Video of the Week: Taylor Smith - Shep Dawgs Tape Deck

Some dudes are just natural at skateboarding. Taylor Smith aka T-Spliff is definitely one of them. Now I always love some raw, uncut, behind the scenes footage, so 16 minutes of Taylor getting gnarly without even showing it is just priceless. His make-everything-look-easy style is too enjoyable and the fact that he hits up some of the scariest rails is the reason why he needs to be looked out for this year and years to come. I first learned about him through his WTF part, which was a sick first big part for him, and his Shep Dawgs 3 part (where most of these BTS clips are from) solidified my liking for him. Just look at the 14 minute mark in the uncut clips: Taylor boardslides a super sketchy high rail like it's nothing, and throws in a downhill kickflip because he's got it like that. Then, in prime Shep Dawg fashion, he figures the sketchy boardslide isn't enough, so he kickflips into it and rolls away without flinching once again. Seeing raw skate talent like this never gets old.

Also from this week, in keeping with the "Random Teams" theme, sml Wheels released an awesome 13 minute compilation of their whole team from the past year, including some footage I haven't seen before. sml is another one of those pretty stacked teams so this half-length video is something to get psyched on.

Now I already expressed how Luan's part in Chronicles was a bit disappointing and I think I finally know why. The hype for the video was so big that I was expecting some totally stunning NBDs from Luan (kind of like Shane pulled out), but in actuality he shredded in his usual precise fashion, but without anything completely mindblowing. Luan's new Strike and Destroy part, on the other hand, was described to be a short trip to Brazil to film in the area and came out without crazy anticipation. Couple that with the fact that Luan didn't skate lightly at all and this part is in my opinion much more exciting and entertaining than his Chronicles part. From the not-seen-too-frequently Brazilian streets to Luan's flawless style to his well-picked tricks, and especially to his downhill lines, this part has all the right ingredients to be very tasteful.

In other skate news from the past week:
-John Gardner and Nik Stain both released heavy East Coast video parts for Skate Jawn. Thrasher was totally right in seeing the similarities between John and Zered Bassett...
-One of my new favorite contests in skateboarding, The Berrics and Matix's 2UP contest is amazing so far.
-Brandon Nguyen kills it in his Video Check Out.
-Andrew Norris skates with a solid style and makes some difficult spots look easy in his Mag Minute.
-The lineup alone for Outliers is enough to be stoked on, but the trailer made it all official with Marius Syvanen unexpectedly filling in the last spot.

Video(s) of the Week: Ben Fisher, Brad Cromer, and Peter Raffin

There were three key videos that came out this week that I had to mention for this post.
Above is Ben Fisher's sml wheels part, which shows the great balance between technical control and style. Some tricks that stuck in my head include the impressive frontside rock pop out at 0:31, the fakie manual fakie flip to fakie manual through two kinks of a sidewalk at 1:54, the switch frontside flip manual revert (mid-manual) down a bank at 2:06, the nose manual nollie shove to fakie manual fakie flip out on a popular bank at 2:46, and the crazy control with the ender: manual bs revert to fakie manual frontside half cab flip out.
Next up is the Peter Raffin Transmission part from Transworld, which displays a serious appeal for unique and gritty spots. While it's already refreshing to see a bunch of new spots (the back tail at 3:00 is beautiful and scary at the same time), it's also pretty cool to see Peter skate everything with a variety of tricks, from huge handrails (like the gnarly crooked grind at 2:20) to precision tricks (like the kickflip back tail at 1:36 with a short kicker to a fairly tall ledge) to super fast gaps (like the line at 2:01 where he half cab flips over a short stairway and then does a huge front 180 out into the street). And of course, his frontside POP shove it ender combines so many pleasing aspects of watching skateboarding all into one trick.
And lastly, I would like to also mention Brad Cromer's Lo-Fi Quartersnacks Remix to recognize Brad turning pro for Krooked. He's got a really powerful and smooth style and definitely deserves pro status; turning pro for a company like Krooked makes it that much cooler. While the tricks in this part came out last year, Quartersnacks never fails at a good remix, and the kickflip 50-50s on waist high rails along with the front tail heelflip out on the NYC courthouse ledge spot can always be replayed without complaints.