My Very Own Skateboard!!!

Back in the day I used to skateboard, I'm not gonna say I was the best but I just did it for fun, rippin' through the neighborhood, going to our broke down skate park that had a running total of two ramps and a "bar", lol. Well, when I was 14 I subscribed to CCS magazine, it was basically a big catalog that showed you decks, trucks, bearings, grip tape, shoes, clothing and all the wonderful whatnots of a skaters interest.

Anywho, I used to thumb through the pages circling which components I liked to build my own custom made skateboard, but I didn't have any money to purchase my own custom made skateboard to started off at $100.00 flat sooooo, this in saying all of this, I have designed my very first SUPER custom deck. I did this through a contest. IMEEM and Lupe Fiasco are hosting it and all they gave us to start off with was a blank board, some of the the album, "The Cool" logos, and a competition.

Here it tisss...





Telling you right now, the competition started like around Dec. 10 or so and I was very intimidated by the other entries. I really didn't know what to do, so when "The Cool" I listened to it and listened and slowly but surely some ideas popped out.

I guess I shall plead my case here. Well, I was really inspired from the album's intro, "Baba Says Cool for Thought". To me the spoken word introduction was emotionally powerful, it added uniqueness to the album and basically set it's tone. At the end of the spoken word poem the warning issued for those to heed, "Check your ingredients, before you overdose, on the cool". That last phrase, is what I basically went with. From left to right on the board: There is a backdrop of Chicago, the sky is in graffiti,and the wings in the sky represent those persons mentioned on the album with whom Lupe lost throughout the year, with those wings they can still ride with him. Also, are the Vapors and Element logo placed strategically on the surface of the city.

The 'ingredients' which were to me interpreted as the, The Game (skull head), The Streets (heart-shaped locket), and The Cool (the skull hand) I used those symbols to boarder the Chicago backdrop on the left. 'The Cool' and the 'Trinity' logo in the middle and at the right end, respectively, is used to complete the quoted lyric which begins from the horizontal top to the bottom of the board. And faintly, in the background is the streets of Chicago. Variations of bronze, gold, yellows, khaki, plum and reddish brown's were my colors of focus. I thought the colors fit the whole setting of the poem. Anddd that's that. Hope you like it, I had fun doing this. It's cool to see a clean slate flourish and grow into a piece of art. Good blessings to everyone and thanks for the opportunity Imeem.com and Lupe :)