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Out of The Box
154 Plays1 month ago
This week my guest didn't show up, so I decided to roll with the punches. It's just me talking to you all about what I have been seeing in sneaker culture. I share stories about growing up and why I think certain things shaped my views on sneakers. Creating this podcast and the journey I have had, what is next and how do I get there. Plus much much more!
Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
Music by The DoppleGangaz: https://thedoppelgangaz.bandcamp.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Personal Anecdote
00:40 Welcome to My First Kicks
00:57 Exploring Sneaker Culture
01:45 The Importance of Community
04:24 Fake Sneakers and Personal Experiences
08:53 The Value of Authenticity
12:56 Pushing Boundaries and Personal Growth
18:02 The Role of Sneakers in Everyday Life
19:19 Consumer Power and Sneaker Choices
20:54 The Necessity of Being Outside
24:09 Collecting Sneakers vs. Other Collectibles
27:31 Reflecting on Nostalgia and Missing Connections
27:57 Bridging the Generational Gap in Podcasting
28:57 The Influence of Streaming and Podcast Demographics
31:58 Challenges of Starting a Podcast
39:44 The Importance of Cultural Engagement
45:50 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans
Recommended
Transcript
The Allure and Pitfalls of Fake CDs
00:00:00
Speaker
Because I didn't know I was buying fake CDs at the time, right? And I believe in sneaker in sneakers, you all you have to get caught. you There's one time you have to get caught off guard, at least, because then you know what it feels like, and then you'll know will never get it'll never happen to you again.
00:00:16
Speaker
And for me, and my mom took me to the train station, and Outkast just dropped Stankonia.
00:00:26
Speaker
Now, Stankonia is one of my favorite albums of all time. But it took for this moment for it to be cemented in my in my brain how much I love this album.
Introduction and Solo Episode Setup
00:00:39
Speaker
What's good everyone? Welcome back to my first kicks. Uh, this is very outside the normal. Usually I have a guest on, but you know, sometimes people run late, uh, and hopefully you'll maybe get 15 minutes of them on this episode.
00:00:56
Speaker
Um, so I'm just gonna kind of talk over some things that recently has been on my
Sneaker Culture: Community and Diversity
00:01:04
Speaker
mind. um You know, i have been asking social media about what is sneaker culture and and what does it mean to them?
00:01:14
Speaker
And i haven't really been getting a lot of responses. I always feel like everybody thinks that s sneaker culture is specifically one way. ah In this last episode with Antonio, we do talk about like the perception that Sneaker Den has has for s sneaker culture and how I don't really share that.
00:01:36
Speaker
I think that a culture has to involve incorporation or like community. And I know community is like a hot buzzword that we use to think that, you know, we are part of something and kind of feel like that we aren't part of something.
00:01:55
Speaker
But when it comes to the sneaker community, I feel that we are always at each other's necks.
Creating Inclusive Spaces in Sneaker Culture
00:02:03
Speaker
So, you know, in that episode, I talk about ah spaces that ah me, Aaron, Mike from Sneaker History and a d Sneaks has started in order to.
00:02:15
Speaker
And it's funny because like we we created that out of just wanting to have better discourse and better conversations around sneakers because we feel like it there's too much complaining.
00:02:27
Speaker
But I've realized a lot of people have taken that and jokingly have called the Kumbaya space and. Honestly, I don't see what's wrong with that.
Mental Health and Community Interaction
00:02:36
Speaker
You know, this is the month of June and it's the mental health month and especially for men. um So I have kind of just been looking at what everybody has been saying and the participation, which is all great. Like when people tap into the podcast, you know, I'm very appreciative and the community that i have
00:03:03
Speaker
I feel like I have seen and built and with this podcast has been ever steadfast growing. So, you know, I'm going to continue to be inviting. If you see me on the street, say what's up. If you see me at a sneaker event, say what's up, because I want to hear your stories and I want to be able to talk to people because that's the reason why I started this. Right.
00:03:23
Speaker
you know, we as people have always felt, and I've said this before, have i feel like it's we feel alone. And so it's a lot easier to feel alone.
00:03:35
Speaker
And then when you see somebody just not really dig which with what your style is or something like that, you kind of like flip flop and be like, no, I want to join them.
Personal Style and Cultural Impact
00:03:44
Speaker
I want to do that. But I think what when it comes to being able to have an opinion and have your own style or have something that you cherish and hold deeply, that you want to be able to share that with other people.
00:03:58
Speaker
And when somebody else piles on on it, it's like, What are we doing? Like we're we're not giving that person the ah space to talk. We're instantly telling it it's garbage. you Why do you like this? That means you're garbage. Like that's not fair to the person that really cares for whatever they're in, you know, involved in or whatever they whatever sneaker that they enjoy or whatever artists that they enjoy.
00:04:24
Speaker
you know Recently, ah Joe Fresh Goods shared that his 9060 from 2022 was faked and sold ah around here in the streets of New York. And there was some interesting discourse of how that shoe being faked is proving that it's moving the needle for the culture.
