Nyjah Imani Huston (born November 30, 1994) is an American professional

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Super Crown World Championship in 2014, 2017 to 2019, and has won 12 gold medals at the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

since 2011.

Early life

Huston was born in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

. Raised in a strict

Rastafarian Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...

lifestyle by his father Adeyemi, Huston and his siblings ate vegan and were homeschooled by their mother Kelle. Adeyemi was a skateboarder and made his sons start skating when Nyjah was only five years old. Huston has stated that his father was very controlling and wanted Nyjah to skate every day. In 2004, his parents purchased an indoor skate park in Woodland where Huston spent his entire time practicing. In 2006, his father abruptly decided to move to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

with his family, causing problems with Huston's board sponsor

Element Skateboards Element Skateboards is an American skateboard company, founded in 1992 by Johnny Schillereff, that manufactures skateboard decks, apparel, and footwear. In 2014, Element created and moved to The Branch, a creative space in Costa Mesa, California ...

because he was unable to participate in demos. While in Puerto Rico, Huston's parents separated and his mother moved back to California with Nyjah's siblings. Because Adeyami was his manager and videographer at the time, Huston stayed with his father in Puerto Rico and did not see his mother for a year. When Kelle was granted full custody upon divorcing Adeyami, Huston moved back to live with his mother and siblings.

Professional skateboarding

Huston first garnered attention when he signed a sponsorship deal with

and joined their team. During his debut era with the company, Huston appeared in numerous Element video productions, such as both volumes of the ''Elementality'' series, and competed in high-profile contests, such as the Dew tour and the Vans Downtown Showdown. However, Huston eventually launched his own skateboard deck company, I&I, in 2009 after he parted ways with Element in 2008; Huston was an amateur skateboarder at the time of his departure. I&I was a short-lived company and operated for approximately two years with a team that consisted of Huston, Richard Jefferson, and Anthony Williams. During the period of the company's existence, a number of magazine advertisements were published and an online promotional video that featured the three team members was released. The primary aesthetic influence of the brand was Rastafari and the I&I logo incorporated the

pan-African colors Pan-African colours is a term that may refer to two different sets of colours: * Green, yellow and red, the colours of the flag of Ethiopia, have come to represent the pan-Africanist ideology due to the country's history of having avoided being ...

of red, yellow, and green. Following the closure of I&I, Huston returned to Element and released a solo video production entitled ''Rise & Shine'' in 2011—the video was available for purchase on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

website and later received the "Best Video Part" award from the ''

Transworld Skateboarding ''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') was an Skate magazine, international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In Februar ...

'' magazine. During this stage of Huston's career, the skateboarder also joined the

DC Shoes DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for action sports, including skateboarding and snowboarding. The company also manufactures apparel, bags, accessories, hats, tshirts, and posters. History The company was founded in ...

company as a team rider, following a significant period of time without a shoe sponsor—an unusual occurrence for a professional skateboarder with the degree of exposure that Huston had attracted. In response to the DC Shoes announcement, Huston explained that "I think it was all a buildup of things over the past year. DC has always been my top choice for a shoe sponsor but I think it took this past year for them to see what I've accomplished and how I did in the contests and my video part and all that for it to finally come through." Following Huston's decision to skateboard for DC Shoes, other DC team riders expressed their perspectives in online promotional material produced by the shoe company. Long-term DC team rider

Josh Kalis Josh Kalis (born April 27, 1976) is a professional skateboarder who specializes in "street skateboarding". Kalis was sponsored by Alien Workshop for a significant period of time before switching to board sponsor, DGK, in 2009. Biography Kalis w ...

stated in the introductory video for Huston (also featuring

Mike Mo Capaldi Michael Capaldi (born March 27, 1990), popularly known as Mike Mo Capaldi, is a professional regular-footed skateboarder who gained popularity following his video part in ''Forecast'', a video produced by professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez. ...

