Mo' Wax + Nike = downtempo beats for shoe geeks, shoe worms

October 31, 2017 12:46 PM

It's the mid-to-late 1990s, and you're a big shoe company, how do you get in with the kids to push more kicks? Team up with an underground-ish music label to make some laidback beats then get various sports celebrities talking about your shoes, and mix the two together, of course. This actually happened two decades ago, when back in 1997, James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label (previously) teamed up with Nike to make a CD to promote shoes. The result was seven tracks of uncredited vintage '97 trip-hop tracks (likely to be Rich File and Ils) accompanying by the chopped-up chatter of sports celebrities of the day Andre Agassi, David Robinson, Monica Seles, Robbie Fowler, Giacomo Leone, Anita Weyermann and Jason Kidd.
posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

Great beats. Thank you for this. When will the documentary come to stream (or Chicago)?
posted by erebora at 9:57 PM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

The docu sounds fantastic, thanks for the tip!
posted by filthy light thief at 7:01 PM on November 1, 2017

Until then, enjoy James Lavelle - 21 Years Of Mo Wax - Part 1 and Part 2, about 10 minutes of James talking with a bloke from Fact Magazine.

See also: James Lavelle : The Man From UNKLE (Unofficial) - another 11 minute mini-docu, this one by a French fan named Ben, or Dale Cooper.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:05 PM on November 1, 2017