For a minute I was going crazy over this Yo! MTV Raps-flipping T-shirt with a fun-but-cranky “old rap guy” vibe to it. But it’s got absolutely nothing on the absolutely bananoid Yo! MTV Raps sneakers that Puma’s dropping on September 15. There’s one model each for Doug E. Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, MC Shan, and Doctor Dre and Ed Lover. Each shoe also has coordinating tees and jackets and, in the case of Shan, a Kangol-style hat.
I didn’t have cable growing up, but Yo! MTV Raps had a huge effect on me thanks to a compilation tape I accidentally got in the mail after signing up for a record club. It still stands as one of the albums I’ve listened to the most over the course of my life. So I sort of feel like I owe it to Doctor Dre and Ed Lover to rock their gear. But their shit is merely fly, whereas Big Daddy Kane’s sneaks are almost unspeakably cool, which is to say they’re not too different from the man himself.
I think I’m gonna try to digitally reassemble that original compilation while deciding if I’m willing to become one of those guys who camps out on a sidewalk overnight to buy shoes.