All Day's Top 50 Air Force 1s

DJ Clark KentAll DayAir Force 1s

"I saw these a year before they came out. I went to Clark's house and peeped the sample. You can ask him, I offered him everything. He said it's coming out, I said I'll take them right now. He called me a week before he did the event at Vinnie's and he gave me the whole set. That's how that went down. I still remember it was pitch-black in his alleyway when he showed me them. It was brick out, too, and I still didn't want to leave. I was out there for 40 minutes to an hour in a sweatshirt like, 'I need that. I need that. I need that."

"This one was all white with the blue bottom with the blue swoosh, and it just kept going. I bought them from High Step on Utica. All Puerto Rico Air Forces are hard."

"Four, five, six, one, two, three to the seven—the Puerto Rico Air Force 1s are all good money to me. For Puerto Rico, I need them all."

"I loved all the Puerto Ricos. I bought them all when they first came out. When the first one came out, it retailed for $65. I bought three pairs; one for my little brother, one for me, and one for my father."

"I just got these on my last trip to Japan. I went out to L.A. Avenue and caught three pairs. I spent more than 10 stacks out there."

"Clark Kent and I were in Japan three years ago for a Lafayette event, and this shoe was coming out a week later. We saw the Nitrate dudes at the event and after Clark DJed we went by Nitrate and they had them on display. They told us they couldn't sell it to us for a week, but we went back and forth until they said that they'd ship it to us the day they came out. There was already a line outside and it wasn't supposed to release for five more days after we left, plus it was raining. I got the biggest size, which was an 11."

"It's one of the first Air Forces I remember. I was around 15 years old when those came out, the color was just amazing at the time. I still want them, I never got a chance to get them. I got the colorway without the neon bottom, but I really want the ones with the neon bottoms."

"I've only seen this shoe like two times. The way they used the orange leather was dope, and I knew I had to have them"

"Nike had an event at its 21 Mercer store with a guest list. Getting in wasn't a problem, but you couldn't cop these unless you were on the list. I hit my man with something for his birthday or Christmas or something, and he came through with getting these for me."

"I got these from a dude out in the city by the Apple Store on 59th street. He had an office there and didn't have anywhere to put them. I didn't believe him, but he was serious. He had a couple hundred pairs of shoes in there. He gave me 10 days to pay him and it was a done deal."

"The first time I seen it, I knew I had to have it. It was the first time I saw navy-blue patent leather paired with a baby-blue swoosh. Blue is my color, just one of the reasons I had to get it. I love all the New York teams, but all the good teams in New York have blue in them."

"Something about an all-black sneaker with a white bottom, that does it for me. They reminded me of "The Black Album" Air Force 1s, and then there was a picture of Jay-Z and Vince Carter together out in Europe, so that too made me think of how close the two shoes were to eachother."

"When I first saw these, Just Blaze had them. I think it was in Complex, actually. I needed them, and the dude I got them from wanted some Bron Brons. He wanted the China ones because they came in that sick box. We made the trade. He paid $1,000 for the 'Black Album' Forces, I paid $200 for the Brons."

"A lot of people thought these sneakers were made for Shawn Carter, but they were made for Lebron's team. They were all-white with a blue swoosh, pink trim, and an ice sole."

"It was made of premium leather, and Obama became president, so this had to make the list. It's as simple as that."

"These sneakers came in a big brown box with hay in it. The material on the back was a canvas-like material called Kente cloth. The sneakers had tribal lasering on the front and the shoetips and eyestays were made out of wood. I thought it was crazy. I saw them as soon as they dropped and it took me a month just to find someone who had them. I have six pairs of them now."

"I remember seeing some girl with these on in SoHo. I peeped and wanted them immediately. I called around and got them for a couple hundred dollars. The quality wasn't that good on them, it was GR material."

"It was just an all-white All-Star, with the year on it. It was the first All-Star Air Force 1 they made for the players, I believe. I had to have it, I'm a diehard Air Force fan, this is what I do."

"These are the ones I thought I was getting when I bought the other Houston All-Stars (the O.G. Astros colorway). The white ones were hard, and these were like the first Air Forces to have a gray midsole, ice bottom and 'NASA' on the bottom of the sole. These are the pair that Clark Kent had on during the Air Force documentary talking 'bout, 'Rappers don't have this one.' It had a gray midsole, 3M swoosh, blue back, Texas on the side, and the contrast stitching on the front. It was dumb light, too. I got two pairs of these."

