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We Are The Tastemakers with Mage
151 Plays17 days ago
This week I am joined by Mage, we talk about growing up in Brooklyn and New Jersey. How his parents influenced him, and their unique way of punishing them. Getting to know Heron Preston, and how we met in ComplexCon. Being able to be invoice boys and working at Stadium Goods. What he plans to become and work on and much much more!
Where to find Mage:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/@mage.ig
YouTube: @mageyt99
Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
Music by The DoppleGangaz: https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Lacing Up: The Power of Sneakers
00:48 Introduction to the Episode
01:11 Meet Maj: The Sneaker Aficionado
01:46 The Journey to Social Media Fame
04:12 First Kicks: The Bred 11 Story
07:48 ComplexCon Experiences
11:57 Working at Stadium Goods
19:37 Meeting Icons: Virgil and Travis
22:02 The Legacy of Virgil Abloh
27:28 Future Aspirations and Career Goals
28:08 The Art of Producing: Beyond Making Beats
29:05 A Passion for Horror Movies
31:31 Sneaker Culture and Collecting Stories
33:21 Navigating Sneaker Trends and Hype
37:41 The Future of Sneaker Culture
55:09 Reflecting on Personal Growth and Ambitions
Recommended
Transcript
The Allure of Sneakers and Streetwear
00:00:00
Speaker
I put the red laces in view and being like, all right, cool. I'm gonna rock them. And then never never broke them out. I back mine out. I love wearing my shoes, man. no yeah For me, it's almost like like a superhero putting on his super suit.
00:00:14
Speaker
That's what it's like when I put on outfit or put on like something like these. Like, Cause for is like You're going outside knowing I'm walking in something legendary. You know? Like, even my homies, we was in the chat today, and somebody sent it sent these in the chat and said, yo, this might be the best collab ever.
00:00:31
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, i'm rocking these right now. i'm on my way to the interview. And I'm like, yeah, this is awesome. Yeah. Because it's just like, you just said my shoe was the best collab Without you knowing that I'm rocking it. Exactly. yeah That means something. Nah, yeah.
00:00:44
Speaker
Laugh.
00:00:48
Speaker
Before we jump into this week's episode, I wanted to let y'all know that, look, we all know who Mage's father is. And by the time of this recording, he was not ready to talk about him.
00:01:00
Speaker
So we spent this whole episode talking about Mage and getting to know about his journey with sneakers and streetwear. So enjoy the episode.
Who is Mage?
00:01:10
Speaker
What's good everyone? Welcome back to my first kicks. This is episode 222 and this week I welcome, did just call you mage. You call me mage. Welcome mage to the podcast. and that I forgot to ask you before we started. It's all good.
00:01:25
Speaker
But for those who are and ah those who are not ah familiar with you, how about you introduce yourself? My name is Mage. People call me Antonio. And i am a producer, music producer. I am a sneaker aficionado. I collect. um And I love talking about shoes. I love getting fly. And that's what i'm that's why I'm here. Yeah, for sure.
00:01:45
Speaker
You know, yeah you you recently started posting a lot more. You know, we had a conversation. I told you, man, people want to see you, man. They want to see me. They want to see my face. I'm gonna show more face. Yeah, exactly. It's interesting. I think that, like, what I want to say is, like, we met ComplexCon. We chopped it up, and it was just, like, this moment of, like, yo, we became fast friends. Like, that's hard to find. Like, you know, and I wanted to say, you know, appreciate you for your time and getting to speak to you out there. And then we ran into each other at the airport, and I was like, yo, was good. Yeah, yeah,
New York's Influence and Personal Style
00:02:18
Speaker
yeah. Yeah. That was, that it was like, and then again, we ran into each other on the street.
00:02:23
Speaker
That one. Oh yeah. In the city. Yeah. Yeah. That one was crazy. I was, I was, it was just like, bam, bam, bam. Like it was like consecutively. And I was just like, yo, yeah, we should, i should you should definitely pull up. And each time I was like, yo, when we doing, we doing the podcast? I was like, yo, I'm i'm on next.
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah. I wanted to be here. Nah, but you were like, you were like, you were like, ah you from here? And I was like, yeah. it No, trust me. Like I need, I needed to know. Yeah. It's funny because I've been getting a lot of questions like, where you based at? Where you based at? I'm like, it's pretty New York. I don't think there's no- Super New York. Yeah.
00:02:57
Speaker
Everybody that hits me, they'd be like, you oh yeah, you really from New York. I'm like, yeah, man. What do you want me to tell you? I mean, when I said it, i was just like, oh shoot, like, you know, I'm seeing you at the airport, i' like, where you heading? my Oh man, to New York too. I'm like, oh shoot.
00:03:10
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? It's like one of them things, but I'm glad you are from New York. People from New York are the coolest. Yeah, we we are we are the tastemakers. Exactly. You know what I mean? i was First question I want to ask you is what's good with these chains?
00:03:24
Speaker
um Because they are, the last one I saw was the, The one with the card. The Pokemon The Pokemon card. and Yeah. and So yeah that's my boy Christopher Cates. He's like legendary when it comes to this stuff. Like, you know, because everybody could cop like a bust down chain or something like super expensive and crazy.
00:03:41
Speaker
No, no, jo you're good. You're good. But, i um you know, I like to be a little more unique with things and you'd be like, yo, you don't have that. You know, because like you you could get this one. This is just like the one that he's made his own design. But like the toys and the Pokemon card and stuff like you don't have that. Yeah.
00:03:57
Speaker
And I like the idea of that. You can't just go buy it. Look, yeah we need to bring back or you don't have that. Yeah, because I feel like everybody got it. I know. he go yeah We definitely going to get to that yeah for
First Sneakers and Fashion Inspirations
00:04:07
Speaker
sure. um ye But you're here to answer the question that ask me but that I ask everybody each week. And that question is, what's your first kicks? What's that first pair of sneakers you absolutely needed to have? Absolutely needed. I'd say the Brett 11.
00:04:19
Speaker
um I think it was what? 2012 maybe? twelve maybe when did When did those come back? well It was like 2000 and... I'm trying to remember when did they come back. I remember being outside. yeah Like literally outside. it was And i being like, I don't want them. So probably 2012. It was like 7th or 8th grade for me. yeah And prior to that, I had shoes.
00:04:40
Speaker
Bad shoes. But none of them was ever like... Oh, like, yo, can y'all get me those? Can I have those? It was none of that. But for Bread 11s, it was. It was Christmas was coming up. i asked for those.
00:04:51
Speaker
And, um you know, I got them for Christmas. I was super excited. But then my grades were kind of slipping at the time. So I was told by my parents that, yo, you can't wear those to school until the grades are up. failed So I had them, and I just looked at them for a while.
00:05:05
Speaker
So what were you wearing? were you wearing school? Only white on white Air Forces. That's all I was allowed access to. Yeah. That is so funny. That is so funny. yeah Like, no. The only thing you can wear are white on whites. Yeah. And mind you, like, that's why now I don't like them.
00:05:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah? I only like special iterations of it. yeah i mean it's funny you brought that up because i was thinking about those dot swooshes literally while i was on the treadmill today yeah i don't know why but i actually i was like damn i wish i got those oh the ones that are dirty dirty and then they come clean i would like those just to have them i don't know if i'd wear them like that if i'm being honest i thatvi That's crazy. where'd you grow up? Where'd you grow up? In Mill Basin, near King's Plaza. King's Plaza? Yeah.
