Sneakers: Inside the Revolution of Michael Jordan's Shoes 👟

Ever wondered why the youth camp outside stores, braving the elements just to get their hands on the new Air Jordans? Or why people, even on tight budgets, lust after those designer shoes?

Join us as we take you on a journey through the captivating world of sneaker culture - from the back-alley basketball courts to the front rows of fashion weeks. Hear the shocking story of a young boy's tragic end over a pair of coveted Jordans and understand the allure of these sneakers that had such a profound impact.

Imagine a time when the mighty Michael Jordan was yet to sign with Nike, and his mother was busy playing negotiator. We'll take you behind the scenes of this historic deal and show you how Nike cleverly capitalized on the 'forbidden' nature of Jordan's shoes.

 Reminisce the 90s, the era when sneaker culture was emerging and brands like Nike, Adidas, and Jordan were evolving into household names. Touch upon the cultural impact of Detroit Piston's 'Bad Boys' era and Raider's influence on fashion and how they fueled the rise of sneaker culture.

We aren't just talking shoes here. This is about music, identity, and self-expression. It's about the comfort of Vans versus the allure of Yeezys, and how your shoe choice can be a reflection of your personality.

Join us as we explore the acquisition of Converse by Nike, the unique features of LA Lights, and how Birkenstocks went from hippie to haute couture.

 We're not just discussing footwear; we're revealing the heart of individuality, identity, and inspiration. So, tune in – this is a journey you don't want to miss.

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Transcript

Speaker 2
00:06
After School Busy Part Cast. 

Speaker 3
00:14
It wasn't so long ago, you didn't need very many fingers to count the different styles of basketball sneakers and the price. Well, you could buy a decent pair of sneakers for under $30. Way under, but at the last. Those days are long gone and in their place a culture where high price kicks mean status, power and sometimes even big time bucks. 

Speaker 4
00:41
At least 7-8 this morning. So for what would you camp outside a store for hours or days? A great deal on the plasma TV. How about the shoes? That's right, you could find up in stores all over the city overnight to get their hands on the new Air Jordans, perhaps their feet in the new Air Jordans. 

Speaker 2
01:03
It's gotta be the shoes. It all started with Michael Jordan. When Nike convinced us Air Jordans could make us fly, having them on your feet was a status symbol. I fell in love with them the sum worth whatever price it took, including murder. In 1989 one boy was strangled for his Jordans, another one was shot. The story hit the cover of Sports Illustrated. Since then, the size of the athletic shoe market has more than doubled to $21 billion a year in the United States alone. 

Speaker 6
01:42
Hey man, yeah, you just wake up for something. Your voice is deep as hell again. 

Speaker 1
01:54
No, I didn't. I don't know what's going on with that. I've been up since 9 this morning. 

Speaker 6
01:59
You know what you sound like. You sound like those people that want to be anonymous when they come on, like like Dateline or something, yeah, and they're like in the shadows, like yeah, I did see the president do this to Monica Lewinsky like damn Deep throat, deep throat, yes, yeah, speaking of archival stuff, like you saw the movie Air, didn't you? 

Speaker 1
02:28
I did so. I watched Air with Stard Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wains, the violin Davis, played Michael Jordan's mom. I loved the way they had the movie set up, which I'm going to keep laughing because you laugh, dude. 

Speaker 6
02:50
Because you sound like the way you sound, we have to talk about some unsolved mystery shit. Because this shit is too funny, we have to give you a like a pseudonym name. This is Chico. He didn't want to give his real name, so we're calling him Chico, chico. What happened to Aaron? Is he officially back or is he under some surveillance? 

Speaker 1
03:14
You're like no man. Last time I heard Aaron was being shipped off to Cuba. That's what I heard. 

Speaker 6
03:21
With his comrades. Yeah, yeah, One of the poll questions that I put on Afterschool Special podcast Instagram. We occasionally put polls on there, and one of those polls that I put on there was what's the best show of the last 10 years? And I put Breaking Bad and I think we had closest 60% of people saying yes, that is the best show of the last 10 years. So do you agree with that or do you have another show? 

Speaker 1
03:51
I like Breaking Bad, but I also like the sequel, better Call Saul, too. 

Speaker 6
03:57
Yeah, I mentioned that. Did you finish that? I didn't finish, I didn't finish it. I have that to finish and I have Ozark to finish. I still didn't finish that. 

Speaker 1
04:07
How'd you like Ozark? 

