Bury me in these…
A while back on XXL, BILLY X. SUNDAY talked about rap music’s best sneaker styles and without question the classic wheat colored Timberland was second only to the Air Jordan. It was after further review I realized that because Jordan brand Nikes have sooooo many different issuances and colorways that the G.O.A.T. Hip-Hop sneaker has to the Timberland boot.
I don’t consider sneakers to be qualified simply as rubber soled athletic shoes. Sneakers are the shoes that Black folks wear to place themselves in a tribe. How many of us wear athletic shoes to do things that are athletic? Or even aerobic for that matter? So how many people wear the classic wheat work boot to actually put in work? Unless of course your job is to wear jeans and stand on a corner.
The classic heat Timberland is ubiquitous in urban neighborhoods during the winter and is considered by some to be a four season shoe when worn with shorts and a long white t-shirt during the summer. I have a pair in my archive that contain specific instructions to only be placed on feet prior to my burial in the Earth. It’s not like you can get more than four(4) crispy appearances with these shoes on before you get a random scuff or oil mark.
My favorite all purpose utility Timberland is the 3/4 field boot. I copped these ‘Chocolate Bars’ at the A.J. Wright in Hempstead for forty cent($40). These shoes are super comfortable and their medium height keeps your feet dry without the excessive leg commitment required from a higher shoe. They are also lighter than the the average work boot because of the airfoam core inside of the soles. The field boot is definitely one of Timberland’s signature styles, but they have hurt their legendary status in recent years by bastardizing the boots for urban consumption.
The appeal of Timberland since my youth has been the fact that these shoes were ridiculously rugged. I still own a pair of the original elephant skin 40 Belows. They were called the Iditarod superboot. Since then I have bought Timberland boots that were made to last. Shouts go out to JEFF and SID SCHWARZ for mailing me a pair of Italian crafted Tims for free. The best element of Timberland had been the design ethos that all you will ever need is one pair. You should recognize them for being environmentally conscious before it was a fad.
Timberland caught hell a few years ago when one of the founders made the statement that their boots weren’t made for people to wear standing on a corner. The carpetbagger Black leadership rallied around these remarks and called them code for saying that Timberland doesn’t care about Black people (no G DUBBZ). This was a low blow to the company that has already given millions of dollars to charity organizations that fund anti-poverty and anti-illiteracy movements. The truth is that Black people never bought Timberlands in the first place to stand on the corner.
Black folks are savvy consumers, but the so-called Black leadership likes to portray us as perpetual victims. Black people, along with white(gasp), originally bought Timberland boots because these shits are the most well made shoes ever and they were originally made right here in the United States. It pisses me off sometimes when everything related to Black people is either as victims or ne’er do wells, and then some loud mouth jig more than likely wearing a perm starts talking in rhyme about white racism.
I’m the last person here to make an apology for any corporation or person that is part of the plan for supremacy. Timberland just makes great shoes and they stand behind their work, and they gave a fuck about the environment before it was a fashion statement like a yellow fucking ribbon on your lapel. You don’t have to be like me and own twenty pairs of Timberland boots, because all you need to have is one pair, but if you don’t have any… You just might not be Hip-Hop.
for comfort, style, and ruggedness i must always go with some dc signature skate shoes. them shits is built to take more than being stomped by 12 thousand elephants…. they’re made to shred!
I brought Tim’s to the hood in like 87-88. True Story.
ok i’m not hip hop but then again it was over 75 degrees in hollywood today so what good would a pair of tims have done me?
word up for givin us a peek into the freezer right there… stayin icy without no gemstones on em and shit.
happy new year dp dot comm fam or, as my people say, 新年快乐.
i think in different areas and time periods a certain shoe might be that hip hop G.O.A.T…but i scooped a pair of timbs a while back just cuz it is a high quality shoe
The ACG Nike boots taking ova. Timbs falling off.
I rocks Timberland work boots in the summer for my job and them shits are a m. effin godsend. Also keep a nice pair to rock around town and some ignorant-ass white ones when I want to show out.
Fuck a Nike boot.
the passion of the tree’s…
ACG’s are built for DC, MD and VA ….cats swear by em down there
I never had a pair of Jordans (& I’m from IL) but I’ve had my share of Tims.
One time I got this job where you gotta have steel toe shoes. They gave us a $200 voucher. I’m thinking “FREE TIMS!” but they made you get Red Wings. Red Wings? I still got that voucher in my junk drawer.
Im rocking a pair RIGHT NOW! I used the older 1994 pair to shovel the driveway this morning. Came in got ready for work and threw on the wheat and brown ones. I work in Anatomic Pathology in a hospital doing nothing more than surfing the net and watching YouTube all day. LOL
Its too cold to wear anything else.
Nike ACG is sooooooo 1989ish. Upgrade!
Oh and did I forget to mention that Tims are so in demand that where I’m from they sell them at your local gas station, right next to the fried chicken and Alize. Real talk.
