DMC Leaves Adidas

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: November 22, 2005

“Run-DMC was playing Madison Square Garden in 1986 and the rep for Adidas was there. I told everyone in the crowd, ‘Put your sneakers in the air!’ They turned the house lights up. When I looked out, the entire Garden was holding up one Adidas,” says Reverend Run. “I turned to the rep and he said, ‘You’re getting your own sneaker deal!’ It was for $1 million per year and I closed it on that stage.

Run-DMC helped revolutionize hip-hop marketing when they recorded the hit song “My Adidas” featured on their landmark album, Raising Hell.

Now Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is taking off his three stripes to promote the Upscale French brand, Le Coq Sportif.

He said he was not simply signing a shoe deal, and had rebuffed offers until he found a shoe that also reflected his personal style.

“I put those shoes on [Le Coq Sportif] and it was a wrap,” DMC said. “I finally found the sneaker I was looking for. Finally I could get out of my shell-toes.”

“When summer came, I had to put my Adidas back on because literally, no other sneaker looked right on me,” DMC told AllHipHop.com. “For some reason, those shell-toes were mine. Not for Run, not [Jam Master] Jay’s. For me I couldn’t wear nothing else.”

“Adidas was part of a great past, but with my new album and documentary show coming out this fall on VH1, I found a sneaker brand to represent a great future,” DMC continued.

“I can’t believe the public would even believe for a second Miskeen didn’t have a clue what this shirt was. And on top of that to believe they will just trash their products? The new owners of Miskeen stole the clothing line from it’s original owners and have prevented the growth of some positive designers from the Urban community. “st, he asked the Miskeen artists to add the phrase “Say No To Snow” to their remaining shirts, but recently he just decided to halt the other half of the original product run altogether.

When contacted adidas had no comment, however the sneaker company is not looking back. Earlier this week they released the first intelligent basketball shoe. The shoe, called adidas_1 Basketball, features the award-winning technology that is revolutionizing the sporting goods industry.