“We’d go surf Pipe, get barreled, come in, sell a hundred pounds of weed,” Makua Rothman bluntly said on the latest episode of the Jamie O & The Mason Ho Show.
The conversation between the three Hawaiian legends quickly turned into a raw reflection on their childhoods in Oahu’s infamous North Shore surf scene. Rothman didn’t shy away from discussing his struggles with substances, violence, and brushes with the law.
“(The first interaction I can remember) as a four-year-old was the cops coming in, blowing our door off, taking my dad, all these cops – rag-dolling me and my mom,” Rothman recalled. “From the beginning I was set up to fail.”
As the three dove into how the lineups on the North Shore have changed since their childhood years, they agreed that the violence – that Rothman admits to having been a part of at times – has largely faded from the lineups. Rothman said the localism tactics were needed at the time, but also was remorseful that he once played a role in it.
“A lot of the times that (violence) was due to me not respecting myself, not having the intelligence to know that there was a different way,” said Rothman. “Everyone’s intent in life is to get better, but when your role models are drug dealers, killers, pimps, extortioners, mafiosos, what is better? A big stack of cash, fat gold chain, chicks everywhere, lifted truck, yard full of chickens (for cock fighting).”
In hindsight, he acknowledged that most of the people who were part of the violent localism tactics didn’t fare well in the long run. “They got a lot of good waves, but in the bigger picture no one really wanted anything to do with them,” said Rothman.
Rothman also shed light on just how rampant the drug business intertwined with the North Shore – and the wider surf industry as a whole.
“How do you think the surf industry was started?” asked Rothman. “Quiksilver and all these companies, most of them were started with dope money. There are not very many of them that weren’t.”
His admission surprised Mason Ho, who declared, “We are officially the gnarliest podcast in history.”
Rothman opened up that his traumatic childhood experiences related to his father’s run-ins with the law gave him PTSD, which led him to mask his problems with alcohol and substances. But he was proud to report that he’s 100 percent sober and in the “best shape of his life” after losing 30 pounds.
“Looking back now – I have kids, I don’t want to go to jail,” said Rothman. “I think I might be the only one of my group who hasn’t done real time in prison…I’ll always be grateful for the two of you and the inspiration you’ve given me, because without two nut-jobs like you two guys, I wouldn’t be able to be who I am today.”
