Centered in the exposure is Cato Williams, who is a member of the Billionaire Boys Club: Ice Cream Skate Team. We were able to catch up at his friend’s apartment in San Diego, California near Mission Beach.
Excerpts from Cato’s Interview:
But everywhere TK went you seen Mike. You know what I mean? Like they were always together at that point and time. My brother has a mini-ramp at his Virginia spot. We’d skate the ramp. He’d always be there on the ramp. Listening to his music. Goin’ off. You could always peek around the corner and catch him like gettin’ down to his music and skatin’. That’s Mike. You can’t hold him still. He was so chill about being so good. He was doing back nose blunts and those were a big deal. Like we weren’t doing back nose blunts back then.
What made Blacc Mike stand out the most…Mike had a huge personality. He’s a kid from the city, the beach and now he’s on the other side of the country skating—feeding of the energy of people around him…who’s that guy, who’s that guy, I know that guy, that guy is rippin’ right now…it was an exciting time for him just being so young and so far out of his element, but seeing the fact that he has the ability to do it…that had to be super exciting for him…I’m glad he got to experience that
I gave him my bangers. For a skateboarder the most important part of your video part is the last tricks. I gave him my bangers. Like I did a couple of tricks, but instead of showing me getting the intro trick or doing whatever, whatever…I gave Blacc Mike some shine…you know what I mean…
(Cato Williams’ reference to the Ice Cream Skate Team Volume One gave Blacc Mike eight parts over the beat his brother Pharrell composed while watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Fam-Lay’s rare song, Strung Owt over The Neptunes’ sounds ominous, psychologically horrific, but something a tough boy would play while hardcore tricks are put down.)
…We got paid in Ice Cream and like I had an opportunity to get a chain made…it has an ice cream cone on the front deck and on the back it says R I P B L A C C…you know what I mean…I keep it with me…and then I started to realize outside of myself…Yo, other people are hurting too.
You go to Eldorado Skate Park and you see his name on the wall…then it started to happen…you start to realize how many people had their own tribute to him to the point where its grown to the point where people all around the world ask about the homie…never even met him, but just seen the footage…it was big, huge…it didn’t have to be…it just shows you the type of person he was, that the people who remembered him remembered him.
Yeeaaah, he was going to be on the Ice Cream Skate Team…we was all stressin’ waitin’ for our checks…and just waitin’ for the contract and just waitin’ for that security to know that it was for real…you know…it was just a hard time with the lawyers and tryin’ get the contracts right for everybody…and like he was so excited about you just knew it was going to happen and like…I mean not to say that he was ballin’ out of control or nothin’ like that but Mike wasn’t afraid to spend his last because at the end of the day he knew he’d be provided for…for as long as he needed…you know and that’s one of the things that I really got from him. The fact that…he was okay with just being faithful you know just knowing he’d be provided for because he was faithful.