00:04:46
Speaker
ah or The shoe itself and or even whenever a faked item is being faked is moving the needle specifically. But there was also other discourse where people are like, oh I'm afraid for the people who are buying these things like.
00:05:04
Speaker
let me Let's go back. Let's go way, way back. Who remembers when Hot 97 was putting out mixtapes and you you would go to the corner and you'd see them all on the floor, right? Some guy was selling bootleg mixtapes that he ripped because he I don't know how he got them because I've never seen an actual real hot 97 mixtape but we've all heard of I don't know if he's like he's waiting for hot 97 to just drop each and every song and then he's like all right cool now i got it now i got 50 cent uh in the club like I don't know how that happened but
00:05:45
Speaker
That proved that people wanted to buy that thing, but they couldn't just buy it at that price. So. They bought it as a fake CD. I think that is one very interesting because I'll even tell you a different story about that, where.
Authenticity in Products and Experiences
00:06:04
Speaker
Because I didn't know I was buying fake CDs at the time, right? And I believe in sneaker in sneakers, you all you have to get caught. you There's one time you have to get caught off guard, at least. Because then you know what it feels like, and then you'll know will never get it'll never happen to you again.
00:06:20
Speaker
And for me, and my mom took me to the train station, and Outkast just dropped Stankonia.
00:06:31
Speaker
Now, Stankonia is one of my favorite albums of all time. But it took for this moment for it to be cemented in my in my brain how much I love this album, right? Go to the corner, homeboy with the with the CDs all out, Hot 97, Hot 97. I already got like three of them.
00:06:47
Speaker
Don't want those. point out Point at Stankonia. Let me get Stankonia. And Stankonia. This entire time I thought the Hot 97 CDs that I was buying were real, right?
00:07:00
Speaker
So i go, and this is the only time I've ever asked this. And then i got, I was like, oh, now I understand. So I asked, can I get Stankonia?
00:07:13
Speaker
And then I turned to my mom and I said, this is real, right? And she yes yes to me And then the guy who saw on these fake CDs said, yes, these are real.
00:07:29
Speaker
i I get home. There's no there's no no nothing on the CDs, but I'm still I'm still I'll put it in my CD player. I'm like, yes, you know, we good to go.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yo, this is, I can't wait. Listening to the Bombs Over Baghdad. I'm memorizing the whole album. I'll go to school because this this happens on a Friday. I go to school on Monday and I'm hyped, right?
00:07:54
Speaker
My friend pulls up with the Stankonia for real, with the with the ah but the booklet, everything, the whole CD. And I'm perplexed I'm like, oh, what the fuck, right?
00:08:09
Speaker
I look at his CD and he has a booklet. You could flip it. I think about my CD. I didn't bring it with me. or What's in the CD player is just the the blank CD that was ripped from it. And I looked at the at him having a whole booklet. Mine was just a sheet of paper that was definitely cut from like a Xerox or something like that.
00:08:27
Speaker
And he had the the ah the actual CD. So it had like the real like design on the on the actual CD. Man, I was so disappointed. i went home and I was like, I'm never buying fakes ever again. Right.
00:08:42
Speaker
That's my entryway into fakes. Like what? Like I, that's the easy route. Right. So, That's you have to be able to understand what a fake is. And so for Joe Fresh Goods to, you know, implore that like, oh, yeah, we got fakes in the streets and stuff like that. Yes.
00:09:03
Speaker
Cool. Very cool. I will say yes, because it's hard to see to make a shoe and to see it do numbers to the point where, you know, some dude in in ah in the factories where they make the the real shoes with the with the real ah materials and call it.
00:09:22
Speaker
you know, reps that, that his shoe is actually made it to where they have to make a mold. They have to make it happen because they know they, they can make money off of it. And so when people are like, Oh, I'm scared for the people that are, are going buy a fake. It's like, bro, if you're not buying it,
00:09:41
Speaker
from a reputable source, the chances of it being fake is that I, in my head, is always 70-30. Like, there's a 70% chance that you are getting ripped off. That's why i don't ever, like, try to cop anymore online and from in the form of, like, Facebook Marketplace. I don't do any meetups. it i'm too I'm too afraid of it, personally. Like, when people bring those bring those those up to me, I'm always just like,
00:10:10
Speaker
Do it up like because I can't legit check. I don't know what legit checking looks like in 2025 because I don't want to do it anymore. I'd rather if I get a retail. Good, good to go. I'm good to go. I know it's real. I'm getting it from the source. I don't have to worry about that.
Navigating the Sneaker Market
00:10:25
Speaker
If I get it ah like resale, I'm either going through goat because that's the only spot that i I deal with and I'm not dealing with StockX or like, yeah, that's the only two ways of doing it because and In my head, because I don't want to end up with Stankonia in my sneaker collection.
00:10:44
Speaker
Like, that is where I draw the line. Because for me, especially if you're knowingly buying it, like, everybody always says, especially in sneaker culture, the entry, the the barrier for entry is just buying ah hype shoe.