Speaker 6
04:08
It's great, but I'm on the very last season. See, things have changed with me when it comes to viewing shows. Back then in the 90s, early 2000s, when shows came out, you had to wait, and you have to wait every week so you didn't want to miss. But with everything coming out so regularly, like a show like Ozark, I'll wait until I feel comfortable enough to like all right, I got enough time. I really want to digest what's about to happen, so I'll wait months, I'll wait hell. I might even wait a year, because I just know it's there and I ignore all the people that are spoiling stuff, because that's an epidemic too. I mean, it's always been there. I'm so tired of people racing to tell people that they watched or they were the first to do something Like everybody's, like Christopher Columbus, like no, you didn't discover anything. It's been out. 

Speaker 1
05:02
Everybody have seen it. Everybody's going to see it, man. 

Speaker 6
05:05
But, yes, ozark show, I get weird. I don't know if you do that, john, like, okay, like, what are you looking forward to seeing? Or something in the past that you look forward to seeing, but you'll wait. You won't even see it the first day, even though everything is available, especially with streaming. Now you know, things are just out. 

Speaker 1
05:23
Oh, I did that with stranger things, Like I would wait. I want to stream the whole season. I don't like these episodes and then wait till next week. I don't go for that. 

Speaker 6
05:34
That's something that I'm talking about too, but I'm talking about even when everything is already out. I'll just wait. Oh yeah, I think that's what it is. I'm not ready to let go yet, so it sounds lame, but it's like. All right, man, I know this is the last season. I know these are the last episodes. It's too much for me. Emotionally I want to wait. So I did that with definitely Ozark. I did it with Better Call Saul, because I think that's over. 

Speaker 1
05:59
Yeah, Better Call Saul is over now. 

Speaker 6
06:00
Yeah, so I'm doing it with that and I'm doing it with some other stuff too, but sometimes it's hard for me to let go of a show if I really, really like it. But I remember Mad man was kind of like that for me because I caught on real late with Mad man. Because you develop all these high hopes of how it's going to end, that you don't want to be disappointed. It's like Game of Thrones. I didn't wait for that because of what we've been talking about, like how it used to be back in the day, where everything will come out once a week. So I didn't want to be left behind because Game of Thrones fans, they'll definitely ruin some stuff for you. 

Speaker 1
06:40
So I didn't want to. 

Speaker 6
06:41
Oh, yeah, yeah, I couldn't wait, because I already knew it was going to. Somehow, some way, somebody's going to make a reference that I don't get, and then I'm going to start thinking about what they're talking about, and then I'm going to make up my own mind. Oh, they must mean this. 

Speaker 1
06:56
And this is about to happen when they be like oh man, somebody died important, and you just like what the fuck man Like. Now I'm going to be looking for who the fuck died. 

Speaker 6
07:07
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, you already do that even before you get to that point, but you still have that sense of disbelief, or you know what I mean. Like, well, I'm just gonna see how things played out. And, of course, game of thrones didn't play out like everybody wanted it to, but for me, halfway through it, I was fine with I like I really actually I loved it, people, and if you're listening, you didn't finish a game of thrones. Yeah, spoiler alert. Okay, so I'm just gonna give out one spoiler, which ain't really a spoiler, but the battle against the Night King and everybody, yes, that episode where everybody was complaining that it was too dark. 

07:50
I couldn't see, yeah, and the fact that aria was the one who killed him. 

Speaker 1
07:56
I love that, I love the two. I Love that and she did the air Jordan. 

Speaker 6
08:04
Man, oh my goodness man. I Love that. Everybody in hindsight, because of the way it ended, said man, I wish everybody would have just died there and that would have been the end. 

08:17
But I liked it up until the point. I think the first thing I didn't like was Jamie going back to be with his sister or his so wait, the show creator, all this tension with him and they finally get together and like all right, finally all this tension for all these seasons. And then he's like I'm good, like damn, hit it and quit it. Huh. 

Speaker 1
08:41
And then died and then eventually died what he has a died. Then if you're gonna leave her there, you got to die. 

Speaker 6
08:47
I thought he died in her arms instead of his. Yeah, baby mama, sister. 

Speaker 1
08:52
Yeah, that was. 

Speaker 6
08:57
And nobody liked the way she died, because everybody wanted to like launch her into space. They wanted like blood. 

Speaker 1
09:04
Yeah, sir, she got away easy, she got away Well technically she got crushed by some rubble. Yeah, but you know what I did like the thing about Daenerys going crazy, like that was a Fantastic way to start that episode. Her going ballistic, that was Wonderful, but my thing was it also showed that she can become a tyrant as well. 

Speaker 6
09:27
I love that, john. I didn't hate that part. 

Speaker 1
09:31
No, I didn't either. 

Speaker 5
09:43
Hey, babies, you like in the show? Well, thanks, leave a five-star rating and a comment, please. Do you want to see the guys faces? Well, they got YouTube videos. You can watch this podcast on any major platform. You listen to Great five stars and comment. Thanks, babies. 

