Everyday Classics

Everyday Classics

Nike AF1 ID x Laser P: The Dee Wells Born Day Sneaker...

This past Tuesday was the Birthday for the one and only Dee Wells of OSD. Those of you who know Dee "Sole Proprietor" Wells know he's as cool as the AC in a Bentley, and surprising him is a task that should come with medical benefits. With that said, I set out to catch him completely OFF GUARD with a gift he would NEVER see coming. I coordinated the efforts with my OSD Crew (World Famous), Mayor (Air Force 1 Aficionado), and Laser P (2nd coming of Mark Smith), and I set out for 21 Mercer Street (NYC) to design the perfect AF1...for Dee! Here are the pictures, and below them the story behind each phase. WALK GOOD!

The Design Inspiration: Flag of the U.S. Virgin Islands...

The colors on these sneakers are inspired very simply by the colors of Dee's native U.S.V.I. (United Stated Virgin Islands). All of the colors from the flag for his lovely Caribbean homeland are used on the sneaker (except the color from the top of the shield on the flag). It took me a short while to put the colors together in a way that will make instant sense to Dee when he opened the box, but I think I got it.

The Rendering: Created at Nike Sportswear 21 Mercer Street NYC...



The finishing touch on the sneakers: Courtesy of Laser P in Florida...

I always knew that I wanted to make sure the sneakers had an above average touch to them. I remembered a conversation between Mayor and I where he showed me the work of one Laser P. It was very clean and accurate...I was hooked! BUT, when was I gonna have a pair of shoes done that would require his services? BINGO...Here it was! Mayor promptly shipped the shoes to Laser P. On OSD, the catch phrase started by Dee and that is now a regular part of our lingo and correspondence with the rest of the sneaker world is "WALK GOOD". So I figured, what better way to express that without saying it? Put it on the front of his shoes. The font, sizing, and placement of the phrase on the shoes could not have been better. Props to Laser P . I'm sure as more people see this your phone will begin ringing.

I think we got the drop on him y'all! Final Destination: Worcester, MA...

Upon arrival to Dee, He was completely floored! To Mrs. OSD,...no, we did not make you look bad. The goal was to make sure when he's out and about with you and your daughter, the world knows you are in the company of a man that knows exactly how to "Walk Good!". We classed him up for you (LOL).

The sneaker was indeed a project that was a labor of love and I'm happy with every step of the process. I'm sure the OSD Crew, Mayor, and Laser P are happy to have been a major part of it too.

So, as Dee would say, keep your laces tied tightly, your tongues loose, and.... You know the rest. Just look at the front of Dee's shoes...

Nike AF1 ID x Laser P: The Dee Wells Born Day Sneaker...

Assaults: Crime doesn't pay

When times get tough and folks are struggling to put food on the table
and keep the lights on, so to speak, there is a direct correlation to
the increase in violence.

In the town of Caribou, Maine, which is best known for having over 5-
feet of snow, has seen a rash of assaults among teenagers, not for
iPods or cellphones, but sneakers.

The sneakers of choice are the Nike Air Force 1 low sneakers.

With their multiple colors and supposed street credibility, Air Force
1s a/k/a/ Uptowns or 1s, have teenagers from throughout the small town
fighting one another and leaving battle scars.

Sneaker aficionados know how popular the Bruce Kilgore-designed Air
Force 1s are, but it's still unknown why a sneaker that was initially
released in 1982, a basketball sneaker nonetheless, is so popular
today with kids in the 'hood and the suburbs alike.

We, at OSD, know the pull of Air Force 1s and have seen some well
designed AF1s by the likes of DJ Clark Kent and Stash. But let's be
straight forward and to the kids of Caribou, ME and all over the
world, we have to state that you are too valuable and have too much to
loose to throw it all away over a pair of sneakers. Be smarter people
and if you can't afford the sneakers, get a job and save your money to
buy that fresh pair of 1s......you'll appreciate them that much more.

As always, keep your laces tied tightly, your tongue loose and walk
GOOD!!

Assaults: Crime doesn't pay

What will the PR AF1s look like for '09?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

What will the PR AF1s look like for '09?

Sneakerheads hard-at-work

Give folks an opportunity to design their own sneaker.........and this is what you get.

It's hard work, but someone has to do it.

Sneakerheads hard-at-work

Charlotte loves the kicks

We love receiving emails from avid readers of Obsessive Sneaker Disorder (OSD) and fans of all things sneaker-related. But when we received a picture of a sneakerhead that already gets "it", then that's something that we have to share with the rest of the world.

Allow me to introduce Charlotte, age 6, from Chicago.

Observe how Charlotte meticulously makes sure her Dunks are kick-clean and ready to be worn.

Charlotte, keep your laces tied tightly and your tongue loose and make sure your family sends us some more pictures. ;>)

Picture courtesy of Brian (Chicago)

Charlotte loves the kicks

Happy St. Patrick's Day

From all of us at OSD to all of you who are or aren't Irish.....Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Cheers!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

A Confession: Air Jordan XX3 Lover

There's been alot of talk about the Air Jordan XX3, and yours truly has been the most vocal with my dislike for the Air Jordan XX3. You see, I'm a Jordan fanatic and have my fair share of Air Jordan sneakers, but when I see a sneaker that I think is downright ugly and uninspiring, I'm the first to say so and issue a "pass" for not being allowed into my quiver.

