KJ Dillard on Skateboarding Aesthetics, Sunscreen, & Getting Emotional as a Man
Naked Beauty
Host Brooke DeVard interviews multi-hyphenate KJ Dillard about his journey from professional skateboarding to modeling and music. The conver
Key takeaways
- KJ Dillard experienced significant lifestyle changes at age 10 following his parents' divorce and financial instability.
- The intersection of skate culture and hip-hop is a major driver in modern streetwear, influencing brands and aesthetics like baggy jeans.
Main topics
- Skateboarding culture and history
- Personal upbringing and family resilience
Notable quotes
I'm not nervous at all anymore. I'm just like, all right, let's do it.
Conclusion
The episode serves as an inspiring look at how embracing one's multifa
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) Mia was FaceTiming Rihanna. Casual. And then I was like, can I say hi? She handed the phone to me and Rihanna was like, oh my gosh, I love you. And my heart dropped. Yeah. I'm like, wow. What'd you say? I was like, thank you so much. I love you too. Speaker 1 (0:16) Yeah, exactly. Love you too. Speaker 1 (0:23) Hello, hello, this is Brooke DeVard and you're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. I'm here in New York for Fashion Week. I'm sitting with my guest, KJ. I'm going to tell you all a bit about his background before we dive in. KJ Dillard spent almost a decade as a pro skateboarder before shifting into modeling and now music, which he's still figuring out in real time. We're going to get into all of that. He was born in Arizona and raised in Kansas City and raised very well, I must say, because he helped me with my bags coming in, which we love a gentleman. And he's carried a lot of that skate world instinct into how he approaches the rest of his career. This season, KJ made his debut on Summer House as the show's first black male cast member and became just as known for his skincare routine as anything that happened in the house. Please welcome KJ Dillard to Naked Beauty. Welcome. Hello. Speaker 2 (1:09) Thanks for having me. I laughed at the skincare routine because my skincare routine right now is... Trash. Wait, it is? It's soap and water. Okay, get off Speaker 1 (1:17) the podcast. Interviews wrap. I Speaker 2 (1:20) was so into it, and I still am. I need some boxes from some beauty. Speaker 1 (1:26) Brands. Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:27) The Speaker 1 (1:28) DMs are open. I Speaker 2 (1:28) need the boxes. But Speaker 1 (1:30) do you find that when you get busy, you just kind of fall out of your routine? Speaker 2 (1:33) No. I just, with the skincare routine, I just don't have any products available. No Speaker 1 (1:38) products. Speaker 2 (1:39) Yeah. If I had some products, I'd be using the... The step routine every day. But in the Speaker 1 (1:44) house, you had the products. In the Speaker 2 (1:45) house, Speaker 1 (1:46) I had the products. Oh, my gosh. Speaker 2 (1:46) Yes. Speaker 1 (1:47) Well, when we were coming in, you said that you've done a podcast here before. And I was going to ask, like, do you get nervous to be on podcasts and do interviews? But I feel like after going on reality TV, you probably just lose all sense of nervousness, right? Speaker 2 (1:57) Yes. I'm not nervous at all anymore. Right. I'm just like, all right, let's do it. Because Speaker 1 (2:02) you're just you. And Speaker 2 (2:03) how do you Speaker 1 (2:04) mentally prepare for having that many people watching you at a time? Speaker 2 (2:08) Therapy. Speaker 1 (2:09) Therapy. Speaker 2 (2:09) Just taking time for myself as well, listening to music, skateboarding. Are Speaker 1 (2:14) you used to people coming up to you and asking to take selfies and asking to say hi? Does that feel weird? Speaker 2 (2:20) No. I love it. I'm a people person. I'm always like... All right, let's turn on the flash. Speaker 1 (2:26) And Speaker 2 (2:26) I'm like, let's get the shot right. If we're going to do this, let's get the shot right. I love, you know, getting to know people and their background. And if I have the time to sit and talk to someone, I will. If I don't, then I'll keep it pushing. Talk Speaker 1 (2:39) to me about Kansas City and Arizona. Two places I've never been. Speaker 2 (2:44) Two very different