Hip-hop and sneaker culture go hand in hand; That much has always been clear.
I mean. We’ve heard the story of “My Adidas” by Run DMC, But what about the story of how Nike carved out a path for themselves at the same time?
And granted, there are a ton of sneaker brands that are considered hip-hop staples, but today we’re here to talk about the OG: Air Force 1.
Gen Z’ers have now discovered them, much to my dismay, and they wear them dirty. ON PURPOSE.
They’ll probably never know the fear of not having a crisp pair of Air Forces to start the school year (pour some out for the homies who got roasted), but we can at least hip them to the history of such a beloved shoe.
What is the Air Force 1?
The Air Force 1 was designed by Bruce Kilgore and made its way into the market in 1982. Fun fact: the original Air Force was only available as a grey-ish hi-top sneaker. According to Nike, it was the first-ever basketball shoe to feature Nike Technology — a soft springy cushioning that made it perfect for playing in.
The first ad Nike ran (see below) featured Moses Malone, Michael Cooper, Jamaal Wilkes, Bobby Jones, Mychael Thompson, and Calvin Natt, who were six of the most iconic ballplayers from the 80s. It should look eerily similar to another ad many of us saw growing up, but we’ll get to that later.
So How Did the Air Force 1 Become Popular?
Great question. Let’s stay in 80’s for a second.
Like most Nike’s, the Air Force 1 was intended to be a basketball sneaker. Naturally that means that it made its way to the dopeboys (often former/aspiring ballplayers themselves). Once the hustlers got ahold of the Air Force 1, they gave the swag over to the rappers; And once Rappers got a hold of the Air Force 1 it changed everything.
According to sneaker freaker, the first time the Air Force 1 was sported by a rapper was Rob Base &D.J. E-Z Rock’s It Takes Two (see below for the kicks). This cover, and Rob Bases co-sign was so iconic that it helped jumpstart the movement of the Air Force 1 in culture. In fact, it even inspired a later design by Louis Vuitton & the legend himself, Virgil Abloh.
“Nikes On My Feet Make My Cypher Complete”
By the 90s, rappers like Jay-Z, Fabolous and more wore Air Force 1 ‘s in different styles and colorways; some sanctioned by Nike & others that were… custom.
But, the impact of sneaker culture was fast growing; Bobbito Garcia from Source Magazine, the de-facto hiphop publication in the 90s, even outlined his love for sneaker culture in “Confessions of a sneaker addict” — in that essay he dubbed Air Force 1’s (or Uptowns as they’re know in the North) as the greatest shoe ever made.
More impactful co-signs would come from rappers like Nas, who on his debut album Illmatic said that “Nikes on my feet make my cypher complete” — and seriously y’all. Who needs a copywriter with bars like that?
In 2002, Nelly Revives the Air Force 1
After peaking in the late 90’s the popularity of the Air Force 1 began to wane. Despite a plethora of colorways and customizations, Air Force 1’s hadn’t quite regained their reputation as THE sneaker — competing with likes of Adidas. In all truth, no one expected it to return to being a cultural staple again.
However, that quickly changed when Nelly created a song and video about the sneakers effectively bringing it back to life and to the center of the pop culture conversation. (look at rappers breathing life into brands again. Crazy, right?).
The crazy part of the Nelly x AF1 co-sign is that he created such a buzz that Nike experienced some of their highest sales in year and they were even able to raise the price of the Air Force 1 from $59.99 to $100 in a year!
Nelly’s “Air Force Ones” record even caused the Air Force 1’s reach to spread; What was known an east coast sneaker for hustlers became a country-wide staple that every budding sneakerhead had to own.
The 25th Anniversary Campaign
After nearly 25 years, the Air Force 1 started to decline in popularity. There was over-saturation because of the custom sneaker game, the rising popularity of shoes from Adidas & Reebok, and the resurgence of other Nike products, including Dunks, Jordans, and Foamposites, helped contribute to the cannibalization of their business.
But in 2007, Nike created a campaign for the 25th anniversary of the Air Force 1 that re-invigorated hip-hop’s affinity for the sneaker. Nike dropped an ad entitled The Second Coming (see below) featuring LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Rasheed Wallace, Jermaine O’Neal, Tony Parker, Paul Pierce, Shawn Marion, and Chris Paul as a callback to their OG basketball ad and even featured music from Juelz Santana, who was one of the hottest rappers in the world at the time;
**Still waiting on Juelz & Lil Wayne to put out “I Can’t Feel my Face” but that’s a story for another day**
And If recreating their iconic Air Force 1 ad wasn’t enough, Nike put Rakim together with DJ Premier, Nas, & Kanye West for the “Classic” remix.
35 Years Later…
3 1/2 decades later the Air Force 1 was still going strong. In 2017 Nike put out SF-AF1 high to commemorate their 35th anniversary AND they even partnered with some of the biggest names in hiphop to create their own iterations of the Air Force 1. (look at us again helping a brand be relevant).
Collaborations happened with everyone from Travis Scott to the late Virgil Abloh whose contributions to Nike in the past decade via his Off-White imprint have further cemented Nike as the de-facto shoe brand of hip-hop.
Nevertheless, my favorite collaboration from this campaign was the Kareem Biggs collaboration which birthed a “Roc-a-fella” version of the Air Force 1 using the 2007 silhouette.
It caused a frenzy on social media when it was announced. Of course it sold out. And no, I didn’t get pair.
The Bottom Line
What I’m trying to say here is that sneaker culture and by extension Nike Culture (don’t steal that term from me) always starts in the underground — a lot of times the inception of culture begins with street hustlers who can actually afford high end shoes/clothing.
Hustlers influence the rappers who then become the conduit for bringing trends to the mainstream.
Once Rappers champion a trend, it becomes important in youth culture; And once you impact the youth, you change the world.
The legacy of the Air Force 1 is still being written today. You really can’t go wrong with wearing them (even if you like wearing them dirty, like Gen Z). But, at the very least, it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most iconic sneakers of all time.
Was a lot of fun writing this one. Got more in the stash, just hit the subscribe link to stay in the loop.
Peace.