FEATURE
What do you get when you have a controlling father, a strict and secluded Rastafarian upbringing, six Street Skateboarding World Championships, 13 Summer X Games gold medals, three ESPY awards, total domination of Olympic qualifying for Paris 2024, and sponsors the likes of Nike SB, Monster and Disorder Skateboards? You get Nyjah Huston at 28 years old and seemingly on top of the world of street skateboarding. He has come a long way since spending four years isolated on a rural farm in Puerto Rico under his father's questionable managerial control. After he reunited with his mother and siblings, his mother spent her last $100 to get Nyjah from their home in Davis, California, to his first Street League Skateboarding event in Phoenix, Arizona. SLS, Ridiculousness and Fantasy Factory founder Rob Dyrdek had to lend Huston's mother the money for a hotel room. Never one to disappoint, sixteen-year-old Huston stunned Dyrdek and the judges by winning the event, collecting a $150,000 prize and stabilizinghim win more prize money than any other professional skateboarder in history, but was almost snuffed out in its early stages. In a wide-ranging interview with Magazine's own Jayme Foxx that takes place aboard a private flight with Huston's new aviation partner Set Jet, Inc., Nyjah opens up about his family, his career, his tattoos and his philosophy on skateboarding.