The Dallas-Raised Artist, Long A Collaborator Of Kendrick Lamar’s, Now Has A Commissioned Air Jordan Shoe Collaboration To Call His Own.
It’s been a thrilling thing to watch the spotlight on the Dallas-raised artist Blue The Great slowly and steadily expand in recent years.
The younger brother of the formerly Dallas- and currently New York-based rapper/producer Blue The Misfit, the Los Angeles-based visual artist born Bryan Blue (also a DJ and musician in his own right) has been straight blowing the eff up over the course of the last few years, thanks in no small part to his longstanding collaborative relationship with the rapper Kendrick Lamar.
But Blue’s latest collaboration beats even that.
On Saturday, Nike formally released its shoe collaboration with the artist — a colorful pair of Air Jordan 1 mids that come as part of the brand’s new “Fearless” collection of collaborative shoe releases. Centered around a primary color-based design that uses both suede and corduroy materials, the shoe initially retailed for $130 before quickly selling out across online retailers. Not at all surprisingly, the shoe is already going for well above that rate on the secondary market. (See the above slideshow for various looks at the design.)
To celebrate the release of the collaboration, the artist has been hosting events at sneakerhead-inclined shops here in his hometown over the past few days. This afternoon, Blue The Great threw an event that also included a live painting demonstration at Sneaker Politics. On Saturday, he signed shoes for those who purchased them at the venerable Dallas streetwear hub Centre.
Looking for further proof that this is a big deal? Dallas icon Erykah Badu stopped by that Saturday event to pick up a pair of kicks that Blue had set aside for her and to congratulate him on the achievement.
For what little it’s worth beyond that, we’re way into the playful design of these mid-tops, and hoping (if not holding our breath) that a restock comes sooner than later on the release — if, well, it comes at all.
In the meantime, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Blue The Great’s Instagram, crossing our fingers that additional pop-ups with more shoes are on the way.
Regardless, we congratulate the artist on this accomplishment — and, frankly, we thank him for finally giving Dallas a locally tied shoe that can be worn with pride. Because, honestly, the other efforts we’ve seen in the recent past? They ain’t really it.