00:05:45
Speaker
I miss Mill Basin. Shout out Mill Basin, man. I miss y'all. miss all my homies. That's fire. the Like, where does your, cause like, you I mean, I say you you get fly. I think, I think the recent, your recent pictures with the, the awake joint. Yeah. I'm, I'm still mad. I i could not cop that awake, awake flannel, but that way. fan hard Yeah. But like, where does, where's your inspiration
The Storytelling of Fashion in Social Media Era
00:06:06
Speaker
come from?
00:06:06
Speaker
It comes from, it's funny, so like I really got into fashion after seeing Ye. So I saw Ye, he was on Yeezus tour. yeah And then that's when it was just like, i was getting I was getting fly up until that point, but then it was just like, that's ah there's another level of fly out there that is really just about how unique you can be with your style. So that's really where it stems from. It stems from just wanting to get stuff that you can't just buy like that.
00:06:32
Speaker
And then you know putting it together in a way where it's not so like, obvious some people put things together where it's just like oh yeah that's supposed to go with that and ah no i like to have fun with it i like to you know make it interesting for people yeah the the being a unique aspect i think is like I don't know. i've I've been preaching about it. like I think it's coming back slowly, but then there are moments where I feel like we'll fall back into being like, oh, no, that's hype. I'm going to cop it. So it's like when you see somebody take a chance, you know it's it's different. We don't see a lot of it where it's like,
00:07:07
Speaker
It's being applauded as much. Right. You know, like it's being applauded by people that I think we see within our circle, but not like outside of it. right Right. Right. So like expanding on that of of just like trying to bring that in in front of other people. I feel like it's super hard, especially in the age of social media. i feel like it's super hard to do that now. It's hard to bridge the gap. It's hard to tell a story now because stories are so short.
00:07:30
Speaker
You know, like eight seconds is that amount of time where it's like, oh, yeah, you have my attention. yeah And then it's over. But before it was like, oh, wait, let me understand what you're wearing. Let me understand what you're buying. well Let me understand why you're buying it. Now it's just like, oh, everybody wants it, so I want it.
00:07:47
Speaker
That's not cool. I mean, I want to touch back on ComplexCon this past year because, you know, i thought it was ah it was I thought it was dope. like I've been to consecutive Complex Cons since 2021.
00:08:01
Speaker
And so like them taking over that Vegas area, and like what was your experience? Because I think the first time we met, or kind of met, was 2022, think. Or 2023. It's one those.
00:08:14
Speaker
to remind me. yeah and But we didn't like talk to each other. It was just like it was I saw I saw this is this is what happened. I i saw ah um Russell Westbrook at his booth at Honor the Glory and you were like passing by. Oh, 2022 complex. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember. yeah but But we know what like Long Beach is like. So this one was crazy. But like, what was it like for you?
00:08:39
Speaker
It was really dope because there was things going on outside of just ComplexCon, which I thought was dope. Like the Travis installation, i thought that was awesome. Everybody came together for that. um But on the inside, like i wish there was more stuff to buy yeah in terms of shoes. like You guys finally get Nike back, and then you couldn't really buy the Lil Yachtys.
00:09:01
Speaker
yeah And then you couldn't really get the kids of immigrants. you know like It was just really tough. Before, it was like... like, yo, if you're here, you can get them. yeah you know So that was a little bit of a letdown. But otherwise, like just having Travis design that whole thing in there, like that was awesome. yeah clearly a huge fan. yeah yeah um I'm mad none of my stuff fits anymore. so no
Sneaker Culture Beginnings and Career Highlights
00:09:21
Speaker
i already got Yeah, because I lost a ton of weight. So all my 2X stuff, oh yeah I'm just swimming in it. a swing Swim, yeah.
00:09:28
Speaker
I mean, I'm pretty sure you got it. now probably i got that I got the short sleeve the short sleeve of that. I got the the puffy fabric fragment one. Oh, yeah. And then.
00:09:39
Speaker
I got the skeleton zip up. Oh, the skeleton zip up. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Travis is doing his thing. Yeah, for sure. It sells out very fast, but like, I mean, it's interesting. his His platform of, like not platform, his way of like, oh, you we only get a pre-order of this amount, amount whatever. yeah And then he's able to, and then he just supplements it with the sneakers. right Like, he's got figured out. he's He got everybody on lock.
00:10:01
Speaker
ah He definitely does. If he drops, somebody's spending money. Yeah. But yeah, let's go backwards. Let's go from high school and tell me about where you got love for sneakers from. from high school and like yeah like well tell me about like where you got your love for sneakers from So my love for sneakers came when I understood more of like why people like it so much. And that happened with the Bread One.
00:10:27
Speaker
So the Bread 11 was just, oh, you know, this is hype right now. and and and i And I get it. Like everybody wants that shoe. I'm going to try to ask for that shoe. And I got it. But when it came to like getting things on my own, the first shoe I really got on my own and did work for, made money for was Bread Ones.
00:10:44
Speaker
I think that was 2013 pair. um And you know after that, it became, yo, now that we see that you can buy your own things and work towards your own things, that was that.
00:10:56
Speaker
It was no more like, yo, we're gonna cop you a pair or we're gonna send out a freebie or it was it it started slowing up. It was just like, yo, pay the invoice. And I started paying invoices. so Wait, you was invoice voice like that? i was invoice since 2017. That is crazy. Yeah, it was 2017. It's funny.
00:11:15
Speaker
I remember I paid $350 for these at the museum, the cause for us. That was tough for me at the time. But I'm like, yo, I love this. I'm here. I'm at the event. I'm at the museum. like I have to get them.
00:11:25
Speaker
And then... yeah i became an addict you really think that you can keep watching this episode without like subscribing or leaving a comment come on man and also if you've been listening to this episode leave a review but back to the episode i became an addict i'm not gonna lie yeah no yeah the cause for is it was fire love the black pair also like i just recently got them oh yeah i figured it out excuse yeah yeah the but what so what was your first job my first job dang that's actually hilarious my first job is at stadium goods shout out stadium goods damn yeah sad to see you guys leave um you know that howard street yeah but yeah but like i'd love them every single time i'm in the city like that would be the first place i go just to make sure i say what's up to my people i love stopping in there what was it like working there because i feel i mean now we know more more
00:12:18
Speaker
obviously it's gone now, but now we know more of it because of sneaker shopping and you know people were pulling up. and the But like Resell, that was like, them opening up was like, this was the first time we saw competition for Flight Club.
00:12:32
Speaker
word yeah so like what was was that like? It was really dope. Honestly, it was before the whole, before things got crazy. yeah know Once Joe LaPuma started doing a sneaker shopping in there, I feel like it just skyrocketed. yeah, the traffic was crazy. But I wasn't there for that.
00:12:46
Speaker
I was there for the inception. So when I was working there, it was a lot of foreigners that are just randomly popping in. And I enjoyed being able to tell them why this shoe is $1,000.
