Meet Luiz Francisco. A new wave of Brazilian skateboarders quickly branched out from the land of the Amazon and have become a favorite among fans. Predominantly marking his territory in the park arena, Luiz can take his aggressive grinds, speed, and midline flip tricks to the gritty streets, too. Aside from letting his skateboarding do all the talking, we caught up with Luiz on a recent trip with the National Brazilian skate team in Vista, California, where they’re honing their skills for the upcoming Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa, at the CATF. After a heated practice session, he cools down by lacing us up with the latest in trap, rap, and Brazilian funk music from his homeland.
Let’s start with what’s your favorite type of music?
Now? Rap and trap music.
Who are some of the rap and trap artists you’re currently playing
Right now, I like listening to my friend, Hosoy. He just started singing. Hosoi is his spirit; you know the real Hosoi?
Do you mean as in Christian Hosoi?
Yeah, when he was a kid and started skating, and he’d always say, “I’m Hosoi, I’m Hosoi,” and now his trap artist name Hosoy. (laughs)
Are there a lot of Brazilian skaters that get into creating music?
Dude, everyone is making music. It’s crazy. You can record a song on your phone and just do it. There’s Recayd Mob. They’re a trap group in Brazil that’s famous. Massaru from San Paulo, I’m from Sao Paulo too, and they were skaters, and they stopped to make music. There’s also El Derek and Duzz. I think Duzz is the best.
How big of a role does music play in your day-to-day life? Are you listening to music all day or only sometimes?
I’m listening to music all the time. There’s also Brazilian funk. It’s like, animado. Animado is the word in Portuguese for like when you’re happy and when we’re with friends we play funk and dance. It’s fast, like boom boom boom. We’re always singing and listening to music.
Editor’s note: Brazilian funk is like electronic dance music.
So when you’re with the whole crew, you’re not plugged in with headphones?
No everyone is listening too. Do you know the JBL speaker? We crank that super high, and boom.
When you’re on a trip with everyone driving around and skating, who usually gets to play the tunes?
I never play music in the van because I’m always skating with the old guys and don’t like trap or Brazilian funk. Like Murilo [Peres] like rock and some rap, but not like me, you know? In the van, I’m like, ‘yo, you can play music.’ I know all the songs they like, but I just don’t have it on my playlist. We have a coach, [Edgard] Vovô, and he’s always listening to what we want because he’s chill. But the other guys they’re like, ‘no, no, I don’t like it. I don’t want to listen to that sh*t. No way.’ Vovô, Murilo, they’re chill about it.
Do you ever skate with headphones?
I’ve tried with some AirPods, but I can’t hear my board, which makes me really nervous. People talking and listening to my board is good to me.
What would be your go-to song to listen to for competing at Dew Tour?
I haven’t competed for two years now, but I’d go with Trap Skate from Hosoy.
Are there any skate videos you watched growing up that had an impact on you because of music?
Almost Round 3. Do you know which one it is? I think that was the first skate video that I watched and my favorite.
If you had a video part ready to go and could pick any song you wanted rights-free, what would you choose?
I think a rock’n’roll, trap, or something mellow from Brazil like Tim Maia. I don’t listen to him all the time, but I think to do a video part and use something from him would be super cool.
What’s your training off-the-board playlist like?
I am always listening to the same type of thing. I have a playlist with everything mixed together rock’n’roll, trap, rap, Brazilian funk. I just put that on repeat.
What type of rock artists are you listening to? Are they singing in English or Portuguese?
I like Black Sabbath, a little bit of Nirvana, but that’s a little more chill for running or something like that. But I like Black Sabbath a lot.
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