Natas Kaupas Bio Pt 1

[snowy976]

A lot of people can skate better than Natas now but back in the 80's he was unparralleled. True pioneer

[professor900]

Amazing. Every era has stand outs,but some skaters are timeless.

[push71]

The first time I ever saw a wallride, it was Natas, I lost my mind. I mean I lost my mind, I tried so hard to ollie like that, we had no ramps hardly in my town it was all street skating and Natas, Vallely, Gonzo, Mullen, those guys WERE skating!!

[rebusd]

anyone who saw him ollie, wallride, or handrail in 87 knows. Anyone who didn't, doesn't. End of story

[XheroinxchicX]

im glad this came out ,people should know about natas ,mark gonzalez, julien stranger,john cardiel ogs like that

[benaberry]

I dare anyone to have as original thought as Natas / Gonz / Mullen / Mike V / Jay Adams.......possibly Hawk.

These guys didnt follow any thing but just a feel, thats it. These days its ohhh you cant do a flippty flippy flip, whatever, create something original.

[SSDecontrol94]

@benaberry thank you! everyone cares way to much about doing certain tricks now and days and the pure reason for skateboarding is gone, fun.

[fairlystupidjello]

Hail Natas!

[mistaflynn76]

@dgarvin

Damn Fella, how can ya drop a bomb like that? that's gotta be the worst comment ever . Gonz was a true pioneer and also one hell of an awesome cat/artist/spokesman. Fake you say, mate if you been rolling since the early 80's and showed the world how to bust randrails, ollies, flips yadda ydda then maybe you can stand on your forum perch and judge but i'm thinking you first picked up a board in the late 90's and thought you were gangsta> You Suck!

[dgarvin1]

@mistaflynn76

Whatever dick. I started skating in 1980.

[dgarvin1]

Right, gonz is so annoying. Imitation crazy. He used that to stick out against the other top skaters.

It's so fake.

[pangrac1]

wow, my sk8 idol, wallrides and Gonz and street pioneers = good old rad times

[freakoutguitarsolo1]

my older brother's friend had that thrasher magazine, he had a lance mountain skateboard too :P first skater i ever saw.

[Longi452]

So.. There's this dude named... mofo?

[Nominay]

@Longi452 Mofo was the most well-known and established photographer of skating in the 80's. He quit and left the skate scene after Gator committed murder. Now you're going to tell me you don't know who Gator is, right?

[Longi452]

@Nominay Um... I was making a joke.. and I'm not into photography, so how should I know the names of skate photographers?

[Nominay]

@Longi452 it's a joke for you because it prompted your question. your generation just has no sense of anything that happened before your pre-k years. I heard phenomenal stats on kids entering high school who have no idea what 9-11 was. preceding generations this was not the case. we had an understanding and connection to much that went before us.

[Longi452]

@Nominay So now you're saying that new freshmans have no idea what 9-11 is?............ Sure, schools these days are teaching shit, that doesn't mean we're idiots who know nothing about history. If I don't know the name of a skateboard photographer from the 80's, that means I have "no sense of anything that happened" before I was 4? Amazing inference. Just amazing.

[Nominay]

@Longi452 that you're a skater you should have even more of a sense of what things were like 20 years back ... doesn't mean you have to be an expert. i know you think I'm a dick, but this should amuse you - washingtonpostDOTcom/wp-dyn/co­ntent/article/2009/09/10/AR200­9091004425.html

[Longi452]

@Nominay Well, that washingtonpost article was pretty strange.. I highly doubt anyone with a heart wouldn't know what 9/11 was.

[Nominay]

@Longi452 No, just what year it was, but glad you feel that way. /watch?v=5ktgl0tcsXg

[Longi452]

@Nominay Yes, it was obviously an inside job, yet every kid believes that whatever's on a textbook in school is correct.. and everyone on campus is an idiot... it happened in 1997?!

[omgdeepa1995]

no offense but his voice reminds me of the old pedophile on family guy.

[gnabthatorangesoda]

@omgdeepa1995 fuck you because i am offended

[TheRalphus666]

I wonder what ever happened to Santa Monica Airlines skateboards which was his pro sponser

[yourgrandma34]

poor old lady at 2:00

[drinkycrow22]

did he like die or something?

[DinoXaviz]

@drinkycrow22 No he didnt he mostly surfs than skate now

[Seanistoocool4you]

man Skip Engblom just churns out progressive skaters like fucking cupcakes.

[karatezombie]

natas + mullen = invented about a zillion street tricks people take for granted today.

[Nominay]

@karatezombie Gonz was more pivotal to street evolution than Natas, he just refused to have an ON Video segment done on him.

[dethfromabove14]

any body notice his name backwards is satan kinda scarey

[martijnspeed]

his name backwards is satan thats KICKASS

never knew him just alva stacey those one`s but him... never knew him

now i do. im glad i know him now what a style...

[bzzb0123]

Natas was Skips good karma after the Z-boys (except Jay) bailed out on him to cash in. Natas is the best example of what skateboarding is all about. This man is so full of soul. What a great story and an amazing person. Watching him sk8 gets me fired up to carve the shit out of my neighborhood. I'm shutting this computer down to go ride.

[gytiw79]

Wooo! Proud to be Lithuanian!

[RealTimeArtist]

wuhahah i am from Lithuania too :D just LIke Natas:D

[Cicarpous]

I remember his first appearances in Thrasher mag but yeah theres so much more history there even before that - awesome video series !

[stoplying]

Man...haven't seen the SMA logo in a loooong time. Brings back many memories. Thanks for posing this! Now onto parts 2-4.

[WhiteoaksSkate]

hate it how people barely know who he is. hes probally one of my favorite skaters.

[kpdawes]

exactly, he was in element video and i was like who was that and only 3 tricks, i was like come on, why is he on element until a year later, i found out about him who he is so i understand why he was in element and last footage of him was sick!

[WhiteoaksSkate]

yeah. him and the Gonz are crazy skaters. I talk about them with some of my friends and they are like WTF who is that? lol

[Shanananaquet]

Aee, this is skateboarding, not what today is. Back then you skated to SKATE. Not for money or the fame, it was for the fun and to express yourself. Natas is that.

[jacobarturogarcia]

natas is satan backwords

[YoshiClone112]

jacobarturogarcia is aicragorutrabocaj backwards!

[rudidower]

NO SHIT !!!

[gytiw79]

Since Natas is a Lithuanian name , so Satan doesn't mean anything to us. By the way Satan in Lithuanian language would be "Shetonas"

[deneedenisa]

yeah,he's got lithuanian roots just like anthony kiedis :)

[LosersandHippies445]

smooth like ruff

[forkicksandgiggles4]

It's amazing how far skateboarding has come. like back then if you could ollie you were amazing. now to be good it seems like you have to hardflip like a ten stair or something

[cremefresche]

Natas was the next generation of Z-Boyz after the original 70's team (Alva, Peralta, Adams,etc.)!!

Skip could have brought back the glory of the original Dogtown Z-Boyz if he would have built on Natas and hooked in other 80's street skaters at the time..

[acdc2196]

that would of been tight

[MSV94]

wow he could do all of this tricks with that oldschool board!!!!!!!

[OldSkaterGuy]

no... he invented all those tricks on an oldschool board.

[TORdenTNT]

thanks for inventing wallies

[FaraohTony]

truly amazing guy

[Leaffan93rules]

alot of new era kids would say "i can do that first try" to alot of the ledge tricks in hear, but they'll never be able to do it with the style that natas natrually has

[fazelife]

yea....neither will they have the creativity to make up shit like he did

[aldoobler]

@Leaffan93rules Kids might be able to do everything in his parts first try, but they didnt do it FIRST

[DadYedwog]

@Leaffan93rules they have no chance to compete with natas, i even met a gut older than me who didn't know who he was!!!!

[bboyillscience]

@Leaffan93rules and they wouldn't be able to do it on the board natas was on either

[bassinyobooty]

@Leaffan93rules and they wouldnt have tricks like that if it werent for natas and other skater from his day

[KiLLiNHiLLz]

@Leaffan93rules or on a ten pound board with eraser-like wheels, without any vision into the future of skating. natas was right there, inventing those tricks, breaking into uncharted territory. kids today were not there, & they don't know what it felt like.

[vbdbrian]

@Leaffan93rules * A lot



[LocalHasbeen]

@Leaffan93rules Yeah, but they forget that before then, nobody did it, and now people have been doing them for 20+ years. Thats why when a kid says "this board/trucks/shoes are too heavy/wide/long etc. I always say. Really? Guys were pulling kickflips 20 years ago on boards almost twice as wide and heavy.

[WannaSnuggle]

@Leaffan93rules

wrong. Skating is skating and it always will be. "New era kids" arent real skaters. Im 16 and Im in love with skateboarding. I look up to people like Natas because their original and they're the reason skating is what it is today.

[frog606]

Superb! One of the greatest and certainly one of my favourites from back in the day.

Incidentally, does anyone have any idea what the tune at the beginning is? It shore is purdy...

[Stdea01]

i am so enlightened. i never knew who he was

[tyronebiggimsh]

Natas is THE MAN!!! Makes everything look SO eazy! There isn't any STYLE in skating anymore!! BORING ASS SH*T!!

[antisketchiness]

what are these documentaries called cause they're sick!!!!

[sandstormxfirestar]

the lords of dogtown rules great movie

[retardando6194]

has anyone seen lords of dogtown

[FODskate]

yup

[SwitchSk8Crew]

yea homie

[LegitBeat16]

Anyone know the song from 5:05 to 5:50

[acdc2196]

natas should of been a z-boy. that would of been sick

[oneshotonekill747]

Great vid! Natas was my idol back in the day.

[97chrisburrows]

this dude rips man hes a skating god.

[beast6228]

I remember wayyyyyy back when, I had his posters all over my room....ahhh, the good old days. sure miss them.

[SK4TE2]

Natas.......my favorite deck, that tail was revolutionary

[prirsisqueira]

Um vídeo pra matar a saudade. Adorei!

[ItarareItapeva]

80´s...good times! Times of Christian Hosoi and Natas Kaupas, my 2 favourites American skaters in that time. Too, In that time, here in Brazil we had god skaters, like Rui Muleque, beto or die (my favourite brazilian shape- by lifestyle), fernandinho batman, Cupim, Mureta, Alexandre Ribeiro, Sérgio negrão, tron and others. Too, I remember that I had a shape of rob roskop (my favourite), trucks tracker (I dreamed of having a Gullwing) and santa cruz's wheels. (U.S. products were expensive)

[ItarareItapeva]

It's natural that the Americans elect an American, and of course, that a Brazilian say "Bob!". I remember the Rodney Mullen, in the 80s, as the king of the freestyle mode and Tony Hawk in vertical. But, to elect the best of all, I think we have to see who was the best overall (freestyle, street, vert ramp and mega). Mullen is the king on the ground and I think in vert, is Bob. Perhaps, by the history of the skateboard, Tony Hawk is the best in general?...

[ItarareItapeva]

80's... In that time, here in Brazil, we only watching on tv, Hosoi and Hawk disputing the hegemony of the global skateboarding, and dreaming to see, in a day, a Brazilian skater in this place. The time has passed and the dream became a reality ... Bob Burnquist, Sandro Dias, among many others at the top of the world skating! What a pride! (we can not forget about the older Brazilians skaters that are part of this, too)

[ItarareItapeva]

The Kings...

soccer = Pelé, basketball = Michael Jordan, tenis = Federer, surfboarding = kelly Slater, skateboarding = Tony Hawk or Bob Burnquist? (For me, is Bob. And for you? Who is the king?)

[Nominay]

I hate you.

[nportillo73]

Yeah, he's starting to piss me off, too...

[cremefresche]

lol...yeah, dude has a serious problem of spamming with his posts...;-P

[ItarareItapeva]

Hello. I'm from São Paulo-SP, Brazil (the South America's skateboarding capital) and in the 80's I saw the fight between Cristian Hosoi and Tony Hawk for the world hegemony. In that time, sure, we only dreamed, but today, I'm very proud to know that Bob Burnquist is the 'Pelé' (the King) of the skateboarding, like the Brazilian skateboarding is on the top of the world. (unfortuneately it still not happened with the Brazilian surfboarding). PS- Sorry 4 my bad english.

[soulmurderer666]

natas is my hero

[aldoobler]

Natas, Gonz, Julien, Tommy and Jim Thiebaud are my heros. Always have been, always will be.

[Nominay]

I completely know what you mean.

[windex780mg]

I skated five Natas decks in a row back in the day before moving on in 1990 to something green with bart simpson on it

[razzmyster]

skip engblom is the guy who started the z-boys team i didnt now he anything to do with natas kaupos

[Citizenkill]

he is one of the skaters who i look up to.

[skump13]

fersure man fersure

[04callwilk1]

the funny thing is if any skaters today had done a basic ollie over a skateboard we would of owned those freestyle contests back then before mullen and natas;)

[uber0wn3r]

just you try and ollie with a board that has no kicks and has rolerskate trucks on it....fool

[Sire161]

My frist set up was Natas deck w/ tracker 8 tracks, slime ball wheels.

[Sire161]

the ledgend of street. period...

[Laestadius]

So Gonz just decided to war a shirt on his head for the interview.

[stringed48]

@Laestadius i watched this movie about 100 times and never stopped to think about how cool gonz is and how he was wearing a shirt on his head lol

[Nominay]

@Laestadius what's more funny is it's a pair of pants actually

[archive303]

Hero

[domiplayahonkfurz]

this dude is amazing

[steel34head]

one of the best street skaters of all time.....

