Nigel Sylvester
Appearances
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And I'm still friends with a lot of those guys, and they're super supportive, and it's dope to see, like, everyone, like, you know, grew up with one another.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
When it's warm outside? Probably like 25 to 40. Full-time job? Yeah, man. See, because when I was younger, it was way more time, right? I would be on the bike probably like 10 hours a day, you know? But now that my business has grown and evolved... You got to send emails.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Send those emails to the West Coast because they're still up over there.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
No, 13 Witness took the photo.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Yo, shout out to 13 Witness, my brother Timmy.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
On a bike? No. First time. Jump the platform. Jump the platform. So sick, man.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Yeah, I was like, I need to do it. Because at the time, we were shooting.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
um a photo series called mad trends audacity mta yeah and we would ride the train for hours and just like go to different stations and shoot these photos and post them on instagram wow and we were guaranteed to do a video and in my mind i was like well what's gonna be like that banger like what can i do that's gonna be like what's gonna be the best photo and photo and video
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And I was like, oh, I'm going to jump platform to platform. How scary were you, bro? I mean, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. What do you mean it wasn't that bad? I prepared for it. How do you prepare? How do you prepare? So I measured the distance between the platform, and then I took that same distance, and I put two broomsticks down, and I started to jump over two broomsticks.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Just in the street, yeah, to make sure I know my speed I was going to jump it at and kind of like all the little details. And we went to the 145th subway station in Harlem at like 2 in the morning, and it's Timmy, myself, Mike Sayers and I think his girlfriend at the time. And Timmy was like, cool, you ready? I'm like, yeah, I'm ready. So he jumped down on the tracks. So he's down on the tracks.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
That's like prepared, right? So he can't see me coming.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Yeah. And he can't see when I'm coming. Bro, he's in the tracks? He's on the tracks, like kneeling down. No. Yeah, yeah, sick. No. And then Mike was like, yo, Nigel, go ahead. So I start blasting down the subway. platform and I hit a left turn and I just jumped in. No brakes on my bike. No brakes. So I couldn't stop when I got to the other platform. So what'd you do? I went down into the tracks.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
That's my happy place right here. That's therapy? Therapy, joy, happy. Do you go to regular therapy? I don't, but this is it right here. Me neither. Stay toxic, King.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Which is mostly because of what? What do you mean? Why you are the way you are.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I'll talk to you. I'll talk to your friend. I mean, listen, but you ride the train and talk to people all the time, right?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So is that like your therapy?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's the best. And what do you love about it? It's beautiful. Just visually, it's beautiful. Paris in the summertime, incredible. I love a good croissant. And the people. The good coffee.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I agree with you. I 100% agree with that take.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Oh, this is not like that. Oh, this is a freewheel. It's a freewheel, yeah.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
You probably got the Rimowa, too. I actually have a custom BMX Rimowa case. That's so sick.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Listen, so... Like a big one? Like a big one. For the bike? For the bike. Did a proper partnership with Rimowa.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So how I do, right, is I take this bolt right here out. It's a fork cap. I take my pedals off, and I take my front wheel off, and I can just put it in a golf bag.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It breaks out and I put it in a golf bag.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Those people are freaks. Yeah, the bike stands next to... The bike ships with the... But travels with the skis and the rifles.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Yeah, it's part of me. It's literally an extension of me.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
You know what I mean? Like, I tell people that sometimes I feel more comfortable riding my bike than walking.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
This is my place right here.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I love that. I don't spend too much time away from her. You know? Gotta keep it close. That's your first love?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Forever love. Could be. Love is, you know, one of those things. Love is hard. Man, listen. Love is hard. Tell me about it.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
My parents are from Grenada. Grenada.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I'm first generation, yeah. That's Caribbean. Caribbean.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
They came here in their early 20s. So I would say like early 70s. Wow. Early to mid 70s. And what'd they do? My mom's a nurse. My dad's an electrician. They both retired. Fire. That's nice. But man, I have such admiration and... gratitude to my parents, right?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
They came to New York, left their home, sacrificed comfort to have a better life, and they sacrificed so much for my brother and I, for us to live the lifestyle we live now. You know what I mean? So, shout out to all the Caribbean parents.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Shout out to the immigrant parents around the world that sacrificed for their kids.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
What else am I rocking right now? Also, this artist called Friday.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
He dropped a new album. He has this one track with Meek Mill called Proud of Me. That's insane.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Like, you can't hear the pain coming through the speakers. Crazy.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Nah, this is like sit down and reflect and be thankful.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Brent Fires. Shout out to Brent. Always listen to Young Jeezy.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I got to start listening to Young Jeezy. Shout out to Jeezy.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Appreciate you, bro. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I mean, listen, you're into like Super Bowl food. Listen, Queens, even in Men in Black, They had to go to Queens to save the world.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Queens. Listen, both of the airports are in Queens. That is a good reason. 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.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I mean, listen, the bike is like a rite of passage.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
No, there were way more bike riders than skateboarders. Because you have 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 bikes because of the size. First. Right.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
You know, I think GTs, things of that nature. So once I hit that mark in my life, I fell in love with bike riding.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
