Pop Quiz! How much do you know about Space Jam Jordan 11s? Have you seen the movie? Does Quad City DJs sound familiar?
Everybody get up it’s time to slam now
We got a real jam goin’ down
Welcome to the Space Jam
Here’s your chance do your dance at the Space Jam
Alright
Come on and slam and welcome to the jam
Come on and slam if you want to jam
That was how the Quad City DJs kicked off their track “Space Jam” back in 1996. The song was a part of the soundtrack to the movie that eventually became the nickname for one of the most popular Air Jordans of all time, the “Space Jam” Air Jordan 11.
The nickname of course came from the fact that Michael Jordan wore the now Black/Varsity Royal-White Air Jordan 11 colorway seen in the movie back in 1996. Jordan and Bugs Bunny had already become a thing thanks to the popularity of Looney Tunes in mid-90s and commercials pairing the two for previous Air Jordan releases. Space Jam might not have received the best reviews back then but the merchandise from the movie sold so well that a second movie was actually in the works in 1997, but eventually Michael Jordan turned down the opportunity “for basketball reasons,” aka to focus his energy on winning championships with the Chicago Bulls. Rumor has it there is a 2nd Space Jam in the works starring LeBron James but until we see it, MJ still owns the Space Jam crown.
Jordan actually debuted the Space Jam Jordan 11 against the Orlando Magic during the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals before Tinker Hatfield and Nike were planning on him wearing the shoe. MJ just liked the shoe too much to let it sit (and we can completely relate). Ironic though, because the Space Jam colorway is the only original Air Jordan colorway that features the royal blue color primarily used for Orlando Magic alternate jerseys. Shout out to Shaq and Penny!
If you’re not a basketball fan, or Looney Tunes fan, Space Jam Jordans are most likely still on your radar because of how engrained in pop culture the colorway has become. The Space Jam release in 2000 is arguably the reason that most Nike releases were switched to Saturday mornings because back then, the Space Jam Retro was released on a Wednesday and parents of the kids who skipped school to stand in line for the shoes wrote countless letters to Nike complaining.
The 2009 release was equally as crazy, if not more so, and it even landed in lyrics from Lil Wayne. “Okay, hello, it’s the Martian, Space Jam Jordans” was intro to his verse on the “Forever” track that appeared on Eminem’s Relapse: Refill, LeBron James’ More Than A Game film soundtrack, and Lil Wayne’s Da Drought 3. Basically, in 2009 and 2010, you couldn’t listen to music without hearing the track thanks to verses from Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Eminem. Weezy even teamed up with Audio Push for a track in 2013, also titled Space Jam.
Based on the amount of times it pops up in pop culture, the Jordan 11 Space Jam is the most important Jordan sneaker of all time and you can expect the 2016 release to be just as hyped as the previous versions. The Air Jordan 11 Retro “Space Jam” release date is set for December 17th, 2016.