places. Very different places. And Speaker 1 (2:46) I know you kind of grew up between both. So talk me through the early years of KJ. Speaker 2 (2:51) So I was born in Phoenix, which is the capital of Arizona. I was there until I was 10 years old. It was a wild life. What Speaker 1 (2:58) were your parents doing out there? Speaker 2 (3:00) My dad, he is a retired professional baseball player, so that's the lifestyle I was around growing up. I didn't really have to worry about much. I was very blessed as a kid. And then when my parents separated when I was 10, it went from... 100 to 0 my mom lost everything the house first because my mom was a stay-at-home mom and I knew things were changing when my mom had to get a job so she kind of Speaker 1 (3:23) sacrificed her career because you have you have sisters sisters yeah two sisters two sisters so she sacrificed her career to be at home raise the kids then you split and then it's like I have to make a living Speaker 2 (3:33) exactly and that's when I started to see a change in our lifestyle was when she started working And then I remember our house went into foreclosure. It was during that time period when a lot of houses were going into foreclosure. I didn't know what was going on. I remember at that time I was acting up in school, just being a problem child. So I was getting suspended and going to detention. What were you getting Speaker 1 (3:59) suspended for? Just Speaker 2 (4:00) laughing and joking around and having a good time. Speaker 1 (4:05) Yes. I Speaker 2 (4:06) didn't take school seriously. I was bored. And I had ADHD as a kid. I didn't know I had ADHD until I moved to Kansas City. But, yeah, I think I just was into my own world. And, yeah, whenever that happened, I remember my mom was like, I'm going to send you to Kansas City to live with your grandma. So that's why. You got sent to live with Speaker 1 (4:28) the grandparents. Speaker 2 (4:28) Yes. And that's what I thought was the reason why I went to Kansas City. Little did I know my mom was moving back to Kansas City. for us to be with my grandparents. And so I went first, and then it was me and my grandma for a few months. What was Speaker 1 (4:45) that regime like? Was it much stricter? Speaker 2 (4:48) Oh, no. My grandma lets me get away with whatever I want. Speaker 1 (4:54) My mom is the same way with my son. I'm like, there are no rules. He's just eating cookies during the day, all the toys he wants. Okay. My Speaker 2 (5:02) grandma was spoiling me. I would come home from school. There'd be a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. I'd eat all of it. Then she would get me video games and shoes and clothes. So it was just like, yeah, I was supposed to go there for disciplinary action. But instead, I'm getting spoiled. But I needed that because I compared myself a lot growing up to my cousins. My dad and my uncle played baseball together, so it was the same lifestyle for them. But their parents were married, so my aunt was married, and my mom wasn't married. So it was like I looked at their life like they have the house, the car, everything's perfect. From my point of view, where in my household, it was like I didn't see my dad every day. I have older half siblings I've never met where he was, you know, sharing time. And for me, I just I wanted that. I wanted that stability from such a young age. But we didn't have it, even though my mom was a stay at home mom and took care of everything. I still wanted the two parent household, you know, the not having to explain to everybody why. my dad isn't in the house. And Speaker 1 (6:19) because you were the oldest, did you feel like you had to take that role for your younger sisters, like explaining what was going on? Not Speaker 2 (6:25) until we moved. When we moved, that's when I felt like I had to be the man of the house. When we were in Arizona, I didn't have to do that. But it was very tough when we moved to Kansas City. I wasn't a spoiled kid, but I just came from a background where money was never an issue, and then it was the issue. It Speaker 1 (6:44) suddenly became an issue, yes. And Speaker 2 (6:45) that's... been the root of a majority of my family problems since that day we moved. And so, yeah, I just have always been somebody that's chased money and financial