Kicks For Days

“Main Street with a Mormon”

Rob’s AM’87
So these are just the first air max model to come out.. but with a flirty  flair.  I am not sure where or when I got them, and they were hiding under some Ugg boots in my room.  I was suppose to go to Umami Burger tonight but Corgi flaked as usual.  I can’t stand that guy, he takes so many painkillers you have a better chance at making plans with Eric Rudolph… remember…he was the guy who set off the bomb during the ’96 olympics in Atlanta? He hid in the mountains for like 4 years… yeah.. thats what Corgi is like.

Josh’s Fragment AF1
Hiroshi – the Japanese Jesus of the sneaker game – steps up to the mic and drops yet another simple, classic, monochromatic, butter-soft banger. The black b-boy laces are dope and the patent leather polka dots on the foxing get mad love whenever my pant leg should rise up. I got these from Trey at Alife Rivington Club on the Lower East Side. If you ever step to NYC, you should def check ‘em out.

“Installation”

Rob’s Dunk Lo “Lobsters”
Literally, these are mine. But now they are a symbol of un-loyal, jealousy, thievery, coward, scumbag, bitch ass, un fucking creative, slap on site.. just buster ass herbs that can’t do shit on their own.  Why does my name appear under these shoes on the Nike website?  Not sure.. cuz I never got anything but stress from them.  But I guess I’m better off, or I should thank them for motivating me to get into advertising. Maybe I should send them a card, or like a dunkin doughnuts gift card.  Later geeks!

Josh’s Green Fragment AF1
Japanese sneaker kingpin Hiroshi Fujiwara shined his light on the world many times over, with each and every one being subtle and serene. While other suckas were creating crayola-inspired make-ups, he focused on material and dynamism. This ’07 series of AF1s was one of my favs in that it was black-on-black leather – full-grain on perf – with a patent heel tab/outsole lock-up. Grown and sexy with a little pop – just like ya boy!

“Parking Deck”

Rob’s Terminators
I have never had a pair of these… they are like an in between dunk and air force.  One day we went to run in Runyon Canyon and I didn’t have anything to run in.. so there was this box marked “Guy Ritchie” at Melissa’s house and they are my size… soo… I ran in the dirt in these silver white and neon laced sneakers.

Josh’s Dunk Lo “Rayguns”
To close out the week, i took it back — WAY back. Before Jay joined Jimmy at W+K, Jimmy‘s funkafied brain birthed the Roswell Rayguns – an ABA-school 70′s bball squad that kept tha funk alive. VC, Stack, BD and crew pimped so hard they dragged their minks on the floor as Bootsy laid down their soundtrack. Nike SB caught wind of how dope they were and made Home and Away Dunks with the team logo stitched on the heel. Mine are the Home addition, cause that’s how I do. When Jimmy peeped em today in a meeting, he reached over, pulled up my pant leg, stood up, gave me an exuberant triple 5 and pounded his heart. THAS WUSUP!!! Play on, playa…

“Rooftop”

Rob’s Jordan V “Fire Reds”
These were retro releases in 2006, I wore them to my first MAGIC and never stopped.  These are dogged more than Precious!  See you on the roof bitch PEACE!

Josh’s Chamber of Fear AF1 “Haters”
Everyone deals with Haters. And we all know the only way is to rise above. Thus, Hep and i took it up to the roof. And yes, it was on fire – with the setting sun as the perfect backdrop. These killers dropped in Denver and were the most popular/pricey of the Chamber family, for obvious reasons. I snap necks with these everytime – even Jimmy stopped mid-sentence in a meeting with Jay, Donna and I to give me some dap.

“Library”

Rob’s Jordan 1′s
About 4 months ago Steve Kluback rolled up in a rented Ford Flex and was showing off about 8 pairs of these.  He was like, you want one.. I was like.. sure.  The green pops off some metalic shit and they are really clean cuz they are new. I will probably never wear them again, so if you want them I want you to whisper “noodels” into my ear first person to do that gets them.  They are size 10.5

Josh’s Chamber of Fear AF1 “Complacency”
The next fear to overcome is Complacency. I think these might be my fav’s of the set. The non-traditional formula of Stealth suede complimented by Taupe Kanji/lining and University Blue outsole is like smooth jazz. These came out in ChiCity and I was poised to win a pair last second on eBay when my internet connection dropped. A year later, just as i’d made peace with G-d that i just wasn’t meant to have ‘em, a sz 9 came up on Napsize…

“The Park”

Rob’s Jordan V 3M
What started as my dressy  going out kicks ended up as winter beaters.  The all 3M make for great red carpet photos, and waterproofing… not great for playing ball cuz they are about as breathable as a plastic bag.  They grey and green are reminiscent of Air MAx 95′s original colorway.  Shut your mouth.

