The Top 15 Kicks I’ve owned: by no means a definitive list, nor is this providing some sort of historical commentary on the best shoes of all time. Ya ya Jordan XI’s are the best, we all know that…
Now that I’m all but removed from the hypebeast standing in line for a shoe game, I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at the top 15 shoes I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning. I’ll talk a little bit about the shoe, where I was in my life at that time, as well as why I picked the shoe.
The year was 2004: Pharrell, then super producer of the Neptunes (and mr. iamrty.wordpress.com banner icon since day 1, yes that’s him in the millionaires), started a big buzz with his uber exclusive BBC (billionaire boys club) line of clothing.
look familiar?
He was seen around town with Nigo, designer of Bathing Ape with some really wild looking tees and kicks. Fakes of the tees popped up all over eBay and were selling for $150+. I, like the rest of the world, caught Pharrell fever. The dude could make some dope music and his style was ill. His BBC line was heavily featured in the video “Frontin’.” Frontin’ was definitely the song of the year for me as I had spent the better part of that year chasing a girl around who swore she didn’t like me.
She did.
2004 was also the last year I was in college and decided to borrow (ok steal) the name for my team of RA drinking buddies. We were the RAs that drank more than their residents. We shoulda written ourselves up (especially after getting fired for similar antics the year before. Yeah that was me). We even made shirts emblazoned with BBC (though they cost far less than 80 bucks!) We were reprimanded for rocking the shirts because it made some of the staff feel left out. Man I don’t think they had a big enough box of tissues for those babies. People chose not to kick it with us, then they realized how cool we were. YOUR BAD!
This is a cool picture because you can see some signs of the time- Cd’s. 2nd generation (or was it 3rd) touch iPod (not iPod touch) box in the foreground. Me with a Von Dutch Hat on. I still got the shirt (I used to wear a size medium? more like shmedium). Zack does too because he rocked his the other day when we played hoop.
“BBC is for Lovers, not HATERS”
and ya I said a Von Dutch Hat.
Damn I can’t believe that shit was in style…
Ok so back to the shoes- I was entering a phase where I was slowly sloughing off the “that guy that wears Abercrombie all the time” moniker and was looking for a new style. Time to change the game up. When news surfaced that Reebok was tapped to mass produce Pharrell’s Ice Cream shoe I was skeptical because I was still thick in the anything-that’s-not-nike-sucks phase. The shoes were so hot I was willing to make an exception. Diamond and dollars all over the shoe. Extravagant. Over the top. Exclusive. Something Crazy. Just like me at the time.
A No brainer cop.
I accompanied Mikej to Recon in SF and he had a plug. He was able to hook me up for 150, instead of 200.
Here is their current spot in the shoe archive- note that they went over the top in making the box part of the experience, playing off the ice cream motif:
A peek in the box reveals I still got the receipt! 10/13/04
The uppers were of a premium leather, super supple and they’re in pretty good condition to this day.
And the BBC astronaut logo on the bottom.
And here I am in the purple colorway having a staring contest with one of my favorite all time cats Maggie Mae!
I think this is the first shoe that was a complete departure from my normal nike basketball or running shoes. Truly just a lifestyle shoe (though they were billed as skateboard shoes, who the hell is gonna skate in $200 shoes?) My girlfriend at the time looked at me like I was crazy for spending so much on shoes that were so crazy looking. But she was frontin’ as usual, they became part of my out there style that drew her to me in the first place. And they have a rightful place at #15.
#15- Reebok Ice Creams, Diamond Flavor
#14
#13
#12
#11
#10
#9
#8
#7
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1
Hear Me Roar... 