Written By Berto
Multi-skilled. Multi-talented. Cliver Singleton has his hands in a ton of stuff. Blessed by the one and only Tony Hawk with a guest board on Birdhouse, Jacksonville’s finest is now residing in San Diego—and he’s got plans.
Let’s see what’s cookin’ with Cliver.
FRANK 151: Yo, Cliver! What’s good?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Nothin’ much. I’m here in San Diego, hanging out with Brandon Turner, skateboarding, and hanging out with Brandon Turner and Tony Hawk!
FRANK 151: Congrats on your guest board on Birdhouse. What went through your mind when you got the call from Tony?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Happy birthday to me! I got it on my birthday, so it was awesome. That’s the first dude I ever saw in a skateboard magazine—or at least the first dude I remember seeing in a skateboard magazine. So it’s full circle. It happened in 1986, and the board came out in 2026.
FRANK 151: It’s been a minute since Minority Report. A classic. Ever thought about directing a follow-up?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Yeah. It’ll probably come out on Black people time. (Laughter)
I wanted to do it, you know. I’ve had some of the guys—Tiago, Aimu, obviously KT, Javier, and from the regular cast, Kellen James as well. It’s been there. I don’t see why not.
FRANK 151: The reason I ask is, especially in this day and age, there are more Black and Brown skateboarders. I know you’re hyped on that. I know I am!
CLIVER SINGLETON: Absolutely. I mean, guys like Alexis Ramirez—I think he’s fuckin’ phenomenal. Aimu is one of my favorite skaters. Tiago, too. There are so many guys who are just incredible.
It’s good that we have a lot of different people in skateboarding. It’s funny—the top five don’t look like they used to, you know what I mean? The top five now looks like the United Colors of Benetton. That shit used to look like an MTV commercial. It’s completely different now.
It’s great that skateboarding has an outlet like that, especially for the women. I thought there were only three white chicks who skated! (Laughter)
FRANK 151: I know there are other avenues for your creativity—your culinary and podcast endeavors. Do you have a favorite?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Awww, man! That’s a great question. I mean, I’m passionate about skateboarding, and I’m passionate about cooking. If I had a favorite—if I had to pick one—I’d say podcasting.
I can always cook at home, but I can’t always get those kinds of interviews and stuff. It’s a time capsule of skateboarding. It’s important that we have that stuff from our era because we don’t really have a lot of it.
No disrespect, but we have stories and stuff like that, and that’s a very particular timeline. You almost forget the guys from the early ’90s—actually, from the mid-’80s to early ’90s. That’s a forgotten thing.
There were almost three different types of skateboarding. The mid-’80s had vert ramps, then it went to jump ramps, then people were ollieing, doing rail slides, and skating PVC bars. Then the H-Street video came out and blew everyone’s minds. After that, you had Blind, the Plan B guys—there were just so many facets during that time.
It’s an important era. It’s an important time in life for a lot of things, whether it be skateboarding or music. A lot of different music was coming out then. It was happening so fast that I think a lot of people forgot a lot of things, you know? A lot of people were coming and going, but they’re just as important as the people who are still around.
FRANK 151: Your pro models are highly collectible. To me, that’s a sign of how well respected you are. Does that still hype you, knowing that?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Yeah! It’s cool, man. It’s a blessing. There’s something I always wanted to do—something I always thought was important since I was a kid—and that was to have good graphics.
You walk into a skate shop and you’re like, “Man!” Obviously, people from the early ’90s remember. It’s not like Claus Grabke was Matt Hensley, you know what I’m sayin’? But Claus Grabke had some of the dopest graphics on a skateboard. I remember things like that and how important it was to have a good skateboard graphic and sticker.
People don’t have those things as much anymore. I always felt those things were very important to a skateboarder, especially a pro skateboarder. I thought it was just as important as being in the magazines or being in the contests—to have a dope board.
Luckily, I had a lot of graphics before the “series” thing came in, which, to be honest with you, I feel takes away from a lot of pros. Everybody doesn’t work the same, you know what I mean? There could be somebody who’s not really working that hard, but they’re getting the benefits of other people’s hard work in a series. You get what I’m saying?
I’ve worked with some of the greatest guys: Natas, Cliver, Sal had some good people working with us, Alfred Hawkins, and Alex Aranovich. We always did some cool stuff. Having that freedom is great, too.
