Being a “creative” skater can easily be a cop out for being “not a very good” skater. Conceiving of the most non-trick tricks, finding the least skateable spots, and praying to land on your board can be fun for a minute, but it gets tiring quickly.
But Ben “Rollersurfer” Koppl is both creative and talented. He puts real power into all of his tricks, and he can take all the gimmicky things people love right now (running instead of skating into tricks, powersliding vertical walls, and firecrackering up stairs) and make them look as impressive as they should.
Ben is basically a master in what we’re gonna describe as “goof gnar,” and we love it.
“Goof gnar” is like laughing and shouting “oh shit!” at the same time. “Goof gnar” is wearing out the 5-second-rewind button on YouTube. “Goof gnar” is like Fancy Lad but faster and with less hardware. “Goof gnar” is like if Eric Koston’s only video part was in Chomp.
Make friends with “goof gnar” and make friends with Ben. Then when you’re fully aroused go check out the full personas vid and accompanying zine here. (JK it’s actually over here.)
The Shop
Related Posts
-
INSIDE THE DIY PRINT REVIVAL WITH WILL MAHONY OF HAVE A GREAT DAY MAGAZINE
Striking the difficult balance between degeneracy and lovability, check in with Will Mahony as he releases his latest issue.
-
GROUND GLASS: RONNIE KESSNER
Settle in and get ready to watch some ultra-crispy skating caught on technology invented in 1923
-
PREMIERE: CHRISTIAN MAALOUF IN STATIC VI
Is he made of high tension springs? Can he dunk?
-
UNEARTHING 90S SKATE & HIP-HOP FOOTAGE WITH JACOB ROSENBERG
Craving a history lesson but don’t feel like paying for a museum ticket? Jake Rosenberg's archive just might satisfy that itch.
-
EXPLORING A FULL PIPE IN NEW JERSEY WITH OSKI ROZENBERG & FRED GALL
Taking the future Olympian to one of the most crusty spots we could find.
-
WATCH “PERISH; SAGAS” BLEND SKATING WITH GLITCHY ANIME
The skating is solid, but the special FX, ignorant rap music, and recurring anime clips put this video over the top.
-
WE HOSTED A SKATE SAFARI ACROSS NYC WITH ADIDAS
Introducing City Copa NYC, the renegade skate safari across New York that (almost) lit people on fire.
-
PREMIERE: MIKE MAG’S “BURDEN OF DREAMS”
Ever wondered what kind of skate spots you'd find along the Amazon River?
Comments
Popular
-
KEITH HUFNAGEL ON THE FUTURE OF HUF
We heard a rumor that HUF was going out of business, so we talked with boss man himself to find out.
-
HANGING OUT WITH ANDREW HUBERMAN, SKATEBOARDER TURNED NEUROSCIENTIST
Curious what it would be like to hang with this guy outside of a stuffy podcast studio? Us too.
-
GETTING KINKY WITH DANIEL VARGAS
Daniel Vargas' philosophy on whips, chains and getting choked out.
-
CASTLE BAM TO LIL JERRY SPRINGER: A JENKEM TRAVEL DIARY TO RICHMOND
Armed with the Genius skate crew, we hopped from DIY to DIY, leaving a graveyard of crushed cans along the way.
-
CHECK OUT THE ZINE IMMORTALIZING EARLY ONLINE SKATEPARK FIGHTS
Filled with altered screenshots, Colton Abernathy’s zine distills these fight videos into a single moment.
February 26, 2019 1:34 am
How in the F do you firecracker up stairs!? That shizz crazy
October 15, 2019 12:58 pm
turnn the camera sideways
ik im big brain
February 26, 2019 1:49 am
Lean back^
February 27, 2019 6:30 am
*Lean Up
March 2, 2019 12:29 pm
Can we get a Jenkem interview with this guy? I want to know how he thinks.