(AllHipHop News) Sneakerheads do odd things to show their supremacy in the land of sneakers. Some wait on line for days, others lick their sneakers to show their mint condition. In a recent interview, Fat Joe explains beginning the sneaker licking craze, wanting to punch Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban and receiving a letter in jail from Michael Jordan.
Fat Joe is a supreme aficionado of sneakers and on an episode of MTV Cribs back in 2004, Fat Joe infamously licked the sole of his Olympic 6 Jordan’s. In an interview for Complex’s Quickstrike, Joe explains why he put his tongue on the bottom of his sneaker:
My man used to tell me ‘I be watching you on these magazines, you never rock the same thing twice.’ So, as I’m doing the MTV Cribs. Out of no where i heard ‘Joe you never rock the same sh*t twice.’ I said let me show the camera that these sneakers have never been worn, so I lick it. I go to China and they got f*cken T-shirts with Chinese people licking it. It’s great to me, I love it.
Back in July 2013, Joe was sentenced to four months in prison for back taxes and reveals that Michael Jordan sent him a letter while he was incarcerated. It was at an All-Star Game auction of Jordan’s by his Airness himself that almost led Fat Joe to punching the Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban:
Somebody outbid me and when I turned around it’s Mark Cuban. He goes up to me and he tells me ‘Fat Joe, guess what.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I’m gonna throw it in my closet with the rest of the stuff.’ I wanted to punch Mark Cuban in the face. ‘You motherf—er.’ I’m over here thinking, ‘This is it. This is like the Picasso of sneakers.
Check out the full interview below: