its all just marketing blurbs to make him seem edgy, i think theyre playin on the fact hes a pro with corporate sponsors, but hes not a ramp rat.
its not really unique though, edwin was on red bull for years but he was totally chill about it. he was in the same situation, street rider from new york who started at the bottom and managed to make it big, and id say without a doubt that edwin has had waaay more influence on bmx style etc than nigel
maybe nigel is just one of those people who takes himself super seriously
Agreed. Edwin straight up invented the "barspinning NY street style" or whatever you want to call it, and transformed bmx into what it is now. Had Edwin not existed, I think the "2 pegs and a straight cable of 2005" would still be the main thing in bmx. I could be way off on this, but in my opinion Edwin basically showed the world how to land flat and not look like shit.
No doubt Nigel has basically taken the Edwin style and progressed it significantly, and I respect what he can do on a bike, but the whole attempted celebrity thing is kind of awkward/ cringe-worthy to watch.
To me, the big difference between what Nigel is doing now and what Dave Mirra did 12 years ago comes down to credibility, and shameless marketing. Circa 2004, Mirra was essentially the king of bmx, simply because he had won a million X games contests, thus the super big corporate sponsors seemed like a pretty natural thing. From what I recall, his main sponsors outside the core bmx companies were Slim Jim, Fox, and Oxy pimple cream. Even though the Oxy zit medicine stuff was kind of lulzy at the time, it's not like Mirra would go on record spouting horseshit like "after an intense training session, I get sweaty as fuck and only the cleansing power of Oxy can restore my complexion to its former mtv glory." Also, even though Mirra did become a celebrity in his own right, it kind of seemed like a natural consequence of being the winningest contest rider in bmx, and it definitely wasn't a result of some bizarre partnership with Eminem.
Meanwhile, it seemed like Nigel went from being some dude from Queens that had like 3 clips in the friends section of an Animal DVD to being that dude trying to be street with all the bogus sponsors. No doubt the nike 6.0 thing was legit, but I can't imagine the Gatorade deal materializing without some kind of professional sports agent working on Nigel's behalf. Also, does anyone know a single bmx kid that has ever purchased a Gshock watch? Regardless, if a dude can secure some big time sponsors that pay him, good for him. What kind of grosses me out though is all of his stupid blurbs about how MLK paved the way for him to ride bmx, or how he tames the concrete jungle of NYC when he rides, etc. It basically seems like he relishes any opportunity to lose credibility in the bmx world in a feeble attempt to increase his "mainstream" celebrity status. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but this whole thing with Pharell just seems bizarre to me. If you want to become the most famous bmxer of all time, go ahead. Just focus on the bmx and stop trying to turn your bike into some street wear fashion accessory.
Topic: "NIGEL SYLVESTER ON ADVANCING BMX WITHOUT FITTING IN" (Read 80220 times)
