Hulu and Lionsgate hosted the “AIR JORDAN DOCUMENTARY UNBANNED: THE LEGEND OF AJ1” in Los Angeles. The screening brought out tons of stars in the culture from Draya Michelle to Marellus Wiley to Ben Baller.
The documentary featured Michael Jordan himself, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee, Lena Waithe, Carmelo Anthony, Chuck D, and Phil Knight.
As much as we see Jordans worn every single day, it might not fully resonate in our mind as to why that is. Yes, we obviously know that Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all-time and that he could fly like no other during his era.
However, it’s deeper than that.
Back in the 70s and early part of the 80s, basketball shoes were super basic. Majority of them had a white base with a black logo in the middle of it. There was no sense of style whatsoever.
Even legends such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were trying to push Converses, but it just didn’t connect with the fans. Fans loved their hoopers back then, but they didn’t want to be like them outside of the arena. It was almost looked at as corny in a way.
Then came Jordan, who completely changed the way sneakers were viewed forever.
It all started with the black and red AF1 sneaker. This type of color way was so different that David Stern banned the shoe from being worn in games. Nonetheless, Jordan still wore them despite being fined $5,000 each time, but NIKE didn’t care.
NIKE signed Jordan to a $250,000 deal, which was uncharted territory during that time. His jumping ability, swag, and demeanor on and off the court brought together basketball and Hip-Hop.
Rappers like Jay-Z, Nas, and Wutang fully embraced the culture and it hasn’t stopped since. Today, you see artists such as Drake, The Game, and J.Cole rocking Js faithfully.
As mentioned before, famous jeweler Ben Baller was in attendance and we had the pleasure of chatting with him.
Flip the pages to see the interview and pictures from the event.
