Last fall, your Instagram feed was likely flooded with clips of an unknown skater, rocking True Religion jeans, executing darkslides to the iconic late 90s track, “Torn.” This was Trung Nguyen’s RESPECTFULLY part, which garnered him a dedicated following. Since then, we’ve seen more “illegal tricks” become commonplace, videos set to ironic early 2000s pop songs, and skate parks filled with skaters sporting Realtree camo and motocross gear.
At 29, Trung, unlike many New York transplants, didn’t conform to the typical NY style. His clothing and style reflect his upbringing in the rural suburbs of Houston, Texas. After moving to New York City, Trung gained notoriety through graffiti and his standout performance in Chase Walker’s RESPECTFULLY.
Nearly a year since its release, we caught up with Trung to discuss the changes in his life and how he’s become a global name in skateboarding.
The Darkslide Fame
Do people often ask you to do a darkslide?
While people recognize me for darkslides, surprisingly, it doesn’t come up as often as you might think. People seem to appreciate my other tricks and my overall approach. They’ll say my skating is more “out there.” I never really overthought the tricks in my part; I was just doing what I could at my skill level. It’s difficult for me to want to do another darkslide again, but I might have a few more in me. However, I don’t want to be only known as the “darkslide guy.”
Your song choice, “Torn,” also became iconic. How did that happen?
Chase Walker, the videographer, is very open to skaters choosing their music. The story is that some friends were visiting and put the song on in the car during a trip to New Jersey to buy fireworks. When “Torn” came on in the tunnel, we all agreed it was a sick song, a vibe, and perfect for the summer. It captured that feeling of chilling with the boys. We never got the fireworks that night, but it was a good time. I’m a bit tired of the song now, but it’s still a good one.
The Impact of Gifted Hater
What was your reaction to Gifted Hater’s video about your part?
I was super hyped. He deserves a lot of credit; he jumpstarted my career. After that video, my popularity blew up. I gained thousands of followers, going from around 900 to 10,000. I didn’t even know who he was; I wasn’t really online like that. My friends told me, “Yo, this dude is sick! Check him out.”
I believe skateboarding needed him. He’s made skateboarding take a look at itself, and it’s beneficial to have someone who won’t let capitalism ruin the culture. His videos and topics are great. I was thrilled he made a video review of my part.
Beyond the followers, how has life changed since RESPECTFULLY came out?
Not much, besides working a lot more now. RESPECTFULLY was a unique time because Chase and I were both unemployed. I took advantage of that, pretending skating was my job, allowing me to skate a lot. I just focused on skating. Now I’m doing PA and video work, leaving me less time to skate. But Element sends me boards, which is awesome.
The Motocross Gear and Redneck Aesthetic
You’re known for wearing motocross gear. Do you ride?
I’m trying to stop wearing it, honestly. It’s a bit embarrassing now. It’s just too loud. I don’t like dressing that loud unless I’m filming. I’ve never ridden motocross. I wanted to when I was little, but my parents wouldn’t buy me a dirt bike. Zak [Anders] and I go mountain biking sometimes. It’s kind of our way of being like, “Hell yeah!” We can go off-road and wear gloves and jerseys and all that. It was just part of the summer vibe.
Do you feel like you’re cosplaying as a redneck?
I think we accidentally take on the redneck white trash costume a lot, but not intentionally. We all grew up around that. My high school was predominately white, and I’m not conservative, but I grew up with trucks, dirt bikes, and hunting gear. We went mudding and fishing. It was just what we did, and as a person of color, it was definitely uncomfortable at times. We couldn’t escape it. Zak and I even went to a NASCAR race in Texas because what else were we going to do?
“My high school was like 77% white. I’m not a conservative, but I grew up around it and everyone had trucks, dirt bikes and hunting stuff.”
So you’re redneck adjacent.
Yeah, we enjoyed those outdoor activities but wanted to escape the conservative aspect of Texas. That’s why we moved to New York. I feel much safer in New York, surrounded by diversity. While I miss my friends and certain things about Texas, I don’t want to put down Texas at all. Shout out to Texas.
Snowboarding, Surfing, and Late Night Stars
You also seem to be into snowboarding and surfing, when did you get into that?
Moving to New York made me realize how easy it was to snowboard. Every weekend, I would take the bus to Mountain Creek. That was life-changing. And Rockaway Beach was a 40-minute train ride away for surfing.
These are more recent interests than skateboarding, which I’ve been doing my whole life. This might anger some skaters, but snowboarding is way more fun. You’re on top of a mountain and fly down it, you can be in the air for a long time. If it’s snowing, I cancel everything to snowboard – it’s the best day. Skateboarding is a different type of fun.
What is Late Night Stars, and what’s the plan for it?
Late Nite Stars is our crew name from a deli I used to live by. It sounded like a badass graffiti crew name. We started as a graffiti crew, but it became our skate crew—just the squad.