00:12:59
Speaker
why why is this $1,000? And I'd be like, this is why. And this is the story. And then they appreciate it more. So I enjoyed that part of the job for sure. um i want You know, there's people back home. They go back home and they're like, listen, this guy told me at the store. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they'd be like, and they'd still be like, this is stupid. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:18
Speaker
They'd be like, what? Really? You're paying $3,000 because cause made them? Be like, yeah, pretty much. I mean, you stepped into this store. Yeah, exactly. And I'm telling you the lore yeah that you don't want to hear.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's crazy. That's the, the thing that I don't like for like that. I was, um, talking to somebody and this is a while back. And remember, don't know if told this story on here, but somebody was like, Hey, my, my cousin's in town.
00:13:45
Speaker
um they're trying to get such and such. And ah can you point me to where flight club is? And i was just like, why don't you just go to a regular store and get the shoe? Exactly. Cause it was like, it was like the shoe just came out and, and I'm pretty sure it was just sitting.
00:14:03
Speaker
And so they were like, no, ah you know, I'd rather go to the resale store and just pay the whatever instead of like trying to find it. I was just like, crazy and this is like 2014 or something like that it was like super early and and so for foreigners to come in and money ah the money exchange rate if you come here and your your money is better than our money at that time you know you cleaning up man or like there was one time ah somebody was talking to me and they were like, oh yeah, mike my ah friend plays ah pro basketball, but in Real Madrid.
00:14:38
Speaker
And Real Madrid's money is crazy. yeah Like everybody's getting paid like millions to be like on the bench. You'll be in like 40 mil. Like for real. Yeah, it's crazy. And so there um they were like, oh, my cousins who plays there, her his ah housekeeper is coming and
00:15:00
Speaker
This housekeeper coming or something like that. And like, or the babysitter or something like that. And they come in and I have to, have to take her around. And so he, she, she was taking this person around and she was just like, they would go to like fifth Ave or like, they will go to like, you know, Nike town whatever. like, everything's so cheap. Everything's so cheap. I go to Louis Vuitton and it's like, you know, I'm like, yo, that's crazy. The money's different. Yeah, the money's crazy. Their Louis Vuitton Nike money's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mind you, I don't have any of those. I wish I did. Very much wish I did. Nah, but yeah, that's crazy. You talked about those
Encounters with Fashion Icons
00:15:33
Speaker
better ones, but you recently was able to be part of the, got invited. Yes, I did. You got invited. Shout out to UpNYC. And yeah, they invited me out. Yeah.
00:15:44
Speaker
I'm not going to lie. a They hurt a little bit. Why? They I thought you meant, oh, NYC hurt you. was like, damn, how? Them ones hurt a little bit. Probably should have went up half a size, but I do love them. I tied them up. I put them on feet. I haven't officially wore them out yet because I take a while to wear my shoes because that backlist gets really long.
00:16:05
Speaker
My list right now, that i stuff I haven't won, is disgusting. But um yeah, so I haven't won those yet, but I'm getting to them. And honestly, they're probably my favorite iteration of the bread one so far.
00:16:19
Speaker
I don't own them, so I can't tell you. Oh, okay. I don't got them, man. I don't got them. You got them. mean, the 2016 pair is a great competitor. It's just not. It's the red.
00:16:30
Speaker
It's not the same red. Right. Yeah. everybody's I mean, I saw that the the comparison video yeah that ah Complex did on the podcast. Yeah. Yeah, that's a darker red. um the And I also feel like they were like, oh, yeah, this is the this is the original last for this one or whatever. Not the original last. They redid the same last that they used for the first one for this one. And then they used the different materials. But I think like...
00:16:54
Speaker
the whole like white glove experience that they added. like I mean, I don't know what Up NYC did. cause i it was It was a lot of that. it was a lot like Everybody was dressed in suits. They had on white gloves. yeah It was all of that. I mean, I enjoyed it. Did you? I enjoyed it because, yeah, it's like a little over the top, but it's still what it is. It is Michael Jordan's 1985, done almost exactly the same way. and I know the height is a little different. yeah Me and my friends talk about that a lot. No, the height's not the same. It's not how it used to be. Sure.
00:17:25
Speaker
Other than that, one-to-one, and I really liked them. yeah And I feel like when you have this legacy, when you have this, you know, oh my God, you're so amazing. You're Michael Jordan. and Yeah, you might deserve the little white glove, especially if there's, what, 10,000 pairs. Yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah. I mean... I still want them but I'm not going to pay. I'm not going to pay for them. Cause like, ah my thing was like, if I wasn't, if I was invited, that was my thing. I was literally like, if I get invited, gonna have to spend the money. right If I don't, I don't have to spend the money. You don't have to. You really don't. You might hate me though. Cause I have to.
00:17:59
Speaker
Oh wow. Excuse me. Um, ah yeah You talked about, I mean, you posted on your story that I don't know what shoe it was, but you were like, yo, I wish I got these. And then Heron Preston it her. Oh, it was um the Cactus Plant Flea Market yeah Nike pants. Shout out to HP, man. That was dope. Yo, how did they even come about? like how to So literally. Because I'm a huge fan. I mean, sorry for the glaze, but I'm huge fan. Of HP? Yeah, yeah. Heron Preston's so dope. I mean, I got the belt on right now.
00:18:31
Speaker
You the belt on right now. So our, you know, we became cool because I met him at, um
00:18:38
Speaker
I think, don't know where I met him first. I either met him at Art Basel first or I met him at a Travis Scott show. Yeah, I went to the green room. He's in the green room. Virgil's in the green room. It was awesome. That's crazy. Yeah, no, I know.
00:18:50
Speaker
It was awesome. but i The way that you just glossed over this right now is absolutely insane, bro. I mean, I met some people. met some people. but you know he was there we chopped it up i'm telling him you know i love your brand but at the time i'm so young i couldn't afford none of that yeah he ended up like sending me a hoodie he's showing so much love and then you know he sees me outside we say what's up we talk and ah posted up on my story like yo i need these pants like if anybody you know finds them sees them and then he's like yo i have them i guess um person who runs what's her name i think it was a cynthia
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, i think it's Cynthia. Cynthia, right? Yeah. Cynthia runs, who runs on CPFM. She sent them to him. That wasn't his size. He's like, yo, if it's your size, going to send them to you. It was my size. And it was beautiful. Meant to be. Meant to be. That's crazy. Well, one, you met Virgil?
00:19:39
Speaker
Yeah. what is that What is that like? um He's super humble. yeah you know he may When I met Virgil, didn't feel like I was meeting Virgil. When you meet someone that you think is like, whoa, then the moment feels like, whoa. But he made it feel like, yo, I'm just another person.
00:19:55
Speaker
And that was awesome for me because there's some people that I've met where I wanted it to be a little something. And like their energy is a little low or it's not really that much love or they really don't care. yeah And then it's just like...
00:20:07
Speaker
now Now how I feel about you is a little eh. yeah But when I met V, was it was so dope. was just super nice, dude. That's crazy. And obviously, i and at the time, I'm gushing a little bit because I'm like, yo, like you made Off-White. You made these ones. Yeah, Pyrex, all of that. You're so dope. but yeah that i mean that's now See, now dropping. im have the Who else have you met?