Speaker 6
10:05
So you wanted to talk about shoes from the 90s. Yes, so this week I did a little research 90s is like the burgeoning of like yeah, yeah, like the shoe era, especially in neighborhoods like ours, john, like yeah, urban areas, nike Rain supreme. 

Speaker 1
10:26
In the 80s it was Adidas because, you know, run DMC was rocking them. They even made a song about it. I mean, that was the big thing, until Jordan came along and and struck that deal with the Nike and it just changed the game for Nike cuz. 

Speaker 6
10:54
No, no athlete really had their own shoe. I think in a tennis game I think they might have, but like anything outside of that, no athlete really had their own shoe. 

Speaker 1
11:06
And I believe from the 80s, with Jordan having his own shoe, then of course that sparked other people to have their own shoe and then that's what air talked about, because his mother was the one who struck that deal and said only way you gonna get Jordan is if you Give him a percentage from all sales with his name on the shoe. Smart, in the early 80s Nike was, for the most part, attract shoe company. Michael didn't even want to be at Nike. 

Speaker 9
11:40
I couldn't even get him to get on the damn plane and go visit the campus, so I called his parents and my mother say you're gonna go listen. 

Speaker 1
11:47
You may not like it, but you can go listen mom. 

Speaker 9
11:50
I don't want to hear. I know what I want to do. I am not going to like his mom. Michael, you have to give him an opportunity. And she made me go on that plane and go listen. 

Speaker 1
12:02
Go into that meeting not wanting to be there. Nike made this big bitch Follows. You gotta be a fool for not taking this deal. This is the best deal. And what happened was is the guy who was court and Jordan said there's no way we can do that. You know, nike is a public company. There's no way we would be able to do that. And she said you know, the shoe isn't anything until he steps into it. 

12:25
Yeah and that's. You know, I'm paraphrasing. But he went to feel night and feel night was like I don't know, and then feel night was like let's do it. You know, if we rock the boat, we rock the boat Nike wasn't really. 

Speaker 6
12:39
It wasn't big at that time like it at all. I mean I remember, like you said, it was Ditas even I think rebox a little bit converse for sure, cuz remember converse, at least for basketball players. 

Speaker 1
12:53
Yeah, I see this. The big three was Adidas, converse and Nike was at 17% of sales. 

Speaker 6
13:01
Yeah, nike 17% rebog. Yeah. And I remember there was athletes like Magic Johnson. Larry bird had converse, technically they had their shoe, but it wasn't like Jordan where it was like the guy had his nickname and calling car on the shoe and then later on he just set the trend. But it was great business sense on Jordan because I believe, from what I read, even before that movie came out, that he was going to go with. 

Speaker 1
13:30
Adidas. Yeah, Adidas flew him over to Germany because the guy who worked for Nike told her this is what you're gonna hear from these other Shoe companies. So it was Nike and I think it was converse. No, it might have been rebought, but what they said was you'll be wearing the same shoe is Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. 

Speaker 9
13:51
We took him out to meet converse, which at that time was the official shoe of the NBA. They have Magic. 

Speaker 8
14:02
Johnson, dr J Bernard King, larry Bird. 

Speaker 9
14:05
You already know what you did for me, what I walked away with the MVP, the Congress weapon, the number one weapon in the NBA converse, had big players and told me we cannot envision you being put ahead of them and his mom was like so you're telling me he's not going to be number one, he's going to be behind the top four athletes that are playing. 

Speaker 1
14:30
And they were like well, he gets the honor of wearing the same shoe as them. So that's what turned them off to that shoe company I think it was Reebok or Converse. Then they went over to Adidas. 

Speaker 8
14:40
Did you have a shoe company that you wanted to go with? 

Speaker 5
14:43
That was Adidas. I like Doolacres, I like Marcus Johnson and I like Adidas. I like the shoe. 

Speaker 1
14:52
Adidas was really dysfunctional by the time and Adidas couldn't come down to who was in charge because it was a family owned business and they were arguing at the table on who would make the final decision. So the mom said we'll go with Nike, which was offering him two hundred and fifty thousand to become their flagship athlete. Now, keep in mind, that's a lot of money at that time. And then, on top of that, I like the fact that, even though the movie was about courting Jordan, you never saw his face. You saw his parents' face, but you never saw his face. You only saw the back of his head. Good, you only get. 

15:33
You only saw the back of his head. He had a couple of lines, but you did see like the actual footage of Jordan at that age playing like for North Carolina and, you know, for the Bulls. You did see that. And then Nike offered him because when they came out with the Air Jordan, the black and white Chicago's, when they came out with that, they were like won't I get fine for this? And they said Nike will pay the fines for as many games you play in as long as you wear that shoe and they even capitalized on that fact because they made commercials about the shoe being banned. 