I make videos, Chase makes videos, Zak designs clothes and does graphic design, and Rowan [Liebrum] takes photos. We do a lot of different things besides skating. I personally don’t think skating needs another clothing brand, but we have a studio and hand screen print clothes. Our friend, Diego Donival, is amazing at screen printing and has all his gear in the studio with us.
I’m supposed to be in charge of production but I’m all over the place and bad at managing all of that. I didn’t want to launch a clothing brand, but we all put our heads together and figured, “Hey, if we, keep skating and making videos, we might as well make some money off clothes so we can go on skate trips for free, right?” It’s hard, and I’m not the right guy, but we have to do it for the sake of the squad.
“My friends and I are not skating to get a career opportunity”
Are you trying to make a big career in skating?
My friends and I aren’t skating for a career opportunity. We’re just skating to have fun as a group of friends in New York. That’s what it’s about. We focus on the next video, the next trip, or something funny to include in the video.
Graffiti Days and the Rules
You used to be into graffiti. Are you still involved?
When I first moved to New York, all I did was write. I achieved some success within a year, but it got old. I find it hard to do both skating and painting. I’m a tunnel-vision kind of guy. Now, I’m 100% into skating. I’m having more fun skating with my friends.
What did you achieve that made you feel you peaked? Is your tag well-known?
I’d say my tag is well-known, but I haven’t achieved what the greats have in graffiti. Graffiti is a popularity contest, and I went from being a nobody to a little popular. I reached a point where I felt stressed, especially after traveling to risky places to paint. I could have continued, but skateboarding became more important. I wanted to film a part I was proud of, and I felt that I had to do it.
What are some unspoken rules in graffiti culture?
Morals come into play. We don’t like to paint schools, churches, people’s houses, or cars. Graffiti writers don’t like street art. The short answer is it’s the gentrification of graffiti. Graffiti comes from poverty, so using surfaces reserved for graffiti for street art is disrespectful. Street art is commercially consumable for the art world, unlike graffiti. But, it doesn’t have to be that deep. It can just be chill.
Skating Hard and Stealing Paint
Are there any spots you see now where you think, “I still need to hit that one?”
All the time. From 21 to 28, I fell off of skateboarding because of graffiti. Now I’m making up for that time. I’m not in my early 20’s anymore, and I’m starting to feel the physical effects. I feel like this is my last chance to skate hard without being overly health-conscious and stretching every morning. During RESPECTFULLY, I thought, “I have one life. This is my last chance.” I’m not satisfied with my skating yet, so I basically quit graffiti to skate and film.
“From age 21 to 28 I completely fell off of skateboarding because of graffiti.”
Did you buy your paint or steal it?
I used to rack a lot when I was a kid. I was philosophical about it. But I don’t now. It’s too hard in New York. I also don’t think I need to anymore; I have money now. If I wanted to rack, I’d have to drive to the suburbs, and that’s not worth the effort.
I’ve dealt with consequences, and they’re not that bad. When I was a kid, I was addicted to it, stealing something every day. Now I have money and I’m blessed. I’ve proven it to myself. It’s necessary in graffiti to steal your paint because it’s anti-capitalist; not giving corporations money.
Anti-Capitalist?
Would you consider yourself an anti-capitalist?
I’m a capitalist, I think we all are, but it pisses me off. I only participate to pay rent. I think there are better options, or capitalism should be regulated. Commercialism ruins culture, we see that in skateboarding. Nobody does it for love, it’s all about dollars, consumption, and social status.
I even wanted to work on Wall Street; I have a finance degree. But skateboarding made me realize that world was evil. Maybe the anti-capitalism thing is just me being a coward, but I’ll say yes to modeling gigs to pay off debt. It’s like you can’t blame individuals for climate change; the blame is on policymakers.
Big Parody and the Dee’s Nuts Joke
I want to ask about the drone shots in your video, Big Parody. They looked like stock video.
I was watching 4k Glacier National Park videos with the vloggers and EDM music. It’s crazy how vloggers film themselves for 15 minutes and edit it to the same music. It’s normcore dystopia, an artificial way to trick the algorithm. That’s when I got a drone. Flying a drone is fun, although cheesy.
Does the title mean anything? Were you trying to parody other skate videos?
Nah, it’s a deez nuts joke: Parodeez nuts! Nobody’s caught it yet.
People say “I love Big Parody,” and we’re laughing thinking, “Oh yeah? You like Big Parody?” I wasn’t trying to be ironic.
Damn, dude, you got me with it.
It’s not original. I think Bill Strobeck’s Mind Goblin video is a deez nuts joke. We thought, let’s do another one, it’s still relevant.
Interview by: Larry Lanza
Photos by: Chase Walker, Rowan Liebrum, Patrick Woodling, Dharam Khalsa and Ryan Mettz.
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