00:20:31
Speaker
I mean, I met Trav. I met him. Yeah. I mean, as a big fan of Trav. Yeah, as big fan of Trav. What was that? Yeah, what was that like? Oh, no, Trav. That's another person. Super humble. When I met Trav, I was talking to him about my experience with his music. And I had asked him. It was um the 2000 and, think it was 2016 or 17 or something like that. It was a um Halloween show.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah. And during the Halloween show, I had asked him before he got on. I was like, yo, could you piss on your grave? Because I love that song. yeah wait It's not one of them songs that's on the list. yeah So he was like, probably can't. But, you know, just like the ability to feel comfortable to ask him, you know, because he made me, he he was inviting. yeah So that was really dope, you know, just to be in that circle. And then like his team, like I know somebody I know named Cam. He works um with Cactus Jack. Me and him are super cool. um My man's Chase B, you know, like just people that could be like. That hat he dropped was fire.
Virgil Abloh's Legacy
00:21:25
Speaker
see And he sent that to me. I loved it. And I need the Mets one. He need to make a Mets one. oh I didn't know. Yeah, they do. yeah I need to make a mess one now. for Specifically, 101. Just one, 101. just need one. Seven seven and one four.
00:21:38
Speaker
ah Yeah, as we were saying, like now I need to know who else you've met. like Travis was fire. the like I'm a big Virgil fan. so like That's one of my things when I made this podcast. I was just like,
00:21:49
Speaker
one day I'ma get to talk to Virgil. yeah And suddenly passed. I literally, me and my boy, because I used to do this podcast with with somebody else. And Ify, shout out Ify, me and he used to be my co-host here. And like, we did a Virgil episode. And you know, like I was literally at the end the day just being like, man, one of my biggest, you know, like sad moment is like, I'm never going to be able to to interview him because like the way he transcended and combined streetwear in high fashion,
00:22:18
Speaker
Seamless. now it's yeah now it's Now it's every day. People don't realize how separate those two things were. like it It was like fashion people always look down on streetwear and then streetwear was like, man, y'all don't understand. It's like punk rock. like it was like It was so diametrically opposed. and now that Once he made the top 10, once he started doing Pyrex and he got he got that... ah He got the job at, ah well, he became creative director for for Louis Vuitton. And and but he was just like, nah. and and he's Like, one feeds off the other. And then we've never been able, to like, they no no brand has been able to shift past that since then. And I don't think they will. I don't think they i don't think they will because now they're chasing that and you're not going to get that again. It would have to be something bigger than that, you know, and that might be another however many years, you know, but you're absolutely right. Like the way he meshed streetwear and, you know, high fashion was insane.
00:23:16
Speaker
insane yeah in a way you know because people down the runway they look like us you know and like this they're wearing baggy pants we're wearing jordans bro i mean granted yay wore jordans to you know high fashion stuff but then that translated to us thinking that us in new york yeah and la we're gonna wear jordans with the cool stuff but not down the runway they still wasn't jacking that until virgil came along and it was like wow Yeah. You know, and then you get Nike, Louis Vuitton, Air Force One. I was just about to ask you got a pair? No, I don't.
00:23:50
Speaker
I wish. i think about I think about the green and white one all the time. Man, I went to, did you go to the exhibit? No, I missed out. So fire. But ah he did a Brazil, I'm half Brazilian, so like he did a Brazil style colorway, like the Brazil vape with like. Oh, yeah. yeah and Yeah. It was like a silver at the back too. I was like. Give me that. yeah Like, I need that. He did that. He did the silver and black ones too.
00:24:12
Speaker
He did my thing with that, like his, his, uh, the air force one collection that he did. And even like the DJ, um, booth that he made. Oh, the, um, the, the set, the set. Yeah. He did the, he did the, cause that's what they had there. You get, you go upstairs and it was like his, like, they were like, they recreated his, his music room. okay and it was sick. I'll so i'll show you pictures after. But like that, like I think him paying homage to street wear and street
Personal Style Preferences and Brand Collaborations
00:24:43
Speaker
like sneaker culture all the time or like even graffiti, like he had the he had the Air Forces with the graffiti on the side. like
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Those were, oh, the mids. Yeah, the mids. I'm a big mids guy. You're mids guy? um'm ah I love mids, even though i it's been poo-pooed. Yeah. Like. I wouldn't buy mids. I have them. Yeah. But I wouldn't buy them.
00:25:03
Speaker
Man, I was a big mids guy. was big mids guy. And then I remember ah everybody was talking about it on the forums. They were like, oh, man, mids is garbage. You can't be liking mids. This and that. And I was just like, I'll just be, like, I would strap them and everything. You know, you get the strap. Nah, man.
00:25:19
Speaker
i rockin' bands the other day them stussy ones yeah doicy menwars are yeah i got the vandals from that that the vandals that they did i got those two yeah it's tough would and i put the pink laces in them crazy it's tough i love those i love those shout out stussy man no stussy so so much love like yeah if anybody from stussy is seeing this i just want to give like the biggest thank you to the whole entire team you guys are amazing yeah like easy easy like yo i need or this this was fire and then it was sold out yeah this this ring it was sold out and i was like yo yeah i think i can figure it out somebody figured it out i love stucy man shout out look any runoff i'll take any runoff it said the xl this way i love giving my thank yous i feel like people don't say thank you oh nah yeah that's
00:26:06
Speaker
we we it's funny It's crazy because, like i was going to say it's funny, but it's crazy. yeah you know Everybody's always looking for flowers, but never getting them until it's too late. right And so it's like it's tough. like So I'm always like, nah, you got get your flowers right now. It's like drink champs. I was going say drunk champs.
00:26:28
Speaker
That's after. That's the episode after. But Drink Champs, yeah, I love the idea of giving flowers here where you're able to smell them. Right, exactly. Yeah, flowers for the living. Shout out to Flowers for the Living.
00:26:39
Speaker
Let's talk about the things you you you've done, like show love. Yeah, is it's tough. I think, and I've mentioned this before, it's just like everybody doesn't, um they don't look back to see the road that they've traveled or like in last week's episode, I saw, talk about that, you know, you're climbing a mountain, you're ah climbing on a mountain forever.
00:27:02
Speaker
Right. So
Creative Ambitions Beyond Sneakers
00:27:03
Speaker
like, you know, you're trying to get to the top, but you never look down. You're always afraid to look down because you think you're going to fall, but you got to see how far you've come. Exactly. You know? Yeah. You gotta, you gotta to embrace that. You've,
00:27:13
Speaker
gotten this far. and And honestly, when you're that high up and you look down, and makes you not want to go back down there ever again, even more, you know, and that's when you stay focused and you don't lose sight of what's, you know, what you really want, you know?
00:27:28
Speaker
what What do you really want? What do I really want? I'm glad you. Because you've had a ah long journey so far. you know um and Last time I saw you, you were interning at Team Epiphany. Yeah, Team Epiphany.
00:27:44
Speaker
Shout out to that team because they they they invited me to the Gillette event. and that was That was dope. yeah Much love to Coltrane and Curtis. Yeah, for real. um but like What are you looking to do?
00:27:57
Speaker
I would love to stay in that field honestly. You know marketing in terms of just a solid career. But my real passion is making this music. yeah you know And I make some stuff that I feel people have never heard before.
