words by: Bradely Rosado
photo: Chris McDonald

Bradley_Hey DK. What's going down?

DK_I'm chillin. I've been stuck in my house the past few days. I feel like a sloth.

Bradley_Haha. Why is that?

DK_All the streets are frozen and covered in snow. I can't even get my car out of my driveway.

Bradley_Well that's the Eastcoast for ya. Tell us how you got into skating. You told me it's because of some crazy dude in NY. What's that all about?

DK_ I went to New York for the first time when I was about 5 years old . I was walking around in Manhattan and I saw some guy riding a skateboard doing freestyle tricks.He was putting on a little show and a crowd started to form. I walked over to watch the guy skate and he had a sidekick with him who was collecting money from the crowd.These dudes looked grimy and homeless. I remember the skateboard dude grabbed a few trashcans and lined them up side by side. I had no idea what he was doing but he started skating towards the trashcans at about mach 10. He hippie jumped off his board, over the trashcans, and landed on another skateboard that was placed at the end of the trashcans. That opened my eyes to skateboarding.

Bradely_What are your training grounds for your flatground skills?

DK_Pulaski Park

Bradely_I remember you running from park police once and you forgot your shoe. You then had me go and get it. The whole time you were walking around the block with one shoe. What the hell happened?

DK_My shoe fell off when i was runnin from the cops but I wasn't gonna go get it or I would've been caught. I dont like tying my shoes tight like football cleats... that's more Chris Hall's steez.

Bradely_Haha, since you brought up C.Hall. Whats your greatest memory of him?

DK_Every time I'm chillin with Chris aka Little Bear, something crazy happens. One time me, Zach, Donny, and Little Bear were at 7-11 over by my area. We were in Chris' van, parked, waiting for Donny to buy his drink.Then all of a sudden some dude comes out of nowhere and starts yelling at this lady that was parked right next to us. This guy had no t shirt on, fucked up shoes, ashy ass skin, old ass cd player...he just looked like he was on drugs. We tried to mind our own business but this guy was getting louder. The guy started pounding, beating and donkey kicking the shit out of the lady's car until the entire car was covered in dents.... he even picked up a small rock and starting stabbing the car with it. Chris took out his digital camera and tried to video tape it. The crazy dude saw Chris doing that and he got pissed. The guy said he had a gun and was threatening Chris to give him the camera or he was gonna shoot him. The dude opened Chris' door and started reaching in the car and then kicked Chris' door in, donkey kick style. Chris wasn't having it so he got out the car and they started rumbling. I saw hands flying everywhere and both of them were on the ground. I wasn't gonna sit back and watch so I got in on it , Donny came running out of 7-11 and got in on it as well. Zach on the other hand...yeahhh......where was Zach?.... Anyways, the guy got up and started talking shit while running away. Zach opened the trunk of the van and we each grabbed our boards and ran after the dude. The guy threw a rock and broke Chris' car window . He ended up running away but the cops got him later that night. So the moral to this story is, you cant bring little bear out at night, he'll either end up in jail...or in a brawl.

Bradley_Not sure if you have read Zach Lyons' interview on 48blocks.com but he said this about you: "He's a young up and comer out of DC. At first meeting he seems like a dick but he's not, he's also a lot weirder than most people know." What do you have to say about that?

DK_Who's Zach Lyons? He don't know me like that.

Bradley_Come on you know Zach Lyons! The one that published your "Dos Manos" in a major skateboarding magazine!

DK_Zach is the craziest, weirdest man child I have ever met in my life. Ask anybody that knows him and they'll probably say the same thing. He'll say the most fucked up shit but say it nonchalantly like it's normal. I wouldn't even want to tell you half the things he says because it would probably ruin his life. He's always the one who takes sick jokes to the next level. He's also the biggest skate nerd and knows every skateboarder, even if it was some random hometown hero. He always gives me shit for not knowing who a certain skateboarder is. A lot of people don't know this about Zach, but he's actually not positive at all, he's a manic depressed person.

Bradely_Why isn't it that you aren't updated with the skateboarding community?

DK_I just don't really pay attention to skateboard media.  I love skateboarding and thats what I'm about, but I don't care about who is who, and whats goin on in the game.

Bradley_Got any favorite skaters you are feelin right now then?

DK_All the DC skaters that are comin up; Zach Lyons, Darren Harper, and this guy named Bobby Worrest.

Bradley_What's your favorite city to skate other than DC and why?

DK_New York City.

Bradley_What is it about New York that you like so much?

DK_The lifestyle, the spots, the Italian ice. I like how you can skate almost anything there. All the spots there are new to me so it's like paradise.

Bradley_What should we expect from you this year?

DK_You'll see..

Bradley_Good answer. Finish it up with the shout outs!

DK_Shout out to Crack Lyons aka Cheap scape, Light, Gza, Rza Koma, Rob, Moc, D Streets, Jimmy Eats from Long Island, Key-air aka PD, Bradley, Allen Ying for the photo, Gary Coleman, CornPoto, Ken, Ryu, Blanca, Chung Lee, Guyle, Sagot, Vega, Bison, Little Lu, Kat, Jessica, Kayla and the rest of the family. Exclusive shout out to Jeff Pang , Greg Grammen, Josh Fishel and Marcell Turner for hookin me up and keepin me fresh.