Speaker 6
16:07
I remember that was commercials and you can see those commercials on YouTube. 

Speaker 9
16:12
On September 15th, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18th, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can't stop you from wearing them. Air Jordan's from Nike. 

Speaker 6
16:31
But that was genius, because young people, of course, will always gravitate to something that's forbidden or people in general. People in general. 

Speaker 1
16:42
And it's in popular culture too, because if you look at any of the Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, that's what Miles Morales is wearing in the movie. He's wearing the Air Jordan's, the very first ones They've translated into animation. You know like it's a big deal. I mean even Space Jam, anything with Jordan on it, especially the shoes, because the Space Jam weren't out but everyone wanted that shoe when they saw the movie. 

Speaker 6
17:13
I'm going to skip to the part where I say I'm so damn tired of hearing Jordan and shoes and I know we're talking about the shoes and the shoes look great, but ever since the early 90s, maybe even the late 80s, where I heard news reports of people waiting in line like they they're waiting to see the Beatles or waiting to see you know, you name it like these are just shoes, man, and people are dying for these shoes. People are getting robbed for these shoes. Especially, it got sad when it was a regular occurrence and it happened to be an urban neighborhood. Now that's me as an adult saying it now, but back then, of course, I was one of those people waiting in line. I was one of those kids that begged their mom, please. 

18:03
I got to have these Jordans I'm only like how they look, but I wanted to be included with the end crowd, because the end crowd they all wore Jordans and Nike's and if you didn't have them you was just like a mummy mummy kid like you. Your mom didn't love you, your parents didn't love you enough. You're a poor ass, you're broke and you just felt excluded and you just had to have those shoes because you felt like you couldn't talk to certain people in school and I remember as a kid that I at least had one pair a year for sure, because that's all that my mom could afford at the time. But I had to have it, even though at that time, in the early 90s, I hated Michael Jordan because of my beloved Detroit pistons, bad boys, isaiah Thomas, dennis Robbins, the worm Spider, john Sally, bill Lambeer, joe Dumars I hated Jordan, but everybody who hated Jordan still wanted to have his shoes, because the shoes were nice looking shoes and if you didn't have them, like I said, you weren't invited to this end crowd. 

19:15
Fast forward 20, 30 years. Everybody's wearing the same shoes. It's just annoying. And, as I was saying, john, did you ever feel, like as a kid, pressured to have these Jordans Because if you didn't get them you wouldn't be like in the end crowd, you would stand out if you didn't have the Jordans or 90s. 

Speaker 1
19:37
Yes, I did feel the pressures of not having the shoe and it sucked because my dad would not buy these shoes for me at all. Can you hear me? 

Speaker 6
19:51
Your voice changed back to normal. How did you do that? 

Speaker 1
19:53
Oh, I don't know what happened. 

Speaker 6
19:55
You're no longer in witness protection program. Okay, yeah, hey, staff is back, all right. 

Speaker 1
20:02
Yeah. So I did feel the pressures of having them. My dad wouldn't buy them because back then, when Jordans were coming out, they were way too expensive. Plus, they were designer shoes and he felt like, hey, if you're not playing basketball then you don't need to wear those. But I'm like people don't just wear them for basketball, People wear them for fashion. 

20:23
So he would not let me buy those whatsoever. He wouldn't pay for them. The first pair of Jordans I ever got were Team Jordans, which were even the regular Jordans. They were just like the Team Jordans that were, like you know, just generic colors and stuff. 

Speaker 6
20:40
Well for the young people. Now, when Team Jordans came out, the first Team Jordans that I remember came out when the Pat Leather Jordans came out. The ones that look similar to the Pat Leather Jordans, except these had like little tiny vents in them. And they weren't those, the Team Jordans. 

Speaker 1
20:57
Yeah, I'm not a Jordan aficionado, so here's the thing. So I remember my buddy went to get the shoe, but he used to ride the bus. I never rode the bus, but he used to ride the bus. He went to the mall, got the shoe. He's standing at the bus. 

21:12
This guy comes walking up. He's about a mile off and the bus has not arrived yet. And he's like hey man, what size shoe you wear? And dude is like come on, man, I'm just waiting for the bus, dude. And he's like yo, what size shoe do you wear? And he's like, oh my God, come on, man. And the bus pulls up just in time for him to get on it. 

Speaker 6
21:32
And that's what I was saying. Like as much as I hated Michael Jordan because of my beloved bad boys in the Detroit business, even people from Detroit who hated him still love this shoe. So you kind of like at the time, separated your hate for him as a Detroiter for the love of just wearing shoes, because they're designer shoes. 

