How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX
"Queens is the KING of all Boroughs!" Kareem and Nigel continue on the train and talk about drifting his bike at 4yrs old in his grandmother's driveway, signing with the legend Dave Mirra, going viral on YouTube, how "selling out" isn't a thing, the Brooklyn Banks, riding his bike 40hrs a week, sending emails and doing zooms, Nigel's iconic subway platform jump photo, time lengths on therapy, Paris, his new Air Jordan collab, custom Rimowa cases for his bike, immigrant parents and other stuff. Credits: Host: Kareem Rahma Creators: Kareem Rahma and Andrew Kuo Camera: Anthony DiMieri and Thomas Kasem Lim Editor: Tyler Christie Mixer: Dale Eisinger Associate Producer: Ramy Shafi Artwork: Andrew Lawandus Theme Music: Tyler McCauley
Summary
BMX legend Nigel Sylvester and Kareem take the subway through Queens, which Nigel declares is "the king of all boroughs." Born in Jamaica, Queens, Nigel traces his bike obsession back to doing drifts on a big wheel in his grandmother's driveway at four years old. The moment that changed everything? Watching Dave Mirra at the X Games on TV. Nigel would eventually get signed by Mirra himself. They talk through Nigel's transformation from neighborhood kid to Mr. Worldwide, touching on his viral YouTube success, riding 40 hours a week, therapy session lengths, and the logistics of getting custom Rimowa cases for his bikes to Paris and Tokyo. Kareem confesses he's hesitant about eating oxtail because humans don't have tails, while Nigel recommends the rundown snapper at The Door on Basley and Guy Brewer. The conversation covers Nigel's new Air Jordan collab, that iconic subway platform jump photo, why "selling out" isn't real, and why both airports being in Queens proves it's the portal to the world.
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Full Transcript
Yo, what's up guys? I'm always go meet up with Nigel Sylvester. If you don't know who that is, it's one of the greatest BMX riders of all time. IQ up knowing his name. I don't know any other BMX rider except for Dave, of course. So we're going to go talk to tonight. I'm interested in getting to know what he, uh, what he does on a daily basis. How? My biggest, my most important question is, how does he get the bike from New York to Paris, Tokyo? Like, sure, check it out. I puted big. I'm really curious about that. Does he ship it? Probably ships it. I bet he ships it. There's no way he doesn't ship it. Um, but I'm really excited about this episode. I think you guys are going to love it and, uh, here it is.
So, what's your take? So take is Queens is the king of all boroughs. 100% agree. I will agree with that for sure. And you know what? It's also the most underrated. Extremely underrated.
Do you feel like it's underrated? 100%. Yeah. But it's magical.
Why is it magical? I mean, listen, it's the most diverse borough. That's number one. When it comes to hip-hop, we have legends who LL, LL, Nas, Nas, Nikki, Nikki, Run-DMC, Run-DMC, 50 Cent, 50 Cent. You have to keep going. Holy... I, no, I didn't realize that all of them were from Queens. De Soul, de Soul. Like, I mean, listen, list goes on and on. Fire. I didn't, I didn't know that. So we got talent. We got diversity. We got food. We got food that is absolutely true.
Do you like Caribbean food? I love Caribbean food. There's a spot called the door on Basely and Guy brew. You have to try it. It's fire. Life changer.
What's the best, uh, little bites there? What, what am I getting? What am I picking up? So you go there, you get the rundown snapper. What? Oh, little red snapper. Why? Why is it called rundown? Cuz it's got sauce all over it. Sauce. Oh, I like that name. Cuz, cuz I know what it is. Yeah. Rundown snapper. It's rundown. It's ran through. And then the oxtail. And the oxtail. That's something I, I, I know that the people love. I haven't been there yet. Listen, haven't gotten there. You should go. I just, I think about the idea of eating a tail, you know what I mean? And what happens? I, I just, it's a weird piece of body. And it might be because maybe humans don't have tails like, I, I could eat an arm, but but the tail. We don't have tails.
Would you really eat an arm? I mean, I eat arm. Arms like chicken arms. I eat chicken arms all the time. They call them wings. They call them wings.
Hold on, what's your favorite food? Ooh, ooh. I mean, right now it changes depending on the season. But at the moment I'm really into tacos. Fair enough. Crunch Chipotle? They got Chipotle and Queens, bro. They do. And that's the special ones, bro. Right now I'm in the wings. I know this is a very lame answer and people are going to be like, "Who's this white guy?" But I'm in the wings and tacos at the moment. I mean, listen, you're into like Super Bowl food. Listen, Queens, even in Men in Black, they have to go to Queens to save the world. That is the, it's the world's borough. What do they call it? The world's borough. It's the world's borough.
