Skateboarding
Skateboarding
TJ Rogers brings it on home in his new part
Home court advantage, anyone? Push through TJ’s stomping grounds in this part filmed exclusively in Toronto.
3 min
TJ Rogers Toronto video part
Home court advantage, anyone? Push through the TJ’s stomping grounds in this part filmed exclusively in Toronto.
Though California’s gravitational pull in the skateboarding world wrapped TJ Rogers in three years ago, the Greater Toronto Area still stands tall as his home. In this latest edit, TJ brings it back East for a homecoming party featuring skating from the financial district of Canada’s largest city. Keeping with the locally grown theme, the edit also features Toronto hip hop artist Jazz Cartier’s “Dead or Alive” to literally put the city on blast.
In the days leading up to the segment release, we chatted TJ up.
When did this part come together?
I started filming for this Toronto homecoming part last summer when I was back for my fourth annual DJV skate contest. I was just home for a few weeks, and I was trying to film as much as I could to work on something. I would come [to California] for a few weeks, then come back to Toronto for a little bit and just made it happen. We didn’t have all the b-roll and the lifestyles all together [before the winter], so we waited until this spring, and then I flew back to finish the part.
Why was it important to put out a Toronto part?
I wanted to do a Toronto part because it means a lot to me to do something where I grew up. I love bringing back to my roots rather than just traveling the world and doing something new that everybody else is already doing. I’d rather just pay homage and bring back to the stuff that means most to me.
You recently went skating in South Africa. Does skating places like that bring you a newfound love for skating at home?
It makes me appreciate being at home, both on and off the board. We’re so spoiled in California and Canada. We have all the resources that we could ever ask for: clean water, good food, everything. Out there, you don’t really have those resources and it’s a little bit harder to get through the day sometimes. So it’s always good to be home because you appreciate it.
Was having an artist from Toronto provide the music by design?
I wanted to have some type of artist from Toronto. Jazz Cartier is upcoming right now. In the Toronto scene, a lot of my friends were listening to him. I couldn’t be be happier the way it turned out. Erick Valentic, the editor, did a really good job. The song just fits.
