Kickin' it

What is it about retro sneakers? Shove a pair of 1970s Adidas running shoes in front of men of a certain age, and you’ll see eyes light up like an insurance salesman being offered a four-ball with Tiger Woods. In hip-hop circles, nostalgia with era-defining style is not called retro. It’s old school – or old skool. And even though the scene is barely 30 years old, there’s a bandwagon rolling by sneaker manufacturers everywhere.

Take Puma. They’ve just launched a line of sportswear designed by four old skool rappers from the days of day-glo track tops and oversized pocket watches. Doctor Dre and Ed Lover, Big Daddy Kane, MC Shan and Doug E Fresh have all contributed colourways and logos to a limited run of Puma’s YO! MTV Raps brand – a landmark hip-hop show from, as they say, back in the day. They are, fo’ sure, pretty fly.

Big Daddy Kane
Black and gold Suedes feature a black patent stripe and an embroidered gold chain. The shoe liner is also in gold with a BDK stamp. 

MC Shan
His hit “The Bridge” provides inspiration, with NYC’s landmark Queensborough Bridge rendered in gold. A pair contains one red, one black.

Doug E Fresh
His song “All the Way to Heaven” appears on the sock liner, with clouds cover the body of the Suede. The Puma stripe is in patent leather.

Doctor Dre, Ed Lover
Puma Clydes in white with multi-colored laces and a snakeskin Puma stripe. The tongues carry 1988 and 1995, when YO! MTV Raps aired.