33 HI x COMMON Black/White/Multi/Gum Sneakers
Today, we have the honor of giving one of Chicago’s own his flowers. Hailing from the south side of Chicago, Common (formerly known as Common Sense), is a legend in the game. Going from the Source Magazine’s Unsigned Hype, to being one Tony award away from achieving EGOT status, is no easy feat. As it stands, no other rapper has ever won an Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar—he’s the first to ever do it, putting Common in the rare category of artists finding success in both music and film.
His debut album is considered a classic today, but that was not the case when it was first released in 1992. Produced by NO ID, Twilite Tone, and the Beatnuts – it had no big name features, he was almost the first rapper to go platinum without a feature word to Cole.
It’s safe to say that at 31 years old, “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” has aged beautifully. By now an industry veteran, Common is as relevant today as when he first burst unto the scene, and that is why we have partnered with him to release a Can I Borrow A Dollar? Inspired 33 HI. We chose this album because the 33 HI appears on the album cover.
The 33 HI features a black leather upper with royal blue accenting and sits atop a gum sole, but what really sets this shoe apart is the colorful stitched pattern all throughout the shoe, representing the road map of the United States featured on the album cover. As Common explained to us, the reason he had a road map of the United States on the album cover was because “I had cats from the East Coast on here and cats from the West Coast, that’s what Hip Hop just was at that time, and as a Chicago artist I wanted to say hey, can I get a piece of this? So that’s what Can I Borrow a Dollar? was”.
In a full circle moment, the Can I Borrow A Dollar? 33 HI was designed with the help of Marc Davis (a childhood friend of Common, who’s also on the album cover), and Pritt Kalsi. The Can I Borrow A Dollar? 33 HI is now available in limited quantities in sizes 5-16 exclusively on ewingathletics.com, so borrow as many dollars as you need – once these sell out, they’re gone for good.
The flagship Ewing Athletics shoe, the 33 HI is an exact retro of the 1990 original, and features a classic reversible ankle strap that can be worn on the front or back of the shoe, full leather upper and a full length PU midsole for cushioning and a rubber outsole.