Air Jordan Releases Sneakers to Honor The Notorious B.I.G. and 50 Years of Hip-Hop
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Larry Busacca/Getty; Sotheby's
For The Notorious B.I.G. hip-hop was all a dream — and now that dream is being memorialized in Air Jordan's newest shoes.
To commemorate hip-hop's 50th anniversary as a genre, Air Jordan collaborated with The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, an organization created in The Notorious B.I.G.'s honor — using his birth name — to empower inner-city youth through tools like education, to create a limited edition sneaker.
The legendary rapper, who died in 1997 at 24 years old, revolutionized hip-hop alongside other icons of the time, like Tupac Shakur. In honor of his legacy and the Jordan year, 23 pairs of Air Jordan's newest sneakers will go on auction between Jan. 23 and Feb. 3, and will also be on display at Sotheby's New York galleries in that time frame.
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Sotheby's
Biggie's Instagram page announced the collaboration in a post showing the details of the shoes.
"Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, which aims to empower inner-city youth with educational learning instruments, sponsorships, grants and community-based mentorship programs and campaigns, all in line with its motto, Think B.I.G. 'Books Instead of Guns,'" the account wrote in the caption.
In a separate post, the account described the details of the new shoe, which has been dubbed The Christopher Wallace Air Jordan XIII.
The sneaker features a silhouette of Biggie's face on the tongue and two of his famous lyrics from hit song "Juicy" on the inside of the tongue, which read, "And If You Don't Know, Now You Know" on the left shoe and "It Was All A Dream" on the right shoe.
The insole also features a colorful "special edition" print, and a red and black plaid flannel pattern on the sock liner. The shoelaces will also be inscribed with the word "Dream."
"In addition to the sneaker's highlights, listed below, the design features an inspired special edition print detailing on the insole— all styling which has become synonymous with The NOTORIOUS B.I.G," the caption read.
The sneaker joins the latest move in celebration of hip-hop's 50th anniversary. In Biggie's hometown of N.Y.C., Mayor Eric Adams hosted an event at City Hall last November, where he detailed how the city will plan 50 events over the course of 50 days to ring in the anniversary, in collaboration with the Bronx's Universal Hip Hop Museum, which will open in 2024, according to Hip Hop DX.
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"First time in New York City history, we have a hip-hop mayor," Adams said during a press conference at the event.
He continued, "We have the power now where we can use the experience of these men and women here to reform how we use music to educate our children. To not only build this project but to make sure the young people on this project don't have a steel gun but a steel hammer so they can be a part of the construction."