21:53
At least for urban areas, that's a designer shoe. But then later on, as he you know, the pistons got worse and he just started winning more championships, jordan. Then it just became like everybody's just got to have these shoes. 

Speaker 1
22:06
Yeah, and to be honest, you know not to do revisionist history, but the pistons made Jordan who he was. 

Speaker 6
22:13
I 100%. Yeah, that's not revisionist history. Jordan said that. 

Speaker 1
22:17
Yeah, it took the pistons to knock his ass around a couple of times to get him to get stronger to be able to play against the bad boys. Because if you go on YouTube type in Detroit Piston Bad Boys, there is a video of all the highlights of Bill Lambert, rodman, jody Isaiah, like the bad boys Dude, I remember that, the skull and crossbone on the basketball that was like yeah, we took a lot from Raiders culture too. 

Speaker 6
22:46
Yeah, we would take their logo a big thing at that time, especially in Detroit. You would take a starter jacket and you would get the logos bedazzled with like rhinestones. Did you ever do that as a kid? 

Speaker 1
23:00
My brother did get something rhinestone. 

Speaker 6
23:02
But rhinestones. 

Speaker 7
23:15
Hey guys, you can catch this podcast on any major platform. You listen to podcasts. Please make sure to rate us five stars and comment on how you're liking the show. After School Special. 

Speaker 1
23:29
Podcast. You know that hard. Goodness that you get the next day. Oh yummy, From a day old donated duggies. 

Speaker 7
23:37
After School Special. 

Speaker 6
23:38
Podcast no, no, no, no, no, no. That's my childhood, right there, mother, when did I come out? 

Speaker 7
23:45
Podcast comes out every Friday Friday. 

Speaker 6
23:48
Friday. It's too rough with shoes. When I was a kid to keep shoes clean, keep shoes looking new, because I didn't care about that. I was a kid, I just wanted to play. I didn't want to think about cleaning my shoes and keeping them clean and keeping them like new, and I think I wasn't good at being the sneakerhead because I just didn't give a damn about keeping my shoes new or new looking, and it was too much pressure, especially when you come from a poor household. It's like you buy me, I think back then, $120 Jordans and then you say, okay, now you got to keep these clean for a long time because we don't have enough money to keep replacing. So it was like right. 

24:36
On one hand, you're grateful and you, as a kid, have these shoes so you can fit in. On the other hand, it's like, well, I kind of want to play in these shoes. I was a rough kid when it came to keeping stuff like new, and I still am, because I just want to play. 

Speaker 1
24:52
I would have beat the hell out of them. Shoes. Now I don't. I have them because I was so mad that I couldn't get them as a kid. I bought the ones that I wanted when I became an adult. So, man, it really depends on what your style is, what you want to wear, because something sneakers may not look great to you, but I might like them and want to wear them. Like I've gone back and done some research on older sneakers that I've seen and I'm like, oh, I'm going to get these, but they cost so much. Now I'm like, well, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to make an investment and do that and I do beat them up. 

Speaker 6
25:28
Sometimes it pisses me off now. Well, it pisses me off, but it confuses me. It's the better word that the same Jordans that I used to spend $120, $150 on is not only way more. Now I know it's inflation. Things cost more now. That's just the way it goes. Yeah, they keep repurposing the same shoe. Now of course, they put different colors and different variants but, it's the same damn shoe. 

Speaker 1
25:55
I get you. I get you because that's the thing too. Like if it's a rare colorway, it'll be extremely expensive, but if it's like a common colorway, it'll still be expensive, depending on where you're getting it from. You have shoe sites like eBay, which now certifies sneakers before you're able to get them. You have Goat, who you can go in there and buy any shoe imaginable if they have it in your size. But then they get you on the shipping. And then you can get shoes from StockX, which that's 50-50. But StockX, you can buy shoes on there. It's like the stock exchange. The prices go up and go down and you can haggle with prices. I just got a pair of Heraches from Mexico City. That's how far out they go. It can come from all over the world. If they have that size, they'll send it to you. 

Speaker 6
26:47
But these shoes are valued not just Jordans, but just shoes in general now, or art pieces. You have to keep them in case they appreciate more in value than you. She's Louise man. These shoes do look nice, but the people that are making them are like situation sweatshops. 

Speaker 1
27:12
Nike got into a lot of trouble with the Malaysian sweatshops about the kids making Nike products for only a nickel a day and the conditions are horrific. The kids should be in school and stuff like that. It became a really hot button issue. 

