Daewon Song is one of my favorite pro skaters ever. Tonight I got the idea of doing a geek out blog entry on him, and did my prep work on youtube. For each clip I watched tonight spending some time doing so, and I counted 10 quality skate parts. Those are only the ones that I’m aware of. Daewon with Almost, DVS, and spitfire as active sponsers has a web presence. There are hundreds of clips documenting his abilities on a skateboard. The first part I’m embedding is from the classic ‘Love Child’ video from 1992 and his the most recent is a b-side of ‘5-incher’ from 2012. His professional career is now well over 20 years, and it looks like he hasn’t taken any type of break at all from skating. Over this entry I’ll simply state why I’m a fan, and at different times of my own off and on skating.
As a teenage skater in 1992 watching ‘Love Child’ was an instant connection. The change from ramp skating to street skating was welcome. There was a focus on new and technical tricks. I and other skaters would literarily watch these videos daily and then go try to learn the tricks on our own. About two years ago, a friend in NYC was moving to California and as a going a party we had a skate video and video game night. When I pulled out Love Child on DVD we watched it. A friend of mine noticed that Daewon Song was one of the only ones to skate with speed in that video. So he kept up with the focus on tech skating but took it to the next level by skating fast.
‘New World Order’ came out in 1993, and I lived in Toledo Ohio instead of Baltimore, but I still very much focused on skating. I remember when that came out being a little disappointed that no lines where included in Daewon Song’s part. Even with the disappointment the progression was undeniable, he does so much tech skating on curbs it’s amazing. Watching it now on youtube I notice the frontside flip to noseblunt, and the fakie tre to nose grind. Now the standards are for higher ledges, but all this stuff had to come out on curbs first. Most of the tricks in this part would turn heads today if done on ledges of standard heights.
After a few years of not skating, the Rossford ramp was built near my parents’ house in 1997 I believe. In 1998 ‘Rodney Vs. Daewon’ came out, and I liked the skating I saw by Daewon Song. This video although in jest compared Rodney Mullen to Daewon Song. I remember from an interview, that they are friends, and now co-own Almost. Both skaters are phenomenal. Over the two I think Daewon Song has a smoother style, and his trick perfection is more centered with the standards of skating, whereas Rodney Mullen is kind of more doing his own thing. Anyway, I loved both ‘Rodney vs. Daewon: Round 1’ and ‘Rodney vs. Daewon: Round 2.’ Then in a few years Daewon Song came out with the Deca company in 2001 I believe. I had the video ‘Sneak Peak,’ and liked the tech skating. The last youtube embedded video is an Epicly latr episode that interviews Daewon Song for a good 20 minutes. He seems kind of embarrassed by that part of his career because he only skated picnic tables, but I thought that Deca part was fantastic.
In the 2000’s I blew it and did not skate much. But in 2007 I started back skating. I was pleasantly surprised to watch ‘Round 3’, ‘Skate More’, and ‘Cheese and Crackers’ a few years after they came out. These videos really show that Daewon Song is one of best and unique skaters ever. At the end of ‘Skate More’ the switch nose manual in that ditch is unreal. His manual skills, tech skill, and transition skills are amazing. In the summer of 2008 shortly after my ACL injury I had the fortune to see Daewon Song skate the KCDC ramp in Brooklyn at a demo. He skated a solid 2 to 3 hours, and amazed the whole crowd by some fancy footwork.
Now with youtube and skate industry sites Daewon Song really has a web presence, and current skating online. I got ‘5-Incher’ on Itunes, and Daewon Song’s part is original and creative. He is experimenting with manual tricks and putting originality first. I read in an interview or in one of the magazines, that his part was filmed with a time crunch of a few months, as opposed to years of filming like some of the new videos. Let’s hope he has several more future parts!
Mallisonwhat's Blog 