Ky Zizan is an extremely innovative 1A player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who is also the inventor of a fairly new and innovative sub-style of 1A called Double Dragon (one yoyo, two strings). Sponsored by Werrd, Ky is known for his unique slack tricks that certainly inspire me as well as many others to push yoyoing to it’s creative limits. Ky and I talked his beginnings in yoyoing, tricks, Double Dragon and more!

Ky, thanks for doing this! As an extremely underrated player (in my opinion), you’ve been killing it in the 1A scene for a while now. How did you start yoyoing?

I started yoyoing by random chance, funny enough. My first actual yoyo that I started to practice on was a green ProYo. I got it in the summer of 2004 on the day after my cousin’s wedding in New Mexico. My family and I went to this tiny science museuem and in the gift shop were yoyos. I just knew it was what I wanted to do. Also, thank you for the kind words!

How did you start learning tricks back then, and when would you say you started to get good?

Well, first I learned from this book that had all of the classic tricks. From there, I moved to Sector Y and Ken’s World on a String. I would say I started to get the hang of it and make my own stuff about a year and a half/two years in. I made up my first trick around when I was 13.

There are still a goldmine of old elements/tricks on websites like Sector Y! Who were some of your early inspirations in making up tricks?

My biggest inspirations early on were Yuuki Spencer, Johnnie Delvalle, Boyd Seth, Jason Lee, Mark Montgomery, etc. I could list more, but it would be a lot more!

How long would you say it took for you to get good at yoyoing?

I would say I started to get good maybe around ’07, then took a break. Really, I have just started to hit my stride about two years ago.

Nice! A lot of people give you credit for really innovating in 2013. With such a good style, what’s your process like with making up tricks/combos?

I would say that I try to incorporate as many ideas from other things that I enjoy as much as possible. I feel everything is related, its just a matter of figuring out how they connect, and they will connect after a bit of fiddling and tinkering. For instance, a lot of the Double Dragon tricks are based off of scratches due to both having a nature of equilateral movement. Sometimes, I just have an idea out of nowhere and implement that too as well. I think a happy medium of the two is the best method to figuring out a completely new idea, whether it be a trick, song, device etc.

I have to agree with you there, your creativity definitely shows in all of the things you’ve done. Speaking of Double Dragon, how did you come up with that style and what made you decide to bring it onto stage at contests? It’s definitely been well recieved.

It just sorta came to me. One day I just thought, “Man, I could totally make this work!” and this was before I had seen Rei’s AP.  This was probably about 2 and half, three years ago and the only person that I told about it at the time was Boyd (Boyd Seth). He came up with the name. After I started to have some tricks figured out, I knew it was something more than a sub style of tricks or anything like that. It was a completely untouched field that has so much potential for tricks and ideas only possible through dragons. I competed with it because I wanted to show people that the dragons could not be contained by modern competitive standards and I hope that maybe that will change one day.

That’s so awesome, I think different, innovative styles of yoyoing were more common back in the day so it’s really nice to see something new and interesting today.

I know you mess around a little with beat production, what are some other things you’re interested in other than yoyoing?

Yeah, this year I’m trying to take my production game to a new level but aside from that I am a DJ.  Recently, I’ve been gearing up to start entering DMCs, which are the competition for turntablists.  I have also been teaching myself piano, and I draw.  That pretty much encompasses all I do these days.

Also, my soundcloud is: soundcloud.com/argiemor

That’s awesome! Any last advice for any aspiring yoyoer out there?

My advice for aspiring yoyoers is to have faith in yourself and to keep pushing yourself.  Always try to go for what seems unattainable.  It will be in your reach sooner than you think.

Thanks Ky!