Yann Horowitz 'Angola'
Jenkem brings the goodness yet again, this time in the form of this brand new part and accompanying interview from all round rad South African Yann Horowitz. Premiering a brand new part from an upcoming vid is no big thing these days, even if it's as raw as this one, but combining that same tried and tested formula to coincide with Pride month, and interviewing one of the only two "out" male pro skateboarders, is a great illustration of how far attitudes have come in our once caveman like subculture.
LGBT politics aside, this is a seriously great part. Yann's skateboarding has (please excuse the unfortunate turn of phrase) bugger all to do with who he fancies; he rips seriously hard on the rawest of terrain and reps the excellent Familia Skateboards hard. Highspeed street lines, brutally rugged DIY spots and the crustiest of drained duck ponds all get dealt with as thought they're the smoothest Catalan granite, chuck in a skull crunching London slam and you have as asperous a selection of terrain as we've seen in many a year.
The interview that runs alongside the piece, given the timing of its release, does indeed concentrate on Yann's experience growing up as a gay skateboarder. Though it must be tiresome for the lad to maintain the role of unofficial homosexual spokesperson for skateboarding, to his immense credit he understands there are other kids going through the troubled years he experienced as a teen and his words may well offer a shred of comfort. And for those of you who aren't gay? Well, if you don't already, maybe this will help you realise we're all just skateboarders regardless of who we find attractive, just most of us aren't as good at it as Yann.