Nowadays, the fact of an artist collaborating with a brand is something that we are used to. Nevertheless, it hasn’t always been that way. The union between adidas and Run-DMC established a milestone in history, becoming the first sponsorship of a musical group from a sports brand.
When Run-DMC released their first song in the year ‘83, the adidas Superstar was a basketball sneaker from 1970 that competed against the Converse All Star to lead the court. The truth is that the Superstars, as we know them today, are born from the Supergrip model. Created around 1965, which are supposed to be adidas’ first basketball shoes.
Everything changed when Run-DMC revolutionized the whole scene by openly declaring their loyalty to the Superstars through a song: “My Adidas”.
The hit was created in response to a poem from a doctor living in their neighborhood. Dr. Deas, who worked at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, was tired of the violence he had to witness everyday, and that’s why he decided to reflect it in a poem. In it, he criminalized sneakers in general, specially the ones without laces ––as a reference to the prisoners––, the black Lee jeans, the Cazal sunglasses and chains.
The poem called “Felon Sneakers” ended up becoming a rap song. Exactly a year after, Run-DMC released the song “My Adidas” in protest. The goal was to vindicate that the adidas were a form of expression and that they had a positive connotation.
My a-didas!
So the absolute hit “My Adidas” quickly attracted the company’s attention. Its sells increased considerably without any apparent reason –– or that they at least knew about. “Adidas had a guy in Los Angeles named Angelo Anastasio. He was current with the pop and the rock, the club scene and the athletes and the designers…”, remembers DMC. “One day someone asked him if he had heard this Run-DMC, to what he answered ‘Huh, what the hell is a Run-DMC and rap music, huh?’ When he listened to it he understood what we had done”.
Angelo Anastasio left Los Angeles to fly to New York to go to the show that Run-DMC was doing at Madison Square Garden. There, Darryl DMC McDaniels asked his fans to take out their sneakers and to hold them up. As a result, almost 40.000 people took them off their feet and “My Adidas” started to play. When Anastasio came back to LA and told what he had seen and felt, his superiors sent him to Germany to speak with the Dassler family, the owners of the brand.
Shortly after, both the Dasslers as the adidas’ managers made a decision that would leave a mark in history: to sponsor Run-DMC. Besides this millionaire contract, they also designed a clothing line with the group’s logo and the adidas Superstar.
Now, on the occasion of the Superstars’ 50th anniversary, adidas decided to release a limited edition of the Superstar DMC in honor of the group. They are already available in our catalogue.
The adidas x Run-DMC clothing line is also on sale on Foot District!