{"id":519835,"date":"2016-12-19T12:03:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T17:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=519835"},"modified":"2019-01-23T10:03:09","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T15:03:09","slug":"na-kel-smith-talks-work-ethic-music-and-adidas-skateboarding-collab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/na-kel-smith-talks-work-ethic-music-and-adidas-skateboarding-collab\/","title":{"rendered":"Na-Kel Smith Talks Work Ethic, Music & adidas Skateboarding Collab"},"content":{"rendered":"
Na-Kel Smith<\/strong> is 22 years old. He lives in California where he gets paid to skateboard and is shipped free gear from his main sponsors, adidas and Supreme. Let that sink in for a minute. While the young professional has famous friends like Tyler the Creator, Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt, don’t think for a second his head is in the clouds or he isn’t on his job. Humble and hardworking, the man that came up off the grind is staying up on the same thing, riffing off the motivation of his also successful Day 1s and keeping it creative the whole time.<\/p>\n Much of that is exemplified on his latest project with adidas Skateboarding: his second Matchcourt Mid collaboration with the brand. Poised in pink but still down for the dirty work, the homage to his mother follows his first drop which sold out in 12 hours. While you won’t catch Nak selling out anytime soon, get the scoop on his new shoes that certainly will as well as some gems on friendship, work ethic and what he’s bumping these days.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Your latest collaboration with adidas Skateboarding is about to drop. How did the concept come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n Na-Kel Smith:<\/strong> The designers at adidas came to me and said they wanted to do a pink shoe. At first I didn’t want to do a pink shoe but I thought, ‘Let me see if I can make it work.’<\/em> At the time, I drew a rose with my mother’s rap name — she was in a group called Urban Prop — and it all came together. I threw a green bottom on there and I’m wearing it for the first time in my actual size. I’m super happy. I’ve been skating in them and they skate good. I’m just super hyped.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n