00:28:13
Speaker
and i ask people have you ever heard somebody likes before they say no yeah you know um and that makes me feel good because i don't want to just make i don't want to make beats i want to produce yeah you know when you produce i'm doing 75 of the work i'm i want to be like pharrell you know i want to push the boundary while still making it hot and i'm doing most of the work because i'm telling you what to say how to say it yeah and i don't mind that because it's my beat yeah you know and my beats are like like my babies you know and you want to see your babies do great yeah right so it needs to be with the right person at the right time and all that stuff matters to me so yeah like at the end of the day i really want to be a super producer and i just want to you know just be heard yeah that's really what it is i want people to hear me that's why i'm here talking to you like people got to hear my voice yeah and that'll translate to okay now i got to hear these beats because of how i'm talking about them you know
00:29:04
Speaker
So there's a lot of passion with that. And that will eventually lead into my real, real passion, which is making movies. Oh, okay. really want to make horror movies. Wow. Okay. Yeah. This took a turn. I did not expect that at all. No, I know. me I mean, I was getting that from your beats because you you you were posting your beats a lot on the story. And I was replying to them every time you posted them. Yes, you were. I appreciate that. Because i think i think I was like, yo, you know, would be sick. You get Billy Woods on this and go crazy. Yep. We're going to make that happen. Absolutely. yeah I need some artists. Pull up.
00:29:32
Speaker
Get creative. yeah but the But hearing that you want to make movies? want to make movies. That's crazy. like I'm super critical when it comes to horror movies. If it's not genuinely striking fear, um I don't care. yeah you know like I'm good off the slashers. you know Michael Myers, is he been dead.
00:29:53
Speaker
Come on now. like Let's push the boundaries. like Let's really scare people. you know And that's what I want to do. I mean, I'm not a big horror fan, so i this is out of depth for me. You better watch when I drop. yeah I'll go to the premiere. I'm screaming. Like, oh, my God.
00:30:11
Speaker
And write your reviews and all that. ye And we'll put them on the screen. may Scariest movie ever. Haas. It's going to be perfect. Yeah. the I mean, i mean i saw Sinners. That's the last.
00:30:22
Speaker
movie sinners was great sinners was amazing sinners was great because it you know some scary parts but it was really about the messages in it and some messages aren't clear and i like that too let's talk about it you get what i'm saying so that's a i mean that's a movie that is the perfect talking point like because everybody got something different from it but some people yo when you hear people be like I got like literally, oh, yeah, this is vampires just trying to come and be like, don't, yo, you have no depth, bro. Right, right. You watching the movie. You're not paying attention. You're literally not looking at the messages. Yeah. Like I was there and the ending, the post, I mean, look, spoilers, but I think this is going to come out.
00:31:06
Speaker
It's on streaming. It's streaming soon. Yeah. Yeah. So, um but the... there was the end where he's like, I finally felt free. Yo, I started crying off of that.
00:31:18
Speaker
It'd be like that, bro. It'd be like that. That movie was crazy, man. We understand. yeah Some people out there who's just like, I don't i don't feel it. you know What does he mean, free? Yeah, exactly. exactly you there's ah So, I mean, just to tie it back to sneakers, you got Freddy Krueger's?
00:31:36
Speaker
No. Jason's? No. No Jason SBs? Nothing. At least Jason SBs. It's funny. So I didn't get into SBs until...
00:31:47
Speaker
Dang. I'm about to like cut myself here, but I'm not going lie. When the hype came back. like oh yeah. With the Travises and all that. The Travis, the SB, I got them. Listen, don't come for him, all right?
00:31:58
Speaker
Hey, I mean, listen. I grew up you know in a time where I was focused more on video games. Yeah, yeah. You know, I was being a kid like the copping wasn't there. It was just coming to the house. So when it came to just getting what I like, I just like what I like, you know, so I'm not going to go try to. I love Paris Dunks and I love Paris Dunks
Expressing Individuality through Sneakers
00:32:19
Speaker
before um the Travis joints came out, but I can't get those. Yeah. I love Freddy Krueger's. I can't get those. These are shoes I can't get. sbs SB's that are hot are expensive. Yeah. But now you could get an SB. you've you've held I'm pretty sure you've held some of the most craziest pairs. Oh, yeah.
00:32:35
Speaker
Like the, because I've seen recently perfect pair show the Supreme SB top on the Air Force bottom. Oh, yeah. Plenty of those. I've seen plenty of those. I've seen.
00:32:49
Speaker
It's funny, I seen ah Travis SB on a gum bottom. What? Yeah, a gum ah Air Force One gum That's crazy. Yeah, and then there's- A custom or from Nike? From Nike. like they I think they cut them up in the kitchen and they put it together. Yeah. That's crazy. It's crazy.
00:33:03
Speaker
I seen those. I seen the Bear Brick collab, the black fur one on Air Force One bottom. Oh, the Metacom? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's dope. love that series. I need i still need one at least one. Yeah.
00:33:16
Speaker
I still need at least one of those. ain't got none of those neither. But I do have a couple of SPs. Yeah. The I mean, because sneaker culture is obviously a huge part of your life. Right. So is there a standard that you have for everything or is it like how do you how do you navigate it It's really just if I like it.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah. You know, because I'm not in it for the getting them and looking at them. I'm in it for getting fly. So sneakers don't mean much to me until I wear them. So like I'll have them and they'd be like, oh, yes, this is great.
00:33:50
Speaker
But I'm always going to put it on feet. And then that first outfit is always going to be boom. yeah you know And that's another reason why it takes me a while to wear the shoes because the first outfit outfit has to be perfect.
00:34:01
Speaker
If it's not perfect, I'm wait on it. going hold them. No, I can't just go outside in an all-black outfit and call it a day. It needs to hit. Yeah. That's crazy. I mean... ah I get dressed for sneakers first.
00:34:13
Speaker
And so I think I spend more time on the sneaker itself than I do the fit. And sometimes that's a detriment because I'll be like, I'll think about the shoe and the shirt or whatever.
00:34:29
Speaker
Like the idea, but then I think I probably like it's whatever pants or like whatever hat or, you know, i the whole thing. I need I got it. I don't even have a full length mirror in my house.
00:34:41
Speaker
So I got to get one of those first before we start. We start going that way. Yeah. yeah It's funny. What houses all my shoes yeah is um sliding um mirrors top down, like from the the top to the bottom is sliding mirrors.
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, so every time I get a shoe, I take it out, close the mirror back, get dressed. Yeah, it's all of that. I can't even picture that in my head. What does that even look like? No, literally. So like one the whole wall on one side of my room is just all sliding closet doors, but they're all mirrored. Oh, okay. There we go. I was thinking like you got DropFunt and you were like, I got them customized where it's just mirrors. Oh, no. You just a wall of mirrors. That actually does sound hard.
00:35:22
Speaker
It'd be cool if like it's a mirror that you, i mean, well then you got to touch it, but that you push and then it opens that way. Yeah. That'd be dope. That'd be sick. I'm selling ideas. Yeah. um the Do you have any like stories where the, like a crazy story of a pair that you've gotten? man.
00:35:42
Speaker
I'm trying to think of my craziest journey for getting a shoe. You know, I mean, there was like the Travis um Fragment ones. Those were like extremely hard to get for me because I missed out on them and it was like super limited. So I had to join the blue joints. Yeah. So I had was running the highs.
