On August 18, Quavo released his long-awaited Rocket Power project, complete with the standard rollout of album merch. In addition to the album-promoting apparel that you'd expect, Quavo also offered a surprise: a Rocket Power-themed pair of crispy white leather Air Jordan 1 Lows with just a hint of stargaze-y applique.
Quavo's Jordan Lows are hardly the first white Nike sneaker collab to quietly launch as album merch. Actually, the rapper's shoes point to a bubbling trend.
Now, where else have we seen white sneakers functioning as album merch before? Here's a hint: this musician recently journeyed to Utopia.
If you guessed Travis Scott, you've earned one of the gold stars off of Quavos Jordans. Indeed, Scott delivered his own white Nikes for his Utopia merch collection, up there with the KAWS-designed clothing as the most sought-after Utopia merch.
Scott's Utopia Nikes were as simple as a shoe collab can get, hardly anything more than a white Air Force 1 Low stamped with Utopia branding on the heel. And that was pretty much it. Scott really tipped JJJJound's minimalist scale with this one (at least JJJJound switches up its materials every now and then).
But like most of Scott's Nike collabs, the unadorned Utopia AF1s barely lasted a second on digital shelves when they dropped. To be fair, the ragers would snap up pre-worn socks if they had Travis' co-sign (that's only partially a joke).
Then, though they weren't part of the day-one album merch, Drake's Certified Lover Boy AF1s still make the cut for white album sneakers. After all, the shoes were clearly intended to release with Certified Lover Boy, Drake's 2021 emoji-covered album.
Even though Drake's white Forces arrived a year after the album, complete with Lover Boy details like a heart-embossed outsole and "Love You Forever" messages, they set the stage for basic white sneakers as album merch. Glorified merch, maybe, but merch nonetheless.
White sneakers are timeless wardrobe staples and blank canvases that typically invite collaborators to go crazy with their creativity. Heck, you can even just doodle on 'em to make these shoes your own.
But today's biggest, most influential musicians are taking a strangely subtle route with their album-inspired shoes. Why?
Maybe they're just thoughtless cash grabs or even the musicians' way of telling us that their respective albums are as classic as Nike's most-enduring white sneaker.
To be honest, it's probably not that deep. Quavo, Drake, and Travis Scott probably just figured that a white sneaker make for cool merch. A Nike co-sign goes a long way.
Regardless, once is a coincidence, two times raises eyebrows, and three is a trend, even if the trend focuses entirely on the least trendiest shoes ever made.
