A little bit of Hip-Hop and the ancillary sneaker culture was killed in a bad way when the Puma brand of athletic footwear compromised their legacy by cross-branding a line of apparel with Viacom and their defunct show ‘Yo! MTV Raps’. The clothing line attempts to pay homage to iconic Hip-Hop legends DOUG E. FRESH, BIG DADDY KANE and MC SHAN, but the overall designs and even worse, the attachment to a television program that has had NOTHING to do with the overall recognition of these legends should cost Puma their O.G. points.
Since I only see the Puma brand now worn by metrosexuals and Euro fags I wouldn’t have considered these items for my collection anyhoo, but I am still not amused with the attachment of a network that was the ultimate Johnny-Come-Lately to the artistic movement that is Hip-Hop. When these Hip-Hop icons were at their influential apexs Music Tele Vision refused to play the music videos of any Black performers other than Michael Jackson, Prince or Sade. To the uninformed consumer one might think that ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ actually supported these true school artists when in fact MTV was the most zealous purveyor of supremacist funded gangsta rap. Newjacks, please don’t get it twisted, MTV doesn’t care about rap people.
Bigger than any other reason to throw this schmatte in the trash is the fact that this shit just plain looks wack. Okay, they almost won with the DOUG E. FRESH design. The tagline ‘All The Way To Heaven’ is classic Hip-Hop. The ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ logo… Not so much.
The BIG DADDY KANE tracksuit and trainers also had a chance to win in my book if Puma had not come with that crappy cross-branding or that ridiculous gold rope chain motif. Memo to dumbasses at Puma: truck jewelry = Slick Rick. Hi-top fade = BIG DADDY KANE. Just like a bunch of dickriders that are here to feast on the rotting consumer corpse of Hip-Hop, these shitbag designers didn’t even do their homework.
Let’s not even get into the hot mess of an outfit they designed for MC SHAN. Even twenty years later ol’ boy keeps losing. First of all, SHAN prah’lee still has his Puma suits from 1987. Second of all, when SHAN was wearing Puma suits in 1987 they were already washed up. Puma’s legacy was from 1984 down on the backs and feet of B-Boys and breakdancers. Only a Puerto Rican breakdancer would wear the sneakers they crafted for SHAN. Do you see how the colors are inverted? What peanut butter and jelly shit is this?!? Leave it up to the people that will always be the dopplegangers of the Hip-Hop movement to screw up a project that could have been so official. I have three words for the idiots at Puma and MTV who are prah’lee patting themselves on the back for this half-assed project…
YOU AIN’T FRESH!
The Shan sneak look like bowling shoes from the top view.
>>Even twenty years later ol’ boy keeps losing
Queens as a borough stays losing period.
^ That was volatile and unnecessary, especially since Russell Simmons makes a dollar everytime someone clicks on Nah’Right.
Trust me, he makes money off DP Dot Com, and I don’t make any money off DP Dot Com.
Get ’em D.P., get ’em.
I hear you on the MTV leeches and their gangsta rap push. But for this midwestern glass of milk with hair, if it wasn’t for YO MTV Raps, I would have never been put on to Special Ed, Group Home, Red, Jeru, etc. The most hip-hop our radio stations got was Technotronic.
And the puma shit is ugly as can be.
I’ll say this… Them Pepe Le Pew-Muhs look better than anything Troop (the sneakers not the tragically coiffed band) ever did.
Puma lost.
*WoW*….dude brought up Troop sneakers..I thought that was a dirty secret we weren’t supposed to pseak about ever again?
and puma straight up lost on that one…even the wiggers and hipsters prahklee won’t buy them shits. They are just ugly, period. Forget the wack connection to YO!, they’re ugly…
^Lion… Honestly Hipster (and not hip-hop) are more to blame for the current travishamockery of current sneaker design. Not to get on a diatribe (I’ll save that for another time) but somewhere about 5 years ago sneakers just started to get WEIRD. My love of kicks comes from being a jock and as time went on Nike just started dropping all these UNATHLETIC colorways that were lauded over by hipsters and people who either only break a sweat coked up or dancing to electro-techno, or people who only started wearing sneakers because it was “cool” (1/2 of Williamsburg you hear me!). So I’m mad at these Eurotrash lowrise denim wearing Bigalows that even thought this kind of design would be appropos for the clean stylings of the classic hip-hopper of the Golden Era.
“Dont EVEN get me started!!!” – that Molly Shannon female comedian character.
^ “MTV doesn’t care about rap people”
Brilliant. Not that I cop pumas anymore. I now certain won’t for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. Shits is pathetic!
But, I guarantee White from Park Slope to Williamsburg will be rocking the HARD!
Pumas stays losing.
With regard to White,
Puma stays winning.
^ It ain’t just white that stay losing when it comes to being authentic to Hip-Hop’s roots, but it be hell’a Black too. Wild Black kids over at the evil empire talk about artists like Kane and Slick Rick and call them ‘old heads’ as if they are no longer relevant any more. Nevermind the fact that their favorirte rapper’s style is a stan’s clone of Ricky D and BDK.
I’m talking about niggas not doing thbeir research. Peep the gold chain graphic on the BDK shoes. The link isn’t a rope or the Gucci, both 80’s staples. WTF is that? I’m just tired of all these perpetrators. I’ma sit down now.
MAKE SHOES LIKE YOU USED TO MAKE SHOES…erghhhhhh…let me put my feet back in my air bursts….
Those kicks can’t be new. I hope I don’t see BDK or Dougie Fresh rocking them shits. Puma has played themselves , MTV keeps playing themselves and they keep playing us. Who is suppose to wear them shits, they have to be kidding. Them joints is wack, looks like something some kid on Club MTV would wear. Stop the madness!!! Peace.
Dallas,
Did you see the Guns N Roses (November Rain) SB Dunk Mid’s!?! 3 Alarm FIRE!
http://www.kixandthecity.com/category/sneaker-news/
i don’t know how you guys can say the kanes aren’t dope.
^If they used a real link style or something more akin to Kane’s shine game then it would be better. Like if they went with the Nefertiti he rocked or something. But the chain they put on there is an insult. Its one of those generic costume store gold chain styles that is often used by the “uninitiated” to mock jewels but not worn by those who rock jewels.
^^^ thats a really good point.
Ok, MTV Sucks then and it sucks way more now with the constant dedication to crunk and all that other garbage….. Glittery rainbow brite shoes ect! Quite franky I’m a kid of the 80’s and grew up in the 90’s and I’m honoured now matter how viacom is late to the greats needless to say they are missing KRS-1 and Biz Mark, I’m still gonna rock them because these are the ppl that I over listen to and constantly stretched out my cassest tapes to, sat and recored on Kiss FM when DJ Red Alert was on the mix or when The Bridge with Ralph McDaniel was the conversation topic for the nxt day. I can’t wait for the MC Lyte, Moni Love and the Queen Latifa edtion!!!!!!