Well, the one and only Paper Chasr got a pair of the XX3's, wore them this past weekend and confesses his love for the Air Jordan XX3. Check out the video for Paper Chasr's confession:

A Confession: Air Jordan XX3 Lover

It's CB's Year!

It looks like NKE is rolling out the red carpet treatment and showing Charles Barkley the kind of love that he so deserves. I guess that since Mike Vick is dealing with his "dog fighting" issues, it was time for Nike to deflect some of the light and move onto releasing sneakers for one Nike's most controversial athlete of the '80s, '90s and today.

Barkley was never one to back-down from anyone, be it on the court or in the bar. He played with an intensity that was easily identifiable in college at the University of Auburn and the League when drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 5th overall pick.

It's about time that he's getting some love from big Nike! Go on with your bad self CB!

AF1- University of Auburn

AF1- Olympic

Additional Barkley's:

It's CB's Year!

The Culture: Revisted

A blast from the past:



It's too bad that Grandmaster Caz repped the AF1s while holding a pair of white-on-white mids to the camera. I'm not being an asshole, but since when did an AF1 Mid become the staple of the culture? That's right, it wasn't until 1999 when Nike continued to pump out the crappy mids that folks adopted and made cool.

Give me some lows like Malone any day! Ball for real!

The Culture: Revisted

No Mids

If you didn't catch the episode the first time it aired in 2006, Season 2 of ESPN's It's the Shoes then you missed one of the best episodes where Bobbito Garcia interviewed none other than Sole Brother #1-- DJ Clark Kent.

Also, featured in this episode is a look at LaDainian Tomlinson's (LT) sneaker closet, Stash and his creation of the Stash Air Max '95 and the Air Force 1.

Peep JorOne and his ill customized kicks and, finally, Ricky Powell gives you the business about LL Cool J.

Press PLAY.

Honorable Mention:
Just For Kicks-Collectors

No Mids

Kickstory!

A cultural icon to many in the Rap and Hip-Hop community, Nike Air Force 1 sneakers have become a staple for so many rappers and their followers that even if they didn’t like them, they’ve been gobbled up and worn to “look the part”. Most people know one or two of these types of people who don’t know jack about the culture nor can they tell you who inspires them other than the latest artist whose album is on heavy rotation on Hot 97, Jam’n 94.5 or Power 105 FM.

For those people in the know about the sneakerhead culture, you already know the direct connection that Air Force 1s (Uptowns) have with music, fashion, politics and, of course, race. There’s so much angst when it comes to Rap and Hip-Hop and the two are used interchangeably when they shouldn’t. Rap and Hip-Hop are two very different things that share some common threads.

Let me break it down for you. The culture of Hip-Hop has been the source of dozens of words and expressions in American English, of which Rap is one of the most familiar. The word is probably the development of rap meaning "to hit." It shows up in the early 1900s in the extended meaning "to express orally," as used by such notable figures such as Marcus Garvey and later by Winston Churchill in 1933.

Many decades after Garvey and Churchill used the word, others started using the term ‘rap’ and it began to take on the meaning of "to discuss or debate informally," a meaning that was well established in the Black community in the late 1960s. A decade later the word was applied to an evolving style of music characterized by, among other things, beat-driven rhymes that intrinsically called for improvisation. The slang that is integral to the lyrics of rap continue to be a source of borrowings in colloquial American English; recent examples include 'chill', meaning "to calm down," and 'dis', meaning "to show disrespect to." These are but the latest examples, in a long series of ‘borrowings’ from the Black English stretching back a century or more.

The Man-Child
It was a man-child by the name of Moses Malone that first wore the Nike Air Force 1s in 1982 and made people stand-up and pay attention to not only his behemoth frame but also his large feet (size 22). Moses, whose first name evokes images from the Bible, was able to make the jump from high school (Petersburg High School-Petersburg, VA) to the ABA and ultimately to the NBA in 1982, when he signed with the Philadelphia 76ers on September 2, 1982.

Moses wore the traditional low-cut Nike Air Force 1 in a white and red color scheme that was so simple- a predominately white sneaker with a red outsole and red ‘Swoosh”. They mesmerized folks and it took awhile for people to realize what brand they were. You see, Nike didn’t have its current-day stronghold on the NBA players’ feet in the early ‘80s as they do today. As a matter of fact, the predominant choices of footwear, by players in the League, were Converse and Adidas.

Once fans began to realize what sneakers Moses was wearing, people started hunting for the sneakers to no avail. This is where the plot thickened.

It took three East coast retailers to convince Nike to bring back the Air Force 1 after they were phased out in 1984. Let’s suffice it to say, that it is these “Three Wise Men” whom we owe a huge ‘Thank You’ to for convincing Nike to continue to produce the sneakers that would eventually sell more than 10 million pairs per year, thus making it the No. 1 U.S. shoe on a unit sales basis.

If you’re not familiar with Downtown Locker Room (DTLR), Rudo’s and Cinderella’s, then you have to check-in with your favorite sneakerhead and ask the question about their significance to the sneaker world.

I’ll let that question hang out there for a bit because in the next coming days, I’ll post an interview that I conducted with a number of old school ‘heads that have so many stories to tell that many will leave you perplexed.

Kickstory!