00:11:00
Speaker
And i don't necessarily believe that's true. I think when you have some sort of entryway of like, yo, my dad got me into this. My dad bought me this. Like the reason why I made this, this podcast, it's like, I feel like sneaker culture runs through everything.
00:11:16
Speaker
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 and we only have two feet because, and we only have two feet, but endless amounts of journeys with our feet. Right.
00:11:36
Speaker
Um, and that is like part of why I feel there is so much culture that feeds off of sneaker culture.
00:11:47
Speaker
I just don't believe that like, it's It's something that not anybody can partake in. at the end i don't know if that I've i' received so much pushback on that.
00:11:59
Speaker
Like in a sense, because whenever it comes to me trying to expand out of this of like, hey, I want to be, you know, I want to be able to ah involve comedians with this. I want to be able to involve musicians with this. I want to be able to involve, you know, fashion stylists or anybody that's like has a story or several
Expanding Beyond Sneaker Culture
00:12:22
Speaker
stories that they want to share on this podcast, on this platform.
00:12:25
Speaker
um Whenever I step outside of the sneaker culture box or the sneaker community box ah that I quote unquote don't really think that is conducive in terms of just like spreading this outward.
00:12:38
Speaker
ah I think I've seen way too much pushback where like people be like, we are changing this. You're you're doing something different. you're you Like from previous episodes, if you've noticed, like even when I had Zelnor Myri on,
00:12:52
Speaker
to be pushed back on is going to make me push forward. Right. And I believe that is something that everybody should do in their everyday life. Right. No matter if you're working in a nine to five job, you're doing what it's like, you can do something else after work, which is what I do.
00:13:09
Speaker
And you can push yourself to do what you really want to do. Um, I'm always in this mindset of like, and it took me a while to get here.
Critique of Societal Complacency and Passion
00:13:20
Speaker
I'm always in this mindset of like, if you're in a box,
00:13:24
Speaker
there's gotta be something outside the box for you for that's trying to keep you in the box. And I, I think that like the system or like the workforce is always built around trying to make you feel complacent, right? Like it's only trying to make you make enough money so that you can live here, eat here, work here. Like you can only do oh as much.
00:13:48
Speaker
And then, Oh, if you, if you don't, If you don't partake in any fun throughout ah through Monday through Friday, oh, you can make you can have fun Saturday and Sunday, or you can have fun just Saturday, or you can finally do that brunch that your friend's been asking for. like You can do it all, right? ah there was There was a ah moment in my life. I met Jean Grey, shout out Jean Grey, and Quality Chris like years ago, years ago an apartment show. And this is this was like a wake up moment for me, right? i was
00:14:19
Speaker
At the time I was working at Viacom, you know I was still copping kicks and and making sure that like... You know, I'm walking in. I mean, if you listen to Mero's episode, ah walking in the office where people are just like, yo, he's got some crazy stuff on like, cool. Yeah.
00:14:32
Speaker
So whenever I would have the chance to spend money, it was either go to a show or like I would go to like a free show or something like that. This show was in an apartment that got turned into like.
00:14:46
Speaker
I don't know, it was like half like thrift store or something, but they had ah ah like a setup so so to play music. And so it was very inspiring. And I and i and implore people to just like stop just going to see, you know, Beyonce at East Rutherford. Like go to like these like small shows, especially like.
00:15:08
Speaker
Like recently, Hannibal Buress got ah but he bought the knitting factory. It's called Isola now. And he does like these small venues and small shows. ah No, they're actually pretty big because Isola is pretty big. But these shows are just like they're just nothing but new talent. Right.
00:15:24
Speaker
i I, I implore you to expand your horizons. Right. So we're at this show. um well I'm at this show and QA, Chris and Jean gray is there. And I'm huge. Jean gray fan, like huge QA, Chris fan at the time too. Also, like I was just getting into him and, and, and then Cavalier opened up a shout out, Cav his future guests, but It is just like, yo, this apartment can be so many things, right? Like this studio can be so many things.
00:15:59
Speaker
And so that really opened up my eyes where I was just like, yo, I can do more than just, you know, editing videos at MTV. Like I can do I can do a little bit more.
00:16:10
Speaker
But we're really, but really pushed me into. actually pursuing things outside of work was my conversation with Jean Grey. I told her, I was like, well, I asked her, I was just like, Hey, you know, you're known for so many different things. yeah You, you're an artist, you're rapper, you're a poet, you, you, you're a She'd done a coloring book, I think, at that time. Or she wrote a book.
00:16:34
Speaker
um She's, like, doing a live show ah with a comedian. I forgot his name. Is it Paul F. Tompkins? Could have been Paul F. Tompkins. ah And, like, she was doing a lot of things. And Kwele is also part of doing that as well. Like...
00:16:52
Speaker
Grammy nominated, like he's, well, I think he's great. He grant he won that Grammy with Lizzo, but he's also like, he's done TV shows. He's done, he's done like, uh, animation.
00:17:03
Speaker
He's done direct the music music videos, put out albums producing. Like these are, this is like a power couple within underground hip hop. And so having a, like a chance to talk to them was like crazy. So asked I was like, you do all these things.
