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Jordans vs Converse: Vince Staples Is The Ultimate Hip-Hop Everyman

ComplexCon is a big convention organised by Complex magazine, and includes performances, fashion, food and more. The media company has been busy releasing a tonne of fun videos, interviews and panel discussions with rappers and many other musicians over the past couple of days.

One of the main aspects of ComplexCon and hip-hop culture in general is sneakers, and videos have now been released of both French Montana and Vince Staples looking through the massive Nike pop-up store and sharing their thoughts on sneakers and style.

French Montana proudly talks about the many hundreds of sneakers he owns, particularly Air Jordans and Air Force 1s. In the video he’s seen wearing really cool custom sneaks, which are white; he then spoke about how you can only wear white sneakers once, and that he would go through more than a hundred in a year. That’s a lot of sneakers! He continues to brag about how he has a pair for every single outfit – “If it’s 30 days [on tour], that’s 30 pairs of shoes.”

The most the 23-year-old has ever spent on a single pair of sneakers was $2000 for purple Foam Pilots, a special Jordan range. Wow.

Anyway it goes on like that for a while. It’s pretty standard fare for how you’d expect a rapper to talk about sneakers.

Vince Staples, meanwhile, seems like a fucking amazing dude in comparison. He talks about how he used to spend a lot of money on sneakers but that he stopped as he got older. These days, he’s more of a Converse man. “It’s a price point thing,” he says, recalling a time when he met a fan who asked him about his shoes. “He was like, ‘man I wish I had those shoes,’ and it made me feel like shit.” He says that he never wanted to own anything that a fan of his couldn’t have, so that they wouldn’t feel “beneath” him. “I got some shit,” he admits, but overall he tries to connect with his fans on a level that’s so different to the way so many of his contemporaries approach fashion and money.

Vince goes on to talk about the growing relationship between sneakers and musicians, talking about brand collaborations with Rihanna, Eminem, Kanye and more. He talks about how shoes are mass produced, unlike music, so he appreciates the respect that it shows for musicians. He called Eminem’s shoes “trash,” but that he fucks with the Roc-a-fella pair.

Thank you Vince Staples for your ongoing contributions to the growth and development of hip-hop culture in 2016, and for cultivating an engaging and inviting experience for your fans – and even your haters. You’re a sparkling stone among the rough and we love everything that you do and say.

Image: Complex/Youtube