Frankie Spears always struck me as an interesting case in the skate world. On paper he should have so many "cool guy" points.
He is from the Tri-State area (dunno if he is from the city), came up with Tyshawn Jones, rides for a cool-ish legacy board brand, and is/was on a big shoe company.
Tyshawn and Frankie shared a part together as little kids in an old indie VX video from the early 2010s.
The video part is unlisted on YouTube BTW, interesting tidbit.
He didn't get any billing with Supreme like Tyshawn and all the cherry kids did in that era, Adidas has never done anything with him despite Spears being on/flow basically since Tyshawn if I recall correctly.
It seems like Spears kind of was placed in front of a lot of the same opportunities as Tyshawn Jones. And yet the difference in their career trajectories is astonishing. While Tyshawn is a once in a generation talent and the difference in skating ability and style between him and Spears is huge, Sean Pablo kinda rode in on that same wave and has had multiple colorways with Converse.
Sean Pablo is alright at skating sure, but Frankie Spears nollie flipped into the Miami Triangle lol. I don't think it's a skill question.
Can any NYC /industry heads on burner accounts chime in here? Is it an attitude thing? People don't like his style? His fits? Did a specific thing happen?
There seems to be more at play than he just didn't quite cut it to make it big. Maybe that, maybe I'm just bored and on the outside looking in.
He's also insanely talented at skateboarding. Not the best style in the world, but it's crazy that Spears gets barely any love from NYC skate world hubs like QS or the skate industry at large.
Probably won't listen to the podcast lmao.