‘THE NINE CLUB’ SHOWS US A DIFFERENT SIDE OF ANTWUAN DIXON

Antwuan Dixon occupies a very special place in skateboarding culture. His breakout part in 2005’s Baker 3 catapulted him into skate stardom, and the Baker/Deathwish fam—recognizing that they somehow caught lightning in a bottle—capitalized on Dixon’s out-there persona. His ads and pro models highlighted his bad boy trials and travails, and all but encouraged him to be viewed as a caricature.

Then, once things began to (allegedly) get complicated, Dixon disappeared from the scene. Rather than focus on Dixon’s incredibly unique style of flawless skating, attention was turned instead to his legal challenges—essentially persecuting him without hearing his side of the story. Thankfully, The Nine Club is digging past the tattoos and court dates in its latest episode.

The interview gives us the fullest, least sensational, picture of Dixon to date, without making him a martyr or glorifying his past. Attention is paid to his history and, when appropriate, Roberts gives Dixon the opportunity to open up about some of his biggest question marks. (It’s a delight to hear Roberts begin a question with “When you caught that case…” Lawl.)

One of the more enlightening topics concerns how Dixon was forced to live with an image that his sponsors had the incentive to cultivate because, quite frankly, it sold boards. Beginning at 13:20:

“The whole time I’m on Deathwish, every board graphic is glorifying the fact that I’m the ‘wild kid’: Glorifying the… ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’; the first one I had handcuffs behind my back. You know? Which was building a brand at that time, but at the same time I thought, Cool—this is how it’s supposed to be. 

“But, you catch a little time or whatever and the whole fuckin’ script flips… I’ma tell you the truth: I don’t think I ever gave any type of input about a graphic that I wanted.”

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