H-Town Sneaker Summit Winter '10 RECAP

When Houston says, "We HAVE a problem", they don't mean the near catastrophic kind that puts life and limbs at risk, but rather they're letting it be KNOWN that they know how to hold a sneaker event that draws sneaker aficionados and all-around sneaker lovers from all over the United States.

Check out some of the dopeness that went down in H-Town!

Now, go put your "H's" in the air! Walk GOOD!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

Official H-Town Sneaker Summit Winter '10 Event Photo ReCap

The H-Town Sneaker Summit recently wrapped up the sixth 'winter edition' of their bi-annual event in Houston, Texas. The event is the largest and longest
running of it's kind in the entire south west, and brings out sneaker
enthusiast from all walks of life. The event hosts local boutiques,
brands, sneaker enthusiasts, and collectors in a large and diverse party environment.
This season attendees were greeted with the likes of Special Guests;
Bobbito Garcia and Levi Maestro. Other notables in attendance were well known south west sneaker ambassedors; Bun B of UGK, and Greg Street from Atlanta, GA.

Levi Maestro has taken the world by storm with his viral internet video
show 'Maestro Knows'. In just a short time this young videographer/director has
worked with and documented a wide and diverse group of many industry pillars such as; Mr Cartoon, Warren G, 9th Wonder, Terry Kennedy, Geoff Rowley, and the Nike Campus, among others. Fans worldwide have been requesting that Maestro produce a tee shirt to express their love for his hit show. At this very event Levi Maestro kicked off a world wide tour with the premier release of his very first 'Maestro Knows' tee. The MK13 tee was made available to fans at the H-Town Sneaker Summit before anywhere else.

And what more can be said about the legendary Bobbito Garcia, a true renaissance man! Bobbito has been wildly successful at almost anything he touches all over the map; DJ Extraordinaire, Professional Basketball Player, and an Original Sneaker Connoisseur are just a few of the things he is well known worldwide for. Bobbito meeted and greeted fans at the H-Town Sneaker Summit before stepping up to the wheels of steel to successfully shut the party down with one of his legendary DJ mixes.

Bun B of UGK loyally represents for his hometown crowd at what seems to be every H-Town Sneaker Summit. At this seasons summit Bun displayed his usual but new collection of rare and yet to be released shoes. However Bun had a secret in store for the crowd at the end of the event, as he gave away almost every pair of shoes on his display table! Not only that but on the way to the venue Bun and Maestro stopped by the Chris Paul in store event at the nearby House Of Hoops Northline in Houston. There they picked up all three colorways of Chris' newest signature shoes (the Air Jordan CP3.III) all blessed with Chris' autograph, and then gave them away at the Sneaker Summit! You might want to stay tuned to Maestro Knows for more on this adventure soon!

Once again fans came from far a wide came to participate and witness a community based event like no other. The event somehow tops itself each and every time, and we have come to the conclusion that it is because of the new and old like minded and passionate people that loyally attend each season. We can not wait for our next event in the summer of 2010! For more information stay tuned to www.htownsneakersummit.com

Notable Event Sponsors:

Akomplice Clothing

Clout Magazine

Crooks N Castles

Desired Hearts

Elm Co.

Female Sneaker Fiend
Frank151
Freebirds Burritos
Hella Tight
In4mation
Nice Kicks

Obsessive Sneaker Disorder

Pita Pal

Sneaker Freaker

SneakerListing.com
Sneaky Clean
Stones Throw
TheShoeGame.com
The Sneaktip
Us Vs Them

Shout out to Kadoma of H-Town Sneaker Summit on another successful event!

All the pictures from the event can be seen online HERE!

H-Town Sneaker Summit Winter '10 RECAP

Attack of the Show: G4TV x OSD

In case you missed G4tv's wildly popular show, Attack of the Show, here you go. OSD-Obsessive Sneaker Disorder was featured on the show and we must say a laces-filled golden sneaker Thank You to the folks that made it all possible.

Attack of the Show: G4TV x OSD

Dallas Penn: Yeezy Seeking!

As only Dallas Penn can do it, he ventured into Manhattan in search of the Nike Air Yeezy and all the other Yeezy seekers.

Check out the videos:





Shout out to DP!!

Dallas Penn: Yeezy Seeking!

Dallas Penn: Sneaker Fiends Unite

Big shout out to Dallas Penn!! Reppin' OSD everyday!

Dallas Penn: Sneaker Fiends Unite

Sneaker prints

You know the saying that goes, "If you can look at a footprint and know what type of sneaker it is then you know you're a sneakerhead?", well that's exactly what we are here at OSD....sneakerheads to the very end.

Sneaker prints

OSD: We start dem early

Sneakerheads are an odd & sometimes a misunderdstood group. We Obsess about sneakers, we have more sneakers than some sneaker stores and we tend to know more about sneakers than some of the employees at the various stores where we shop.

When we say, "We start dem young" we truly mean it! Make no mistake about it, we groom the youngin's to be a particular and dare to be different.

Proof positive of a youngin' putting in work with NikeID!

Walk GOOD!

