By Tai Saint Louis
Underground MC Aesop Rock has become the third in a select group of avant-garde visual artists to create a special edition adidas classic for lifestyle brand Upper Playground.
The new Aesop Rock adidas Originals sneaker, a customized take on the Stan Smith shoe, will be made available at 8pm PST on Thursday (July31) online.
According to Aesop, the concept for the new design borrows from the cover of his fifth full-length album, 2007’s None Shall Pass, which he designed with renowned painter Jeremy Fish, with whom he’s worked on previous projects as well.
“The faded green and gold colors have a strange eerie-meets-regal vibe that I liked when designing the art for last year's album,” explained the Long Island native. “I wanted to continue that color scheme, and keep it pretty simple. I didn’t want anything too intrusive. Basically I just wanted something that I’d rock, and my mother might even wear them.”
Upper Playground’s adidas Originals collection was launched on July 17, with the release of a special edition Centennial Lo sneaker designed by Brazilian fine artist Herbert Baglione.
The following Thursday, July 24th, came an original Stan Smith shoe courtesy of muralist and graphic artist David Choe, who’s signature artwork has graced clothing, comic books, movie posters and album covers.
Only 500 pairs of each design was created, available at the price of $150.00 per pair. Each customer is limited to only two pairs of the intended collectors items.