Need it
The relic of X-Games gold medalist skier Zeb Powell is fixed to bring hip-hop culture to the top of the mountain.
Interview: Joey Echevarria
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the 2025 summer XXL magazine, now on newsstands and is for sale on the XXL website.
World-class skier Zeb Powell is the same for hip-hop, just like the extreme sports world. In fact, the athlete is often referred to as the most creative person on a snowboard, describing rap music as something he can’t live without.
In 2020, Zeb Powell became the first black skier to win gold at the sport’s premiere Winter X-Games. The Waynesville, North Carolina native is proud to break the barrier and use hip-hop as a channel to increase his diversity
sports.
Zeb digs with XXL on a spring ski trip to Colorado. here,
He tells about his stellar hip-hop artist, his atmosphere tracks, his tracks, his tracks, his tracks, his tracks,
Top five rappers and more.
XXL: How do you describe your relationship with hip-hop?
Zeb Powell: Well, well, without it, I really can’t live. Half of my life is just hip-hop, soft or full of energy. Rap music has an impact on everyone. Whether it is through what they say, what they say or the energy in the song is related. Everyone can be related to at least one rap song.
Do you have a list of five favorite rappers?
I have a very outstanding top five. Mac Miller is probably the first in the Bat race, just because he covers a lot of genres. Not only his party music, but all his music and everything. His production, I think Sh*t is disgusting. He just matches every atmosphere I have. Then I got Freddie Gibbs, Travis Scott, Don Toliver. But, oh my god, the list goes on. Isaiah Rashad. It’s a big deal for me.
What is your most memorable experience with a rapper?
We have the opportunity to participate in $AP Ferg snowboarding. That’s really when I saw it differently
Energy on the mountain. I really don’t know how to introduce myself or introduce him to the whole ski stuff, but I said there are only two black people to come and see it [pro] Skier. Russell Winfield and Stevie Bell were the first to do so. [Ferg]
It really resonated. Just to see him approaching the mountain, that’s true, oh my God. It’s such a different energy. Too cool, it was beautiful when arrested.
I’m connected with Isaiah Rashad. When we were in front of the audience, we kicked it very similarly. This is just crazy truth. I was with Bia the week before. She participated in our event, Red Bull Heavy Metals from Boston, from Boston. She pops up and I have to kick her. She went crazy.
Have you ever skied with a rapper and their skills surprised you?
I ski with Travis Scott. He was very good that day. I think he is recovering from a knee injury, so he is a little rusty, but he proposed from Aspen with my companion a few weeks ago. I saw clips of him boarding the plane and he was besieging them. He followed my friend off the X-Games jump. He didn’t hit them, but he was shooting them and those rollers, like you fell off a building. So, there is no doubt that some trick is needed. He will definitely be mixed together.
What songs are there in your playlist when riding?
sahbabii. Song “On Film”. I got Freddie Gibbs’ “slimming”. “ILMB,” Sheck Wes and Travis Scott. Dud, that’s fire. It has been repeated at this time. “That’s not a gangster,” Young Nudy was the other one on top of me. “Nice N Slow” by Cash Cobain. Now addictive. Sahbabii’s “Believe it”. Playboi Carti’s “Olympic Games”. I’ve always encountered that one.
What do you want to accomplish that will strengthen the relationship between hip-hop and extreme sports?
I want to attend a festival that clashes with the hip-hop world. We are definitely on the right path. I just prepared everything, built my team, lived and learned from activities. Things like this are on the way. I’m making these connections with these rappers. Just want to be intentional and build energy with them.
Realizing my position and my influence, I have been working to attract the world of snowboarding and sponsors to get me into this cultural world, rather than doing the snowboarding thing entirely. I want to do these community events that bring energy and connect rappers, and that’s the next step.
Watch XXL’s interview with Zeb Powell
Watch Zeb Powell’s Snowboard Highlights
There is an interview with Zeb Powell in the summer of 2025 XXL magazine, which can be purchased here. The questions also include interviews with all 12 members and producers of the 2025 freshman class, as well as conversations with Key Glock, Larry June, Aminé, Monaleo, Nardo Wick, Tech N9ne, and others, as well as reviewing the work of the 2024 XXL freshman class and delving into the largest XXL and Beast XXL Freshman.