[lukizz00]

mano draugo tevo tevo brolis yra natas :D

[arunasimas]

Respektas Natui:) , pasirodo ne iš kelmo spirti tie lietuviai. Keista, kad pirmą kart apie jį girdžiu..

[vep58rider]

this is the real person who revolutionized street skateboarding not bam margera and ryan sheckler its so awsome we have legends like mark gonzales and natas who did things for skateboarding without them street skating wouldnt be were it is today the guy is a real hero for skating and not many people get it.

[lakemonster25]

It is important to note that most of his street skating for all his videos were done in his own neighborhood (granted it was Venice Beach). You can really see his progression from 1986 until the early 90's on the same exact curbs, ledges and walls. Amazing - I don't know any other skater that can show their progression so precisely.

[djdib]

lov this ... the same time i was skating

[critikdude]

did he invented wall ride?

[nawsh93]

yes and wallie

[sk80ng4l1if3]

did he invented the natas spin???

[Boneless777]

yes he did

NATAS Spin

NATAS Kaupas

?!!

[chickaberga2]

yes

[flashbox2008]

he isn't from lithuania , but her mother is lithuanian , im proud that is amazing skater with lithuanian roots

[veritas598]

anyone the very first song? ive heard just can't  put a name to it.

[guidopadula]

anyone know who produced or directed this video??

[x20Cinema]

Kirk Dianda/ONvideo, out of 411vm.

[02ramfan]

I was into skating in the late 80's and mid ninties he was probably the best. Anyone remember skate t.v what was that other show in the early nineties also hell i forget. Damn early nineties were the days anyone else in this time and my age bring some feed back.

[Houstonskater]

"you either got well known for something or you died thats it"

lol

Natas was one of the greatest skateboarders ever in my opinion

[Larsmop]

He's From Lithuania Like Me :)

[38Weissbier]

The Muska of the 80's  *rofl*

[livethelifetv]

I just widh I could rate it 6 stars. 5 stars is an understatement. In the 80's I was totally into vert, Natas was my inspiration for creative street skateboarding ...

[amital]

natas

satan

haha he ruled

[djtobestar]

by doing his incredible ollies he was our idol in streetskating 20 years ago.... !big love !

[terminator007007]

He did a handrail at the 1985 Oceanside street contest. I remember nobody knew what the hell he was doing. lol Way ahead of his time...

[roposkater]

I sometimes wish I could of been alive back then to see how much innovation (like the wallride and the handrail)went down without thinking of those tricks as something everyone does.

[vespabrothers101]

what show is this from

[AgileMJOLNIR]

Thanks so much for posting this. Natas is the best. I use to skate his boards in the 90's and are still my favorites.

[tobibuecher]

lol...

NATAS | SATAN <- lol?

btw he invented the natas-spin, that trick is aweseom!

[nuttcrackers]

my dad was sponsored by santa monica skateboarding company while natas was pro so my dad skated with him.

[blipp]

Interesting. What's your dads name?

[OldSkaterGuy]

"!I'm Natas and I wanna be on your skateboard team!"

Hell Yeah Mother Fucker!!!

[Drexciyian]

Wasnt there 2 santa monic board companies ?

[counterstryke]

Best guy Ever I met Natas in Grassroots Brampton I think it was 88 if I'm correct. I had his second deck SMA Panther. Natas is original OG. I was a teen punk back then and he let me olie his board. Greatest day ever.

[nocomply666]

NATAS IS THE FUCKIN MAN!!!!!!!

[baldassaredegenes]

sean penn is the narrator, no? it seems to be his voice, the same as in dogtown and zboys doc

[whoami92]

Kaupas is a great skater but listen to this his name backwards is Satan!when i found out that man i thought he wasnt real!

[defunked]

thanks for this i really appreciate it. when i sit at work all bored and with no energy left i just watch the natas bio and it brings back such good memories from the past ... it gets me up n goin!

[builder666]

Nicest pro I ever skated with. Best and last deck I ever owned. Natas, OJ II's, Thunder trucks... Sick. They need to reissue!

[kchastain3]

You're kidding me... my last deck was an SMA Natas board with Slimeballs wheels and Tracker UltraLights. Best board I ever had. Easily.

[mhks68]

my first board Lucero deck Tracker w/ tha attached copers and a curb hopper

[tracebeelz]

i still skate an old natas. check out my video

[standardgrey]

my first issue of transworld had natas on the cover. had the shoes too.

[theymademedoit00]

what a f@~#in great doc this is!!!

[SalesDudeMcBoob]

That Thrasher cover with Natas on the car was the first skate mag I ever bought. Natas, reissue your deck so I can go get a purple one and try to do some fun skate shit!