Speaker 8
27:31
The wages that Nike's paying to the workers here in Indonesia are clearly not adequate to meet. I just want adults basic needs, and we're just talking about an adult. What if you had children like these kids here that have been following me all over the village? So I guess we then have to ask the question if I can find this information out with a very limited budget and you've got Nike, who has a corporate social responsibility division of 120 people that got a budget of $30 million Couldn't they come here and do this kind of research and share that information with the top people of the company? And if they have, have they come to the same conclusion that I have? 

Speaker 1
28:09
And you know people were asking Jordan at the time like, do you know this? That this is where your shoe was being made and stuff like that, and I do remember that it was a big thing. I will say that Nike, as of late Jordan, has become his own brand. You know, it's still under Nike, but it's become kind of its own flagship. People still buy them, like now as an adult, and I make a decent amount of money. It's not like I want to rush out and get them, but it's like when you were a kid you're like that's way too much money. But now you look at it and you're like, oh, I can get those, but why I don't need them, you know. And then the other thing to look at too is that what are you gonna use them for? I had a friend who would buy two pairs One pair to wear and another pair on display. 

28:56
That's what he would do. He would have them for display, for sale purposes. I'm not doing that. You know, if I'm wearing them, I'm gonna wear the out of them and then I'll just clean them up as best as I know how. That's what I'm willing to do. 

Speaker 6
29:07
I'm not doing that. Even that is a chore for me, as much as, like, I like my shoes to look nice. It's like at a certain point, after like two or three months, I'm like I heard it, man, it's a scuff. It's a scuff. I don't know what to do. 

Speaker 1
29:20
Yeah, you can't beat yourself up over a scuff, but some people they have certain shoes they wear, like when they go to a picnic, cause they don't wanna get no grass stains on them. You know some people have. 

Speaker 6
29:29
How do you avoid the shits? 

Speaker 1
29:31
Yeah, unless you like, my buddy was like he had two sets of shoes. He would have a set he was wearing and then he would have his active set that he would wear out into the field. 

Speaker 6
29:41
This is too much man. 

Speaker 1
29:44
It is a lot, man. It's a very expensive habit. It's just like collecting what, like I do action figures. It gets expensive and you gotta be able to choose your battles, man. Like you either want this or you want that, or you don't get any, you know. Like you gotta make up your mind, cause it is expensive. 

Speaker 6
30:00
Yeah, and I come from a long line of sneaker heads. My brother is a huge sneaker head. It sounds like you're in the middle. 

Speaker 9
30:08
Like you are, but you aren't. 

Speaker 6
30:10
Yeah, and as I got an order, yeah, I paid attention to my own style of fashion. I mean, it used to be when you were a kid you just kind of fell in line. It's like whatever is the biggest thing at that time, you try to like do the best you can to follow the trends. But now as an adult, like yeah, you kind of just make it up as you go, Like and nobody cares. But as far as the shoe game goes, I try to keep up as best as I could. When I was a kid, If my mom wasn't making no money then I ain't gonna get no damn shoes. I had to. Facts, yeah, Whatever shoe you had, you just had to maximize the hell out of them. But I was a rough kid with everything anything new. But with that said, the movie air was pretty damn good, huh. 

Speaker 1
30:55
So okay, so I'm gonna say this and you can eye roll if you want, but I like movies with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in them 13 afters. 

31:03
I was just saying yeah, yeah, I like movies with those two in there because they're friends in real life. They have such a dynamic on the screen when they are together. The guy who created the shoe, the Air Jordan he died a couple months before the film came out. But he was also the guy who came out with the silhouette, the jump man. He was the one who designed the jump man for the Jordan that will replace the Nike sign. He put the Air Jordan on there. 

Speaker 6
31:31
No, that was brilliant. Well, what is your favorite Jordans of all time. 

Speaker 1
31:35
I'm gonna say the Lost and Founds Air Jordan Ones. They are a specific design of the Jordan One where they're beat up like they look like Jordan Warhol, like the leather is cracked. It's designed to look this way, like he lost these shoes. The box is all beat up, the paper that comes in it is newspaper wrapping and then there's a shoe tab in it that says one pair of Jordans such and such amount of money. Like they really designed a hell lot of that shoe. It was really cool. 

Speaker 6
32:08
So they designed a shoe to look beat up. 

Speaker 1
32:12
Yeah, I mean they're not, and you have to pay for that shit. They're not literally beat up, but they're supposed to emulate the fact that these were Jordan's shoes that got lost. 

Speaker 6
32:22
This guy is just getting away with every damn thing. All right, come on dawg Now we. 

Speaker 1
32:27
I know, I know, I know dude. I know, I know and you know I shouldn't even be. 

Speaker 6
32:32
How is he getting away with this? He hasn't played in 20 years. 