I don’t know if people get to pick their graphics now. Half that shit looks like it came off a napkin. (Laughter)
FRANK 151: Taking into consideration the length of your career, is there anything still left on your bucket list?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Ahh, that’s a great question. Ahh, shit—slappies! I can’t do a slappy. (Laughter)
I still want to do a 540. I don’t know if I can with my shoulder. Actually, I can do anything if I want to. It’s sad to say you can’t. If that weird kid from Florida—what’s his name, Duncan Donuts Dern? Something like that. If he can do a 540, then I can too. That dude has no leg muscles! (Laughter)
FRANK 151: I’ll ask you what I asked our mutual brova Kevin Taylor. With Sal Barbier already announcing another limited Aesthetics release, how are you feeling about what Sal’s doing?
CLIVER SINGLETON: I mean, it’s cool. In a way, you know, I’d love to be a little more involved. When he was doing it last year, a lot of the footage that’s in the most recent video—I offered to put a part together.
But it kind of goes back to that series stuff. I don’t know if that’s what he was trying to do, but that’s what I wanted to do. It’s like, “Hey man, I don’t just want to put a board out there. I want to give people a reason to buy my skateboard—not based on what I used to do. I still skateboard!”
It’s important to me. It might not be important to everybody. Kevin still skateboards, too. I just really wish we could’ve done a little more as far as promotion and videos. But that’s Sal’s thing. You can’t tell a man how to build his house.
FRANK 151: There are so many opinions on Rocco. Any cool stories you can tell us about him?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Rocco took me to Six Flags! Rocco was cool to me. I don’t know about anybody else, but he was cool to me, and that’s all that matters to me.
He was very nice to me. I didn’t have to hang out with him every day. I don’t know if those dudes were trying to get too cool or too close to him. I would never want to get too close to somebody like that. A lot of people he was beefing with, he was close to at one time.
One thing I’ve learned in life: if you see somebody doing wrong and you don’t say nothing, you’re next in line. You know what I’m saying?
I had a buddy in North Carolina. He used to talk to his old lady like shit in front of us, like a dog. I always tell people: if you see somebody doing wrong and you don’t say nothing, you’re next in line. If you see somebody wronging someone else—he doesn’t have to be your friend, and I don’t know the lady—but just know you’re next in line. Make your little money and get up out of here! (Laughter)
FRANK 151: Any shoutouts or acknowledgements?
CLIVER SINGLETON: I really want to give a shoutout to my friends back home who have always been there for me: Ryan Coleman, Justin Bereman, Eric Gillyard, and Bear Hughes. The guys who were there before all this happened. They were always there.
Those are my friends. There’s also my family, but my friends are my friends, and I’ve always known that. When I got back home from Trilogy, those were the friends who were with me. Those are the guys I grew up with. Those people mean more to me than my skateboard career. I wouldn’t have a skateboard career if it wasn’t for my friends, right?
We built the ramp together, skated the ramp together, and ate around the ramp together. That’s what built me—having that camaraderie, that friendship. I still talk to those dudes every day.
My buddy Ryan hit me up when we were having lunch and said, “That’s crazy you did a board with Birdhouse!”
“I know!” I told him.
It’s cool because I posted about Grant Brittain’s show that we were going to, and I was like, “Dude! Lance Mountain just reposted my story!” I’m a kid. He was like, “That’s so cool!” He doesn’t skate anymore. He works for Jeff Koons, a very famous artist. Ryan is a very established artist himself.
But that’s me. If you know me, I’m a skate nerd. That’s what made me. I never forgot where I came from. That’s my people.
Other than that: Natas, Kelly Bird, Rodney, Rob Dyrdek, the SD guys, John Drake, obviously Kareem, Gino, Sal Barbier 1000%, my boy KT, Welsh, Joey Pepper, and John Igei. That’s my people. If I don’t see those dudes for five years, they’re still my people. I’m 51, man. It’s good to have that.
FRANK 151: Any words of wisdom?
CLIVER SINGLETON: Hoes are not your friends! (Laughter)
There you go. Cliver has spoken loud and clear. A man of many talents, and he’s just having fun. He’s gotten a ton of love from the San Diego skateboarding community since moving out here, and he’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Age don’t mean shit—and he’s proving it.
Respeto!