The relationship between Hip Hop and sneaker culture is a match made in heaven. Fashion and Rap may go hand in hand, but the impervious impact of the sneaker scene has been bolstered by artists bringing streetwear to the mainstream. Much has changed since those Run-DMC "My Adidas" days, and as sneakerheads are creating new ways to admire and collect, designers are expanding their brands to ride the wave of a never-ending phenomenon.
In an industry full of copycats and duplicates, it can often seem difficult to stumble upon innovation. There are plenty of shows and podcasts that speak to sneaker culture, but Katty Customs and Just Blaze have managed to stand out on their new Uproxx series, Fresh Pair. This series is more than just sitting down with a few of our favorite chart-topping hitmakers; the hosts have intimate conversations about poignant moments in the artists' careers before collaborating to create custom, one-of-a-kind sneakers inspired by their stories.
Katty is a famed designer who is a well-respected voice in this space, while Just Blaze's contributions to Hip Hop don't need an introduction. However, in our exclusive interview with both Katty and Blaze, the megaproducer made it clear that his addition to Fresh Pair is more than just his success in music.
"I was one of those people that was doing this sneaker thing before the phrase 'sneakerhead' even existed. So, I feel like that's kind of, really, to be honest, that's really more so my superpower when it comes to the show. It's less about me being a legendary Hip Hop producer. It's more about, 'Yeah, he's done that, but this is actually his lane more than some people may know.'"
-Just Blaze
Katty explained to us that it was Uproxx who approached with a show idea and within a year, it was in production. We've been reporting on Fresh Pair's episodes with T.I., The Game, Jadakiss, and Styles P, and in our expansive interview, Katty and Blaze detailed their motivation behind wanting a series such as this to see the light of day.
Wherever you may land on the sneakerhead scale, Fresh Pair digs deep with artists in a clever, captivating way that hasn't been done before. Read through our interview to hear firsthand about Katty and Just's experiences, collaborations, takeaways, and read where they would like to see sneaker culture evolve as the years move forward.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
HNHH: So, you guys are sitting down with the "it" crowd and you're reliving some of these moments in their Hip Hop career history. Then, you're creating custom kicks for them based on that story?
Katty: Mm-hmm.
In those conversations, you guys obviously planned out more than what we see.
Katty: Absolutely. We've watched YouTube videos, we watched all their interviews. We pretty much studied their whole lives before creating their shoes. We were doing a lot of mock-ups. Some mock-ups, we were like, 'Okay, we like this but take this from this mock-up and put it on this.' It was a lot of prepping before we actually started to make the shoes.
I know you can't tell us too much because we want to watch it unfold in real time. But who do you think was the most surprised by their design?
Katty: Styles P. Styles P was definitely the most surprised in my opinion. His reaction to me was amazing. It really made me feel good. I know it made Just feel good too. Just seeing him be really happy with his shoes. Now, everybody was happy with their shoes, like everybody had great reactions, everybody. But the one that stuck out the most to me was Styles P.
I can't imagine how many people you've worked with on designs in your career. What have been the craziest requests that you think of, or the most difficult style, or maybe the most strange or off the wall?
Katty: Let me see, who was the most strange or off the wall? I had so many. I did a partnership with Mountain Dew...the shoe...no, that wasn't the craziest. I did a Versace sneaker on a Jordan 4, so I had painted the Versace pattern, the print. That was the craziest for me.
What has taken you the longest?
Katty: I had done these Jordan 1s. What I did was, I took a Jordan 1 shoe and I incorporated all my favorite Jordans; 5, a 7, an 11... I put it all on one shoe and that took 18 hours straight. I literally started and I didn't finish or take any breaks until I was done. It took straight 18 hours straight, yeah. 'Cause I had an art exhibit that I had to have the shoes done by, so I was like, yo I really want to do this design. This is something that deserves to be in an art exhibit, not just something like a simple color change. I wanted to like really give them some art.
The art of customizing sneakers is growing quickly. People are opening up their own shops and the public is tapping into even creating their own designs, themselves. Where do see sneaker culture evolving as someone who is a leading force in this space? Where would you like to see it go?
Katty: I would like to see bigger, like, big brands start actually collaborating with sneaker customizers. I would really love to see that because it has changed over the years. I remember back in the day when I was first customizing shoes, like in 2007, it wasn't that popular. And if you was to get a custom shoe, people would think the shoes were fake because they were so, you know, they wanted to be authentic, the authentic look, but now everybody wants to be different. And now, we see bigger brands really making their shoes look custom by making it look like a cartoon or just, you know, splatters, different things that custom artists have been doing for years. So, the next big thing I would like to see is just bigger brands collaborating with more artists and giving them the chance to showcase their talents to the world.
