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We on award tour…

This episode of S.F.U. details the hunt for one of the diamonds inside of the Holy Grail of sneaker collecting. My homey GrandMaster made a trip to NYC to copp himself a pair of the Air Tech Challenge retros (b/k/a the AGASSIs) in the GOAT O.G. colorway. After reading about 40 Diesel’s success in scoring a pair for twenty cent this was the motivation to take the Metro-North from New Haven and go on a mission with me through NYC.

Truth be told is that GrandMaster is on spring break from Yale University and on his way to Boston to wild out, but anyone who knows how to get around knows that you can save a grip on travel expenses by hopping on the Chinatown bus to anywhere. Sure you take your life in your hands, but for $15 to downtown Boston you can accept the odds. So before the jump to Beantown we linked to form a sneakers fiends Voltron.

This was a classic NYC mission that took us through over a dozen sneaker stores in three different boros. We started off in BK at the mall on Fulton Street. BRUCE RATNER and Jay-Z haven’t totally gentrified downtown Brooklyn just yet and there are still some official sneaker spots to catch your general releases on discount as well as your hard to find quickstrikes and SB’s and what have you.

Brooklyn was hot to def, but we both set the parameters for today’s consumption on a particular meter. This way even if the hunt wasn’t totally a success we wouldn’t wind up spending too much of out trap on shit just because. This is a good model to use whenever you go on a sneaker mission.

The next stop from Brooklyn was the South Bronx. I know a gang of stores along Third Avenue that have sneakers at the right price. Even though there was a monsoon going on outside we trooped hardbody style on the NYC subway system. Peep the map.

The Dr.Jay’s at Third Avenue had crazy sales going on but no more Agassi’s left in the OG colorway. They had the black joints with the orange details for $40. Those joints are just aiight. This spot is 40 Deez sneaker headquarters since they specialize in sizes 14+. Further down the block we came up on a spot with the shoes we were hunting. Can you believe these fools were selling them for $100? Homeboy said he could make something happen with the price and I asked him if he could sell them for twenty. Since he couldn’t we kept it moving.

Our next stop was Fordham Road which is a bit more upscale a shopping district than Third Avenue. Upscale in the sense that instead of $10 dress stores they have an A.J. Wright. Keep in mind this is still the Bronx. At Dr.Jay’s on Fordham Road we came across some tempting joints on super sale. The Highlighter Pack Air Max 95 360’s were marked down to fifty dollars (orig. MSRP = $200). They evenj had a Talaria boot for $60. Dr.Jay’s ‘urban’ account with NIKE allows them to retail some sick variations of shoes that won’t hit the normal general release markets.

It was good for us that we remained focused through our mission because right across the street from Dr.Jay’s we hit the jackpot for discounted general release sneaker styles. Jimmy Jazz has an outlet center retail installation on Fordham Road and it was as ghetto as you might imagine. The front of the store sold slum gold and cellphones while the back of the store had all the sneakers. We found a grip of the O.G. colorway Air Tech Challenges in an array of sizes.

Let’s break it down like this…

One day unlimited ride MetroCard = $7.50
Nike Air Tech Challenge = $30.00
Sneaker Fiends Unite! NYC tour = priceless

Grandmaster and I wrapped up our day at one of my favorite burger joints in the city – Cozy Soup and Burger. That’s where the homey let me hear some of the music that he and his crew have been working on. I felt this track right here and who knows what could happen if this becomes a hit. Keep in mind, there are 1 Billion people in China. That’s a whole lot CD’s.

Made In China – ‘Life & Memories’