00:17:21
Speaker
And how do you, how do you, like, if you're getting all these opportunities, what makes you just say, oh I'm only just, I'm not just going to only do this.
00:17:32
Speaker
I'm just do as much as I can. And she just said, She just literally turned to me and she says she just said, just do everything. And I was just like, what? Like, it it could it did not it did not connect to me at that time.
00:17:44
Speaker
I kind of all ah felt like it wasn't sound advice at the time as well. Like, i don't i don't necessarily... think you can do everything then, but I think what really turned the switch for me was like, oh, I should probably be trying more things.
Diversity in Sneaker Culture and Consumer Power
00:18:02
Speaker
And that is something to bring this back to my initial point. i I think that within sneakers, it's something that we don't do. i think that We spend a lot of time just trying to like push other people down because we think what we what we want is what should everybody else want. Right.
00:18:22
Speaker
You know, recently we talked about. Well, now we talked about unless you're in the space or if you're on Twitter or or X, whatever you want to call it. i don't know. Connor, what do you call the or Twitter?
00:18:33
Speaker
gotta call it twitter it's still twitter it's gotta be twitter but i it's like the the white cement force dropped um and ah complex made it ah made a statement about not statement well they talked on their podcast about how the leather quality is bad and Without even touching the shoe, enough people just started being like, hey, the leather quality is terrible, this and that. And then when the shoe finally drops, right, everybody just started staying. say They still bought the shoe. They still bought the shoe.
00:19:12
Speaker
they... they We're just pile on on how bad the leather is, how bad this and that is. I'm I'm of. And if you if you pay attention to me and you are in my audience, which I hope you are, um I am a huge proponent of you are the consumer. You have the most leverage, right?
00:19:35
Speaker
and They want your money. So if they want your money. What you can do is not spend your money and just buy something else. Right. Or you can just you can just change your whole trajectory and just support a different brand.
00:19:48
Speaker
Right. I don't I don't understand the notion of being like I'm a poo poo all over this shoe and then I'm a still buy it. And then I'm gonna be like, oh, you know, yeah, it's still whack. No, man, you spent the money.
00:20:03
Speaker
You spent your hard earned money, right? We just talked about how we're confined into a box at work, right? You spent your hard money earned money instead of going out or like do using it for an experience because you think this shoe is a shoe you had to have, but you're hearing all this bad stuff about it and you're continuously to push all that bad stuff about it.
00:20:25
Speaker
And you agree with it and then you spend the money to keep like it does it doesn't add up to me. It's like, why don't you take the time? Either change which ah which the shoe that you want to get or use the use it for an experience, right?
00:20:43
Speaker
You know. I talk about being outside a lot in this, and in general. if you If you talk to me, you speak to me, I'm like, hey, if you want to be part of this, you got to be actually part of this. You can't just be only online. you can't there's no There's no way that you can experience a love for this without the element of, hey, I'm going to an event or like, hey, I'm a put on an event or, hey, I'm Like the efforts in order to push the culture forward are something that needs to be done by needs to be done by everyone that wants to be part of it.
00:21:20
Speaker
Like I'm not talking about people that just like, hey, I'm kind of in the sneakers. I'm talking about people that are just like, yo, I talk about s sneakers every single day. Every time I have friends over, we're talking about, yo, know what Jordans you going to get? Like.
00:21:33
Speaker
You already have and are building the community around you. So why don't you expand out of it? Right. You shouldn't just be trying to force yourself into a box. Right.
Active Participation in Sneaker Culture
00:21:43
Speaker
And this, I guess this is the the whole episode's about, right. This, this is like the shoebox episode.
00:21:50
Speaker
um But I think that, you know, when I get pushback for telling people, hey, you got to be outside, I find it funny. Right. It's the same thing of when even me being like, yo, I can do everything.
00:22:06
Speaker
yo, you got to be part, a part of this in order to be a part of this. Like you got to be it. Like when I have somebody ah in the, in the, in the studio, like they're sitting here to be a part of this. Right.
00:22:18
Speaker
And so it's interesting when people are just like, I'm just going to, you know, take my time. ah just all my time is just going spent online. I'm going to be the well-versed person that's on this and just only be inside inside and then you know when it comes to me being outside i'm not gonna share my love for sneakers with anybody else so this is just my thing that's just me online and i'm on reddit i'm a top poster like no man you gotta be at this be even if it's just to go to the store and converse with the the employees like that's being part of it like
00:22:57
Speaker
We live in this digital age where, you know, everybody thinks, oh, I just got to message them and I'm going to be part of, you know, I'm going to get the sneakers. Oh, they're going to hook me up. Like, I just got to get, you know, 10,000 followers. going to like...
00:23:13
Speaker
Nah, man. ah One thing about sneaker culture that is always gonna be gate kept is that you have to be actually there. And we can we can say how annoying it is to hear when somebody goes, oh, you weren't outside, you weren't outside.
00:23:32
Speaker
But the truth of the matter of fact is, You have to be outside. Sneakers are made to go outside. Like sneakers, you got to put them on to walk somewhere.
