“Ayo Plug 1 your on my man!”
Since “3 feet High and Rising” I have been a listener to this man and his crew of some the illest implementation of sampling and inventors of the skit. He carries different names at times and also is the inventor of the Hip Hop Quotable as well. He has been one of Hip Hops most dynamic Emcee’s while remaining humble and respected by his peers. He also has a shoe fetish like most of us, and even has his own Nike SB Dunk to prove it. Revolutionary and innovative in every sense of the word the man has been a Influence on us with out you even knowing it. Ladies and Gentlemen of Nice Kicks I give you Posdnous from De La soul.
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan – Nice Kicks: So how has the Rock the Bells Tour been going for you?
Posdnous – De La Soul: The tour is excellent! Every artist is part of a unique legacy and energy that adds so much to the tour. We all know each other and at some point we all have done shows or toured extensively together so it’s been a blast!
Vulkan: When we met at Rock the Bells in Miami you were wearing the Baby Bear Dunks. Do you collect a lot of SB’s?
Posdnuos: I have a lot of footwear! Yes, I do have alot of SB’s because I am into footwear with multiple colors and textures that push the bar. The SB department at Nike has always taken those chances and paired up with great people to create great product.
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan: What was the first time as kid you saw a shoe and it made you really start collecting?
Posdnuos: It wasn’t until I was about 16-17 and was maintaining a steady job at Burger King when I started to buy a lot of sneakers. Even then I was always into finding shoes that were a bit different than what everyone else was wearing. If everyone was wearing the usual suspects like Nike, Adidas, or Puma I would wear Tiger (Asics), Saucony (before everyone went crazy with the Spotbilts) and Kaepas.
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan: Is the rest of De La Soul as passionate about sneakers?
Posdnuos: Dave (plug 2) I would say loves kicks, but he may not go to the extreme in comparison to me to seek them out. Me and him back in school was definitely into standing out with our footwear and once we made it in the business to be able to travel all over in the early 90’s,we took advantage of gathering unique kicks to our arsenal.
Vulkan: What does Plug 1 do when hes not recording on a personal level?
Posdnuos: Hanging out with my kids! (my oldest daughter actually has a sweet tooth for the kicks as well and her Mom’s hate when I buy her a bunch of shoes. I love to read books from graphic novels to non fiction books but personal time is very rare for me.
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan: We all know about the De La Soul Dunk? Did that shoe give you guys more exposure to people who didn’t know who De La Soul was?
Posdnuos: I personally don’t think so. I have run into kids who did have the Dunk Hi on and weren’t very familiar with us but just loved the colors, but on a whole since the shoes were very limited it was distributed in circles of people who are familiar with who we are and what we mean to Hip Hop.
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan: Who are the people that made that happen and how did that come about?
Posdnuos: Robbie Jeffers who was still working with Nike SB at the time was the main person who planted the seed to Sandy Bodecker and others. I met him along with other SB workers at the ASR convention in San Diego. We were actually in town to perform at the annual function that was called “street scene” but was invited to the ASR convention by LRG Clothing. We had done an ad campaign with them (LRG) not too long before. So we came through their booth to sign some autographs. After that we decided to walk around a bit at the convention and we were passing the SB booth and a couple of the dudes in the booth who saw us looking in asked us to come in. Robbie eventually came in to check in on the booth. We invited him to the show with a few others, later on that night we exchanged information and everything grew from there for the De La Soul project.
Vulkan: We seen video of you talking about another Nike collaboration can you give us little info on that?
Posdnuos: We are working on a full length album with Nike for their Nike Plus Originals Project where we provide 45 minutes worth of new music. We are still in the middle OF finishing that up now. [also Pos did acknowledge a new shoe being in the works but not the samples in this story]
Posdonus from De La Soul
Vulkan: What are your top five sneakers of all time and why are they?
Posdnuos: They are too many to name! But for one shell toe Adidas’s! That is a part of my memories of identifying with the growing hip hop culture. Second would be Suede Puma (Clydes), they were so dope to pop and breakdance in. I was into shoes that fit more to the form of my feet in that era so you couldn’t go wrong with those. The Original Air Jordan (Black/Varsity Red). It was so slender to me compared to even the Dunk and the colors just looked incredible. Of course the De La Dunks, just very proud on the work we as a group put in on those sneakers. Beyond it being what we helped design, it really appealed to me as a sneaker purchaser! Also I liked how we didn’t care to make one style in Low and High but freak each style differently so even If you prefer high over lows you may have still try to get the lows cuz it’s just more clean (less busy). The Air Sabaku (NIKE) especially the Turquiose/Dark Obsidian joint with the Shogun Warrior on the back!! Those joints in any color feels so comfortable on my feet and look like shoes. I’ve walked up in clubs with no hassle with those on!!
Vulkan: What message do you have for people in the sneaker lifestyle out there reading this?
Posdnuos: Don’t go broke buying sneakers!!!!! Hell I’m blessed to get 95% of mine for free otherwise I wouldn’t have all these damn boxes in my crib!! My family gets my money over sneakers anyday!!!
Constructed Entirely by Vulkan the Krusader for Nice Kicks
