shown love for skating, from the "Frontin'" video back in 2003 to the relaunch of his Ice Cream skate team in 2012. In fact, the Skateboard P nickname is even older than his career in music. He earned the moniker while attending high school in Virginia Beach. If the skateboarding thing is all a charade, why would he keep it up for so long?

We all know Curren$y has the car game on lock, but did you know he's up on skateboarding, too? In an interview with Dub, Spitta said he can "get down a bit" and skates enough to keep the rust off.

Lupe Fiasco came into the limelight and immediately gave skateboarding its biggest stage in hip-hop. His debut single, "Kick, Push" follows a skater as he grows from a novice with a busted lip into a dude skilled enough to draw a crowd, within which is his future love. Lupe said of the song, "I'm not the greatest skateboarder, but I'm a damn good rapper, so I made a damn good skateboarding song." We can't argue with that.

Hopsin is quick to call out Lupe Fiasco and Lil Wayne, doubting their skateboarding prowess. We'll stay out of the beef and simply point out that Hopsin handles his own. YouTube is full of videos of him not only skating, but doing it well. If only we could say the same thing about his rapping.

There's no question about it. The dudes from Odd Future can straight up skate. You can find footage of Tyler, Earl and co. skating back when Tyler's voice had yet to reach its postpubescent deepness. The crew grew up dicking around, skating, and making music. The latter just happened to be what made Odd Future famous.

It's impossible to hear about Weezy skateboarding without a dig coming right after. Of course, it's weird when a rapper in his 30s says he's going to quit what made him one of the most famous people in the world and skateboard instead. There has been a lot of footage since, most of it bad. But lowkey, he's really not that bad anymore. Especially when you consider how late he took up this hobby.

We let Joey Bada$$ speak for himself last year: " Yo, I guess I am a skater. But I'm not fuckin' Tony Hawk. It's like, I use my board to get from point A to point B. This summer is gonna make it a year [that I've had a skateboard]. Now, I'm starting to trick and shit because I'm starting to fall in love with it more. But it's just a hobby."