00:36:00
Speaker
The highs. The highs. Yeah. So there was um so much running around I had to do because I had to go to round two. And round two had them, but they were attending that. No, they were attending and they was like, oh, it's gonna fit, it's gonna fit.
00:36:16
Speaker
You know, i fell for it. And then I'm like, you know what? No, I need something close to my size, because I'm an 11. So did a whole bunch of running around, ended up at District 1, and they were finally like, yo, well we got a 10 and a half, let's see if it'll fit. And it does fit. For some reason, it fits a little bigger.
00:36:31
Speaker
But literally, I had to get friends to drive me from Jersey with a whole bunch of shoes for trade to go all the way around to round two. Round two didn't work out. Had to come back with um the shoe. They gave me back my shoes. And I had to go to District 1 with them.
00:36:45
Speaker
They didn't have them. And then they finally got them, went back to Jersey again, went back to New York with all the shoes again. Just a whole bunch
Sneaker Resale Culture and Accessibility
00:36:52
Speaker
of back and forth for one pair. Hey, you got some good friends, man. I got some good friends. yeah And they were like 4,000 at the time. Now they're two.
00:36:58
Speaker
Yeah. Which kind of, I'm a little tight. Because I gave them some good stuff for those. I can't say what. i was going to say what in it. can't say what. I can't say what. I can't say what because I don't want to make nobody upset. Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:10
Speaker
could But trust and believe. I don't do to the reselling stuff. And um I definitely don't do the what's the other thing that people be doing?
00:37:21
Speaker
Trade? Trade. no the it's like the the new thing where you can like have sneakers yes what is that bro it's layaway bro like no for some shoes yeah it's crazy i was i was literally thinking about this recently too because the the way that it that has evolved right is crazy the Klarna, like people are putting DoorDash on Klarna. You're like, you can't afford a $20 meal. Don't yeah go to the supermarket. Yeah. and you You're putting your feet in these shoes. Yeah. So like, what if you can't pay?
00:37:55
Speaker
Then what? They just taking your worn shoes? like It just feels weird to Nah, the craziest thing is there the financing. You've seen that? Like there there's resale shops that are like... So for example, you'd be like, oh yeah, I want those ah Fragment 1s, Fragment Travis 1s. And they're like, okay, $4,000. All right.
00:38:13
Speaker
Then they go, all right, for this probably, my numbers are off. ah For 500 weeks, you spend, you $50 every week yeah yeah until you give them whatever they think the the price is. It's funny that you're saying it i thought that was a joke.
00:38:29
Speaker
it ni It's legit. It's legit. Those are
Supreme's Impact and Personal Style Evolution
00:38:31
Speaker
doing that off of like V-Loan. It's crazy. Shout out Bari, but hell no. Is Bari somebody else you know? I've met Bari and he has sent a couple shirts, but that's when he was V-Loan like that.
00:38:47
Speaker
you I think now he's just Endless Denim, which is hard. Oh, I don't know. I got to check that out. Endless Denim is called. and You definitely got to put me on some new stuff because yeah I don't know. I got you. I don't know much.
00:38:58
Speaker
Like, yeah that's my blind spot now because I'm so sneaker oriented that I'm just like, all I'm just trying to kind of be up, but not like i just want to be wary. So I always have topics to talk about. But.
00:39:10
Speaker
when it comes to clothes i'm kind of just obviously i'm like supreme like you know funny i i went to um i went to a focal du chow and like the the bartender was just like yo man you always supreme doubt and i'm just like i mean it's all old stuff like yeah i'm just wearing old supreme because i just at one point i was just copping just the cop on thursdays but obviously i was just copping for me but Like, at some point, like, I was just like, oh, let me let me actually put this start putting this stuff on. And then it just became, all right, whenever this Thursday, I'm still copping. Like, yeah, that's what happens, you know? I mean, when it comes to Supreme, man, don't know. When I was younger, I did like it. But I like the cooler stuff. Like, did the bogo, is it's dope and it means a lot.
00:39:56
Speaker
But then it just got oversaturated, yeah you know? So i I got into, like, when they did, like, the E.T. collab. Yeah, yeah, yeah got oh yeah. I grew up loving that movie. And then I got the hoodie now. Like, that's sick.
00:40:07
Speaker
um The Margiela collab was really good, too. that mario ah jell That Margiela collab was fire. I got the hat from that. and I still need i need to, like, wipe it down with some acetone or something like that. Because it just looks like it's.
00:40:20
Speaker
It's like, it still looks fresh. That's the problem. Like, it's bad. Like, I've worn it a couple times and I'm like, damn, like, because the whole thing is white. the The patch, ah the boat the boo or the the logo patch is like still covered in paint. And I'm just like, I should probably like, you should be able to see it. Yeah. That or the Stone Island stuff. Like, I love the Stone Island and collab. yeah the The new joint that's dropping the, what is it? Peace Keep something.
00:40:46
Speaker
The one that's dropping Peace One Keep. I don't know. But they're doing ah There's an end racism shirt in there. And I don't know. Is that the one with the Air Force? Yeah. The Air Forces aren't that bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. don't know if I'm like those.
00:40:58
Speaker
I'm not a big Air Force guy, man. Really? Yeah. I wasn't at first because of the whole wearing only white on whites thing. You're a punishment. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I just stayed away from the whole silhouette. Yeah.
00:41:10
Speaker
I can't, how'd your mom, your mom was just like, yeah? No, yeah, she was just like, with it. Because you know what it was at that time, only other thing I cared about was video games. yeah So now it's like, oh, I care about a shoe? Take it away.
00:41:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, you care about getting fly? Oh, you gotta take that away. Yeah. And then that lasted for a while. Like I was rebellious growing up, you know, like sneakers um became a thing for me in high school.
00:41:33
Speaker
So that was, it transferred over into that, the whole punishment thing. Like started acting up in high school. And yeah, they they took away me being fly. But what I would do is I'd put the shoes in my bag.
00:41:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah? Yeah, put the shoes in my bag, take a new school, swap out. Sometimes I'd get caught. Of course, It's shoes. No, I know. It's like sometimes they'd be like, why are you like, let me check your book bag.
00:41:56
Speaker
Checking your book bag like you like you work retail? Yeah. All right, let me see your bag. yeah I did that every day when I worked at Stadium. It was like, we I got to see what you got. Yeah.
00:42:08
Speaker
where Where else have you worked? um I worked at, in terms of sneakers, yeah um i worked at Hype World. It's a sneaker store out in Jersey. Shout to my man John. No, Hype World's dope. Yeah, it's super nice in there. Like, honestly, you could do a sneaker shopping in Hype World. I'm not going to lie. It's in a mall, but it's a really nice store. Everything's super clean.
00:42:27
Speaker
um And when I was working there, though, it was a little tough because Jersey people aren't like New York people. So when Jersey people are coming in, they're buying pandas. Like,
00:42:38
Speaker
Yeah. You know, like, you know, we got a thing. You have a thing against pandas?
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah, bro. Like, what do you mean? I feel like every huge sneaker head might, you know, you know, not anymore. i don't think anymore. I feel like it was it was a thing to pile on when it was hot.
