IN 2012, the New York filmmaker William Strobeck was tasked with shooting a commercial for Supreme. When he arrived at the brand's original store on Lafayette Street, Strobeck met a 13-year-old kid from the Bronx named Tyshawn Jones. Strobeck had never filmed with Jones before, but by the end of that first day together, Jones would show the first glimpse of what, a decade later, made him the most famous and respected young skateboarder on the planet.
The two skated about a mile to Foley Square. A landmark in New York skateboarding, the area hosts Lorenzo Pace's Triumph of the Human Spirit, a sculpture set in a fountain adjacent to a downward marble ledge known as Black Hubba. Across the street is the New York State Supreme Courthouse. At one end of the building's grand stairway, beneath the towering columns, sits the infamous Courthouse Drop, a granite platform overlooking a short embankment that ends abruptly some six feet above the sidewalk. Strobeck had visited the Courthouse Drop countless times with pro skaters since he started filming them in the late 1990s, and never left with a single landed trick on tape. Undaunted, the 13-year-old Jones put down a nollie kickflip in fewer than 10 tries, making history and solidifying a bond that propelled them to the forefront of skateboarding.
"There's something about this kid I need the world to see," Strobeck recalls thinking. "That's why he's been a permanent figure in the stuff I've done. He was so brandnew when I met him, and there was a mutual thing: He knew if I documented him that people would see him, and I knew if I documented him, it was gonna be great. We would look back on this. It was the start of something."
After that defining trick, Strobeck pointed his camera at Jones, asking, "What do you want to say to the world? You're in a movie."
"Where's my check?" quipped Jones.
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Finally, Women Are Breaking Up One of Luxury's Stuffiest Boys' Clubs
Dimepiece founder Brynn Wallner hosts a round table of leaders in the watch world to unpack the ascendant power of the female collector.
Can The Saudis Buy Soccerr?
Saudi Arabia is spending an unfathomable fortune to lure the biggest stars of global football (Ronaldo! Benzema! Neymar!) to its upstart league. So GQ ventured to the kingdom to discover what the gambit represents. Is this the future of the world's most popular sport? The vanguard of sportswashing? Or something way bigger?
CRACKING THE PERO CODE
Delhi-based label Péro is available in over 350 stores across the world. Shweta Shiware meets the reclusive founder and creative mastermind Aneeth Arora, arguably the Indian fashion industry's best storyteller.
Captain Mbappé
We met him as a teenage prodigy. Now, with his PSG teammates Messi and Neymar gone, and a new job as French national team captain, Kylian Mbappé is reckoning with the responsibilities and privileges that come with being the man.
The Full Ricky
Twenty-five years after becoming one of the most staggeringly famous men on the planet, a wiser, more assured Ricky Martin is taking another run at being a star. While also being himself, this time.
THE BOND
What does it mean to be a parent in this day and age? In GQ's annual series dedicated to fatherhood, we take a peek at the intimate relationships that some of the coolest dads share with their kids.
THE RATIONAL ACTOR
With a stream of critical and commercial successes under his belt, Vicky Kaushal is buoyant about what lies ahead in terms of work. Yet it is in his personal life that he has experienced the most transformation.
Standing TALL
Comedian and actor Vir Das speaks to GQ about winning an International Emmy for his Netflix special, codirecting his first movie, and the future of stand-up comedy in India.
Das Holistic
New York's desi rap star Heems's new album re-imagines the diasporic experience not as a site of endless ambivalence, but a place to be whole.
The Return of the Opulent '80s
The all-gold Piaget Polo, Hublot Classic Original, and Rolex GMT were kings during the '80s. Now they're coming back for their crown.