Speaker 1
32:37
I shouldn't be supporting this, but you know, it's designers, man. It's these designers out here Tinker Halffield and all these other designers that get their hand on these shoes and decide to make something completely different. 

Speaker 6
32:48
The design of shoes, I think, is art Full stop. Yeah, I just don't like the price of it, because shoes, in my head, is just designed for you to wear them and for them to be comfortable. So when you get Yeezys and GZs or whatever the hell they're called, they cost 3, 400, I'm like where what they do. 

Speaker 1
33:08
Yeah. Yeah, I'm not buying no Yeezys. I mean, if you even look at them on your foot, it looks gross. They look like a modern art museum, but it looks like you're wearing the guilty foot it looks like a roach. 

Speaker 6
33:21
I don't know what the hell it is. I mean, supposedly they're comfortable shoes. I've had some bought for me. I didn't buy them and they were very comfortable. They were like but I have weird feet. I have flat feet, so no shoes stays comfortable for me very long. 

Speaker 1
33:37
And then the Birkenstocks, the sandals. You're paying a fortune for those too. You know what I'm saying? It's name brand stuff. That's the problem. If you sell those in Payless, no one will get it. Nobody will buy them. No one will get it, because remember the Starberries, like they were selling, or the. Shacks, yeah, the Shacks, those were being sold at Payless. Even the British Knights, the British Knights in the oh yeah. 

Speaker 6
34:01
Remember the Pump Ups? It was the yeah, that was Reebok, Reebok. 

Speaker 1
34:04
Yes, and then they had LA Lights. Yeah, I've never got those, but I tried to find some LA Lights. The LA Lights company is still open, but the shoe looks like a running shoe and it has a light on the front. It's not like the cool ones, like when we were kids. 

Speaker 8
34:21
The high tops. 

Speaker 1
34:23
Yeah, when you were walking they would light up and stuff like that. So it's not like that. 

Speaker 6
34:27
My favorite Jordan's is the cliches. It's the patent leather ones, the black and red, or the classics, the black and white patent leathers. I have the Space Jams but it was like, oh, they're just all black and a little bit of blue. 

Speaker 1
34:41
All right, I have those too Second hand. 

Speaker 6
34:45
Yeah, that's man. What a waste of money. But. 

Speaker 1
34:48
I have the Space Jams, I have the patent leather Chicago's, which are the black and red ones. 

Speaker 6
34:53
Yeah, I wanted the black. 

Speaker 1
34:55
I have the Space Jams, the white and black. I have those. 

Speaker 6
34:59
The more they come out with these styles, the more they're not. The shoe itself becomes less unique to me. I'm like, oh, it's just yeah, yeah, I'm with you, I'm with you. 

Speaker 1
35:08
I also feel like Cuz Nike, even though Converse was beating Nike. It's so funny that when Nike reached its prime, they bought Converse and Converse even gets out of hand with all these designer Converse, like it's a cloth shoe and you know you get all these like designer art I don't know, like prints on the side and stuff like that. 

Speaker 6
35:31
I used to rock Converse a lot especially. 

Speaker 1
35:33
Oh I did too. 

Speaker 6
35:34
I did too College. That's when I really started buying up every Converse I can get my hand on To all black Converse. I don't mean a high top like every Converse I can think of, but my feet could not take it. It's so flat that wearing them for a time it just hurts. 

Speaker 1
35:49
But they've made a resurgence in gyms because people wear them when they're squatting like they're flat enough to oh yeah, yeah, for like working out and leg workouts, they're flat to the ground. It's almost like being barefoot, but you get your full foot to the ground when you're doing leg presses and stuff like that. 

Speaker 6
36:09
The things you learn as an adult. You know you wish you could like go back and talk to you as a kid, like I would probably tell myself it gets better. But prepare yourself, because life comes at you fast, comes at you so fast. And that's what she said. And I think what I would say also is enjoy being you, enjoy being a kid, but enjoy being yourself, because your identity is so unique that people will follow you. You don't have to follow other people's trends. So that's what I would tell myself. But what would you say, john? 

Speaker 1
36:46
I would have told myself back then be different. It's okay to be different, because I didn't feel like my true self until I met you. 

Speaker 6
36:58
Same here. 

Speaker 1
36:59
And, yeah, I didn't feel like my true self until I met you and the rest of the classmates that we were with, because then I could appreciate, like listening to rock, and I had a more appreciation for doing things outside the box, going places that I wouldn't normally go. I didn't feel that before, before I was hanging out with you know other black people, it was just cool you know, but I didn't feel like myself. 

37:24
I always felt like an outsider because of the type of things that I like to do, like I love rock and roll, I love. I just do like, if I can listen to rock and roll over hip hop, I will. I just like rock and roll, you want to? 

