The Jam

So sometimes you get this one song, right? Suggestion from a friend, random download from a playlist, picking up an unknown album from a record store, whatever the means of possession might happen to be, this certain songs comes into your life. In today’s current age you drag the little file over to iTunes waiting to see what this mysterious little MP3 file holds for you. The file loads and through the speakers out blasts some glorious cacophony the likes of which you have never heard.

It’s hard to describe but sometimes certain songs hit you on particular days and they literally just change your life for that day. Music really has an incredible power to change the way a person thinks, feels and acts. It can call an entire group of people to action or unite complete strangers. More importantly for you and I, it can take us to a completely different place as we sit in front of a 15 inch computer screen.

If you could see the way the track below makes me get up and walk around my room nodding my head, than you might have a little better understanding of the feeling I am trying to convey. The track is so amazingly soft but at the same time it pounds so hard on a profoundly deeper level. It’s like being smacked with with the finest pillow by the grade school girl on whom you always had a severe crush. Sure you feel it, and sure you are getting hit, but you wouldn’t mind feeling it again and again.

It may not work for you with the below song, the weather may not be right from where ever you are reading, you may not be a fan of the lyrics, hell you may not even like the song. But when you find that perfect song for yourself you will know exactly what I am talking about as you get up out of your chair and begin to nod your head around your room despite the confused stares of those around. That’s what happens to me at least.

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!!!Click here to listen to "Golden Lady" !!!

They Reminisce over you.

I had a conversation with a lovely lady last night. We spoke a bit about the past. It kind of made me feel old. After a little while of reminiscing, I thought to myself, It’s funny to look back on things and realize how much someone can change and grow in just a matter of months or years. On the same token it’s just as fun to look back and realize how in other ways we can remain exactly the same. Maybe I’m just feeling like an old man because I will be celebrating my birthday, marking 25 years of DOPE on the 31st, and I will officially be in the quarter life grouping..

Where did all the time go.

I Got Colors

Ahh ye olde Nike swoosh. It seems that at everyone I run into these days these days either still is, used to be, or is in the process of ending their “sneaker-head” phase. The vast majority of you need no definition for that phrase, you know exactly what it means to know the release date of every upcoming Dunk, to refresh Nike Talk hourly to see Nike or Bapes newest offering, or to stand freezing cold in front of your local sneaker store (blends) or FootLocker alongside a few other dedicated individuals to grab your size 10.5 Air Jordan before the mobs enter the store hours later. Sneaker collecting and obsessing, what exactly happened to this massive and inescapable trend? Well, let’s figure it out.

I, like most of you, was a certified beast and follower of the trend during its prime. I started slowly mostly around Air Force Ones and quickly skipped from there over to the Vintage Nike and Dunk side of things. I was a frequent poster on at least three separate sneaker forums at a time and slowly began to craft the “internet persona” that has largely and eventually evolved into the situations I now find myself in. I have never had a true job in my life. I have never had the experience of a boss, or daily hours, so I took all sorts of other routes to satisfy my sneaker urge. Sold some Video Games, Sold Candy, Got a job at Hollister of all places, it was all undergone in an attempt to amass the most rubber soled pieces of goodness I could get my hands on. I was fully enraptured in the worlds of swooshes, three stripes, Vans, and Pumps and suddenly it all came to a halting stop.

At some point along the line I completely lost the fire. Sneakers could not hold my interest and before long I was no longer frequenting any of the old sneaker haunts. Release dates, new Jordan drops, I was completely ignorant, it was right around this time that I began to focus on clothing. To some extent, it was surely the clothing that pulled my attention away. At that point I was focused on purchasing 80 dollar Bathing Ape t-shirts instead of 200 limited edition Nikes. At the same time though, something a little deeper was taking place and I feel like I began to make a realization about the obsession I had invested so much time into.

I feel that sneaker culture has been more or less ruthlessly exploited by corporations and big names that have abused what was once an original movement. As with many subcultures, once a corporate CEO realizes that they can manipulate and twist what was once an original institution in order to generate extra funds the life is slowly but surely sucked out of the practice, in this case sneakers. When Nike, Reebok, and Adidas began to realize the following they have developed and focus on making releases specifically for the “sneaker-head” audience, the essential cool that once set the genre apart began to crumble.

When it began to feel like I was being sold sneakers rather than hunting to find a rare pair merely issued by a big name, it immediately lost the appeal it once had. I got into sneaker collection aspect of the culture not only because I always had a massive love for the design and aesthetic, but because it was something underground, something not everyone did. I could spot another sneaker head a mile off and I would know he recognized my inclusion in the same subculture but no words were needed. Every was a participant in a long practiced trade of collection and appreciation without the direction of corporate overhead. Once the big names realized how they could expand their profit margin, the genre went to hell and back again. Poor releases that were somehow supposed to appeal to the sneaker collector’s whim, and in general a lack of realization that they’re not being involved was essential to the appeal of their shoes.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still an ardent lover of a vintage Nike or Jordan silhouette. I still will purchase a great pair of shoes when the opportunity arises. But you will never find me organizing them by box, or cleaning them with a toothbrush these days. Not this year, and not for the past years have I devoted any major amount of time into acquiring a specific pair. I still have love for those who collect and obsess but I really cannot partake in the madness any longer. With that being said, if anyone ever see’s a pair of OG Bred Jordan 1’s size 10.5 on eBay…all notions aside I will revert to every puddle hopping, tooth brush cleaning, blog obsessing sneakerhead tendency I just condemned in order to purchase them.

!!! I was never able to sell those shoes shown above, let me know if you're interested haha !!!

Interweb

Sometimes, on certain days, the internet just doesn’t get to be a part of my life. Yesterday was one of those days. I often feel like I’m betraying the family out there if I go a few days without a post but I hope you can understand that quite simply, some days it just doesn’t happen. The internet has become such a huge part of people’s lives these days it’s staggering to step back and notice. If someone isn’t at home, watching TV on their computer, Twittering and chatting on AIM, than they are out and about while Twittering from their phone and checking sites through their phone. It’s an inescapable thing that opens so many doors but really changes your day when you have to be connected at all hours. With that being said, I am taking another vacation from the internet today and throwing together this slightly lazy but still classic post featuring a few videos that have been on rotation on my iPhone and Laptop.