I feel like this should be called history of natas kaupas

I cant hear "brave captain" without imagining Natas skating...

This is literally my life, step by step. I remember seeing Natas in Thrasher, getting sponsored by Alva, watching Natas start 101, skating with Gabriel Rodriquez and more!

So funny hearing him talk about the kickflip. "We'd ollie and kick it and it was just so funny, because we'd spend the whole day landing with one foot on and one foot off." Haha little did he know that 10-15 years later this is the struggle every skater would know while learning kickflips

I love modern tech skating and what it has evolved into, but this video shows the kind of skateboarding I grew up with.  I still think it's fucking gnarly.

still have his original board with the jaguar and it STILL till this day rides like a champ

' Everyone intensely serious ' then gonz comes on with trousers on his head

Never even knew about the guy before this, hugely inspirational to artists and skaters alike. Thank you, Natas

I remember Natas first "double-tail" deck.  It changed everything.

He's the most badass street skate ever,no one has fun like he did back in the day,Natas saved skate boarding,all skaters owe this man props, he's the realshit.

I still remember being the only street skater at comps and freakin people out. Natas was my inspiration.

Natas is the man, a humble living legend and the prototype modern skateboarder.

These cats were my heroes back in the 80s. Gonz first...Natas and Tommy very close...even Jesse Martinez, who wasn't in this but his board was...those guys were the first true street skaters. There was the pretty boy-Hosoi and squeeky-clean Hawk, but I always dug these guys. Street was just taking off and you didn't need a ramp or a pool...just a spot. Ohio was a million miles away from Santa Monica and Huntington Beach and Venice...but we didn't care. Several times I'd layer up in long underwear and thick jackets to go outside and skate where the sun had melted the snow, but it was still 30 degrees. My favorite all-time board was the Vision Gonz deck...you could Ollie the moon with that thing...HUGE kicktail. Second was SMA Natas deck with the panther. It was fairly tame compared to Gonzs deck, but to this day it was the only board I've ever been able to kickflip. Now kickflip are the norm, but back then with a 10 x 30 deck it was an accomplishment. After about the mid 90s I all but quit skating. I got married, settled down. Had a couple of the newer double kick decks, but I just never got into that style. No, I'm old and tired and in bad health now...but I always dream of hopping back on a huge 10 x 30, P&P Gorilla Rib rails, Thunder trucks and Powell 95a Rat Bones or Santa Cruz 92a Bullets and rolling somewhere...anywhere.

Thank you for posting this...lot of history for us old farts...

...and Natas...the kid who at 16 looked 30 and who at 30 looked 16...

Right on.

its good to note that a 1988 Natas SMA with Thunders, cellblocks, OJ's and rails weighed 68 lbs.

True Pioneer in Skateboading. Back in the late 80's we would constantly try to do all of his tricks from his video parts and magazine shots.

I owned a skateshop in bakersfield ca from 95 to 2013 we had vita shoes in beginning ahead of time!!!   and we would get natas stuff in but the "New Breed" sk8r only cared about bam muska mike v. in the early days of my store I always Loved Natas style and personality!!!

Skated in the 80’s. Can confirm Natas was The Man!

2 tricks in two weeks fuckers bow down to a pioneer. Natas shaped the way you skate. Pay homage. He was doing handrails that would make your sack bleed 20 years ago. Legend.

You look at old Natas pictures and the guy looks like he'd fight you anywhere. You hear him talk and he sounds like he's waiting for his latte

I always subscribe to Thrasher and when he started getting the magazine coverage we all tried to emulate everything him and Mark gonzalez were doing, and he was a pretty chill guy. My friends and I met him a street contest in Sacramento and he was amazing. the guy had a gift 🛹🛹😮