"This is the Astros colorway. When this came out the throwback era was dying, but that Nolan Ryan jersey was still hard."

"Just like the LeBron package, I first got the neon colorway, and then had to have these to complete the set. This one wasn't hard to get, much easier than the neon make-up was. Kobe's a dope player, these were a must."

"I saw Vince Carter with these because my man was actually working for the Nets at the time. A couple dudes came through with them and I asked where they got them from 'cause I thought they only were PEs for Vince. No one ever had my size but FC popped with a pair for like $7-800 two or three months later. When they dropped down to $250 I hopped in the car to scoop them up."

"These sneakers were made for Sheed's offseason. There was a baby-blue pair and a navy-blue pair—I opted for the navy."

"These were made for the 25th-anniversary party Nike threw for the Air Force 1. They had an all-black anaconda gator swoosh and a premium oil leather toe, and someone hit me with a picture and price. I went to his house, we didn't even discuss anything. I hit the ATM and the crib and came back to take them all. It was easily a couple months' mortgage. Out of the handful made, I had eight or nine of them."

"I got these from my man out in Chicago. Michael Vick is a dope player and even though he was going through all of that stuff I was still a fan. The only thing different between these and the all-whites is the tongue. He wanted his own shoe and the story that I heard was that he wanted his own pair of white-on-whites with an exclusive aspect. They made him two dozen pairs with the rounded tongue and Nike just gave them to him. He gave a pair to my man and my man threw it over to me."

"These are all-black with a pink swoosh, teal accents, and a visible Max Air bottom. They say 'La Familia' and 'Prepare For Combat' in Spanish on the side."

"The day I saw them, I think Chi or Kobe had them. I called my dude out in Portland and he was like, 'I got a pair.' The only time I ever saw a pair for sale was from him, and I took them. It wasn't even my size."

"I gave these to Fat Joe because it was a 12 (I'm a 13), but I need these back. They're an all-beige Air Force with a white swoosh, a blue bottom, and a little French-blue tab on the back. They say 'Biggie' on the side so some people thought it was for Notorious, but it was for Damon Stoudemire. They also have a flying Mighty Mouse on the inside—shit is dope. These were basically a PE linen."

"I love Air Forces with anything on the side, so I was copping off the bat. Like the Chi-towns, the NYCs, the Puerto Ricos, and the West Indies, if they had the little things on the side, I was copping. I made about four or five phone calls, and no one knew about these. I ended up meeting some dude who had 'em and ended up taking them off of his hands instantly. He didn't even charge me that much."

"These were part of a set that I had to have. I liked the neon because they were the flashiest, but this was classic and completed the set, and that's why they're on the list."

"The neon LeBrons came first, then I got the navy pair the same day. They're a dope shoe. I love blue. It had the navy-blue bottom, brown side panel and the rest was all-white with the same lasering around it. This shoe reminds me of something rich."

"I heard Flight Club had the white Pro Bowls but I had never heard of them. When I finally did see the picture, I thought they were hard. I never got around to getting that pair though, plus it was a size 12, which isn't really my size. But then I finally came across someone who was selling them. He hit me with a crazy number and I never replied to him, so I guess after three weeks no one jumped on them. He hit me after that and then met me at my man Pete's store, where I got them. It ended up being someone really big, real big. I won't say his name. It wasn't an artist or anything like that, but he was royalty."

"There were like two or three different pairs of the SNL LeBrons, but these stood out. They went from black to yellow to red and had the same lasering as the neon LeBrons. On the back of one foot, these have 'King James' and the other has the lion's head. This Air Force 1 was one of the first PEs to have the visible Max Air bag. The only other time I saw these was a pair I saw in Flight Club for like $2,000."

"Joe jumped out in the 'Lean Back' video with these on, and I knew I needed them. I got them from one of my dudes out in Portland. He had a bunch of TS's, so he sent some out to see if I wanted them. I took 'em."

"Only 25 pairs of these shoes were made. My man designed them, he hit me up and I got a pair. I liked the shoe so much that I kept hollering at people for 'em. Of the 25 pairs, I wound up getting eight of them. They were made for Video Music Box, and Ralph McDaniels' 25-year anniversary. Before MTV did it, before anyone did it, he did it."