^”It’s not like you can get more than four(4) crispy appearances with these shoes on before you get a random scuff or oil mark.”
That’s why, after so many effin years of my patronage, I had to fall back and switch to the Nike ACG boot. ACG has fully replaced the Tim boot on the streets of America as the GOAT “urban” winter shoe like Marlo Stansfield has replaced Avon Barksdale on the streets of Baltimore. Please someone, tell me that I’m wrong. If you haven’t copped a pair of ACG’s yet, please go kill yerself.
^^”The appeal of Timberland since my youth has been the fact that these shoes were ridiculously rugged. I still own a pair of the original elephant skin 40 Belows. They were called the Iditarod superboot.”
True story, I copped my first pair of 40 belows in early ’94. Less then a week (and about only 4 wears) after I got them, the effin sole separated from the boot ON BOTH SHOES and my shits started “talking”. I contacted Timberland to complain and to get a replacement boot on the pronto. They informed me that they were very sorry but they just discontinued the ’40 below line the very day that I called and my only option was to get a Tim credit and the standard wheat joints. I’m probably that dude that copped the last effin original pair. To this day I’m still a lil salty that I missed out on the ’40 below experience. I saw ad’s last year saying the ’40 belows were making a comeback, but I didn’t see any in any store. Anyways, still very content with my ACG’s.
CJ,
A man of your pedigree would know the spot McCreedy & Schreiber on E.59th St. They were like the last cats to have the O.G. Iditarods in NYC. My old roomie Polotron copped his joints there in ’90. But even his boots weren’t as hardbody as mine were. My shits are actual elephant skin jawns. After Skynet takes over and sends the terminators my boots will be the last part of humanity left.
The ACG boots are real popular right now and so is southern snap trap rap music. I ain’t buying either. I copped those Air Max 90 boots in the OG Air Max 95 grey/neon colorway and a week later I kind’a felt a way. Boots should not have neon on them. This is where Timberland lost their way. Tims should never look like sneakers. Nike makes the illest sneakers known to man.
Timberland stay in your lane. Don’t get all cozy with the ‘hood by making colorful bullshit boots. Your OG street credibility is on the line right now. Get back to making the boots that a white would copp when he plans on not buying another pair of boots for twenty years. Yeah, I know there isn’t as much money to be made going that route but I will stay in my lane too and keep riding out with y’all.
I must differ my astute colleague. I too blanched at the thought of wearing a Nike boot. How preposterous the sound of it. However, last year, having spent two full years of not purchasing a pair of Timbs solely for the fact that the freshness factor wore off after a mere 2-4 wears, as well as the escalating price of the shoe, and having copped several other brands of boot (tried the Clarks duck boot, looked mean but after a couple of snow storms, them shits wilted like 7 day old roses), I decided to try the ACG last year, September ’06 to be exact. All black, the swoosh just barely perceptible to the naked eye, I slipped them jokers on and it was like magic, the comfort factor alone converted me. You gotta admit that the classic Timbs feel a bit clunky and heavy, the ACG’s is like throwing on some Air Maxes yo. Plus the fact that 14 months later I’m still rocking the same pair, can’t argue with comfort, style math and economics my dude. Btw, I was that dude rocking Timbs in summer 90 degree weather!
No…
You glossed over and over simplified the issue with Timberland president making those comments.
the link to the actual article is
here
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DF133DF934A35752C1A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
^ getthesenets,
what is your point? Timberland does not want to represent themselves as an urban lifestyle brand. If that fact makes them sexy for the urban lifestyle then so what?
^^ Combat Jack,
when you speak of comfort you rub the spot[ll], but I will again stay in my lane with my Timberland since I actually take them into the mountains upstate and trail run, well, trail ramble. I too am that dude wearing Forty Belows with shorts in July.
“I too am that dude wearing Forty Belows with shorts in July.+ = GULLY
The ? is, with or without socks?
“Boots should not have neon on them.”
co-sign. I’ve been in northern VA/DC all week with the fam just kicking around, and every single bougie-ass mall shoe store has those AM boots front-and-center for around 50-60.
The problem for me is that the air max colorways and color blocking work precisely because of the shape and profile of that shoe, sleek and low. Those colorways, even the more laid-back ones, are just too much for a blocky workboot-looking jawns.
Now, if Nike would just drop one in a wheat colorway like that KOOL BOB LOVE AF1 high mac n cheese give me a call… until then, nikes are sneakers (and sometimes sandals, socks, tees, hoodies… ehh).
I’m a sneakerhead, but I only wear Timbs in the winter
And yo, post those Nikes? Are those Shake Ndestructs or other vintage kicks? Cuz I’ve always wanted a pair of Shakes…
Nike swagger jacked Timbo something serious on them AF-1’s
Man eff everyone of you that wanna shit on timbs…I wear tims 365 days a year …. and no I dont do constrction or any manual labor for that matter…I dont really wear sneakers cuz I got Fred flinstone feet and they jus don’t t fit right….and if you buy the spray they will stay fresh much longer, even though the weathered look is so hood….
aint no better boot than 40’s… shit I rocked my forty until like 4 years ago when the sole finally started bubbling on the bottom….you can’t make it through a NYC snow storm with out 40’s…..
