Growing up in the ’80s in New York City, mostly in the Brooklyn area, most folks, especially the ones who listened to hip-hop, sported Clark Wallabees. For those who were in the know, you can often tell where someone lived by what they had on their feet. For those outside the New York City area, you may remember Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah glorifying Wallabees in his songs. Brooklyn’s own JAY-Z was evidently a fan; so much so that the billionaire has set up his close circle with some custom-made ones.
According to Hypebeast, footwear designer Stan Birch has created several custom pairs of Clarks Wallabees for the “Hard Knock Life” lyricist and five of his closest associates. These guys have been connected to Jay for many years and are still connected to him. Birch made the footwear for Emory Jones, Tyran “Ty-Ty” Smith, Jay Brown, Lenny Santiago, and Juan Perez. He stated that each pair was made specifically for the individuals and showed the friends’ uniqueness while incorporating their tastes, inspirations, and preferences.
“All these guys have been friends for so long that I needed to create a colorway that represented a real OG vibe,” Birch told the media outlet. “I concluded that all these guys had to have the exact same pair, but with details that were super personal to them.”
Each pair of Wallabees has a grey and black
suede upper tongue with a Paper Planes logo on the heel of the right shoe. Each shoe is personalized with each person’s name, printed in 22-karat gold leaf, and Birch’s logo on the left heel of the shoe. There are also hangtags specific to each individual. Six are adorned on each pair, according to the outlet.“All of the hangtags are reminders of something specific for each member of the crew,” said Birch. Seven rectangular fobs show lyrics that JAY-Z has said about the individual it applies to on records. But that’s not all; each pair has black-and-white photos of the crew.
Unless you were a part of Jay-Z’s inner circle, you won’t be able to cop one, but you can cop your own by reaching out to Birch via his Flou Customs Instagram page.
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