Chad Muska, born on May 20, 1977, is an American professional skateboarder, artist, musician, and entrepreneur. Over the span of his career, he has been sponsored by many companies including Toy Machine, Shorty's, éS Footwear, C1RCA, KR3W, Element, Ricta Wheels, and Supra. He also makes and produces hip-hop music under the alias Muskabeatz.
Muska's influence extends beyond the skate park, as he became one of the earliest celebrity skateboarders, impacting fashion and sneaker culture. He is the only pro skater who cannot be customized into wearing different outfits in the game.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Chad Muska was born in Lorain, Ohio, to Joel Kevin Muska and Deborah Ann Muska. He has a sister, Lyndsey, who is two years younger than him. His father was of Hungarian and Swedish ancestry, and his mother is of Serbian ancestry.
Muska's journey into skateboarding began in Phoenix, Arizona. He recalls watching neighborhood kids skate and being captivated by their skills. While in Arizona, Muska first met and spent time skateboarding with professional skateboarder Erik Ellington prior to both of their careers.
Maple was Muska's first-ever skateboard deck company and he appeared in the 1994 video Rites of Passage. After parting ways with Maple, Muska joined Toy Machine, which is prestigious among professional skateboarders.
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Muska filmed for the Welcome to Hell video, a 1996 project primarily driven by Thomas, and he was expected to receive the highly regarded last part of the video. Following the issues at Toy Machine, Muska joined the then-fledgling Shorty's brand.
Muska was chosen to develop the Shorty's skateboard deck division and the company thrived as a result.
Rise to Fame and Sponsorships
When the "éS Muska" signature model was released in 1998, it was a popular product in the footwear market, as Muska was an especially popular figure in skateboarding culture during the late 1990s (the shoe was designed with a hidden "stash pocket" in the tongue of the shoe for particularly valuable items). Following his time with éS, Muska joined the C1RCA footwear team in 1999 as the first pro skater for C1RCA and released numerous signature shoe models with the brand. Models such as the "CM901" and "CM902" were promoted in magazine advertisements, and Muska also continued with the hidden "stash pocket" design feature that he utilized at éS.
Muska then left Shorty's in early 2006, and selected Element Skateboards as his next skateboard deck sponsor in December. Following his move to Element, Muska stated, "I am very excited about joining the Element family! I look forward to this new chapter in my skateboarding career..."
After he left C1RCA, Muska subsequently founded the Supra footwear company in 2006 with Angel Cabada from One Distribution (owner of the KR3W apparel brand). The Supra footwear brand has been endorsed by Muska since the company's inception, and Muska's first Supra signature model-the "Skytop"-was one of the first team rider models that was released.
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In 1997, Muska founded the skateboard wheel brand Ghetto Child. Started as a friendship between Chad Muska, Tom Penny and Sean Sheffey, Ghetto Child went on to sponsor some of today's most relevant skateboarders. In 2004, Ghetto Child went on a hiatus, ceasing distribution.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Series
By 1999, Muska was one of the most sought-after pro skaters. He’d generated fans not only through his video parts and signature boards and shoes, but his personal style and accessories. Kids emulated his bandana headbands, red sleeveless T-shirts, and signature boombox, which he brought to demos and even grinded handrails with.
In 1999 I met pro skater Chad Muska at Slam City Jam in Vancouver. At the time, he was at the top of the skateboarding world. His pro model was selling 10,000 units a month, and he was one of the first playable characters in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game. When it was released in 1999, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a massive deal. Hawk had just landed the first 900° at the San Francisco X Games, propelling him into the upper echelon of American sports icons and priming millions of viewers to see skating as something more than a delinquent hobby.
With the right blend of cultural accuracy, accessible gameplay, and larger than life skating, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a hit with both skateboarders and outsiders. When THPS 2 released in 2000, it became the second-highest selling game of the year and solidified the market for skate video games. Along with the X Games demonstrating pro skateboarders’ talents in ways outsiders could grasp, THPS showed sceptical parents around the world that skateboarding had real career potential. Just as importantly, the game resonated with skateboarders because the developers emerged themselves in that world. The studio head installed a mini-ramp in his backyard and encouraged programmers to skate so they could make the gameplay more realistic.