00:42:58
Speaker
But I also think it's like. at one point, that's just not part of sneaker culture. It's just mainstream. So we just shit in on mainstream and it's like, you kind of, it's like beyond us at that point, right? yeah If it was like people within the s sneaker culture being like, or that just really love sneakers and just like, nah, man, you don't understand. Pandas is it. Pandas is it. Then I'd be like, you're bugging. But I think when everybody, it's the same thing with like cooked Air Force Ones. right like If everybody jumping on it, it's beyond us now. It's done. like
00:43:32
Speaker
Crocs, that's not there's nothing. But the thing with cooked Air Force Ones is like, I'm big on you know, wear your sneakers. If they get dirty, they get dirty. But not everybody's just going to buy, you know, a new Air Force One all the time. yeah So I never looked at that as like, oh my God, this is the worst thing ever.
00:43:49
Speaker
But when it came to pandas, it was just like, yo, everybody's just... Thinking that you could just throw this on whatever. And it to me, it brought down people who like think they're getting into clothing or streetwear.
00:44:01
Speaker
That's the problem. Because if you think you're getting into streetwear and you think pandas is it, then streetwear looks kind of whack. Yeah. You know, yeah you're not going for the white cement force that just came out.
00:44:13
Speaker
and those are hot you know like wear those cop those you know instead of just going to get pandas and then you look like every like four other people on the train yeah yeah i think it's i mean it's a give and take right because like you can you can cop a pair of pandas and then just you know what i'm gonna just pull this out in 20 years at like i mean now with my grandson's yeah your baby shower or something like that yeah Like, oh, you don't know about these.
00:44:40
Speaker
ah got these in 2020. Like, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, get out of here, bro. I don't want see that. Get out here, hun. Get out here But that might be a thing, though. yeah That's the weird part with sneakers, too. Like, you never know what's going to be legendary. Like, what's going to be like...
00:44:55
Speaker
oh you know why don't whites could possibly one day become that if they stop producing them in that way where it's like this staple shoe and they make a whole new staple shoe why don't weiss can be here yeah i'm very curious why you didn't you're not a two wears and they gone like you hang out with abdul oh no oh like in sneakers in general just no just the white white on whites good We just keep going? I keep going. like But I have a couple white on whites that are just, you know, iterations. So like the Elix ones, yeah the low tassels fire.
00:45:27
Speaker
The CPFM joints, I love those. yeah oh The Supremes are cool, you know? i have I've worn the Supreme ones once. They felt weird.
00:45:38
Speaker
Like wearing an all-white shoe like that felt weird to me for some reason. And I have never, that was like five, six years ago. They have not seen the light of day since. I put the red laces in you and being like, all right, cool.
00:45:50
Speaker
I'm going to rock them. And
Sneaker Vaults and Cultural Significance
00:45:52
Speaker
then never broke them out. I back mine out. I love wearing my shoes, man. no yeah For me, it's almost like ah so like a superhero putting on his super suit.
00:46:02
Speaker
That's what it's like when I put on an outfit or put on like something like these. Like, Cause 4 is like... You're going outside knowing I'm walking in something legendary. you know like Even my homies, we was in the chat today, and somebody sent it sent these in the chat said, yo, this might be the best collab ever.
00:46:18
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, rocking these right now. I'm on my way to the interview. And I'm like, yeah, this is awesome. Yeah. Because it's just like, you just said my shoe was the best collab ever. Without you knowing that I'm going to be here for you. Exactly. That means something. Nah, yeah. I mean, even last night I was like reminiscing on, cause I'm a big SB guy. So silver box SBs are just like, that's like, if I could get every single one of them and even the, they did like a silver box actual shoe SB. And I was like, I want all of that because there's like that like completest pack thing that I have in me because of the boxes. Like were just like, yo, I need all the silver boxes. But yeah,
00:46:59
Speaker
that that like being able to reminisce with your friends about that stuff is yeah priceless. it It is. It's the story. It's the being able to tell them how I got them, all that stuff. like It matters.
00:47:11
Speaker
And you know nowadays with everything coming back out, it's kind of just like, it doesn't matter as much anymore. Are we talking about the vault now? Yeah, we they going in in the vault. i mean we You want to want me to call up Sneaker Den real quick? no no Yeah, hit him up. He hit me up. We spoke about it and then he Shout out Sneaker Den. That's homie. Yeah, shout out Sneaker Den, man.
00:47:35
Speaker
Man, he me and him have been going back and forth ever since that post. Because he did a second post. and then oh so that means you don't you like that they come in back. Open the vault. Yeah, we did speak about that a little bit. I'm saying open the vault. But because to me, it's like they're not they're they're putting out stuff like Tokyo Fives. It's like Wu-Tang Dunks, we'll never get another chance at that like or never had a chance but at that. So yes, I guess you know it's playing on, oh, you are playing on this one rare thing that we were only saw on the forums back in the day. Right.
00:48:12
Speaker
My thing is the people that were talking about mythical sneakers were the are the people that can sell the mythical sneakers to the newer generation, because how do like my biggest question out of this is how do we continue ah bringing people into sneaker culture because these these kids now right it's not like they'll get into sneakers but they're not getting into sneaker culture they don't know what that is they just think we're obsessive old weirdos now or like and ah you can think about it when uh when you're starting into like getting into games like if you
00:48:49
Speaker
because I was in the games too. But like you hear people be like, yo, you don't know how to wave dash and smash. You'd be like, nah, I don't. And then they will never teach you. You got to figure it out. like It's like that that separate, because it's just like, oh, if I teach you this, now you know all the tricks. like It's just like- But no, but we both can get better at this. Like, it's... We gotta... Because i've I'm on big on bridging the gap of, like, oh, we have to be able to reach back and be like, hey, you know, these stories, they do matter.
00:49:19
Speaker
Because even... Not to shit on Lil Yachty, but, like, Lil Yachty said, like, oh, yeah, I haven't listened to... ah ah What do you say? Was it a Reasonable Doubt? It was, like, one Jay-Z's biggest albums. And, like...
00:49:33
Speaker
that
Marketing and Storytelling in Sneaker Culture
00:49:34
Speaker
he got so much shit for it because he's not showing homage to the people that got him there. He was just like, I'm just making my own thing. But if you start at that, then you start at nothing. You're just starting at ah a specific point that you think is supposed to be right versus being looking back and being like Virgil. Virgil's like, oh, I'm bridging this the the street wear and sneaker, you know, communities together. ah Wow, I'm saying that wrong. um yeah but He's bridging street culture and fashion fashion, you know, and like he's doing the impossible because these are people that are just like, no, we don't need to know about this. Right. So if you if you bring back the vault or you open the vault on specific sneakers like undefeated fours, like
00:50:17
Speaker
or, you know, Tokyo fives, galaxy foams. Like these are shoes that have pivotal moments and be able and being able to actually have a chance at them. yeah I think it's going to, it's, a lot more fruitful if you think about it from a culture standpoint and not a money standpoint.
00:50:33
Speaker
And I agree. Okay. But there's ways to do certain things. For example, with the 85 high bread, they curated a whole thing them. You know, but people hated that.
00:50:46
Speaker
That's people, let them do what they want. But in terms of something like um the Wu-Tangs, those came and went. There was no big thing. It wasn't it wasn't like, it wasn't Nigel's- was a big thing.