00:23:42
Speaker
You don't put them on to pace around your house and then put them back in the closet. Then you're just that's just you're creat creating abundance. You're creating just a stockpile and you're you're becoming a hoarder like a hoarder from the from the outside sense of like.
00:23:57
Speaker
This is my collection and where I've got 5,000 sneakers that I don't put on. I just wear the same two sneakers and i don't know what to do with this. Like,
00:24:09
Speaker
The thing about, which is I find i find different than like collecting comics, right? Or collecting Pokemon or collecting you know ah any trading card. or i And i'm ah I'm a collector of like old video games, but not necessarily like super, super old. like i Just my favorites.
00:24:28
Speaker
like I have Jet Set Radio Future, which i've never pay I'll never play again, probably. ah Metal Gear Solid. I've got the whole collection outside of the PSPs, but you know I'm still Kojima boys.
00:24:40
Speaker
um I got all the Resident Evils outside of the last one, I think. or I know I don't have a lot of the remakes, but I digress. I think that it's like that's being a collector of like you want to just collect this so this can purposely catch dust. But the thing with sneakers is like And that's why it's it's super different is because video games won't go bad.
00:25:10
Speaker
The system can, but you can still keep those games. And then when GameStop has like a GameCube for like $5, you pick it up and you're like, you know what? I'm going run this back. Like it still can work. But with sneakers, you put them in your closet and they just degrade. Like they're done because you have to wear them in order to keep to make them last long. Right.
00:25:33
Speaker
I keep a whole, I think I've said this before, but not here, but I only keep like five DS pairs. You know, this was one of them, you know, you know, the this was one of them.
00:25:47
Speaker
I undies these today because I thought the guest was going to be here and, you know, we he was going to wear something crazy, but hopefully he'll still be here. But,
00:26:00
Speaker
I am these DSDs today. ah These were originally released, I think, in like 20. Shoot. going to take them off again. Where is this at? 2020. right.
00:26:12
Speaker
twenty twenty right and
00:26:20
Speaker
2020, these dropped. I have the black pair as well, which you have seen on an episode, a previous episode. But it took me five years to drop, to like be like, all right, cool. And I have older sneakers too.
00:26:34
Speaker
But there are moments where I like, I get a brand new shoe and I immediately just like, oh, these got to see pavement. These got to be outside. Like, People got to see me in this. And I think that's that's the thrill that that I feel like we have started to miss because a lot of people are wearing a lot of the same things.
00:26:52
Speaker
um But like when when somebody wears something old, like nobody's stopping you to be like, yo, you got those? like That conversation, right, that helps other people as much as it helps you.
00:27:06
Speaker
um We don't have those conversations anymore because I feel like everybody's afraid of each other. and And living in a city, feel like we should have it more. Like, I, i even i i catch myself being like, damn, I should probably say, you know, yo, those are fresh. Like, because I remember...
00:27:24
Speaker
when I used to go to Soho and I was literally just going to Soho to get told I'm had, I have fresh gear on or to get told, yo, those is crazy. Like I remember that.
00:27:36
Speaker
And i do, I truly miss that, but I do also have to realize I can, I gotta be that person to be like, Yo, those is crazy. Yo, I can't believe you got those. Like that that's the that's the the thing that is missing to make us want to keep spreading this more.
00:27:57
Speaker
um In a recent space, I definitely talked about how do we bridge the gap? And I'm always bring it up because I don't think every anybody ever really gives a valid reason.
Media Consumption Across Generations
00:28:06
Speaker
to why we're not bridging the gap.
00:28:08
Speaker
And it's interesting to hear other people's perspectives because you can mold full, you know, front to back, you know, beginning to end of where we can go with this.
00:28:21
Speaker
And i don't think that we've covered it enough. And I, and it's funny because like some people think like, oh, we've covered it enough. Like, there's no way we can touch the younger people or reach out to the younger people.
00:28:37
Speaker
and And I know with this, like podcasting or being in a podcaster, it's more of like people that are my age or older. I've yet to hear anybody...
00:28:50
Speaker
be like, or in their twenties or younger, just be like, you listen to ah Rogan last week. Like it's like, it's, it's, it's a, it's an interesting thing because I feel like podcasting went, got really big within this generation. Like my demographic is, and I see the numbers of that, of like my demographic is between 30 and 44. I think the last time I saw like my big,
00:29:18
Speaker
amount which is like that makes sense it makes sense because the people that want to hear other people tell their tell stories is in that range and even when I had like life of Tom on who's he's super young than me uh you know he's in like his mid-20s but he's not he didn't come to me be like yo I listen to other podcasts you know he's so focused and making music that that's what he's listening to or like he's not He's not looking at, I'll like, yo, let me put this on in the background, stuff like that. No, because he's focusing more on like, yo, I got listen to music. I got to make sure I'm always in a constant state of making music. And there's always going to be this like current gap between millennials and older millennials and Gen Z. And I don't know, what are they calling the the kids now?
