Nyjah Huston is like the LeBron James of skateboarding. This kid grew up in the spotlight and has been dope at every level and he’s clearly continually reaching heights never touched before. He’s officially entered and won the Skater of The Year convo with his latest offerings in Nike SB’s Need That and Thrasher’s Shine On.
I’m 35 and I grew up watching skate videos on VHS through the transition to DVD. I haven’t been hyper-focused on skating in the YouTube era, but I keep tabs on the sport and watch parts from time to time. It’s been flat-out amazing to see how far and gnarly the sport has progressed over the years.
I remember seeing young Nyjah with dreads down to his knees in Element print ads back in the day. Amazed at this kid 5-0’ing down a rail almost as tall as him with hair definitely as long as his body is. I caught glimpses of dude in the Dew Tour when it played on TV as a baby-faced assassin in the street park. But what this kid is doing in 2022 is straight-up mind-blowing.
Shine On with Nyjah Huston for Thrasher
Shine On was released via Thrasher around a month ago. If you said Nyjah’s part was one of the gnarliest parts you’ve ever seen, folks wouldn’t have doubted you. While three weeks later, someone could say these were some of the throwaway tricks from the ever so slightly more recent Nike part. However, it doesn’t take away from how crazy this part is.
The production value and the way it was shot are visually appealing and there’s no shortage of fire in the post 6-minute montage of top-tier skateboarding. The fakie 50-50 down the kink rail is nuts man and the banger at the end is flat-out unreal. That back tail looks so effortless and smooth down a rail that could easily end a skater’s career.
Need That for Nike SB
The “banger” of a part is always at the end. As the sport has progressed, the gnarliest skaters sometimes tickle you with a few bangers that slowly progress and make you wonder when the part would actually be done. If you watched Nyjah’s Need That part without seeing the time remaining, you would spend around 10 minutes saying to yourself “ok this has to be the last trick.” This dude goes absolutely HAM for almost 12 minutes and 30 seconds showcasing technical skill, balls of hardened steal, and a bag of tricks as deep as the Pacific Ocean.
This part established Nyjah as Skater of The Year, in my opinion. The banger at the end shows an insane level of evolution for the sport of street skating, and I mean c’mon this is three parts in one on top of an already released slapping part.
Thrasher, just hand the man that SOTY trophy now, even if he earned in another video than yours.