All right, you know what? I love it. I already agreed with you. Here's my 2025 resolution. Let me hear it. I'm going to spend more time in Queens. Please do. I'm going to eat more restaurants and Queens. I'm going to hang out in Queens. I'm going to explore it. Cuz I feel like for me, I've, I've lived in New York for 14 years, maybe 13. Okay, always round out. And I spent most of my time in Brooklyn and Manhattan. But it's time to really venture out. Queens. Queens. Listen, both of the airports are in Queens.
Oh, that is a good reason. I mean, listen, bro, it's the portal to the world. This is what I'm saying. It's the portal to New York. We call it Big Queens. Big Queens. I love Big Queens. I'm, I might... I might move. But no, they don't want me there. I'm a gentrifier. Probably. They don't want me there.
You got to, from, you'll give me a pass? We'll give you a pass. You grew up in Queens. Jamaica, Queens. How long did you, did you live? Do you still live there? Nah, you had to leave cuz you're a Mister Worldwide now? I mean, listen, so close to the airport, bro. I mean, I go to the airport all the time. So I'm always... So why didn't you just stay there? Uh, I want to be close to the city.
Yeah, yeah, a little closer to the city. Business purposes. What's in the city for business? Yeah. Cuz, cuz you got all sorts of... going on now. You got, uh, foot collab? I mean, sneaker collabs. You got whole content business. Is... Oh, those are fire. Those are the new joints. These are the Brick by Brick. Oh, those are fire. Yes. I need a pair. I'm going to get you a pair. Me on the list. Stay tuned.
Can I do this? Of course. I don't, I don't want to touch another man's bike without getting permission. Ah, oh, you look comfortable, man. I am comfortable. Um, so you you grew up in Queens. Grew that doesn't seem like a place where you find a lot of BMX bikers. I mean, listen, like the bike is like a right of passage. I mean, a bicycle. I remember when I got my first bicycle. It was one of the greatest moments of my life because my neighborhood went from being, you know, a couple of streets to being a couple of miles, right? I was free. And the bicycle was your proto to that.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But how, how did you pick up a bike in Queens? I can't imagine that there was like a lot of other BMX kids. I'm sure there was a lot of skateboarders, but like there way more bike riders than skateboarders. There was... You to think about it, right? When a kid gets a bike between the ages of like, let's call it 6 and 15, right? Roughly, they're riding BMX. Metes because of the size first, right?
Yeah. So I had the... exactly. The... that's the Target brand... What you, you know, think GTS, things of that nature. So once I hit that market, my life, I fell in love with bike riding. I was, you got, so you got a bike. You got a BMX bike just as a, as like my first bike.
Exactly. And then you started maybe watching Dave Mirra or some YouTube? Wait, was YouTube around back then?
No, no, YouTube. Just TV. No, this man, this is years ago. Oh, so you happened to stumble upon some BMX DVDs like skateboard prior to that. Prior to that, this is like, so pretty much how it happened, right? So I fell in love with bicycle riding in my Grandma's driveway. In your Grandma's? I used to ride this big wheeler around and do drifts on my big wheeler at like 4 years old. Oh... And that's where like the love for bike riding like started me. And then from there, each summer I had to get a bike because I love doing it.
Wow. And then one summer I went home after I ride, and I seen Dave Mirra riding X Games for the first time on TV. On TV. And at that moment, I said, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Wow, you were that inspired? I was locked in.
And were you at that moment, were you able to do any tricks yet? Like, uh, just like Papa Willies and like Bunny Hop. So I'll make like a board ramp out of like bricks and a board, like fast launch off of it. I used to do that too in my... I never made it past like a, um, what's this thing called when it... Oh, like a bar spin? I could do that. Bar spin, yeah. I could Bunny Hop. I could bar spin. I couldn't bar spin like off of a ramp, but I could, I could kind of pop the wheelie. Bunny... Yeah, it was, it was. I mean, it was so fun. But what happened to me was I got hit in the shins, man, so many times that I said, you know what, yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. I've heard that story one too many times. It's, it's so... it's so hard. It's painful, though, bro.
It's hard. I'm sure back when you were riding, they probably had like metal, metal pedals. So I had plastic. So it's a little less painful when hit shin, but it's still painful. It was metal pedals. And, and I, I just couldn't do it. And I, I, I, but I do remember watching BMX and being like, "This is it. It looks so difficult." Super cool. It's super cool. You pretty much became... I mean, what's funny is I know Dave Mirra's name, right? And I know Nigel Sylvester's name, right? That's the only two names I know in BMX. So when I was 18, Dave Mirra signed me to his company and turn me pro. Like, literally, dream come true.
Wow, like I'm in my... That's like getting the cosign from Tony Hawk.