00:30:05
Speaker
Alpha? Alpha. I think Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha. Let me double check that for you. That's the ah the streamer age, would you say? Like that's like they're they're more influenced by the streamers. Gen Alpha is between 2010 and 2024. Okay. And I would say streaming got big twenty
00:30:30
Speaker
sixteen seventeen um let me check that for you here too Because that's who's being influenced now, right?
00:30:41
Speaker
I remember when, shoot, I was listening to Kevin Smith on on my iPod, right? like They were saying 2010s. 2010s? Yeah. Okay. Streaming got big. Yeah, Justin TV, right? That's what... that's what Oh, you're talking about streaming? Streaming. Yeah, no, this is Netflix like stream streaming, YouTube streaming. No, I'm talking about being a stream. YouTube's 2005. I'm talking about like Twitch.
00:31:03
Speaker
Twitch streaming? Yeah. let let me Let me look that up for you. Yeah. Because that's who's influencing people now. um But like I was saying, when it comes to podcasting, I was like a big Kevin Smith guy.
00:31:20
Speaker
I was in this view askew universe. Like, oh, I love Kevin Smith, the Jason Buse. Like, I listen to Smodcast. Like, that's what influenced me. in terms of like even also just making this because I wanted to be a one of those that voice in your ear that will just like listen to people like yeah I gotta listen to us and but not like y'all gotta listen to us like like like like oh I wish you could listen to me there you go that's what I want to say they're saying street twitches about 2015 yeah yeah yeah that was close I said 2015-16 I think I said you know what I'll give it to you all right cool and
00:31:59
Speaker
I think that like podcasting now Man, the landscape of but I mean, you could jump in on this, Connor, like the landscape of of podcasting is so tumultuous now that people don't know what a podcast is anymore.
00:32:17
Speaker
um It's it's hard. It's hard to so when you're when you're ah and a no name to make a new to make a new name. I don't know how like I'm a no name, right? Like.
00:32:30
Speaker
What I should have done, and I've said this over and over again, what I should have done was start posting sneaker pictures back in a day. But I never really, i wasn't the the sneaker picture taker back in a day.
00:32:42
Speaker
I would go on the forums and talk about sneakers, right? ah I never jumped into sneaker Twitter back when it was, you know, so when ah ah Gilbert Arenas was like giving away sneakers on on Twitter if you were his size. Like that's, that was like,
00:33:00
Speaker
You had to be on it, be on it, right? Like Russ Bankston talked about those times of of just him being on sneaker Twitter, being like, oh shit, like yo, you know, and everybody just talking about sneakers because the forums died and it got split between Instagram and Twitter.
00:33:18
Speaker
And so there was this like fresh start that everybody got. So You can build your name within sneakers. And it was just like a cool thing. Like it was fresh.
00:33:30
Speaker
Like the the the takes were fresh. Like nobody was talking about it. And then, you know, we got the invention of Reddit. And i think that podcasting became so saturated to the point where it was like, okay, you have to have a specific style
Challenges in Podcasting and Content Creation
00:33:49
Speaker
show.
00:33:49
Speaker
You have to have... a show that will, will, you know, you're interviewing like the craziest people or you're, you're, you know, you, you're just like talking about how apes have like, you know, they can do DMT and be fine or that. I don't know. Like, it's something that like Rogan has said on, on, on, ah on his podcast. Like the dude has like 5,000 episodes. Right. And he's the biggest, he's the biggest person in podcasts. He's like, like,
00:34:20
Speaker
I think he averages like 36 million listens a week like or a month or something like that. um And it's not fair. would straight up say it. I would straight up say it. It's not fair.
00:34:34
Speaker
um It's not fair for anybody that's you know just starting out. And it's not fair for anybody who doesn't have a general following because especially if you want to just do podcasting and then you niche yourself down to just sneakers, right?
00:34:48
Speaker
If I don't have a big name of sneakers, right? Then i don't have a big name in podcasting. And then i just don't, I don't have a big podcast because it doesn't, it doesn't make it, it doesn't make it happen. Like you have to have a following in order to make something now versus creating that following out of nothing.
00:35:09
Speaker
Um, It's a Hawk Tua. Yeah, that's a ho exactly it. It's a Hawk Tua. You got it. You need your Hawk Tua moment. that's the That's the new Andy Warhol.
00:35:20
Speaker
yeah it's ah What came first, the Hawk Tua or the Talk Tua? The Hawk Tua. Exactly. Yeah. Man, that's depressing, isn't it? You're telling You're telling me. yeah You as a student as a studio owner. and I'll go by studio exec from here on out. Studio exec.
00:35:40
Speaker
um Is it as a person? And you've seen. so let's let's peel the let's peel the onion a little bit on this. ah you know You've seen the people I've been able to bring in here.
00:35:52
Speaker
And the the growth has. I feel like the growth doesn't match. the, the guests that I'm able to get. You have an interesting situation, right? Because since you've come here, more people than ever are reaching out.
00:36:11
Speaker
Yeah. Asking to be on this show. People that aren't even in your network. Right. But the numbers aren't matching the level of engagement you're getting from potential guests. i but It's fascinating.