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 driveway. I used to ride this big wheel around and do drifts on my big wheel at like four years old. Oh, shit. And that's where like the love for bike riding like started.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And then from there, each summer, I had to get a bike because I loved doing it.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And then one summer, I went home after a ride, and I seen Dave Miller 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?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's so hard. It's painful, though. It's hard. I'm sure back when you were riding, they probably had, like, metal pedals.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So it's a little less painful when it hits your shin.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So when I was 18, Dave Mira signed me to his company and turned me pro. Like literally dream come true.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's like getting a cosign from Michael Jordan. Wow. You know what I mean?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So what's your take? So... take is Queens is the king of all boroughs. 100% agree.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Which we got that too, but. But no, it was a life changing moment. And he took me underneath his wing. And he coached me and. And taught me a lot. So you learned from the GOAT. I learned from the GOAT, man. So RIP to the GOAT.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
right like there are two routes yeah two routes you can either like ride contests and like people learn your name that way competition right or you can just be like a freerider and make make video parts make videos and whatnot but people first see me on dvds that was first like that was first that's the first time that people watched me ride in their living rooms or at home was
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Because it was early. It was 10 years ago. Actually, like, the first Go video came out in 2015. So we were about to hit the 10-year anniversary of the first Go video, which is crazy to think about. Go watch those videos. They're crazy. Definitely go watch those videos.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
That was the first time I went skydiving.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
So I watch Go Dubai, I jump out of a plane with my bike. Oh, I was completely kidding. I haven't seen that one. No, I really do this. Wow. No, but I wanted to create a content franchise that people can have access into my world, right? From what I'm riding, who I'm hanging out with, what I'm creating, what I'm eating, what I'm listening to.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And that's what the Ghost Stories was about, like me creating this platform to express that. And I just wanted to put something out into the world, and it went viral in weeks. I mean, the videos are crazy. And it completely changed my career, my trajectory.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
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. Nicki. Nicki.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I'm already one of the greats. You know what I mean? Like, for me, it's... I made a conscious decision that I want to break the mold. For so long, it was kind of like one path to be successful in the world of BMX. You're an innovator. And I decided I wanted to break that mold, and I did that. That's so fire. Live and prove, baby.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Art you want to share with the world, create it. Do it and be consistent at it. You may not hit on it the first time, you may not hit on it the second, third, fourth, fifth time, but continue putting that content out.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
My parents... as long as i was doing good in school like they were like getting roger but they didn't know how serious i was about it though it wasn't until later on so like after turning pro they started to understand like this is what he wants to do and it even took some convincing even after that but i would say maybe like
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
six, seven years into me being a pro, they started to understand and fully support.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Six, seven years after going pro? I had to sell them, bro. I also had to show and prove. Right. I had to show them this is something I can consistently do, that I can build a business for myself with it, and I can sustain my lifestyle with it. Right. But now they love it.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
My mom calls me every day and asks what's going on.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
This is very, very true, man. I remember early in my career when I got an agent for the first time.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
And people were kind of giving me shit about it. Because it was like, quote unquote, he's trying to sell out. I'm just like, what? I'm trying to grow my business. In the beginning. In the beginning. I'm trying to grow my business. I'm trying to grow my brand. And live off of bike riding. Like, this is my dream. But...
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
it's it was weird but it's interesting you say that because when i think about it now like that is the thing right like everyone's trying to work with brands to get brand deals or whatnot yeah and when the agent approached you did they approach you as a bmx biker or were they like as a personality oh definitely a bmx rider okay i'm a bmx athlete first and foremost then now and always
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Have you ever seen the photo where I jumped the subway tracks?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's the urban jungle. I mean, Queens sits on top of all of that.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I'm not going to disagree. So when I was younger, I grew up in Lawton, Queens, right? And the closest subway station was Jamaica Station. So I would ride my bike like 25 minutes to the subway. take the train, to the E train, all the way to World Trade Center, which is like an hour and change, to ride the Brooklyn Banks. What's the Brooklyn Banks?
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
The Brooklyn Banks is the best BMX skate spot in the world.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's still there. It's under construction right now. But it's this like, quote unquote, plaza that sits underneath the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side. Wow. And it's lined in wet bricks. The whole place. Which just inspired the brick by brick.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
We can speak to the world, right? So if we're going to say something, make it count.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
I want to show you a photo of the Brooklyn Banks so you can see it. So it looks like this. Oh, okay, and it's covered in red bricks, but that's not a skate park.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
It's just like a spot that is everyone's locked to exactly That's so happening to architecture who designed it made the perfect spot It didn't even know that he made the perfect spot I want you started did you have like a little crew like a little crew that you were riding with or we kind of like I'm on my own so it was about like ten of us and I was the youngest one and
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Do you like Caribbean food? I love Caribbean food. There's a spot called The Door. On Baisley and Guy Brewer, you have to try it. It's fire? Life-changing.
SubwayTakes
How Nigel Sylvester Became the Mr. Worldwide of BMX | Uncut
Young Tyke. And, like, I was determined. I wanted to be the best out the crew. But, like, the crew was so dope because they took me in as, like, their little brother. You know what I mean? This is before I left Queens.