"These are like the white ones but all-black instead. I didn't want them at the time when they came out, but about a year ago I saw the shoe again and knew I needed it. My man called me up and told me he was getting rid of some things, so I jumped in the car, went to my stash, then to his house and probably dropped like seven-to-eight stacks to get those and a lot of other Nikes that I wanted. I left his crib with like 10-11 pairs. It was a good night."

"I saw these maybe two hours before Sole Collector came to Niketown. They were doing an event about their mag and my man was like, 'I got some new shoes in for this show.' When I saw the shoe and that it was my size I told him I was taking it. He was like, 'You can't take it until after the show but you can have it, I don't need them."

"The first time I saw these was with (Fat) Joe. I told him I wanted them and that he could see what I had so that we could work something out. I got them off him that same night. He met me at 12 a.m. under the Williamsburg Bridge and I gave him the VIBEs for the TS's."

"My man told me about the neon LeBrons and I thought they were dope, but they were expensive. I wound up taking them, though. At the time, someone out in Queens was getting everything. I don't know if he was cool with LeBron or what, but he would get all of those and then my man would get them to me."

"All of Cartoon's sneakers are dope, but these ones have all of his shoes put together into the design. They're very detailed, and this version is my favorite of all his shoes."

"Everyone knows cement because of the Jordans. Either you love the pattern or you don't. When I saw the cement Kobe's, I knew I needed them. I was in my man's Audi, and when he showed me his I was like, 'You're not leaving until I get them.' He knew he shouldn't have showed 'em to me."

"I came across two pairs of these. The first time I saw that shoe I was doing the Funkmaster Flex car show in Atlantic City, and my man Leo walked to my table with the shoe and was like, 'Yo! Somebody over here got this!' I was like, 'Those are a sample.' I thought it was a one-of-one and I made about 40 phone calls. Next thing you know, I had like two or three at my house. I paid a grip."

"I got those, maybe in 2005. I got in touch with one of the guys that was close to someone at Sony and I was like, 'I need a pair of those.' He hit me over the head for the first three, but after he saw that I was official about it, I told him I needed 15 more. I sent him the cash and he sent me 15 pairs, I was wearing those shits like every day. Wherever I was, I had them on. You know how hard it was to get a PlayStation when I was little? I'm from Brownsville so it was like, 'PlayStation?' You had to go to somebody's house, somebody who wasn't even your friend, just to play."

I paid over $5,000 for that shoe in 2004, it was one of my first big purchases. I like the shoe because it pays tribute to the Jordan through the zebra print, and then they had the Air Force 1 bottom so I had to have them. As the story goes, the original skate team for Nike SB were in the factory when the Supreme Dunks came out, so Nike made five or six Dunks with the Air Force 1 bottoms for the team.

"USDA was a sneaker that I just came across. I think I went out to Long Island to see a dude who had a bunch of kicks, and I had never seen this shoe before then. When I saw them I downplayed it because I really wanted the shoe. I was like, 'I'll take it but throw some other shoes in there.' I took them home and did my research on them and found out that about five pairs were made. The shoe is real dope, and it's grown on me. It's an all-white patent leather with blue on the back and a green bottom. It reminds me of a polo."

"At the time I was trying to get a pair of blue Entourages and people were approaching me with different sizes but I needed my size. Finally I found like four pairs. But this specific one is a special edition that comes in a blue box and has 'Turtle' lasered on the toe, just like the gold ones. It's a one-of-one. Cost me a grip."

"I was watching Entourage for a minute before they did this joint, and these were a hard shoe to get. When I heard that a few pairs were made for other people, I knew I had to get a pair. It took a few years to get them, and these probably top the list for the most I've ever spent on sneakers. I dropped almost a car note for these."

"When I first saw these, I think I was in Harlem. As soon as I saw them I wanted them, so I just kept searching. It was hard to find them in a 13 but before you knew it I had like five. The colors were dope, and the sneaker itself was just hard. They had Biggie and Pac on 'em, and the VIBE AF1 is still one of my favorites to this day."

"These sneakers came in a white wooden box that said 'All Day: 1 of 1' with my ATF logo on it, and the sneakers have my name on the back. The shoes are handmade so you can see everything: the leather is dyed to match the midsole. The day I got these I remember how they smelled and everything. It was crazy."