00:50:59
Speaker
It was? Yeah. there was a What happened? There was a Wu-Tang party specific, and it was like Nike curated, you had to get invited. Exactly. yeah I'm talking about like Nigel Silvestro levels of marketing that they did for his shoe. You know, they got him- all over yeah do that for this shoe that has had so much talk about it but I feel like they did do that though know they did they did the video with the Knicks okay They did. That's too that's to social media. I'm talking about physical.
00:51:31
Speaker
I remember when getting Wolf Grey Fives, i I went up in um Extra Butter and watched, what's that movie called? when Teen Wolf. We watched Teen Wolf and at the end of it, you get the shoes. Inexperience. Something that you could just go to and appreciate the moment more rather than oh yeah, I saw that thing of the Knicks on my social media app, and now I want these shoes.
00:51:54
Speaker
It's not adding the value for real. It's not doing what Paris Dunks did where it's like, yo, you gotta be at a certain place in the world to get this shoe that's cut from this art piece. you know like Just these heavy moments, and then you know now it's just another shoe.
00:52:13
Speaker
um But I don't think I think it's when people put it in that perspective, I just think that shoe didn't mean as much to you.
00:52:24
Speaker
But it meant more to the world when it was what it was. But I don't even think it meant that much to the sneaker world. Like, it was like it was like this thing you heard about, right? It was like, this thing exists. And then there was like, oh, hey, we got a picture of it.
00:52:41
Speaker
And then you got a blurry picture on the forums yeah of being like, yo, there's this yellow and black dunk with a Wu-Tang symbol on it. And i think that it ah kind of... I think the lore that we kind of...
00:53:00
Speaker
this idolize I want to say is a lot bigger than what it actually is because i think what they when they made the special boxes and they put all the put the honey in and all that stuff I feel like that's that's a that's a moment like if you were able to get one of those so now there's ah another layer of oh yeah now I don't got the special box version of it i'm gonna keep it buck nah You to know why? Because even Ben and Jerry special boxes, nobody cares about that. I mean, nobody cares about that. but But nobody cares about that because the way that everybody overhyped the shoe.
00:53:33
Speaker
I mean, I like it. I have I like it. I I know. know. It's not a bad shoe. I just think that it's just like when you think about a licensing thing like that where it's just like, hey, we're just going to work with a license, right? It's like Powerpuff Girls. Fair. You know? It's kind of just Wizard of Oz. It's kind of just like, all right. It's how much effort that brand does to that, right? And that's also the same thing with the Wu-Tang.
00:53:57
Speaker
If, for example, they were just like, hey, we're going to do. because that's what they actually did. I was going to be like, hey, we're going to do a secret concert. They did that. So I can't say that. But it's like, oh shoot yeah, that's that's what it was. OK, see, that's what I'm saying. I'm missing certain things. Yeah. There was things there was a there was a an added atmosphere around it.
00:54:15
Speaker
But I think that the I feel like just because it kind of came and went doesn't mean that in 10 years from now, people would be like, yo, You remember Wu-Tang Ducks? That is true. You know what I'm saying? And then also, on top of that, because this is what I said to Sneaker Den, I'm just like, yo, there shoes that that we talk about that are 20, 40 years old, right?
00:54:41
Speaker
If you get it, if you spend the 15K to get the shoe, you get, yeah are you going wear it? No, they're just passing it around. They're just being like, yo, we're going to make another thousand on it. Let's put push this up again. Like that is, it's not, if you're, if you're a person that really wants the shoe and you want to wear like,
00:54:58
Speaker
How many are you going to be able to wear Freddy Krueger before you like the soul breaks on it? It's just like, yeah, it was done. Yeah, the original. Yeah,
Advice to Younger Self and Future Aspirations
00:55:05
Speaker
exactly. they're just break They're breaking and stuff like that. But it's crazy, man. But we're towards the end of the podcast. And this deals with a little visualization. I want you to think back to, you know, younger you about to get those bread elevens. And now you're you behind your younger self. What would you tell your younger self as they open that box?
00:55:25
Speaker
Do better in school. Do better in school and, you know, just... go at things more, you know? Like when I was younger and even like sometimes now I don't go at things as much as I should, especially with my position and what I can do.
00:55:45
Speaker
So now like that's why I'm here, you know? Like I wanna be outside, I wanna be heard, I wanna be in the streets. wanna be your own person. Exactly. yeah I wanna be mage.
00:55:56
Speaker
So it's, um yeah, I tell him that because then I could have wore them. yeah Then I could have, who knows what more I would have got if I did what I was supposed to do. My mom always says this, do what you have to do to do what you want to do. yeah So I would have did more of what I have to do and I could have been doing way more things that I want to do right now.
00:56:14
Speaker
So that's what I would tell myself. so That's fine. everybody know where to find you. You can find me on Instagram, mage.ig. And if you want to listen to my beats, you could go to the link in that bio. or you go to my YouTube, mage, mage, space, yt for YouTube. There you go. There you go. We need we need more beats.
00:56:33
Speaker
Yes. Keep listening. Yeah. Please, like, make me feel like. I want to keep doing this. yeah yeah So that he can get to movies. Come on, man. Yes, sir. And you know where to find me? I am. Who who is Hassel. All social media. Follow the podcast at My First Kicks Pod.
00:56:47
Speaker
ah If you have been listening to this, we are in studio. Go to the YouTube. Watch it. YouTube.com at My First Kicks. ah D hasn't been here for a couple episodes. He's on tour.
00:57:00
Speaker
Go check out Oxy Morons. The Oxy Morons. uh two r is not one on that uh check them out and if they're you're in town they've been selling out like crazy cop their merch cop my merch myfirstkicks.com um if you have a story hit me up info at myfirstkicks.com and if you're on uh x or whatever the hell they call it nowadays i still call it well it's twitter man but i gotta say x for this yeah know i know uh I, me, AD Sneaks, Aaron, Mike from Sneaker History have been doing spaces.
00:57:34
Speaker
ah It's called In These Spaces. Hopefully we'll do one when this drops this week. I don't know, maybe. But, you know, trying to get a little bit more conversation and discourse within the sneaker community, especially the sneaker Twitter community, you know, because there's a lot of just fighting.
00:57:51
Speaker
yeah we we need We need more conversations that aren't so like, oh, I like it and you don't like it. It's so much bickering. Yeah. Like, let's just talk about shoes in a yeah more conventional way. Yeah. Yeah. that My thing with that is just like, and i and I've made a, ah I don't know if it's like a brash criticism, but a lot of people judge sneakers like they're the ones that can go into Nike and change it. Exactly. And I'm like, no.
00:58:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like, whatever you're thinking about might happen in three years because it's being worked on right now. Yeah, exactly. People aren't like thinking like um and i was And I'm like, i'm like yo, y'all y'all critiquing a sneaker like y'all went to Pen Soul for five years yeah and you're trying to get in the door. like like That's not what we're here for. look yeah If we like the shoe, we buy it. If you don't like the shoe, don't buy it. Just move on to the next shoe. You want to be Go be Nike. Yeah, exactly.
00:58:41
Speaker
Support some smaller brands. Shout out John Geiger. yeah. I like the Geiger shoes. Yeah. tough I like them. I like them. um And you know what say each week? Wear your kicks. Please. Peace.