It was an invite only affair - as you know we get the best invites - so we made our way to NikeTown at the heart of Oxford Circus. A usual sight was seen at the door, but when you're as important as us you can bypass the queues and waltz straight in - or if you simply had a ticket. The RWD team were met at the door by hungry paparazzi; whose DIGITAL cameras must have been out of film as they didn't go off when we walked past.
Nike had set the scene nicely and their Festival of Air began to fill with industry folk, celebs and avid fans of the brand. We first had the pleasure of speaking to D&B’s LTJ Bukem first, who's now officially back after an 18 month break in his long running 15 year career. “Its nice to be able to come out and do this, as I’m a Nike freak, NikeTown in Oxford Street is not too foreign to me,” he tells. Taking such a break must’ve been nice, but now its back to the grind he informs through orange and silver shades, “Myself and my business partner have started the website goodlooking.org and we’re gonna put out albums and DVDs. There’s a lot of things.” Known for his earthy sound LTJ sums up what we’re gonna see for the next 15 years, “Its very hard these days to define what music you’re doing, there’re so many fragments in various scenes but yeah I’d like to think my sound is a worldly earthy musical journey.” Being in the perfect place, he describes his perfect pair of trainers, “Well, I’m a Presto nutter,” he replies - we look down at his feet and confirm this. “They first came out in 2000 I think and I’ve got about 20 pairs.” And his ever first pair of trainers? He reminisces “You know what, they must have been some no name pair.”
In between networking and viewing the more than decent artwork, it was time to speak to Norris ‘Da Boss’. With Creed by his side, the interview got off to a bang, I cheekily asked, ‘Isn’t this a bit late for you two?’ Luckily they laughed, “Yeah, we should be in bed with some hot chocolate,” Creed quickly retorted. They soon tell us of their trainer love, “'Creps’ we used to call ‘em, cos of the sole,” Creed explains whilst pointing at his trainers. “My first ever pair of trainers were plimsolls,” Norris divulges. “Yeah and mine were Wizz Kids [excuse the spelling but not even Google has heard of this ‘brand’], I think they were from Woolworths.” So are the two legends fans of the new style of trainers, “Boy, they’re more expensive than the shoes I buy,” complains Mr Windross. So how does he get his regular Nike fill we hear you ask, “Well, I get them sent to me, someone hooks me up. I always like a nice looking pair of trainers.”
With a few people floating around Dizzee Rascal and his bouncer [who’s unofficial height is approximately 9’ 7”], we politely waited for the good guys at MTV to get their interview before we grabbed our exclooooose. Mr ‘Showtime’ himself – with customised Paul Wall grill – first informed us how his OWN line of Nike Air 180s were doing, “Yeah, they’re going well. They were not for general sale but just a limited range.” So limited our RWD pair must have been ‘lost’ in the post, but not to worry, the patent material from his one-away red Nike Air imports had already distracted us. “Oh these,” he says with a golden grin, “I brought these back from the States, I call them ‘Candy Paint’.” So back from touring (with just about everyone big) and in the studio to finish off the third album, Maths and English, Diz explains what’s going on, “Yeah, I’ve been touring, I’ve supported Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers – that’s been the funniest and the most recent one,” and the album tell us about the album, “Its out in January, I just wanna get it right…”
To find out what Dizzee had to say about his forthcoming album, what genre of music he’s working with now (as well as grime) and what OTHER producers are on this impending LP you need to wait for the October issue of RWD - out September 15. For more info on Nike Air and the Festival of Air check http://www.nike.com/nikeair.
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