The atmosphere of a skatepark is different rolling in on a Friday afternoon rather than a weekday. Although there’s still shoes hanging from the flagpole, and there’s still folks messing with the Jehovah’s Witness stand at the park gate, the atmosphere is…lighter. Especially when the sun is going down and the lights are flickering on; everyone’s off work and looking to decompress.
While thrash metal and hard rock can really set the tone, the air quality of a Friday night smells less like frustration and more like liberation. That’s the breeze I caught from Ruben Hernandez, who after setting up his speaker, flew into the bowl I was carving and proceeded to rip, roll and skate the heck out of it. Humming from his speaker were the opening bass notes of “Dream Flower” by Tarika Blue.
I mistook the song for Erykah Badu’s 2000 hit “Didn’t Cha Know?” from her album “Mama’s Gun,” but when her raspy, luscious voice failed to come in, I figured Ruben must have been playing the original sample. “Wow, that’s a deep cut,” I thought to myself. Rolling up to him, I noticed he wore a t-shirt that said “SKATEJAZZ” across the front.
Born and raised in Linda Vista, Ruben has been skating the area most of his life and even revealed he had a hand in the formation of the Linda Vista skate park. “Back in the day, some old couple saw a bunch of skaters hanging out around the rec center. I helped get petitions signed and then we got 3 million dollars.” Ruben claims to have also helped with the park’s design. “I helped decide how much ‘street’ and ‘transition’ sections the park would have, and I designed the 6-stair. Based [it] on a local stairwell.”
Ruben was accompanied by his girlfriend Libby, whom he met at the skatepark six years prior. “Skating has always been a part of our relationship,” Libby said, wearing an oversized Nipsey Hustle hoodie. “I was hanging out at the rec center after skating when this guy walks in and sits down at the piano. He played ‘The Suburbs’ by Arcade Fire aaand he got me!” Ruben muttered coily: “I was drunk, but I got her…”
After Ruben and Libby told me about their history with the park, we got to talking about music. “I like 80s new wave, disco, African electronic from the 70s,” he said. Libby expressed an affinity for Mac DeMarco and Black Sabbath, particularly DeMarco’s album “This Old Dog.” As for music to skate to, Hernandez recommended the French funk-fusion record “Troupeau Bleu” by the band Codex. Recorded over two days in 1975, the record has become a cult classic in the underground jazz scene for its psychedelic leanings, meticulously crisp production and performances, and gargantuan influence on hip hop.
Since its release, the record has been sampled 164 times, according to band leader Alain Mion. First sampled in 1997 by French producer, DJ CAM, the record was famously used by Madlib who sampled the track “Huit Octobre 1971” in a collaborative project with the late, great J Dilla. Madlib used it again on MF Doom’s album “MmFood” for the track “One Beer.” The album has since been sampled by Tyler the Creator, Flying Lotus and the Wu-Tang Clan, among others.
Ruben likes to play music at the park, and when he brings his speaker he’s trying to curate a vibe. “I like to mix it up when I’m skating. [Skating] doesn’t have to revolve around hardcore music, it’s not always Black Sabbath and Metallica, you know?” he said. “Skating falls into these cliches of everyone listening to metal all the time. Skateboarding and music go together and I think skaters should dig deeper in their music. Skateboarding is all about digging up old stuff and making it new, it can’t just be Black Sabbath all the time.”
In addition to being a skatepark tastemaker, Ruben DJs on the side, spinning records at Long Play Hi-fi and local events. “I love to play the music I find in skate videos from [companies like] Supreme and Antihero… I’ll hear a song like ‘Who Put The Bomb’ [by Jaako Eino Kalevi] in the same video as Miles Davis or Herb Alpert…they have the best soundtracks.”
Not only does he listen to music extensively, but Ruben also plays the drums in a jazz band called Skatejazz. “What started out as a Thursday night practice session has gotten huge,” he claims. “I realized I had something people liked, it was contagious.” He described his band’s style of jazz as a “soundtrack to skateboarding” and “social music” because, “that’s what Miles Davis called jazz.”
The success of his band led to his affiliation with Future is Color, a weekly jazz series in Barrio Logan that took place across 2023 and 2024. The free, weekly jazz performances next door to Hayes Burger started with a small crowd of 70 people and quickly grew into a neighborhood event, drawing jazz fans from all across San Diego (including myself) to Barrio Logan throughout the summer.
The event got so popular, the audience section spilled over into the street and blocked all through-traffic. After playing a successful set there, Ruben became responsible for finding new bands, selecting the music, and creating the weekly playlist. The series eventually peaked with a performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla with an audience of 800 people.
Despite his love for skateboarding and music, Ruben admitted to feeling burnt out. “I’ve sort of fallen out of love with skating lately,” he admitted. “I don’t care to skate the park often. It’s gotten boring and lost its spark. I still skate street, street is the purest skateboarding, but still, not as often.” Libby admitted to feeling the same way, but added, “Even if we don’t [come to the park] as much, skating will always be at the core of our relationship.”
As the sun set on the park, the post-5 p.m. crowd rolled in, and I got ready to head home. Ruben turned up his speaker and gave me some final advice: “Don’t fall into cliches. The music skaters listen to doesn’t always have to be hardcore. It’s about feeling the vibe.” Skating away, hearing the clicking of wheels on concrete and the howling of horns from Ruben’s speaker, the realization hit, “That dude lied to me. No way he’s fallen out of love with skating.” And as long as people enjoy the music and keep coming to the park, he probably never will.
Check out Skate Jazz on Instagram: @skatejazzz
Nick Hancock 
Grace Chaves