Alexis Ramirez - 01-01-23
by Dan Connelly for SK8Mafia
When I first saw the King Skateboards crown, I thought about the SK8Mafia logo as similarly spartan. For all the brilliant, instant appeal of the Sk8Mafia hand sign, further brand direction seems an afterthought, perhaps deliberately, content as the Mafia appears to be living lives tech-shredding San Diego harder than anyone ever, without any of the nightlife temptations of LA, a double edged sword when sponsorship seeks cultural currency. Everyone acknowledges Wes Kremer as one of the best out and agrees that Alexis stacks in step, the regular to his goofy, nollie to his fakie. I don’t see anyone else dropping a 6 minute solo part on New Years Day, and word is Alexis left DC contract, so through SK8Mafia is how he releases all clips wearing DC to clean his 2023 slate:
Sk8Mafia’s logo appears in a cloud of smoke, then Alexis faces camera wearing DC shirt in Washington DC with right arm in a sling. “All great things must come to an end,” Alexis says, which we now take to mean his half decade on Danny and Colin’s footwear imprint. Alexis, longhaired professional, slow-mo somersaults over the end of a ledge after slipping out of switch back tail in his consistent sartorial choice of quilted vest over shirting. Now he lands the switch back tail smooth Raymond Molinar popout in white shoes. He stomps the presumably cracked-in-session deck to celebrate, then shows he can kickflip it anyway and the part skates off. Their daylight sessions still annoy downtown pedestrians, but Alexis is “just a soul whose intentions are good” soundtracking his clipstacking. He hops a big bump to bar downhill, then displays ledgework with a wavy bench used to facilitate and challenge under temperate blue skies.
Alexis’s hair bounces like Brandon Turner backside flipping a block in a line at an empty high school on a weekend, then mounts a Norman Wood-sized switch front noseslide to switch. I imagine Alexis has switch f/s flipped myriad bump to rails on sessions with Wes that leave him in a confident position to perform one here. Alexis rides line past affiliates down a remote paved path with banked ledge sidings, the sort of out of the way place Made Men meet to avoid wiretaps. Switch flip front 5-0 an outledge in a line gets double angles to sunshine, then a regular frontside flip over a stair set and spiked gate merits double angles too. Alexis combos, pole jams and ride-on grinds, checking off popular proficiency points with ease. He hits the same sizable handrail with a crooked grind line and switch crooks single, then in black Sk8Mafia baseball jersey, boardslides a waist high concave railing down and up, riding away to the first song’s end and Wes’s blue collar embrace.
Amidst colorful flora, Alexis appears for second song in a custom made Padres’ jersey to remind us that he is the motherfucker throwing out first pitches at a MLB games and twisting groovy fs 5050 around an S rail. Double angle here shows the Padres x SK8Mafia collaborative graphic. He nollie flip backtails the second level of the curved pocket ledge that’s currently popular in camouflage pants, black shoes and black Sk8Mafia tee to regs, Pudwill level ledge tech. Orange vested workers align their cherry picker so Alexis can drop in on a shed roof to grind the lift’s platform railing. Alexis attends another campus for a handrail and stair set line, then surfaces interstate onramping bump ollie to grind a pick up truck’s open bed. He hits the next line’s stairset first then handrail second. I see Rowan Zorilla in Alexis’s gaze approaching hardflip over bump to bar in wrist guard as soul chorus sings. Nollie 5050 is one of Alexis’s trademarks, here on a 16 stair in his hammer beanie. A tennis court’s banked perimeter is the most appealing spot so far for Guy Mariano stylings. Ramirez returns to the downtown spot where he nollie noseslid handrail in his first line to nollie crook the handrail in this one, then back to the location of his initial switch back tail for a fakie crooks to regs. He hits a gap to rail with back tail and back overcrook, switch heelz big blocks on a day with a half-mast flag, then nollie heelz overrail into a thin, crusty buildingside bank shirtless street soldier in camo pants.
Past Birds of Paradise under palm trees for his ender, Alexis blindside nollie backside flips a rail down stairs like TJ doing it over blubba. I clicked this link after my girlfriend and I won a family game of Pictionary, expecting to find high caliber no frills skateboarding. Alexis delivers, as expected, and SK8Mafia starts 2023 showing strong. I could see SK8Mafia branding expanding successfully in any number of ways, but perhaps Smolik and Lil B’s time at Shorty’s is a cautionary tale of building up personalities in the service of brands, so now the Mafia prefers omertà and lets the skating speak for itself.