Next to Tony Hawk, Muska became one of the earliest celebrity skateboarders, and he went on to influence fashion and sneaker culture broadly.
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Tony Hawk said the money he earned from THPS 1 was life-changing for him. Chad Muska: The money I got from the game wasn’t life-changing for me, no. [laughs] I’m not complaining about it by any means, but no, it was not life-changing. I wouldn’t say so if you’re comparing it to Tony. If you’re comparing it to where I came from, maybe, but I had already been making decent money in skateboarding at that time.
Chad Muska: I don’t know how many units were out there, but it felt like millions of people saw the game. I think it birthed a whole generation of insane skaters that we see to this day, that probably were just some kids who picked up a video game and their first introduction to skateboarding was an exaggerated, unrealistic version of skateboarding.
Chad Muska: At the time I was almost in disbelief. Like, we’re gonna be in a video game? I heard you showed up to the Neversoft office wearing the outfit you wanted your character to have. Chad Muska: Of course! How else would I show them what I wanted to be like? And I probably had three other options in the car to go too.
Chad Muska: Just seeing the technology that exists to animate the characters, because they’re getting pretty realistic nowadays. But I remember when I saw the first ones, that was top quality to me. I was like, ‘This is crystal clear, it looks just like it’. And to re-experience this process. It was like top-secret technology, NASA-style. There was this ball of light that I stepped into and they scanned our bodies with a million cameras all taking photos of you and getting every detail. I was like these guys better be able to digitally remaster me a little bit because I was feeling a little out of shape at the moment. I told them they had to give me some digital abs.
Chad Muska: I used to get so pissed off because I wanted to be good at that game, and I kept trying to learn how to play it. I remember I used to go into a freestyle session and skate around that warehouse.
Chad Muska: I’m all about adapting with the times and not trying to hold onto what was my experience in life, so I don’t want to be that person that’s forcing my perspective on the next generation. There are obviously things that have changed, like they didn’t know what it was like when you weren’t able to upload your skate video on YouTube and get sponsored and flown across the country without having to hitchhike and be broke and sleep on the beach, but it’s the world that we live in now.
Muska Today
But then, all the money and fame ran out."Right around the beginning of the pandemic," Chad says, "everything ended in skateboarding for me as far as finances go. What is Chad Muska doing now?What's interesting to me, as a bootstrapper, is what Chad Muska is doing now.He's building the Muska brand as an independent company and bootstrapping it just like you or I would."I'm becoming a businessman for the first time. I've always been a skater. I've always been a creator. I've always been part of the marketing assets, but I've never been a businessman. I've always allowed others to do the business." - Chad Muska on the Nine Club podcast.
Currently, Chad is building his brand, Muska Industries, where he produces limited-run runs of skateboard decks (which he signs), clothing, footwear, and accessories. He leverages his Instagram to connect with his fans and announces product drops, which he sells on Shopify. He's learning a lesson that Nathan Barry (founder of ConvertKit) has been talking about for a while:"Creators need equity. Having real ownership in a successful company is the best way to build wealth."
When you compare the riders featured in the first Tony Hawk Pro Skater game, you can see how important it is to have equity:Even though Tony Hawk is the most recognizable name in the skateboard world, he's earned most of his wealth from video game royalty checks.Contrast that with Bob Burnquist, another vert skateboarder, who doesn't seem to have significant equity in any of the companies that sponsored him. He might not have much money right now, but he does have fans."People are thanking me for the reissues I've put out. They've made it possible. My past is funding my future. Skateboarding gave me this opportunity."
Chad is 47 years old. He produces almost everything from a farmhouse he bought in Ohio. One of the most famous street skaters of the late 1990s and early ’00s, Chad Muska is as well known for his style both on and off the board, as he is for his involvement with the break dancing, hip-hop and graffiti scenes.
Following his move to Mission Beach as an adolescent, Muska was mostly homeless and spent a significant period of time sleeping on the beach; in 2012, Muska explained: "I had nothing and those were, I can still say, by far, the happiest days of my life.
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