Is this what they're calling force?

"Force is the perfect word for my game. People ask what you trying to do in the game? I'll tell you what. I'm trying to force my will upon the guy I'm playing against!"

"Round Mound of Rebound the Chunky Funk of Dunk. It was get the ball, get your motor running, get off the floor, get out the way... I'm dunking on you!"

Footwear Odes | Part 1

"I'm not paying for them... size eight and half." So begins 'Sneakers' by Raekwon, a Pete Rock produced track that has that familiar feel to an old Raekwon crime joint but with some serious overtones concerning his footwear. We are treated to a character study of The Chef entirely through his affiliations and adoration of sneakers. Early confessions to being an "Adidas Freak" with a collection totaling out at a round "multi thousand pair" are the simple bragings of his opening verse. If anything these rhymes are just the declaration of some rudimentary facts, a rightful way of passage before he treats us to the real nitty gritty of it all. It is itself a topic so large that it comes as no surprise that the whole second verse is a flush with individual models and brand names and their connotations within the game. Italian lines Diadora and Elesse get a shout out along with the connoisseurial cops of retro line Patrick and non other than that 80's hip-hop footwear staple, Travel Fox. Pleasingly fellow Wu Tang Clan cornerstone, Ghostface brings his chips to the table this time about that all important moment of copping a fresh deal: "bright fat yellow Air Max's" for "20 bucks off no tax" on "Apollo Kids". That's just credit to the whole game.

   

Reminiscing | Copping Kicks

Its non other than a pleasant reminder of what footlocker looked like back in the day. Judging by the desires of now, we have some slept on butters seemingly being taken for granted. Them being so hard to come by, one can only have the pleasure of reminiscing. 

Caught in Time

Sometimes all that's required to pass the time is for a little dig and rummage within the dusty archives of the internet for some simple sneaker memories. Thus, what's been cooked up here is an insight into how some of hip-hops finest have wanted to immortalise some of their favourite footwear moments. By all means this is just the first installment of this image based exercise but there is more than enough light hearted entertainment to pour over in the chosen 8 below.  

Nike Air Pressure on Audio 2

Air Assaluts Fat-Boys 

Air Jordan 3's on 3 Times Dope

Air Jordan IV's on Ice T

Nike Air flight 87 sighting on EPMD

Air Jordan I's on LL Cool J

Nike Air Assault's on the polished Will Smith

Air Jordan IX's on Tupac (no creases on them toe boxes)

Beats, Rhymes and Kicks: In the beginning there was Troop

Continuing to explore hip-hop's adoption of sneakers we return to the early 1980's and in doing so turn our attention to the Footwear brand Troop. Conceived and owned by a Korean man named Hyosung, his approach to business would change the sneaker landscape forever. Troops success was in its marketing to the inner cities. They were the first company to identify with hip-hop culture so much so that at one point in the early 1980's, sporting the footwear brand Troop was the height of rap status. The likes of Stetsasonic wore them and their spokes person at that time was a fresh faced L.L. Cool J. Unlike any of the the major footwear companies to date, Troop wouldn't buy into the sport specific mentality for training shoes. Of greater impact still, they acknowledged and catered for potentially the largest market for footwear, the overlooked inner city business.