00:36:28
Speaker
It is, right? Yeah. That's what, but that's what, I mean, that's the outside the comfort zone, right? That's like, that's what basically the the theme of this episode, I guess, is like, you want to be outside the box. You want to think outside the box because in the world of virality, it's how do you get your one moment? Cause the one moment is going to fuel all the other moments you are you've already had.
00:36:57
Speaker
Just because it's the it's the one moment that people find doesn't mean you've already had had amazing moments, you know? i mean, we got people. I've worked with people that r that have the numbers, right? yeah A million followers on TikTok and Instagram.
00:37:14
Speaker
But those people say is one viral video basically fuels all the other views. If you go through their feed... Maybe the video before the million views had 5,000 views.
00:37:26
Speaker
And then after the million views, it now has 100,000 views. Yeah, yeah. So it's not to say all of them were 100,000 view worthy to begin with. One moment made the rest seem more important.
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah. But it's like, I mean, the thing when I when I think about that, because this is something that when I first started this podcast of something that I thought about, right, is like, do I fall into the trap of.
00:37:54
Speaker
Oh, make find the viral moment, push the viral moment. But then when you try to find the viral moment, the viral moment never happens.
00:38:06
Speaker
Because it it's like, hey, you you're trying too hard. like Which is like, I don't know. it's it's It's the same thing with, for example, right? Starting this podcast, um you know, I had a tough time getting guests. and now, as you just said, like, there's people are really what really wanting to be a part of this. And I'm growing as as the rate that I'm growing.
00:38:32
Speaker
um But it's like... How do i How do I ah like it? It just doesn't it's a it's a puzzle that I'm like, I got the border of it because I got the guest now and people want to be part of it.
00:38:47
Speaker
Right. And but yet I'm like, oh, I'm kind of still not. um I don't have the voice that people in the sneaker community think they need to be.
Personal Impact vs. Wide Reach
00:39:00
Speaker
that's the See, this is the thing, right? And it's like this journey that we all try to find where we try to feel like, oh, we need to be the the loudest one in the room in order to make the biggest impact.
00:39:12
Speaker
But yet, if you if you talk to me, If I can impact one person, that's the biggest impact in my opinion. Right. if If somebody listens to my sits down, listen to my podcast, and was like, you got this.
00:39:24
Speaker
I got this, this, this one valuable lesson from your episode with such and such. Right. That changes the the direction that they were going.
00:39:36
Speaker
Right. Or a person sits down with me and changes the direction I thought I was going. Right. Or even this podcast changes the direction of of the podcast. Right. There's like too many different variables of like, I'm taking my chances and I'm trying to stay outside the box when virality is trying to keep you in a box.
00:40:00
Speaker
Well, here's another piece of the puzzle. you can't have a seat at the table if you don't show up for dinner. Exactly. yeah You got to be there.
00:40:11
Speaker
And it's a preparation meets opportunity type thing. And I think, i mean, we also don't know when a certain conversation culturally will take
Engagement and Purposeful Actions
00:40:23
Speaker
off. Right, yeah. But if you're not a part of the culture, then you're not a part of the conversation. yeah Exactly. You just got to...
00:40:31
Speaker
It's a fact of life. You just got to be there. It's like yeah when you talk about being in the shoe line, you're not going to get the shoes if you're not in the line. ah you know No, yeah. But that's what I'm saying. like I think a lot of people are scared.
00:40:44
Speaker
So in order to do... Like in order to avoid the the participation point or part is that, you know, they'll just like complain about, oh, this person gets this or this person does that. Why are they doing that? Like the conformity part of this, of like taking the chances, taking the ah the conformity part of just like not taking the chances, not thinking I'm outside the box of like, for example, like we're talking about a line, right?
00:41:17
Speaker
You can avoid the line if you just become friends with the manager, right? But yeah are you going to take... ah yeah What's easier? Standing on the line and knowing that you can, you know, you're going to maybe get a pair or...
00:41:32
Speaker
Taking the time to come in every week, once or twice a week, say, hey, how's, you know, how's it going? ah Who's the manager? Or go to this to this the wall, pick a shoe that's not releasing that day, buy it, you know, create a conversation.
00:41:48
Speaker
um That seems way harder, right? That seems way harder, like me sitting in front of this camera that I avoided trying to do a solo episode when like eight people asked me to do one. and Like it's easier to avoid the...
00:42:03
Speaker
it's like it's easier to avoid the the most what we think is like the rockiest road to travel because you know some people are like hey i'd rather pay the 500 not wait online and buy the sneaker and that's cool for you right you know i know that time is is ah valuable commodity um but sometimes i think The impact and the network, not the network, the friendships that you make are and the conversations that you can have will change the path that you can go.
00:42:40
Speaker
And that's a lot more fruitful than just sitting there hitting buy and buy it now and spending your hard earned money that, you know, you were put in a box to get right. Like, you know, Yeah. It's ah do you want to live a life that just has the achievement or do you want to live the life that led to the achievement? Yeah.
