Once again, back is the incredible! I know its been a minute since I checked in, but The Fly Guy is back with a vengeance!  You’re now tuned in to the World's Most Dangerous Style Column.

The first time around, we talked about Kwamé, who killed the game with the polka dot craze.

This time we're gonna go back about five years before that and talk about Run DMC, a group that started one of the biggest trends of all time. They are credited with a ridiculous amount of "firsts" over the course of their legendary career. Among these are:

• First rap act to have a #1 R&B charting album
• First rap act to have a Top 10 Pop charting album
• First rap act to earn RIAA Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum albums
• First rap act to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine
• First rap act to have a video added on MTV

and... the topic of our conversation today-

• The first non-athletes to be signed to an athletic product endorsement deal.

Damn!!  Thats a whole lotta firsts! Y’all got a lotta work to do in my comment section to get to their level!

They were even on Reading Rainbow with Levar Burton! Run DMC loved the children!

Run DMC contributed many things to style in Hip-Hop, but most notably, they are responsible for the American crossover success of European sportswear brand, adidas.

They released their smash hit, "My Adidas"  on the B side of their “Peter Piper” single in preparation for their third album Raising Hell in 1986. In the lyrics, Run and DMC traded clever rhymes about their relationship with their favorite sneakers. They were seen in magazines, on TV and at shows wearing adidas Superstars and Forums with no laces (or sometimes fat laces) and the tongue popped. 

As a result, the whole country started wearing adidas "shelltoes," Forums, and tracksuits. Run DMC is also credited as the first rap group to translate street style into Hip-Hop. Up until that time, hip hop artists were more likely to have a disco feel their look. 

While on tour, Run and DMC would tell the crowds at their packed out shows to “Put your adidas in the air!” In response, thousands of fans took off their sneakers and held them over their heads. This actually resulted in one of the most monumental endorsement deals in history.

One version of the story goes like this: Lyor Cohen, who was at Rush Management at the time, sent footage to the adidas offices from a concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. The packed-out crowd of thousands was holding adidas sneakers in the air upon demand from Run DMC.

After seeing the footage, adidas corporate headquarters in Germany sent a young executive named Angelo Anastasio to see a RUN DMC concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As usual, as they rocked the crowd and got ready to go into “My Adidas”, they stopped and told the crowd to put their adidas in the air. To even Run DMC’s surprise, the whole Madison Square Garden (20,000 fans) held up their sneakers.

After seeing it with his own eyes, the adidas exec went backstage and offered the group an endorsement deal. There are a lot of rumors about how much the deal was worth (I’ve heard $1 million and 1.5 million per year).  Outside of that, the deal would call for Run DMC to have a hand in creating their own Run DMC branded adidas lifestyle/athletic product, such as sneakers, tracksuits, leather jackets, and other apparel.

This deal would help cement adidas’ near-domination of the marketplace throughout most of the ‘80s, and cement Run DMC’s place in sportswear history. adidas and Run DMC seemed to have an undying relationship until the early 2000’s when Run (know known as Rev Run), was seen representing his own footwear companies, Phat Farm Footwear and Run Athletics. DMC could also recently be seen endorsing Le Coq Sportif footwear.

So, even though all good things must come to an end, the relationship between adidas and Run DMC broke barriers on a lot of different levels. It paved the way for recording artists and other non-athletes to receive endorsement deals from athletic brands, such as adidas, Nike, Reebok and Converse. It also showed the corporate world that the influence and marketability of Hip-Hop was more widespread than they ever imagined.

Adidas Brand History/Facts

Adidas was founded in Herzogenaurach, Germany in 1948, by Adolf Dassler, who went by the nickname of Adi. The name “adidas” was created by taking his nickname, “Adi” and the first three letters of his last name “das”. If you put it together, you realize that the correct pronunciation is Adi-Das.

The company was formed after a family dispute between Adi, and his brother, Rudolf, also known as “Rudi”, caused them to shut down their footwear company, Gebruder Dassler (Dassler Brothers, in German). After the dispute, which was said to go on until the brothers’ death, Adi went on to start adidas, and Rudi went on to start a brand called Puma.

The adidas Trefoil (sometimes called the clover) logo was inspired by the laurel crown given to the winners of sporting festivals in ancient Greece. The crown represents the Olympic spirit and the pursuit of victory.

Adi Dassler decided to use all lowercase letters in the spelling of adidas to further distinguish it from the competition

As much as Run DMC made history by being the first non athletes to sign an atletic endorsement deal, adidas made history as the first athletic brand to sponsor non-athletes.

Here's an exclusive Run DMC clip from the documentary Just For Kicks

Can It Live?

This adidas/ Run DMC trend was started over 20 years ago. Can it be or is it still hot today?

When the sneaker game really became prominent to me, in about 2001, the must have sneaker was the Nike Air Force One. Thanks to countless songs, shoutouts, and video appearances, the AF1 left no place in the market for any other shoe. Now that the reign of the AF1 is fading, adidas Superstars (or “shelltoes”, as they are often called) seem to have risen from the ashes to fill the void of the standard Hip-Hop sneaker.

It has also become a choice shoe for sneaker customizers to base their creations off of. (As a designer myself, it’s my personal favorite shoe to use for customs.) Also fueled by the heavy ‘80s retro craze that just hit us, adidas track jackets have once again become a staple wardrobe piece. 

So, needless to say, this trend is alive and well, and it looks like it could be around for a while. You can definitely catch the newest versions of Superstars and track jackets with colorful themes and artist collaborations in a store near you.

The Moral of the Story

Three kids from Queens, New York decided that they were going base their rap image upon how they would dress in the street, instead of the going with the more popular disco look of the time.

They always rocked their favorite sneakers. They wrote a song about them. It swept the nation, then everybody started rocking their favorite sneakers. Favorite sneaker company catches on and signs the three kids to an endorsement deal worth over a million dollars.

This is what happened to them when they went against the norm and did their thing…What’s gonna happen to you when you go against the norm and do yours?

May Jam Master Jay rest in Peace!!

Thanks for rockin’ with the flyest. Peace!

Here is a 2007 adidas commercial with a classic vibe, featuring Bgirl Jeskilz of Rock Steady Crew

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