I know a lot of your work is just natural, God-given talent but did you formally study art?

Yes, I majored in graphic design at Alabama A&M University and minored in business.  .  I’ve been drawing since I was about 7 or 8 years old.  I guess I’ve been good from an early age do I’d say art was probably my first talent that came out. That was during elementary school around first or 2nd grade.  Back then I copied photos out of National Geographic and drew them. 

What's your education background?
I graduated from John W. North High School in Riverside, CA in ’93.  I went on to college in Huntsville, Alabama at Oakwood College then Alabama A&M.

Alabama, huh?  That’s a far leap from Southern California.  How’d a Black kid from Cali wind up in Alabama?

What brought me there was because I am 7th Day Adventist and I went there to go to Oakwood College, a historical 7th Day Adventist college founded by Ellen G. White in the 1800s. I was majoring in Physical Therapy at that time.  While there I kinda got “recruited” to come play basketball at Alabama A&M University.  It was more so that a friend of one of the basketball coaches at Alabama A&M saw me playing ball in the park and asked me to meet his friend, the coach.  At Alabama A&M I switched my focus to a major in Graphics Design and a minor in business.  I chose business as even then I already had the mindset that I wanted to work for myself.

So is Skillz Rekognize Skillz based in Riverside, CA?

The company home base is Murrieta, CA about 40 minutes outside of L.A.  Though born in Riverside, I now reside in northern California in Fairfield.

How’d you end up in Northern California from Riverside?

After school, when the economy went bad, I relocated for work opportunities.  Plus my family, my mom and grandmother, live in northern California.  They’ve lived in northern Cali for years.

You have a nice style to your work.  Have you always approached pieces with this artistic touch?

I try to keep something consistent in my style and I try to stay consistent with the sports theme.  Art pieces with the elongated body style is common but I try to give a modern twist to it to make it my own.  A little realism mixed in with abstract.  Of course, I learned from Charles Bibbs and other artists I admire have always tried to come up with a style of my own.

So you had a mentor or someone to school you in the art game or have you just picked up technique and the business side as you’ve progressed?

I met Charles Bibbs, a renowned Black culture artist, and he got me more encouraged and inspired about my art.  I visited his studio and this person became a role model, of sorts, that was tangible for me as a budding Black artist.  He was someone successful that I could aspire to be. He would encourage to do more art and pursue it full time since sports careers are very finite.  “You can do art forever”, he’d say, ‘but sports has a narrow window of time to excel and make money for the rest of your life.  A lot of Black kids dream of playing pro sports but only a few make it. And for how long?  You’re ALREADY an artist and have been so almost all your life.  Be that.” 

So you were also playing sports during that time?

Yes, I had KILLED it playing basketball in high school and had also excelled in basketball at Alabama A&M.  After college I tried out for the developmental league team and didn’t make that.  I eventually went to Gunzberg, Germany and played

basketball for 6 months.  By then, I was going on 30 though and the love of the game was beginning to wane a little.  I was already becoming more drawn to pursuing my vision to create my own business that combined clothing and art.  Charles helped me cultivate that even more.

So what would you say was a turning point for you?

There was really no single thing for me.  One, I still felt the influence and inspiration from seeing so many Black owned businesses in Alabama.  Being born and raised in Riverside, CA, I didn’t really know that a lot Black men owned their own businesses.  That realization came when I went to college down south.  I saw a lot of B.O.B.s there and that let me know that I could work for myself and be successful.

Two, I had gotten a taste of what it felt like to be a paid artist.  While in Alabama, I did a piece for a club called The Green Room.  I made $1,500 for that piece and I realized that I could make good money off of something that I loved and that came easy to me. I also did the poster for the June Black Arts Festival, an annual event in Huntsville.  A lot of things happened that showed me I could get paid AND gain notoriety and respect.  I was encouraged.

Sooo… you happy with your decision?  How has it been running your own show?

It’s not easy being an entrepreneur but it’s worth it.  Art has its own degree of difficulty to excel and make dough you can live off of.  It’s also pretty vulnerable to economy shifts.  But... I’m glad to have started Skillz Rekognize Skillz and see my dream coming together.  I’ve aspired to come up with something different and high quality that incorporated my art.  I’ve focused on doing some awesome, colorful artwork on shirts.  I hadn’t seen really high quality art on urban sportswear so I acquired my target market. I launched the site for Skillz Rekognize Skillz (www.skillzrek.com) in 2012 and have been grinding it out since.

Do you work solo? 

I have a business partner, Eric Penick.  He is also the Youth Director for the Southeastern Conf. 7th Day Adventist church.  We’ve been friends since short pants days and church family.  He handles administration, day-to-day business, our social media presence, advertising, and most all public-facing aspects.

In a short time you’ve been able to make some power moves too.  How’d you establish the relationship with Darryl Dawkins?

I got the Darryl Dawkins sponsorship through calling and calling around the country trying to connect with sports legends and he just decided he wanted to support what I was doing.  He was really taken by my work so he graciously opened up his home to us in Allentown, PA. and we were very blessed to have him as part of our ground floor project for SRS.  In light of his recent death, rest in peace, the shirt we launched is an instant classic and collector’s item.

v. ray

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