Can I kick it?: Hip-hop’s intimate relationship with the sneaker industry

theGRIO REPORT - Since its inception, hip-hop and sneakers have gone hand-and-hand, or rather, foot-and-foot...

Dec 5, 2013

Since its inception, hip-hop and sneakers have gone hand-in-hand, or rather, toe-to-toe.

From Run DMC and their shell-toed Adidas, to Wiz Khalifa and Chuck Taylors, rappers and shoe brands have had an inseparable relationship—forever intertwined and joined at the heel.

Recently, rapper Kanye West announced a partnership with Adidas, which comes on the heels of his well-publicized gripes with Nike.

According to the disgruntled Chicago emcee, executives at Nike refused to properly compensate him for his work on the Air Yeezys, claiming the company refused to pay him royalties.

“I said, ‘Well I need royalties.’ It’s not even like I have a joint venture. At least give me some royalties,” said West. “Michael Jordan has 5 percent and that business is $2 billion. He makes a $100 million dollars a year off of 5 percent royalties. Nike told me, ‘We can’t give you royalties because you’re not a professional athlete.’ I told them, ‘I go to the Garden and play one-on-no-one. I’m a performance athlete.’”

Despite this falling out, however, Nike isn’t shying away from forming working relationships with other artists in the genre.

On Wednesday the Jordan brand, a division of Nike, announced it was partnering up with Drake in a collaborative effort to produce sneakers that will continue to propel the company forward.

The Nike and Drake pairing is just one of the latest in the storied history between the two enterprises.

In 1994, on “The World is Yours,” Nas stated that his cipher wasn’t complete without a suede pair of Timbs. In 2002, Nelly made it clear that having one pair of Air Force 1’s just wasn’t enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maS4VLfC2JA&feature=youtu.be

As more and more rappers began mentioning their favorite shoe brands on wax, more fans purchased that particular product. This eventually led to companies offering artists endorsement deals.

“My Adidas” helped land Run DMC a contract with their favorite shoe brand in 1986, while Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Taylor Gang’ label and movement, a nod to the ever-popular Chuck Taylor sneaker, earned the Pittsburgh emcee a deal with Converse earlier this year.

For other rappers, however, their personas alone were enough for companies to come knocking.

In 2003, both 50 Cent and Jay Z received their own shoes with Reebok. Years later, not only would Reebok partner with other rappers, such as Tyga and Rick Ross, but they would employ Hip Hop artists into front office positions. In 2010, producer Swizz Beatz was named the creative director for Reebok Classics.

MC Hammer inked a deal with British Knights at the height of his career, while Big Sean, Snoop Dogg and B.O.B. were all tapped by Adidas. Urban footwear company Lugz partnered with Birdman back in 2004, while Meek Mill’s rise to prominence helped him snag a deal with Puma in 2012.

And while rappers probably won’t surpass professional athletes when it comes to shoe endorsement deals, as hip-hop continues to grow and emerge as music’s marquee genre, companies will more than likely continue to climb over top of one another to align themselves with rap’s biggest stars. These days, just as many kids want to be like their favorite rapper as they do their favorite basketball player. The hip-hop culture is a lucrative market, and corporations know this.

Ask FILA.

Over the course of the last five months, the sportswear brand has been using RapGenius.com to annotate any and all rap lyrics referencing its brand.

FILA marketing specialist, Sean Lynch, spearheaded this effort and thinks the tactic could prove beneficial to the company.

“It’s effective in a sense because people are saying, ‘Wow, that’s what that lyric meant for you guys’ or, ‘Wow, Fila is still a dope brand.’”

Because of the culture’s reputation for setting trends, it’s very likely that more hip-hop artists will be approached by companies in efforts to collaborate on shoes.

Drake is the most recent act, but look for the emcee-footwear pairing to become more and more of the norm.

Brandon Neasman is a freelance writer who has penned articles for both national and regional publications, including usweekly.com and the Hard Rock Hotel’s Las Vegas magazine. A graduate from Florida A&M University, Brandon is an editor at mostlyjunkfood.com and a graphic designer for the Gannett Company, Inc. You can follow him on Twitter at @Bnease.