In the UK, there is one trainer line that defines grime: Nike Air Max. From its humble beginnings in the late 1990s and early 2000s, grime has undergone a huge transformation in the public eye. Over the past two decades, grime has come to define an entire generation of people from the UK, particularly London. Its off-key beats and gritty sound has transcended pirate radio stations and made their way to the very top of the charts and, unsurprisingly, Air Max sneakers have joined the journey too.
Although Air Max is popular in the UK as a whole, the line is deeply connected to London. From North to South and West to East, you’re more likely to see Air Max in London than anywhere else in the country. The influence of Air Max culture on the UK is well documented, but it was London that really made the Air Max line its own. These Air Max sneakers that are worn throughout the capital have become a uniform for many Londoners, but how did it happen?
For the better part of 20 years, Air Max has been an official part of grime. Whilst the artists may have changed, the shoes being worn have not. Today, we’ll be taking a deep dive into how Air Max shoes and grime simply cannot exist without each other. We’ll be jumping into the origins of grime as well as explaining why the Air Max is the shoe of choice for every MC, DJ and raver when you’re in the UK.
Origins
Before we start, it’s important to understand the cultural significance of Air Max sneakers in London. Of course, Air Max trainers were around long before grime had even been born. The invention of Air Max had taken place over a decade earlier, with the silhouette becoming particularly popular on the dancefloors of jungle and garage raves. Despite the shoes being developed for runners, they became increasingly popular as lifestyle silhouettes for ravers in London. In an interview with AFEW, Aneesha Dewshi explains how Air Max and music are so intrinsically linked.
“Music is really integral to Air Max culture. Be it grime or garage or the rise of dance and rave culture,” and Aneesha’s not wrong. For the most part, the people attending any of the aforementioned events would, typically, be lower class, inner-city kids who were looking for a good night out. Despite each of these events having a different dress sense and choice of labels, Air Max sneakers would have often been spotted on the dance floor of almost every rave in the city.
Way before the days of social media and posting an outfit online, you would see them in the streets and clubs of London. It was here where the Air Max really thrived. Whether it was jungle raves in Croydon or house raves in Soho, Air Max sneakers became a necessity rather than a luxury. What other shoe was going to stand up against the sticky floors of a club and provide 12 hours of comfort? From here on out, London club culture and the Air Max went hand in hand. It wouldn’t take long for Air Max shoes to be worn in the streets and here is where the story of grime and Air Max begins.
Pirate Radio and Grime’s Origins
London is without a doubt a huge cultural melting pot. The city is home to more than 270 nationalities and 300 languages in 2021 and back in the ’90s, things were not too dissimilar. People from every corner of the globe came to London, bringing their food, music, culture and traditions along with them. Many inner-city kids were often the children of first or second-generation immigrants, with Afro Caribbean and African immigrants arriving in London. Although this may only be 20 years ago, things looked very different for these young men and women.
“Grime music was the result of us as youths growing up listening to US hip-hop and our Caribbean cultures, our African cultures. Throw in some jungle music and some garage and you’ve got this kind of mash-up of London’s version of hip-hop,” DJ Target, author of Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover, speaking to Complex. It’s a well-known fact that grime music started from pirate radio stations in the early 2000s. The mixture of each of these sounds like garage, jungle, dancehall and drum and bass, ensured that grime was like nothing else around at the time, with the genre only found on pirate radio.
Stations like Rinse FM, Delight FM, Deja Vu FM and Major FM to name a few became the soundtrack to the new century in London. MCs like Wiley and Dizzee Rascal began to make a name for themselves for their pirate radio sets, with lyrics and flows that were unique to this new style of London music. 8, 16 and 32 bar verses were laid over dark beats to create something that would become the true sound of London. “It was a voice for the kid’s in the inner cities, it had a UK sound [and] a UK feel,” DJ Target told Complex. The reason that grime became so popular was that it was something these kids could relate to.
It wouldn’t take long for grime to make its way around the capital, with dedicated armies of fans all tuning in to hear their favourite MCs. Sound systems around the city were blaring this new kind of sound and pirate radio was the first route for any new MC to take in order to make a name for themselves. Names like Kano and Lethal Bizzle were rising through the ranks of the London grime scene at the same time, two people who are now synonymous with the genre. “Initially grime was very East London man,” Skepta explained in Nike’s Air Max: The Uniform. “We were the first North London crew on Deja.” They wouldn’t be the last either.
Boy In Da Corner
“Where there is poverty, people want to have the riches. People wanted to wear the latest and greatest and you could only do that in London.” Mubi Ali, former Head of Brand for Sneakersnstuff explained. The cultural impact that grime had at the time was unlike anything before it. Grime was everything that represented youth culture in the capital, with the fashion, music and raw energy that came with it speaking for an entire generation. Soon, grime stars would start speaking about Nike sneakers in their songs. On Dizzee Rascal’s 2 Far featuring Wiley, Wiley spits “I was hot stepping in my Nike Air sneaker/ You didn’t know I was an MC beater, defeater.”
