Makua Rothman’s Lungs, Now Servicing XXL Musical Stages + Wiz Khalifa Collabs

We’ve got a longform Stab interview with Makua Rothman dropping soon, going deep on his pivot into music, politics, and the recalibration of a life once lived at 20 second+ swell periods.

Big wave surfing to music doesn’t sound like a natural career move, until you really mull it over. Breath control, timing, staying calm under pressure. The same principles apply, really.

Rothman explains: “Music has always been a part of my life, but this time around it really was a massive transition in lifestyle. I went from professional surfer, athlete, number one in the world, world champion, and then I lost my way. I started getting into the bad things, drugs and alcohol, and lost a lot of that along the way. Ultimately it led to me getting hurt, blowing out my knee at the Backdoor Shootout, which threatened to be career-ending. A lot of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind. What should I do? I made a decision to change my life fully and put all that shit down. I picked up the pen and started writing about it. I said, why not share my stories? Music is a big part of my life. This could be something that could change the world one day. It definitely is changing my world.”

In the meantime, here’s the Big Wave World Champion’s latest clip for Catch a Wave, stitched together by Logan Dulien of Snapt 5 and international-crime-syndicate-stopping fame.

With archival footage from Sonny Miller, Jack McCoy, Larry Haynes and other legendary surf filmmakers, it’s a strangely moving walk down memory lane and a reminder of all the incredible surfers who’ve left us.