Josh’s Chamber of Fear AF1 “Temptation”
The next chamber young LBJ had to overcome on his path was Temptation. In the campaign, this fear took the form of 2 flying foxes hellbent on distracting our man with their feminine whiles.  On planet hotness, it took the form of these Hycinthia patent leather lovelies. They came out in my hometown of NYC and I got my mitts on 2 pair. I traded one for an AF1 iD (stay tuned) and the other you see the beautiful temptress Helena trying to lure off my feet below. She came pretty damn close…but no dice!

“Billboard”

Rob’s AM90 Current Kaws
Another free banger from Bruce Bruce at Nike Sportswear.  I had 4 pairs, ask Yu-Ming what happened to them!  I love the Currents, but I cannot stand black sneakers. I only wore these for the contest.  Not sure who wins on this one.  Scarcity?  Flavor? He wins on oldness, cuz Josh is old as FUCK!  The “X”s on the insole are all worn out cuz I worn them to the gym.  Jeah son you have to hit the treadmill if you want a shot at the title!

Josh’s Chamber of Fear AF1 “Self Doubt”
I gotta show BIG, BIG ups to my new partners in G larceny – Jimmy Smith and Jayanta Jenkins. I’ve been admiring their Nike Bball work for over a decade, and one of my fav’s was during the ’04 Season when they developed the Chamber of Fear – a kung-fu inspired super jam where young LeBron aka The Chosen One had to overcome the many threats/fears in his way to interstellar domination. Nike produced a special colorway for each and released only 250 pairs at special events at select Niketowns. These bangers are “Self-Doubt” – the greatest of all fears – released in LBJ’s stomping grounds of Cleveland. I got ‘em off some cat in Hong Kong via eBay, circuitous style.

“Break Room”

Rob’s Cali Dunks
One time Retro Kid invited me to his crib in Beaverton. He easily had 1000 pairs in his house, he had a pile of 11′s and told me I could grab whatever I wanted… I took these and some Rayguns.  Sold the Rayguns and broke these out to celebrate moving to cali.  Josh Bruner over at TRUE in SF designed the hat to match perfectly. Thats it and thats all.

Josh’s Cocoa Snake AF1 Lo
Snake Week comes to a close with the hottest of them all – the Japanese exclusive Cocoa’s. I found a set of these in sz9 on Napsize with a STEEP price tag and tried a million ways to justify it, but couldn’t. So when i got blog wind that they were being retro’d in Japan, I found a Shibuya retailer that had em, but only operated COD. So my cute flash programmer friend Kumi got them hand-delivered to her dad’s place and sent em to me a few months later when she went home to visit. The things we do for love…

“Our Desks”

Rob’s Chucks
Jason T keeps me full of the white on whites with the blue smile.  Meh… sometimes you have to not be a child.  And I’m not a fucking hipster.

Josh’s Black Snake AF1
You sweatin’ the repitlian remix? I know Rob is. This was a Euro exclusive I got off some cool Asian NYU student. Cat musta had some connects and charged me a nice little mark-up. But I had to have that white snake in my life. So in exchange for paying for his Psych 101, Intro to Bio and Calculus textbooks, he hand-delivered them to my job. Seemed only fair.

“Catwalk”

Rob’s Dunk Hi’s
I thought these were the “Gucci” dunks but they arn’t the SB’s.  So they are just regular boring Dunks, I can’t compete with Josh today.  I see some Change in the air… They were free at least! Thanks Charles “Chopsticks”.

Josh’s AF1 Brown Snakes
Everytime these slither outta the closet, I get all warm-blooded. These sh*tz are just straight sexy. I was not a patent guy when I started, thinking it was too much floss. But I ALWAYS had a sweet spot for exotics. So I copped these at Training Camp in NYC cause they had a size 9. The first day I wore em out, on my way to the subway, the sun hit em just right and the shiny snake glistened. I shed a single tear. And my life was changed forever.