Sneakers were beginning to become a bigger part of the grime scene. Tracksuits, Air Max trainers and American sports team caps became the unofficial uniform for any inner-city grime kid. Despite their economic situation, it would become a competition to see who could get the latest trainers. “Grime is the soundtrack to the hood” Mubi Ali states, so it seems only right that the shoes would eventually get a shoutout. Dizzee Rascal’s 2003 debut album Boy In Da Corner is arguably the perfect representation of Air Max and grime.
Boy In Da Corner album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2003, a huge milestone for grime music. The 15 song album would define what years of pirate radio had been about, young lower class men from London talking about real problems they were experiencing. Despite its influence from hip-hop, grime was and still is, very much a London thing. The issues, situations and reality of growing up in the capital were documented on the album, even down to what Dizzee Rascal was wearing: an all-black Nike tracksuit, black gloves, white socks and a pair of black leather Nike Air Max BWs. Boy In Da Corner would win the Mercury Prize thrusting grime straight into the mainstream music of the UK, putting youth culture and Air Max into the spotlight.
Air Grime
Fast forward to 2009 and grime would eventually have a shoe to call its own. Dizzee Rascal, one of the scene’s OGs, was preparing to release his fourth studio album Tongue N’ Cheek. It was a representation of how far grime had come, transitioning away from pirate radio stations and into the main airwaves. To commemorate the occasion, Dizzee Rascal teamed up with Ben Drury and Nike on a limited edition Air Max 90 inspired by the album’s artwork. With only 200 pairs available, the shoe became a must-have for sneakerheads and grime fans alike. Today, prices of that same shoe are reaching upwards of €4,000+ in DS condition. However, it’s not all about limited releases when it comes to grime.
Nike’s 2015 film Air Max: The Uniform took a closer look at the relationship between grime and Air Max sneakers. The short film highlighted how deep the two run alongside each other, something that Logan Sama explains. “Street culture in London, grime’s the soundtrack to that and Air Max, I guess, is the uniform.” Even from its early days, the uniform of grime was well known. Tracksuits, hats and Air Max sneakers, particularly the 90, 95 and TN, were popular amongst kids from the estate. “It runs in parallel, the dress code and the music,” Sama further emphasised. “They’re all just reflections of that culture, that estate culture,” something that goes all the way back to the days of Channel U; grime’s official TV Channel.
London kids would also rename the silhouettes depending on the price point. The Air Max 95, for example, became the 110 due to its price point of £110. “I just wanted 110s,” Skepta told Nike. “Everybody wanted 110s,” a statement that is still true in the capital. The Air Max 95 is one sneaker that is synonymous with British street culture. Its popularity amongst sneakerheads and the average joe has never waned, despite the obvious jump in price point. “When TNs came out, they were 125,” Logan Sama explained, “so they were a status level above.” To this day, things haven’t changed in London.
“When people saw me in my Air Maxes they were like ‘that’s a next crep,’” Novelist, one of the future greats of UK grime told Nike. It’s something that Novelist explains wholeheartedly. “I will never forget my first pair of Air Max.” In fact, as further confirmation that Air Max and UK grime go hand in hand, Novelist even shouts out the grime uniform on 1 Sec, with the bar “Cos I roll in the bits with my Nike Air Man, black tracksuit that’s what I wear man.” History really does repeat itself. In recent times, we’ve seen even further proof that Air Max is the sneaker of choice in the grime world, thanks to SkAir.
SkAir
Dizzee Rascal’s collaboration with Nike would set a precedent for other UK grime artists, most notably Skepta. Since first joining forces back in 2017, Skepta and Nike have created some of the most authentic sneakers that represent both the artist and UK Air Max culture. If Dizzee Rascal pioneered the grime collaboration, Skepta undoubtedly popularised it. Over the past four years, SkAir sneakers have celebrated what grime is all about, as well as telling the stories of Skepta’s own favourite sneakers.
Back in 2016, Skepta celebrated Air Max Day with something special. In an Instagram post, he revealed that he had visited Nike’s World Headquarters the previous year to discuss getting to work on his own Nike line. The rapper debuted the Blacklisted BW and sparked a lot of hype in the sneaker world. Reportedly limited to just 50 pairs for friends and family, this shoe alone would kickstart the idea of a Skepta x Nike collaboration in the future. Thankfully, sneakerheads wouldn’t have to wait long.
The 2017 release of the Skepta x Nike Air Max 97 “SkAir” was a breakthrough moment for grime. Skepta had achieved something truly great, with the shoe shouting out both London and UK grime on a global scale. It marked a seismic shift in the representation that UK grime artists got in the sneaker world too, with the SkAir 97 kickstarting what has been a long and successful relationship between London sneaker culture and the world. With a further five pairs released at retail, it’s safe to say that Skepta and Nike have no plans on stopping any time soon.
Final Thoughts
London sneaker culture and London grime culture are linked intrinsically by the Nike Air Max line. The popularisation of Nike’s athletic trainers into something that has become synonymous with the city’s street environment. More importantly, the Nike Air Max represents an entire generation of kids from London, with grime playing a central role in adopting the uniform. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen how the relationship between Nike Air Max and grime has been nurtured, developed and widely respected from the streets to the stage. Thankfully, things don’t look to be changing any time soon.
