Usher recently returned to Sin City for a different kind of residency. He has opened a skating rink residency titled Flipper’s World Roller Boogie Palace alongside friend Liberty Ross.
“This is kind of a victory lap for Las Vegas,” he told PEOPLE at the spot’s grand opening, where he displayed his skating skills.
He credits the skating for always keeping him young, adding, “It’s something that I feel is a necessity for youth nowadays.”
“Everybody spends so much time scrolling,” Usher said. “We want you to roll, come out, get active, come and have a good time.”
“There’s no judgement here,” he continued. “You fall, you get back up. We invite the entire family to come.”
His hope is that he can get Snoop Dogg, Pharrell and Dr. Dre, who attended the grand opening, to get on the rink one day.
“Dre, Snoop and Pharrell getting out here would be crazy,” Usher tells PEOPLE. “NWA came up through skaters, a lot of those early hip hop bands could only get space to perform in the roller rinks. I can still remember as a kid performing in rinks. It’s always been the grounds for culture.”
He says skating’s also “a form of self care” and that “people need to understand how fun this really is.”
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