00:43:04
Speaker
I think that's and it's funny because like i I've said this to several people a lot and everybody's always like, oh, that's bars. yeah Oh, that's bars. And I self self reflection.
00:43:15
Speaker
Like I said, this is this is a mental health month, you know, self reflection, where it's like, the hardest thing to do is to act like actually takes take stock within yourself.
00:43:26
Speaker
Like, are you moving with purpose? Are you moving, you know, towards a direction? Because like, you're not just aimlessly sitting in, you know, in the wind, you know, like waiting for the next thing? Or are you just kind of waiting for the next shoe to drop and waiting for bad news? Like there are so many,
00:43:43
Speaker
facets and different ways in your mind that you, you can either push yourself down or lift yourself up and like, and being introspective, seeing if you're moving with purpose, seeing if you're, you're being part of culture, because I feel like culture Any culture, right? Like I remember when i first, you know, experienced like my Brazilian culture, it like encapsulated me. I didn't want to be anything else besides that, even though I'm half Bangladesh, like I'm two, two different worlds, you know, combined.
00:44:17
Speaker
And once I was able to like experience my culture, it was, insane. It was insane where I'm just like, yo, I'm really part of all this like knowledge. Like there's like so much history. There's so much like if you eat in the food, there's so much flavor, you know, I don't know. Sorry, Connor. There's not a lot of flavor over there. Don't dox me here.
00:44:42
Speaker
Look, i got to I got to make a joke, all right? was being very serious. Haas puts me behind the curtain for a reason, folks. He's seen my shoes. He knows. yeah Look, Brooks, shout out Brooks, all right?
00:44:52
Speaker
um ah But I think that, like,
Recognizing Sneaker Culture as Legitimate
00:44:58
Speaker
that's the thing. With sneaker culture, it gets mixed up because... We don't compare it to an actual like black culture. We don't compare it to that. We think it's like its own thing. And I don't think that's fair to a lot of people who live and breathe it, you know, and it's all good for people who think they are the gatekeepers or people who think they are the loudest in the room when it comes to it.
00:45:20
Speaker
But the biggest thing is to continuously bring in new people. And it's crazy that I've been able to actually talk this long by myself. I mean, with addition to you.
00:45:33
Speaker
you're You're crushing it here, man. ah My first ever solo pod. Shout out to Mouse for for not for for texting me in the middle of saying that he you know he's definitely not making it now. So um hopefully that episode comes soon as well.
00:45:48
Speaker
ah Thank you. If you listen to this, if you literally listen to this and you enjoyed this and you want me to do more of this, please let me know. This is my first time doing this. not really big into, I feel like I meander a lot. So ah really appreciate you for listening and tapping in for this out of the box episode, which is probably what I'm going to call it.
00:46:10
Speaker
ah Shout out to D because he's probably going to listen to this and be like, what the hell? yeah You know, shout out to D. You know, if you have it, like ah if you have not checked out the oxymoron's newest a song.
00:46:26
Speaker
What's called? Sorry, let me look that up because I want to say the name of the song correctly. You know where D is this week?
00:46:38
Speaker
um This won't come out this week. You know where he's, you know, he's all over this summer though, right? Yeah, he is. Find him in town near you. This is probably going to drop maybe when I go to D.C., I think, but.
00:46:54
Speaker
They just recently dropped a new song called cool being you, uh, go pre-save that or no, no, don't pre-save it. By the time this comes out, that will be out.
00:47:05
Speaker
Uh, cops emerge from there. Hit up my first kicks.com cops, some merch there. We're going to have, probably, I could probably announce it. We're working on socks. We're going to make socks happen. We're, uh, some more t-shirts going to be coming out as well.
00:47:19
Speaker
Um, Shout out to Ren Arts. The hat is coming. It should be sometime July. Mets hat. Bacon call away. Shout out Dave Ortiz. um And where can these people get those things when they're out?
00:47:34
Speaker
Um... Which ones? All of them. ah Well, Ren Arts, we will have a party for that one. That's probably going to sell out immediately. But for everything else, myfirstkicks.com.
00:47:46
Speaker
And you know where to find me. I'm WhoisHas on all social medias. Follow the podcast on My First Kicks Pod. ah Every Sunday, doing, not every Sunday. Most Sundays, we're doing ah In These Spaces spaces on Twitter. So follow me there, My First Kicks Pod on Twitter.
00:48:03
Speaker
I'm posting TikToks again because i i'll be I'll be bored outside sometimes. and I'm just talking shit. So hit me up there. My First Kicks on on TikTok. If have a My First Kicks story, this would be a great episode for that. I will gladly read like eight of them and we me and Connor can...
00:48:20
Speaker
you know, chit chat about it. So, or when D's back, we can chit chat about it. So if I do another one of these and I have a bunch of, of my first kick stories, hit me up info at my first kicks.com.
00:48:32
Speaker
um And if you've been listening to this, it's on YouTube, youtube.com at my first kicks. You know what we say each week, wear your kicks.
00:48:45
Speaker
Peace.