Speaker 6
37:36
know something weird people in my life that saw me one way as a kid and then saw me grow up to be another thing. They can't comprehend how and you're probably the same way, how you could love both equally Like oh man you don't like hip hop. No more, damn, you. Don't listen to hip hop. Like no. 

37:54
I still do. I still listen to all the stuff that I used to listen to. But you got to understand, for 20 years of my life the first 20 years I was immersed in that, so I knew a lot about that. So now that I'm learning about something new, it's like I want to be immersed in this. It's not that I don't like the other stuff anymore, it's just like I want to catch up, like whoa. Everything I listened to back in 2004, 2005, when I started listening to rock, was all new. So if you did an experiment with yourself, john, pretend that you grew up loving rock and you got into rap at 25 instead, it would have been the same thing. 

38:35
It would have been like what the hell is a DMX, what the hell is a JZ, what the hell is a Ron DMC. 

Speaker 1
38:41
Who are these people? 

Speaker 6
38:42
Who are these people? 

Speaker 1
38:44
I was getting into house music, so like Daft Punk would become very popular to me. You know their album Homework was really good. You know Daft Punk Alive, where they did their Alive concert. I was just into all of that man, and you know what it helped me when I was in the military because I was such a broad person that I got along with everybody. You know like I knew all kinds of music so I could fit in with anybody, you know, so it really helped me out. 

Speaker 6
39:12
We talked about shoes and we talked about music. But honestly the shoe game kind of came from the music that I listened to, because when rappers would mention certain clothing, certain shoes, everybody who was listening that I was hanging out with we would like go out and try to buy those things or try to figure out what that rapper or musician was talking about and the same thing happened when I started listening to Rock and Roll. 

39:40
It was like Rock and Rollers weren't talking about my adidas or talking about what they would wear, but you would see them perform live and you would see what they were wearing. So of course you know, kurt Cobain wearing flannel, I'm wearing motherfucking flannel. He's wearing Converse, I'm wearing Converse. It's like you get fully immersed. But as far as the lifestyle of shoes and music, it kind of goes hand in hand, even if you don't really notice it at first. But when you brought it up I'm like oh yeah, I guess I did, and college changed everything and nobody was telling me to do it. 

40:12
It just felt right. 

Speaker 1
40:13
Yeah, I was just shopping more at. 

Speaker 6
40:16
Hot. 

Speaker 1
40:16
Top More or Spencers. You know, I was dressing for leisure. 

Speaker 6
40:21
I was dressing to feel comfortable. At all times I will wear Converse ripped up jeans I had an Afro at the time ripped up shirts. I will go to the club like that, which seems weird to me now, but I remember it all went to well. If I'm going to make this music, I got to live this. I got to live this life and that's how it went. But yeah, now it's fascinating. We'll talk about more of that maybe in the future, but this is After School Special Podcast at Staffman. 

40:51
I'm Don, Look us up Instagram. We do Instagram lives. She's supposed to be on Fridays, but sometimes we do on. Saturdays we're kind of like leprechauns you got to catch us when you catch us. But After School Special Podcast on Instagram. After School SPE3 on Twitter. After School SpecialPodcastcom is the website. After School Special Podcast on YouTube. Even though it's been a long time since I've updated all of our videos on there, it's coming. And TikTok After School Special 3 on TikTok. Look out for the lives on there. 

Speaker 7
41:27
They're going to come at some point. 

Speaker 6
41:30
Look for us New episodes every Friday. Download, download, download. This is not radio. We don't get paid for this. However, we kind of mark our success with each download and each interaction that you guys, the audience, give to us. If we don't hear from you guys or we don't see a lot of downloads, we just assume that was like oh, that was a bad episode, even though personally, I think 99% of all our episodes are good and the ones that were okay, I blame myself, but continue to download, interact with us. Thanks everybody for tuning in and interacting with us on Instagram. Like I said, I'm double D. That's staff man and this was After School Special Podcast. Aaron is gone. He's a mercenary. He got fired again, so oh he went back to Africa. 

42:21
That's what it was. 

Speaker 1
42:22
He went back to white Africa. 

Speaker 6
42:25
So guys have any ideas of what you want to hear next. More retro topics. I know we haven't done it for the last three or four episodes, but it was on purpose. You probably get back to that the next episode or soon thereafter. But you guys have a good night. 

Speaker 8
42:41
Bye, last few kids Night people, hey everyone. 

Speaker 7
42:46
It's Aaron from After School Special Podcast, Like what you hear so far, but don't forget to subscribe and download the show on whatever platform you get your podcast and just a friendly reminder we have new episodes out every Friday. Thanks for listening everyone. 

Speaker 6
43:04
Comes at you so fast, and that's what she said.