Tony Hawk, the gnarliest skater who ever lived, has done a great interview with Mashable about fatherhood, social media and Tupac, because that’s the life of the Birdman.
With 1.4 million followers, Tony Hawk has become a favourite on Instagram among the community, and Hawk has noticed how the social platform has changed the way people interact and learn these days.
If I hear a name of a younger guy from out there in the skateboarding wild, the first thing I do is look at their Instagram,” he says. “That’s going to be the most telling of what they’re doing and what they’re into and how far they’ve come as a skater. Especially for younger skaters now, that’s their priority social network. That’s where they go to show off.
Hawk also said though that there are things that he hates on Instagram.
Once people start posting photos of everything they have for lunch, I’m out. The things that turn me off are like, well, obviously flooding the feed with just whatever, for one thing. I don’t want to know every little thing you’re doing, minute-by-minute.
Hawk was also asked about an old-school photo recently he uploaded of his first wife and Tupac at the 1991 AMAs, and how the whole thing came about.
I saw Tupac standing alone. I was kind of scared, because I knew of him but I didn’t know if he’d be cool or what. But he was so excited that we recognized him. And I think in the excitement I forgot to get my own photo, and just took that picture of Cindy (Hawk’s wife at the time) with him. I just told him that I really liked his stuff with Digital Underground. He was just starting to do his own music, but I hadn’t really heard it yet.
It was a really small interaction, but the funny thing is I’d been bugging Cindy to find that photo ever since I’ve been on Instagram. She finally found it this year, and I put it up there.
Check out the full interview on Mashable.