), "And then there's this other dude out there, literally buying shoes from a skate shop. He could get shoes from anybody that he wanted, but he was buying DCs." Capaldi expressed his opinion on Huston in the same video, stating his belief that Huston is "probably the best skateboarder I've ever seen—he does everything in, like, two tries." After Huston's gold medal victory at the 2013 X Games Street League contest in Barcelona, Spain in mid-May, ''Transworld SKATEboarding'' magazine announced that no other skateboarder has won a greater amount of prize money. On the final night of May 2013, the DC Shoes Co. held a launch event for the first signature model skate shoe of Huston's career at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California, U.S., with

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

in the role of DJ. The model is named the "Nyjah Huston Signature Shoe" and the promotional advertisement features Huston executing a trick at set of stairs at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, U.S. An announcement on June 25, 2013, revealed that, due to a rib injury, Huston was unable to compete in the Street League contest at the Munich X Games in late June 2013. Huston's mother Kelle Huston reported that her son "bruised and scraped the right side of his torso" in a skateboarding accident, but an article from the Street League website stated that Huston would be fit to compete in the next contest round in July 2013 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Also in 2013, Huston made a statement to

Thrasher Magazine ''Thrasher'' is a skateboarding magazine founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello. The publication consists primarily of skateboard- and music-related articles, photography, interviews and skatepark reviews. The magazine also ...

in which he questioned the appropriateness of female skateboarders. He later apologized for his remarks. Huston was added to the competition lineup for the 2013 Kimberley Diamond Cup in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, held from September 28 to 29. Huston won the Kimberley Diamond Cup and the one million

rand The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

cash prize. Huston qualified for the United States Olympic Team in the Street Skateboarding discipline for the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

- the first year for skateboarding at the Olympics. He qualified for the Olympic final out of his heat (heat 3), but did not medal. Huston posted excellent scores in both of his runs, and landed his first of five best trick attempts, but subsequently fell four times in a row to finish seventh.

Sponsorship

As of January 2021, Huston is sponsored by Nike SB, Diamond Supply Co., Ricta Wheels,

Monster Energy Monster Energy is an energy drink that was created by Hansen Natural Company (now Monster Beverage Corporation) in April 2002. As of March 2019, Monster Energy had a 35% share of the energy drink market, the second highest share after Red Bull ...

, Social CBD,

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in ...

, Mob Grip,

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. A revised formula was created by Bill Brid ...

, flatbread Neapolitan pizzeria, Urban Plates and Adapt Technology. As of January 2021, Nyjah Huston stated via social media that he is no longer with Element Skateboards. In June 2021, Huston launched his own skateboard brand, Disorder Skateboards.

Awards

Huston won the inaugural "Kentucky Unbridled Spirit Award for Action Sports" in 2006. At ''Transworld SKATEboarding'' magazine's 2012 awards event, Huston's performance was given the headline "Nyjah Huston Cleans Up at Annual ''Transworld'' Skate Awards" by the ''

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Bef ...

'' website. Huston won three awards at the event: "Best Video Part" (for Huston's ''Rise & Shine'' video release), "New Era Readers' Choice" (the only award chosen solely by the readers of the magazine and ''Transworld'' website), and "Best Street". Huston has been nominated several times for ''

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of perching bird, passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family (biology), family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genus, genera. T ...

Magazine''’s prestigious "Skater Of The Year" (SOTY) award.

Video game appearances

Huston is a featured character in the video games ''

Tony Hawk's Project 8 ''Tony Hawk's Project 8'' is a skateboarding video game and the eighth installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in November 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, an ...

'', ''

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ''Tony Hawk's Proving Ground'' is a 2007 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Vicarious Visions for the Nintendo DS, and by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. ''Proving Ground'' is the n ...

'', '' Tony Hawk: Ride'', ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD'' is a skateboarding video game in the ''Tony Hawk's (series), Tony Hawk's'' series. Developed by Robomodo and published by Activision, ''Pro Skater HD'' is a high-definition remake of classic levels from ''Tony Hawk' ...

'', and ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' is a 2015 skateboarding video game developed in collaboration between Robomodo and Disruptive Games, and published by Activision. The tenth main installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, the game is the first n ...

''. Huston also appears in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 which is a remake of both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 &

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'' is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subs ...

games by studio

Vicarious Visions Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, ''Tony Hawk's Pro Ska ...

, released in September 2020. In July 2020 Nyjah Huston worked alongside Play'n GO to develop his own branded game ''Nyjah Huston Skate for Gold''. It is one of the first skateboarding themed games to be released within the iGaming industry.