Yes, I completely agree. What's happening in the culture and in the street partnering with this huge fashion world and finding a middle ground.
Katty: Yeah, exactly.
Rolling back to Fresh Pair, talk about some takeaways, from the conversations that you've had with these artists. When you were able to sit down with them, what's something that maybe you didn't know, or something that kind of like stuck in your mind?
Katty: It was a lot of things that I didn't know about these artists, when I actually sat down with them. Just their journey alone, you know, how they came out, I mean, from where they're starting to where they are now. Like, it's just amazing to know their story. And everybody has a story in their career. You know, you have a story from where you first started your career to where you are now. Even myself, and it's just so inspiring to know that you can definitely become the person you want to be if you just stay dedicated, and just do your thing and never stop.
And as a woman in this space, have you come across any obstacles or people or a brand that has not taken advantage of what you can actually offer?
Katty: Absolutely. In the beginning, people would think that I wouldn't be able to execute a design just because I am a girl, or I wouldn't be able to do certain things just because I am a girl, which is crazy. But I mean, in the custom sneaker or sneaker culture, you know, it's mostly men. You know what I mean? It's very few women, so when they see a woman doing it, they're like, "Well, I don't know if she could execute it," but I definitely had those obstacles. Other than that, everything has been good.
Who are some other artists that you want to have on the show? I can't speak on who's coming up next or what's happening in the future, but I would love to see Missy Elliott.
Katty: Man! You took the words out of my mouth! I would love to have Missy Elliott. I've said that even in Season One like, let's get Missy Elliott. I want to do Monica. I love her style. And she's a sneakerhead, too. Missy Elliott, she's a sneakerhead—well, she wears sneakers, I don't know if she's a sneakerhead [laughs]. I definitely want to get more women, Queen Latifah! You know, I mean, she has a story. I want to be able to put her story on a sneaker, you know. There's a lot. I mean, this whole season was about men, I definitely want to get some women on the next season for sure.
I do have a question that I ask everyone: as Katty Customs, everyone has expectations of you. You have people look at you and expect you to be a thing, right? You're a designer, now you're a host of Fresh Pair, you fit a mold in people's lives, whether it's professional or personal. But what is something that doesn't often translate because everybody's just seeing what they want to see? Something that you see within yourself that you wish other people could see about you.
Katty: Ah, what do I want people to see? My great personality? I think people can see that though. Maybe, um, that is a hard question. That is hard. Ah, what would I want people to see more?...That is a very hard question.
This is when Just Blaze enters the interview.
Just Blaze: I have an answer for that. I would want people to see more of the fails. The process.
Katty: Right. That makes sense.
Just: You know, like, it's...I've experienced this, many producers who have experienced this, where it seems like it's 'all of a sudden,' right, like, we came out of nowhere, with like, six records on the radio. And it's like, "What? All these guys come out of nowhere, they got in the game real easy."
Katty: Right!
Just: No. Like, I worked all my life on this. And this one record that you heard that came out great, went through 20 different versions before we got here. So, I think what would be cool is if like, extending it, or if this was just like, companion pieces to the show, where you get to see more of the process. Me and you deliberating, and going back and forth...
Katty: Absolutely.
Just: ...Agreeing, disagreeing, landing, not landing, you know, and all that. All the things that led up to the end result. Because really, what you get to see is, me and you, they get to see our end result. We get to share that experience with the audience and having the artists seeing it and taking it in for the first time. And luckily, thus far, everybody's loved their shoes, right? We don't really get to walk —the motions, the walk through the process, are in our opening credits. So, it would be nice to be able to explore that in some capacity down the line. It might not fit the narrative, or like the concept for the main show, but I think that would be excellent. That would be excellent companion material.
Katty: You know, I completely agree with you. One hundred percent. I would definitely like for everyone to see more of the process of us going back and forth about the project and everything. I think that'll make it better.
Just: Yeah, you know, it's not always roses.
Katty: Exactly. Yep.
I think also people, just piggybacking off of that, these days, people don't just admire what you do, they want to do that thing, as well. Is there anything you may want to express about the show and what has gone on that we may have missed thus far?
Katty: Well, it's definitely going to be some things that you will see on the show that you've never seen being done before. Working with Just Blaze has been great. He was giving me great ideas and I'm just happy for everyone to see what we put together.
How has that been in collaborating with someone that's so intimately involved in the Hip Hop industry was such a legendary career?
Katty: I mean, of course, it's not going to be peaches and cream every time. But honestly, like we kept making mock-ups until we know it until we went, "Okay, we both like this. We all like this as a team. So let's just do it."
