Money, it's GOTTA be the shoes...

Yesteday, someone dissed my Air Jordans.

“You need to just retire those, they don’t work.”

I was shocked. Afterall, my pair of Jordan IVs is probably the one clothing item that has gotten the most compliment/notice over the years. (It’s also the most expensive non electronic item I ever bought).

Now I get criticized all the time on my style. The “suits”—aka cats who be dressing like they sell insurance everyday—have made comments about my hair for the past few months.

“How you gonna get girls with hair like that, man?”

“What are you doing with your hair? Why don’t you go get a trim.”

They’d say.

I never paid them no mind. They didn’t faze me. Because I knew they didn’t understand. They a suit. They idolize entrepreneurs…the Donald Trumps. Money on they mind…. I idolize Ziggy Stardust and Dylan. Rock and roll on my mind. We different cats built from different molds.

So 99% of the time, people and their “what the hell” look don’t bother me. But the Air Jordan comments… wow.

It’s not because I think the shoes look that great (although they are fly). It’s because Air Jordans are so much more than just shoes.

Thanks to the booming popularity of basketball around the world, you’ll see Air Jordans on the streets anywhere in the world—more so than any other form of sportswear. But AJs transcends beyond just the world of sports.

It’s probably the first clothing item endorsed by—and made for—a Black man that was successfully marketed to mainstream America, aka the White folks. With all the bragging of Hova being a business, man….it was Michael Jordan who was the first successful Black entrepreneur. One who turned himself into a brand and an icon (No wonder HOVA idolizes MJ).

And thanks to the fact that Jordan actually backed up his hype/reputation by actually being THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME, the shoes take on an even more mystical legendary level.

I was at Page One the other night reading a book on street designs. Graffitis and urban culture. .. the works. And what was on the cover? A pair of Air Jordans.

You know one of the most viewed videos on youtube is the Jordan XX1 “Let Your Game Speak” commercial?

Last year when they held the Air Jordan 23 party at TST…I gurantee half the asscats in there couldn’t even tell the difference between Kevin Martin and Kenyon Martin. They ain’t basketball fan. They Air Jordan fans.

They’re more than just sneakers. They a collectible item. Men collect them like chicks do with purses.

Spike once said, "Money, it's gotta be the shoes."

Actually Spike, it's more than the shoes.

With that said. A new pair of IVs are coming…