Ghostface Killah Says Be A Skater Not A Hater, "Skateboarding & Hip-Hop Is One & The Same"

With skateboarding continuing to take over hip-hop culture as of late, Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah recently offered his input on both worlds meshing together.

Rather than slam the art of skateboarding, Ghost explained why skating and hip-hop are so closely knitted together.

"Skateboarding and hip-hop is one and the same. Hip-hop is a way of life. How we walk, dress, talk, how we do things. Y'all say swagger - I'm not using that word because I've been using that sh*t a long time ago, it's just what it is. When we was break dancing, that was hip-hop. Skateboarding, that's still hip-hop. I had a skateboard, too, when I was younger, you know what I mean. It's still hip-hop. We rode bikes, all that sh*t, it is all together. It's a culture, yo. Whether you skiing or whatever, it's all together." (Karmaloop)

Last fall, Young Money's Lil Wayne opened up about his love for the sport.

"I've researched, and I know everything about the culture. I know everything about who's who, what's what, who won what, and who's better than who, and who skates for what team, and I'm into it. I'm into it. And you know what, they respect me a whole lot. Everywhere we go, every city or state we go, we have a skate park booked for after the show. I go there, I skate till about sun-up, and seven times outta ten, there's usually a pro there. Or they're usually connected to some pro or on some pro team. And, you know, we take pictures, we skate, we session together. They respect me so much just musically, without skating, period. A guy told me the other day, he was like, "You know what's so crazy is like, a lot of artists say they skate, or a lotta artists say they pick a skateboard. But, you know, for the best to do it, it makes you a person that skates, it refreshes you, to remember why you picked up a skateboard." (GQ)

Last year, G-Unit's 50 Cent explained his issues with Weezy taking on skateboarding.

"Yeah, yeah, but you know what's interesting, I was just in Las Vegas, I was performing with this thing with Mountain Dew -- I did write the Lil Wayne line on the actual ['Love, Hate, Love'] song but you know, when I got an issue, it's clarity in it," 50 told Angie Martinez. "I never, I don't really do subliminals. [Did I say his name on the song?] No, I didn't. I'm making references to his actions because I see, within hip-hop culture, I'm watching the artists attempting to be like the audience in order to gain the audience instead of just letting them come to us. That's even why the urban apparrel business is going away. They dress like the skateboarders. If you're wearing skinny jeans, that's 'their' culture. That is like clothes the skateboarders would wear. You see what I'm saying? [Maybe he likes to skateboard?] Yeah, I just don't know gangsters from New Orleans that skateboard. It's gonna get interesting. If you look at it, like, I ran into [rapper] Machine Gun Kelly in Las Vegas while I was out there and -- he's really like a part of that culture. I don't have a problem with Weezy." ("The Angie Martinez Show")

In January, Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator got to meet and speak with legendary skateboarder, Tony Hawk.

"I did music and then I got into skateboarding because my friends did," Tyler explained. "This is like around Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 around 2002. As corny as that sounds, that's my sh*t. Then from there on, all my friends skate. Yeah. By the way, Tony Hawk Underground is in my top three games. Ever. ... Whenever people use my skateboarding, songs at their f*cking parks and sh*t, I be stoked as f*ck." (RIDE Channel)

Check out Ghostface Killah's interview below: