Sneakers - October 1, 2020

Hip-Hop and Air Force 1s Always Authentic

Kevin holds a Ph.D. in American studies and is an expert in American cultural history and hip-hop. He is the Senior Content Manager at StockX.

Hip-hop and Air Force 1s have been ride or die since 1982. From DJ Clark Kent to Dr. Dre, A$AP Rocky, and the St. Lunatics, we take a look at this enduring music and fashion relationship.

A$AP Rocky certainly sets fashion trends inside and out of hip-hop, but the Air Force 1 isn’t one them. In a ludicrous bit of self-promotion, Rocky claimed that he, in fact, popularized the Air Force 1 way, way back in 2011. In a 2015 video that resurfaced in April of this year, Rocky claims, “Listen, I’m gonna wear these wack sneakers. I want to just test the scene.” Everyone from Snobette, Joe Budden, The Breakfast Club, XXL Magazine, and every sneakerhead and hip-hop fan on Twitter weighed in to let Rocky know he was full of it. Ah, yes, the glory of youth is not just beauty, it’s being supremely confident in being absolutely wrong.

Thanks to Rocky talking out of turn, Nelly retrospectively reenters the fray. Most heads know that Nelly and his St. Lunatics crew dropped the posse cut “Air Force Ones” back in 2002. Nelly and company get all the “big boys stompin’” in this eight verse tribute to the classic shoe. Hopefully Nelly rocks his AF1s on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars.

Of course, the connection between hip-hop and Air Force 1s didn’t start with Nelly, either. What Nelly did, though, was further mainstream and popularize the Air Force 1 at the height of his fame. Undergirding Rocky’s boast and Nelly’s massive hit is a much longer history of hip-hop’s embrace of the AF1, since the silhouette’s emergence in 1982. In support of hip-hop and sneakerhead historical accuracy, let’s look at some of the best and biggest OGs in the hip-hop game and the AF1s they love.

Air Force 1: Of Love and Excess

Who knew Dr. Dre loved Air Force 1s so much? In May, Bleacher Report splashed a video of Dr. Dre showing off his sneaker closet. With a huge grin, Dre showed off row after shining row of white Air Force 1s, one for each day of the week. Just like his beats, Dre prefers his forces crispy, not smoked.
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Dr. Dre's Monday-Friday rotation ? @brkicks pic.twitter.com/UgQd5nGo4j

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 6, 2020

DJ Clark Kent surpasses Dr. Dre’s love of AF1s, however. Not satisfied with a fresh pair of Air Force 1s every day, Kent has a 6,000+ pair collection of Forces, just Forces, and is an incessant proselytizer for the Air Force 1 as Nike’s best, and perfect, silhouette. Similar to Dr. Dre, Kent likes to rock his Forces fresh. He famously only wears a pair of sneakers once, when he takes it out of the box. However, he doesn’t toss away is non-deadstock sneakers, he passes them to friends and family to wear. It’s kind of like recycling.

His love of all things Air Force 1 found him transcending from a collector to a designer, collaborating with Nike on multiple pairs. DJ Clark Kent is a true renaissance man: collector and curator of beats and sneakers.

Air Force 1 and Love from Labels

Air Force 1s have been such a staple of hip-hop and street culture that it was only a matter of time before the relationship between hip-hop and sneakers would be codified with an official artist sneaker. In 1999, only 100 pairs of Air Force 1s featuring Jay-Z’s Roc-a-Fella record’s logo were produced. An instant grail and must-have for many sneakerheads, they were retroed in 2017 making them somewhat more accessible.

Following in the wake of HOVA’s AF1s, Eminem dropped an Air Force 1 collab in 2004 in honor of his fifth album, Encore. In addition to the Encores, Nike also released two friends and family models with “Shady Records” stitched on the side. The Shady Record AF1s trade for upwards of $10,000 these days.

When it comes to Air Force 1s and hip-hop, Streets is Watching.

Air Force 1s Fully Mainstream

If there is one song in the hip-hop canon most associated with Air Force 1s, it is Nelly’s aforementioned “Air Force Ones.” As the song’s title intimates, Nelly and his merry band of St. Lunatics rap about one thing and one thing only. Aiming for the heart, Nelly’s straightforward ode to the sneaker staple helped move the Air Force 1 from street culture and hardcore sneakerhead favorite to mainstream popularity. All it took was eight verses—some little more than a product list—of AF1 appreciation.

As head of the St. Lunatics, Nelly delivered the first and last verse of the song. And his sneaker selection hewed to the classics, all-white highs, and lows. Solid choices, but compared to some of the other colorways rapped about by his partners, somewhat conservative. But Nelly was doing what all great leaders do: establishing the group’s bona fides and clearing the way for the rest of the crew to talk about the idiosyncratic Air Force 1s they love.

Lunatics Kyjuan and Ali had a preference for colorful and contemporary versions of the classic Air Force 1. Kyjuan was all about lime green lows, and kiwi lows. Ali, on the other hand, preferred to stunt in a red and white high, complete with the strap, to match his St. Louis Cardinals hat. Ali’s sports fandom wasn’t limited to a home team bias, he also loved Forces in Lakers and Broncos colors, respectively.

The final lunatic, Murphy Lee, was also a traditionalist in colorway and purchasing practice. As Dr. Dre and DJ Clark Kent illustrated, not only must you have a clean pair of Air Force 1s, but you must also have multiple clean pairs. This is a lesson Murph took to heart. In the song, he details going to the store buying multiple pairs of Air Force 1s in the classic UNC blue and white colorway.

The song would peak at #3 on the Billboard Charts, spawn a classic video, and establish Nelly as a sneaker expert. Anecdotally, industry insiders and observers noted a “Nelly” effect on sales in 2002, similarly to the respective impacts of Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott. At the time, Nike would only say that they did not pay Nelly and crew to record and release “Air Force Ones,” and they would not share sales figures. Even with Nike playing coy, it’s obvious hip-hop helped keep the Forces’ force stay strong, from 1982 to the present.