Beyond Urban Branding

This is so great. I have the original poster from the first Run DMC shoes.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the impact of Run DMC's classic rap song My Adidas and its impact on branding. Today we will look at a few other songs that have had a huge impact on shoes in particular. We begin with Air Force Ones, by Nelly. I think this may have been one of the biggest songs about shoes since My Adidas. Every kid on the block still rocks 'em. Here we have a track from a group called The Pack, based out of Oakland, CA. This was a pretty big hit. Not as big as Air Force Ones, but none the less a hit. The funny thing is, Vans have been known mostly for being skater shoes. I wore Vans in the early 80's and one thing was certain...I was just about THE ONLY Black kid rockin' Vans. But it also shows you how over time the line between "Hip-Hop" and "skater culture" became almost one in the same. Interesting thing about this song is that the video was pretty much BANNED from MTV and many other TV outlets. They saw the song as nothing more t...

I remember being sent to detention my sophomore year. I don't even remember what I had done (this time). But I hated detention. It was quiet as a morgue. I had nothing to read and it looked like the clock was almost moving backwards. Sitting up ahead of me was Che.We did not really like one another too much, but, we both loved Hip-Hop. Che had his SF Giants starter jacket on and his immaculate jerri curl was dripping like a rain forest all down the back. He had a Sony Walkman (remember those) tucked up under the curl. He leaned over to me at one point when the teacher was dozing off and said "Have you heard he new Run DMC?" He put the thumping, greasy ear pieces in my hand. I reluctantly put 'em to my head and my mind was blown away. No rap song earth has had the brand impact of Run DMC's My Adidas . This is arguably the first rap song that doubled as an advertisement. If you were lucky enough to be a teenager when this song came out, you remember the frenzy over ...