I just came back from SC, and saw these patchwork leather tims in chocalate and green suede, I’m coppin both as soon as I get over my Xmas hump….
ACG’S?..umm,NO,SIR!!, I’ll pass,…what you you gonna try and sell me next MOUNTAIN GEAR?
^”ACG’S?..umm,NO,SIR!!, I’ll pass,…what you you gonna try and sell me next MOUNTAIN GEAR?”
Mountain Gear? What the fluck is that? Mark my words though, YOU WILL COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE. Trust.
Dallas
that article,from early 90s…says it all..for all the talk about not taking disrespect from other people…dudes are quick to overlook blatant disrespect from big companies.
Being loyal to people who aren’t loyal to you. there’s word for that.
They should’a never gave you jigs use of the internets since you have no reading comprehension skills anyhoo.
Timberland has remained loyal to me by remaining loyal to its mission to create a product of the utmost quality.
Why are you mad because they styled on you and said “eff the people that buy our products but don’t use them for the intended use”?
Eff the niggas standind on the corner. They don’t respect or represent me.
Because a company makes du-rags you think they CARE about the fools that buy them.
Sonn, go back to the Al Sharpton school of perpetual victimization and read a book you illiterate son of a bi
Dallas,
Pick a caricature and stick with it. Play the feminized man with shoe fetish, the pseudo tough guy, or the enlightened former knuckle head…..but don’t try to play all 3.
If YOU read the article, you’ll see that the president did an about face on every single thing he mentioned back then. He realized that by throwing you a carrot(making lower quality timbs.vibram soles, making them in color ways…etc) you will continue to set trends for the white kids to follow….
It’s like when Hilfiger gave Grand Puba free clothes…..free clothes….to be walking unpaid billboard…and to blow up Hilfiger for him to the tune of more millions.
Ya”ll dudes is Imelda Marcos..and Erika Kane….got shoes games tighter than women……disgusting..and very FEMININE
what’s beef?
Ha. I got many styles nigger. While we into playing stereotypes you will be the ambulance chasing perpetual victim. The only people that imitate your style are those programmed into thinking they are owed something for nothing.
Again, Timberland has repaid my consumerism handsomely by making sure they re-upped my steps whenever I mailed mine back to them. That’s hip-hop.
You want them niggers to save your neighborhood and your lazy ass is too coward to volunteer for anything community building? GTFOH.
I have stood on the corner and I know there aint shit there that is redeeming or just.
If you want the niggers on the corner to get some equity you should go volunteer your time and tell them niggers to register as Republican voters.
My shoe collection isn’t as expansive as my comic collection was but its just as fun. Kick rocks nigger if you aint got no good shit in your world.
Raised by women…….eventually act like women.
Keep throwing stones at the throne nigger.
Im looking for a pair 40 bellows in 10 n half,,can anyone help?would mean alot 2 me!!!
my email is generalali@hotmail.de
Yo I was a kid in the 90s when timbs was poppin on the east I couldnt afford the real thing so I wore fubu constructs and vowed to cop timbs when I got older.I got a pair of tan(banana boats)construct timbs in the room they was crispy at first but they got scuffed up real quick but they comfy,warm,and durable. I might try the ACG’s or I might just cop some vasquez boots but 40 belows is definitely on my to do list word to mother. Imite cop me the all browns and just open that mug up and let the laces stay untied
Redwing shoes are not only good-looking, boasting a rugged charm, but they’re about as sturdy as a pair of shoes get.Instead of outfitting horseback riders, they now outfit motorcycle riders.They are the most comfortable i have ever worn.They are also unbelievably durable.
Well, I was just looking to get my ’92 Ititarods re-soled after 18 years of use. The delaminated like one of the other posts stated. I got sucked in to reading this thread; worth the 15 minutes.
Dallas is right when he says “Get back to making the boots that a white would copp when he plans on not buying another pair of boots for twenty years.” Because I can’t spend enough to geta pair of boots that I like as much as the 18 year old pair I have. I use them for work in the winter, and I love the comfort, durability, and the fact that my feet stay comfortable no matter how long I’m out, working or standing. Anyway, fun read. Thanks all. Back to looking for someone who will fix my boots w/o fucking them up.
Timberlands are good! I buy only Timberand shoes, I’ve got over 15 pairs! They look so cool! In Italy we love Timberland, but these are so expensive shoes lol!
Yo! this website is sooo COOL… im glad i found this on Google … along with this new mixtape “Sub-Conscience” by “Tha SleepWalkers” that i downloaded free!… I’ll say Good deal!
Nike zapatillas…
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