stability. And I wanted to get back everything my mom lost because it was so traumatizing for me as a kid. And it put so much pressure on me as a young adult where I'm like, all right, dad's not in the picture anymore. I got to step up to the plate. Speaker 1 (7:12) When did skateboarding come into your life? I Speaker 2 (7:15) got my first skateboard when I was six or seven in Arizona on the West Coast. That's a big thing. So all my friends at school wore skate clothing and had skateboards at their house. So I was around it. And I remember my first ever skateboard was for Christmas. My mom got it from Walmart or Target. It was this Darth Vader skateboard. And I remember I got it and I was hyped until I realized it wasn't a real skateboard. Speaker 1 (7:40) What do you mean it wasn't a real skateboard? Speaker 2 (7:43) The thing about the Walmart boards, we call them the Walmart boards, they're just not the standard. Plastic wheels, God knows where the wood that they're getting the board from. It's just, it's terrible quality, and it's not real. And so I would watch TV, or I would see my other friends at school with their boards, and I'm like... Want that so I remember for my birthday ended up getting a real complete skateboard. Yeah Speaker 1 (8:14) growing up Did you see other black skateboarders because I feel I'm older than you but I Speaker 2 (8:19) can Speaker 1 (8:19) remember Like Tony Hawk and all this all the famous skateboarders. I know I never heard of black skaters really Speaker 2 (8:27) In Arizona, no, I don't remember any of my black friends skateboarding. So I think I was the only one. And in Kansas City, too. I mean, there were some local guys that skated that were black. But yeah, I mean, around my time period of growing up in the skate scene, it wasn't popular. But in the 90s, you had a lot of. very popular black skateboarders. Speaker 1 (8:51) Like Speaker 2 (8:51) who? Stevie Williams. He's the owner of, have you heard of that brand, DGK? Speaker 1 (8:56) Yes. Speaker 2 (8:57) So he started DGK very big in the street skateboarding scene because of style. He was one of those individuals. I'm going to get so excited talking about this. No, I'm so excited Speaker 1 (9:09) to talk about it because I love... Skating from the purely aesthetic. Just the swagger of a skateboarder. Skaters are swaggy. Swaggy. Speaker 2 (9:19) I mean, Pharrell, perfect example. Skateboard P. Started skateboarding. Yeah. May not be the best skateboarder, but he was in the culture. One of the best dressed dudes ever. Speaker 1 (9:30) Tyler, the Speaker 2 (9:30) creator. Tyler, Speaker 1 (9:31) the creator. Grew up Speaker 2 (9:32) around skateboarding. One of the best dressed dudes out there. What Speaker 1 (9:35) is it about skate culture that gives that swagger? Speaker 2 (9:39) We're rebels. We're a bunch of outcasts and a community. So there's a lot of hating going on in the skate scene. A lot of trash talk. A lot of trash talk. Skaters don't like when other skaters are doing things outside of skateboarding. That's one thing that I've had to deal with my whole career. Speaker 1 (9:58) Like you're only supposed to skate? Speaker 2 (10:00) You're only supposed to skate or you're only supposed to do this certain type of tricks. If you're not doing things this way, it's not the right way. you're an outcast of a group of outcasts so me I was always into other things music fashion sports and so yeah when I was skateboarding I played other sports football basketball baseball ice hockey I was doing those things and then all my friends are like no like you're either gonna skate or you're not or you're not yeah Speaker 1 (10:33) what is the look like what is the uniform Speaker 2 (10:37) For me personally, I like a good baggy jean. I think baggy jeans do come from skateboarding. Hip-hop claims that they started baggy jeans. Does it not Speaker 1 (10:48) trip you up a little bit to have baggy jeans or it's better to have it? Speaker 2 (10:51) No, because it's like I want more leg room. You know what I mean? And I know rappers adopted that. I think hip-hop adopts a lot from skateboarding. Speaker 2 (11:06) They want to admit it or not. A lot of rappers admit it, though, because they think the skateboarding shit is so cool. It Speaker 1 (11:13) is. Yeah, it is cool. We