Jadakiss Goes Sneaker Shopping with Complex at Stadium Goods

Jadakiss Goes Sneaker Shopping with Complex at Stadium Goods

The hip-hop veteran talks wearing the Nike Air Force 1 in music videos, meeting Michael Jordan at a Floyd Mayweather fight, and more.

Matt DeSciora

Sneaker Shopping with Complex returns to Stadium Goods this week with a special guest with deep ties to New York City: hip-hop legend and Yonkers native, Jadakiss. If you’re familiar with Jadakiss, who rose to fame in the ‘90s with The Lox, then you won’t find it hard to believe that Sneaker Shopping host Joe La Puma peppered the rap veteran early and often with questions about the Nike Air Force 1.

Famously rapping “Lox came through in a yellow Lex/hopped out with the Air Force 1s with the yellow checks” on “F*ck You” from The Lox’s “We Are the Streets” studio album in 2000, Jadakiss explained to La Puma that, “The Air Force 1 phase, that was my first introduction into really collecting sneakers. Air Force 1s, especially the all-white with different Swooshes, was my drip.” A short while later, Jadakiss wore a pair of custom, all-white Air Force 1s with a Gucci-inspired print on the Swoosh in his “Knock Yourself Out” music video.

“That was part of my styling for the album. Back then, that was a big thing,” says Jadakiss. In addition to his love of the retro Nike basketball shoe, Jadakiss has connections to Reebok, New Balance, and others, having styled various models for the brands in lookbooks and the like.

Jadakiss’s relationship with legacy footwear brands even extends to Jordan Brand, who, in 2005, sent the “Top 5 Dead or Alive” rapper to a Floyd Mayweather fight decked out head-to-toe in Jordan gear, which caught the attention of who else? Michael Jordan.

Watch the full episode of Jadakiss’s time at Stadium Goods on Sneaker Shopping with Complex to hear about his relationship with the greatest basketball player ever, and more.