Just: I mean, you're ultimately right. There are these two people involved in the front of it, but there's a whole team behind us and dedicated people who—and ultimately they defer to us, you know, like...the thing you gotta understand about my involvement in this is not just I'm the legend, or well-known or producer, right? The people that most guys call sneakerheads will tell you like, my closet would destroy the majority of their collections.
It's the combination of that and having the knowledge of the journey of a lot of these artists, because many of them, we've shared our journeys together or we've shared moments together, while also having the intimate knowledge of sneakers, sneaker culture, what goes into sneaker design having collaborated with various companies on sneakers in the past and being able to visualize, you know, what should go where, what makes sense, how do we tell the story. I think that's the one thing I want to make sure—because I think we are at the point where it's like, there are generational gaps, right? So, the young kid right now who's barely familiar with my music, might not even be aware that like, I was one of those people that was doing this sneaker thing before the phrase "sneakerhead" even existed. So, I feel like that's kind of, really to be honest, that's really more so my superpower when it comes to the show. It's less about me being a legendary Hip Hop producer. It's more about, 'Yeah, he's done that, but this is actually his lane more than some people may know.' You know, sort of put my experience in that lane together with Katty's phenomenal talent. That's really when the magic happens. The fact that I just happen to be friends with some of these artists is just the sauce on it. More so than the reason I'm doing it.
Katty: That's right. And he actually came up with his own shoe, too!
Just Blaze: Yeah...I had a couple nice things. [laughs]
Let's circle back to the question about sneaker culture and its evolution. Just, what would you like to see develop?
Just: I mean, here's the thing, right? So like, has it evolved? Yes. But if you trace through Hip Hop, there's never really not been an era where Hip Hop and kicks didn't go hand in hand. I mean, there's a reason why Run-DMC made the record "My Adidas" in '86 or '87. And by that point, it wasn't like—what that did for white America or white mainstream culture was really one of the first exposures of the sneaker culture as it existed within Hip Hop. That was something we've been doing, you know, whether it was Pumas, whether it was Bally's, whether it was the Gucci's or Adidas or Air Forces, whatever. What the "My Adidas" record did was kind of put a spotlight on it and spread it to Middle America.
So, what's dope about it now is, for a long time, we were considered solely the consumer. Right? Like, we were the demographic, the racial demographic, the age demographic, the cultural demographic, that the sneakers were solely sold to, and nobody that looked like us was on the other side of that, making those calls, making those decisions, coming up with these designs. So, while we've always had an element of sneaker culture within hip hop, what I think what I am most proud of and what I'm looking forward to seeing more of [is] our folks of our culture actually being the ones producing the product, as opposed to just being the consumer.
You know, you've had so many collaborations over the years now with the likes of...there's so many. There's a new sneaker collab every week, right? With some artists, whether it's Travis Scott, whether it's Don C, I'm not even gonna attempt to start listing because there's just so many. But the fact that like, artists are also taking pride in saying, "This is my design, I want to collaborate on this design." Because it used to be, in the early days of endorsements, it was just, "Alright, here's three designs, which one do you like, pick one," or "That's going to be your sneaker." No, that's your Nike collab. Now, it's like, no, "I'm coming in on the design level, and we're doing this from the ground up," you know? That's the thing that I'm looking forward to seeing expand the most, if that makes sense. Just more of that happening, more of that happening at the executive level, and I think the ultimate is when you finally figure it out on the manufacturing, right?
Katty: Right!
Just: Because most of it at this point—don't get me wrong. I've collaborated in one form or another with pretty much every major sneaker brand there is, whether it was doing an actual release with them, designing the shoe with them, whether it was coordinating an ad campaign, advertising, marketing. But it's still ultimately doing the work with and-or for the corporate job. So the next step, the next major hurdle is...I think the ultimate goal is, what's the old FUBU thing? Made by us, for us, as opposed to just for us.
That's amazing. I appreciate your time and look forward to more from Fresh Pair. These sorts of conversations, sitting down to relive these moments that are really important to artists, dissecting portions of their personal lives that have impacted who they are...I think that that sort of connectivity, to audiences, is really important. It's more than just what they wear, what they're promoting or pushing at the moment, you know? The question of, "What's your motivation and inspiration?" We're all chasing our own dreams, so to see somebody chase theirs, make them come to fruition...It's amazing to me.
Just: Right. And I think one of the key things with this show, is it answers, really, one of the most important questions in any of our journies, and it might not answer it in its entirety. But ultimately, what the show comes down to when we sit down with an artist or a celebrity or whatever, the real question is: "Who are you?" And we're gonna get to a little bit of who you are via what we do.