Let It Flow

Together with his mother Kelle Huston, Huston founded the charity organization "Let It Flow" in 2008 with the aim of providing clean, safe, and accessible water to communities in need. Following their personal experiences in

, the pair started by selling reusable water bottles at a local farmers market and, as of December 2012, the organization builds clean-water wells, fixes wells that are inoperable, and builds sanitation stations for people in urgent need of clean water. Let It Flow built its first sanitation station in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Personal life

Following his return to Element, Huston revealed that his father's

controlling behavior Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlling ...

had led to estrangement, further explaining that his father refused to return video footage of Huston's skateboarding following the separation. He no longer adheres to a strict Rastafarian lifestyle, cut off his dreadlocks and has identified hip hop as his favorite musical genre to listen to. In 2017, Huston was arrested for assaulting a man at a party and was sentenced to 24 months probation after pleading no contest to one misdemenor count of disturbing the peace. In 2022, Huston was sued for allegedly assaulting a man in an altercation; Huston countersued, claiming he was assaulted. As of December 2019, Huston resides in a home in

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...

, U.S.

Contest history

2004

*Volcom Damn Am: 4th (street) *Volcom Damn Am: Best Trick Small Rail (street) *Volcom Damn Am: Best Trick Big Rail (street)

2005

*Tampa Am: 1st (street) *K.R.3.A.M. AM 2005 (street): 1st *West 49 Canadian Open (street): 4th *Global Assault 2005 (street): 2nd

2006

*Dew Action Sports Tour Right Guard Open, Denver (park): 2nd *Dew Action Sports Tour Panasonic Open (park): 2nd *Dew Tour, overall standings: 4th (park) *Dew Action Sports Tour Vans Invitational, Portland (street): 4th *X-Games 12 Street Finals: 8th *Global Assault: 2nd (street) *Vans Downtown Showdown: 2nd (best trick - stair)

2007

*eS Game of SKATE Pro: 2nd *etnies Goofy vs Regular (Goofy Team): 2nd

2008

*Maloof Money Cup (street): 2nd

2009

*Maloof Money Cup Pro (street): 3rd *

X Games XV X Games XV was the fifteenth annual X Games extreme sports event. It took place from July 30 – August 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, California, at the Staples Center and the Home Depot Center. It was broadcast on ESPN networks, ABC, and EXPN.com. T ...

: 2nd (street) *World Cup Skateboarding, Year End Ranking (street): 4th

2010

*Tampa Pro: 2nd *

Maloof Money Cup The Maloof Money Cup was an annual skateboarding competition for amateur and professional skateboarders founded by Joe and Gavin Maloof of the Maloof family. The events were held in four cities: Costa Mesa, California in 2008, 2009, 2010; New York ...

2010 OC: 2nd (street) * Street League Skateboarding 1st Series, 1st Stop (Glendale, Arizona): 1st (street) *Street League Skateboarding 1st Series Overall: 1st (street) *

X Games XVI X Games XVI was an action sporting event which took place from July 29 – August 1, 2010 in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The games featured the sports of Motocross, skateboarding ...

: 2nd place (street)

2011

*Tampa Pro: 2nd *Street League Skateboarding 2nd Series, 1st Stop (Seattle, WA): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 2nd Series, 2nd Stop (Kansas City, MO): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 2nd Series, 3rd Stop (Glendale, AZ): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 2nd Series, 4th Stop (Newark, NJ): 2nd *Street League Skateboarding 2nd Series Overall: 2nd place *

X Games XVII X Games XVII was an action sporting event which took place from July 28 – 31, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Venues for the event include the Staples Center, Nokia Theater, and other areas of L.A. Live. The games featured the sports of mot ...

: 1st place (street)

2012

*Street League Skateboarding 3rd Series, 1st Stop (Kansas City, MO): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 3rd Series, 2nd Stop (Ontario, CA): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 3rd Series, 3rd Stop (Glendale, AZ): 4th *Street League Skateboarding 3rd Series, 4th Stop (New Jersey): 1st *Street League Skateboarding 3rd Series Overall: 1st place

2013

* Tampa Pro (Tampa, FL): 2nd place * Tampa Pro (Tampa, FL): Best Trick - 1st place * X Games XIX (Foz do Iguaçú): 1st place (street) * X Games XIX (Barcelona): 1st place (street) * Street League Skateboarding (Kansas City): 1st place * X Games XIX (Los Angeles): 1st place (street) * Kimberley Diamond Cup (

): 1st place (street)

2014

*Tampa Pro (Tampa, FL): 1st *Street League Skateboarding Pro Open (Los Angeles): 1st *

X Games Austin 2014 X Games Austin 2014 was an action sporting event that took place over June 5–8, 2014, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Another Venue used for the event was the Austin 360 Amphitheater. While the Summer X Games in past years wa ...

