I'm a Nike Sneaker Head without a doubt. I've slowed down a lot from
how I used to buy Nikes, but I still appreciate and buy new kicks. If it's a hot Nike release,
it's set in concrete I buy it. Sometimes I even get so caught up in the Kicks, I think
of future kids. I wonder if my kids would appreciate a fresh pair of Nikes or Air Jordans?
Moving On, my first pair of Nikes, I cannot even remember. I won't even try to remember.
What is known, I did not get the expensive Air Jordans and Nikes when I was a kid, as there
was no funding for it. The one pair I do remember getting, the Nike Air More Uptempo
basketball shoes that were like the cheaper version of the Scottie Pippens. I wore those
like a pair of "Holy Grails" or gold on my feet, for the non-sneaker culture savvy.
I really got heavy into sneakers around mid or late high school. Even then, at first I was
not following Nikes that much, as Reebok was an urban trend. I copped Nike Air Maxes here
and there, but I had not yet evolved into a true Nike Head.
By the time Nelly came out with the song "Air Force 1s," I remember morphing into a
Nike Head all the way. His song just made the abundance of Air Force 1s and I started buying
every colorway I wanted. After about the 3rd pair, I was shopping so hard I became a "set Outfit"
kind of guy and had to buy a full outfit everytime I shopped.
As the dough kept rolling in and I found new ways to make money, I got more into shoe shopping.
Finding Pick Your Shoes was the first
step into my Nike shoes addiction. I remember there was a point when I had 1 or 2 pairs of
shoes rolling in daily. I blew at least $1,000-$2,000 on shoes monthly for around a year.
May sound crazy to some readers, but in the sneaker world, my spending is light weight. Same time,
not the lightest when a Nike head is buying only at retail price.
After collecting nearly 100 pair of Kicks, I decided to move back to NYC and sold everything.
This was around the period the Nike Hype was reaching is peak in 2005, so when I sold I made a
nice profit luckily. I hadn't worn 90% of the sneakers, and the people that purchased them
still got lucky prices.
Of course I kept some pairs of sneakers and being I was moving to New York City, the madness
did not stop. I started buying kicks at the Nike Outlet store in Manhattan,
DrJays
in Midtown, Modell's Sports, Finish Line 34th, Nike sneaker Boutiques in Soho,
Training camp, and many more!
Shopping for myself and others, I had the hook up at every sneaker store in the city at one
point. I'm sure a lot remember me for this around NYC.
After leaving NYC, I stayed up on Kicks. I shop a lot smarter on-line with no access to stores.
I overlook e-stores like Sole Stop and
Skip To My Shoe for the great folks over at
ShoeTrends.com! If
I can't get it at Shoe Trends, I probably just will not buy the kicks anymore.
Some big things I've done for Sneaker Culture is I founded the 1st Hip-Hop fashion site on-line,
Sojones.com, in 2002. It was the first site on-line that highlighted sneaker trends in Hip-Hop's
subculture.
In 2004 I created SneakerCut.com sneaker club, but exited the business upon taking a monetary
offer for the domain and idea. Sneaker Cut got sneaker heads the best prices on Kicks as I
shopped NYC for anybody who joined.
In 2005, I created
sneaker culture news and nike layouts website, Kicks and Chicks. How it all started was
random but it took off and many people know me from the project. On hiatus from it for music,
I still own Kicks and Chicks, but there is another overseeing its re-invention and maintenance.
On the K.a.C. Nike Store
I still add artwork I've created through KaC however. Visit the store for
Nike Sneaker Posters and more!
Will I make more moves in Sneaker Culture in the future? Sure. Hopefully I'll have an official
sneaker with Nike one day.
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