OSD: We start dem early

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

Today's Kicks

Starting today, I'm going to post a picture a day of the kicks that I'm rocking......Black History Month Air Force 1s (2006).

I'd like to spread the love by posting pictures from sneakerheads from the various corners of the world. Send me your pictures and I'll add them to OSD. Please be sure to include your name, city, state and the sneakers you're wearing to OSD.

Keep your laces tied tightly & your tongue loose....and send me your pics!

Today's Kicks

OSD: Episode 4-Bashing the culture?

Click on the Flag!

OSD: Episode 4-Bashing the culture?

Gotta Be the Shoes

Check out this video and song by RD straight out of VA.




Check him out on Myspace here.

Gotta Be the Shoes

Sneakerhead

I'm not sure when the term "sneakerhead" was first used in modern English, but I would guess that it was in the late '80s or early '90s. Why might you ask? Well, it may have alot to do with the explosion of crack in the US and then Public Enemy's song, "Night of the Living Basehead". Cats that I know used to say that if you were fiendin' for something, then you were a 'head. So, for example, I was a known hip hop head and Jordanhead and Barkleyhead. You know what? I might have been onto something when I used the word in 1985 when talking about sneakers with my family, but I have no proof so I'll just let this ride.

Not one to try to pretend to be a linguist, but I do know how to drop some science.

Some interesting kicks scheduled for a release in October. Why?

Sneakerhead

$19.3 Billion Industry

A Tribe Called Quest rapped about the Industry Rule number 4080 (Record company people are shady), but when it comes to sneakers, the kick game is doing very well.

It's no surprise that Nike, Adidas, Saucony, New Balance and relative newcomers such as JB Classics, Greedy Genius and BAPE, to name a few, have entered the fray to get a piece of that pie. Shoot, if you can get 1% of the pie.....wouldn't you take it?

Well, this should serve as inspiration for any person that has been drawing sneakers for some time to get the move on and plan their attack, because you have to be in it to win it.

More news to come soon!

$19.3 Billion Industry

It's a NO!

So, it's June 12th and this is my first post for the month of June. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post but besides being sick and dealing with some negative feelings towards the internet, I was just laying in the cut and gathering data.

As someone that has enjoyed a fresh pair of sneakers since 1985, there is something to be said about the state of SNEAKERS these days. The state of sneakers is really simply stated: It SUCKS!!

If you're a sneaker connoisseur that's been into kicks for sometime, then you know exactly where I'm coming from. With the onslaught of supposed hyper-strikes, limited edition and so many collaboration that they make Richard Simmons look sane, the sneaker culture (dubiously called the sneaker sub-culture)is in need of CPR.

Just take a look at any of the releases by New Balance, who despite the Super Team 33 1st release of kicks being dope...it was too late; look at Nike with their new basketball sneakers that surely resemble the Air Jordan III or even the PUMA Cat Lo's that are being released. What happened to creativity and innovativeness?!

A couple months ago, a couple of guys reached out to me to get me involved in opening a boutique store that would cater to the sneakerhead culture and fashion conscientious women and men in the Northeast. It was an honor to be approached, but knowing what I already have on my plate and not feeling that the time is right to open a boutique, I kindly told them, "Thank you, but no thank you." You see, it's ALL about timing and the timing isn't right.

When I look at the companies that are building their reputation and doing it well, I have to look at companies like K-Swiss, Greedy Genius and JB Classics.

K-Swiss knows that they have to change their image from that of white men playing tennis in their bright-white polos and nut-cracker shorts. They attempted to get "hip" 3 years ago when they ran a number of television ads that, to the smart consumer and sneakerhead, it looked fake and that they tried too hard to pretend to be cool and it ultimately bit them in the ass. When they switched their approach and went with the, "This is who we are and this is who we're growing-up to be" feel, the reception was alot better. Now, with the upcoming release of the Si-18's and other Classics with a new color palette, they look like they're ready to put in work and carve out a section of the block.

Greedy Genius is one of those companies that is led by a dynamic-duo, Mikhayel and Hue, that hit up MAGIC a few years ago and hit it hard. They not only were able to write a large order with Barney's of New York, rumored to be half a million dollars, but they were also able to build a reputation as a "cool" new sneaker line.

JB Classics has been able to carve a niche and have a strong following in the Northeast. JB has been doing his thing for awhile and I was glad to see JB Classics getting some love in the Wall Street Journal.

So, as the month of June rolls on, I simply ask the companies to stop flooding the market and pump the breaks on all the collaborations. It's time to retool and retool NOW!

It's a NO!

Headache

The Matrix has been a headache for many years....be it with the Runnin' Rebels at UNLV or now with the Phoenix Suns. You see, he's a silent assasin that let's his game speak and it does so loudly. Not only is he a solid ball player, he's also one of the coolest cats on this side of the Mississippi.

As the Suns beat-up on the Lakers, I wonder if Kobe is sitting at home with his two daughters and wife wondering if it's time to leave the West coast and trade up to a city like NY or Philly? Who knows but for now it's all about the BULLS beating Detroit!

Headache

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!