Men's Skateboard Street: 1st *Street League Skateboarding (Chicago): 1st *Street League Skateboarding (Los Angeles): 1st *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (New Jersey): 1st

2015

*Tampa Pro (Tampa, FL): 2nd *Street League Pro Open (Barcelona): 1st *X Games Skateboard Street (Austin): Gold *Street League Skateboarding (Los Angeles): 2nd *Street League Skateboarding (New Jersey): 2nd *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (Chicago): 2nd * Kimberley Diamond Cup (

): 1st place (street)

2016

*Tampa Pro 2016: 4th *X Games Skateboard Street (Oslo): 1st *Red Bull Hart Lines Contest (Detroit): 1st *Street League Pro Open (Barcelona): 2nd *X Games Austin 2016 Monster Energy Men's Skateboard Street: 2nd *Street League Skateboarding (Munich): 3rd *Street League Skateboarding (Newark): 1st *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (Los Angeles): 2nd

2017

*Tampa Pro 2017: 5th *Red Bull Hart Lines Contest (Detroit): 1st *Street League Pro Open (Barcelona): 1st *Dew Tour (California): 2nd *Street League Skateboarding (Munich): 1st *Street League Skateboarding (Chicago) 4th *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (Los Angeles): 1st *X Games (Minneapolis): 3rd

2018

*Street League Skateboarding (London) : Injured *Street League Skateboarding (Los Angeles) : 4th *Street League Skateboarding ( Hungington Beach) : 7th *X Games Men's skateboard street (Minneapolis) 2018: 1st *X Games Men's skateboard street (Sydney) 2018: 1st *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (Rio de Janeiro): 1st

2019

*X Games Skateboard Street (Shanghai): 1st *Dew Tour (California): 7th *Street League Skateboarding (Los Angeles): 8th *X Games Skateboard Street (Minneapolis): 2nd *Street League Skateboarding (London): 1st *X Games Skateboard Street Best Trick (Minneapolis): 1st *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship (São Paulo): 1st

2021

*Dew Tour Des Moines, Iowa - Olympic Qualifiers - 1st Place Men's Street - *Street World Championships Rome 2021: 2nd * Skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's street: 7th *SLS Championship Tour: Salt Lake City :2nd Place Men's Street *SLS Championship Tour: Lake Havasu : 1st Place Men's Street *Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship ( Jacksonville, FL): 4th

2022

* Tampa Pro 2022: 5th * Street World Championships Rome 2022: 1st

Videography

*Element Kids: ''Tricks'' (2005) *Element: ''Elementality Volume 1'' (2005) *Element: ''Brent Atchley Pro Debut Video'' (2006) *Globe: ''The Global Assault'' (2006) *Element: ''Elementality Volume 2'' (2006) *eS: ''eSpecial'' (2007) *Element: ''This Is My Element'' (2007) *Silver: ''Silver In Barcelona'' (2008) *''Thrasher'': ''Double Rock'' (2009) *Element: ''Rise & Shine'' (2011) *Rap Video by The Game (featuring Chris Brown, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne): ''Celebration'' (2012) *Cameo Kid Ink ft. Chris Brown - Show Me (2014) *DC Shoes: ''Nyjah - Fade to Black'' (2014) *Thrasher: ''OMFG'' (2015) *Most Expensivest: "Snacks on Snacks on Snacks" 2 Chaniz ft. Nyjah Huston (2018) *Thrasher: "King of The Road" - Season 3 (2018) *Nike: ''Til Death'' (2018) *Monster Energy: NYJAH HUSTON , Aspire - Inspire: Ep 05 (2021) *Savage Fenty Show Vol.3 (2021) *Disorder Skateboards' "DISRUPTION" Video (2022) *Monster Euro Tour – Episode 1 (2022) *Disorder Skateboards: ''Shine On'' (2022) *Nike: ''Need That'' (2022)

References

External links

Official websiteLet It Flow official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huston, Nyjah 1994 births American skateboarders Living people People from Davis, California Sportspeople from California X Games athletes African-American skateboarders Skateboarders at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic skateboarders of the United States 21st-century African-American sportspeople World Skateboarding Championship medalists