“Native is the New like Balance to the shoe”(De La Soul). “I sport New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow path”(A Tribe Called Quest). “Challenge the God for the New Bal’s”(Raekwon). Hip Hop’s love affair for New Balance isn’t anything new. Aside from the occassional shout out,New Balance sneakers have made cameo appearances in some of our favorite album covers as well as videos(Jungle Brothers “Doin our own thang”,LL Cool J “Around the way girl”,Kool G Rap “Road to the Riches”).
Well guess what the love doesn’t stop there. Not to long ago I sat down with one of my favorite mc’s of all time,Raekwon. He and I talked about a number of things,most importantly his love for New Balances. The Chef isn’t a sneaker head so to speak,he is a New Balance head. The conversation went from him discussing his train routes, to him name checking his favorite streets he used to shop at.
Rae’s open and candid depiction of how he used to shop for New Balance takes all back to the “Golden Era”! So do yourself a favor and hop on the Staten Island ferry and ride with Raekwon as he takes us back in the day!