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While out at Agenda Long Beach, we ran into our friend Levi Maestro. An OG My 5 alum and a man of many creative hats, Maestro knows Agenda — he’s been going since 2010. Check out what Levi had to say about Agenda, the sneakers he currently keeps in rotation and his new show with Fox Sports.
Nice Kicks: You’ve been frequenting Agenda Long Beach for quite some while. So far, what’s caught your eye?
Levi Maestro: I was seeing the booths and there’s some crazy stuff. Brothers Marshall had a really awesome lifeguard tower like at the beach because they make stuff with the surf aesthetic. Flexfit made an arcade which was crazy. [Agenda] makes a real good effort I believe in keeping it interesting.
Nice Kicks: We last did a My 5 with you in 2011. What’s your sneaker rotation like these days?
Levi Maestro: I’m very much on the Boost wagon. I’ve got those Ultra Boosts and it’s crazy how amazing those feel, I wear those like I wear sweatpants. I wear Jordan 1s always and forever, and the Chuck Taylor 1970 with the better cushion, higher lip and the polished rubber — I wear those a bunch. Also, I iD’d some Kyrie 1s. They look really cool. I like the zig-zag on the front and I did mine in the neon yellow, tennis ball colorway and they came out really fly. But in general, I keep it pretty simple. Common Projects, stuff like that.
Nice Kicks: One of the early Maestro Knows videos that really caught wildfire was you skating in the Nike Air Yeezy 1. How do you feel the energy around the adidas Yeezy Boost line now compares to the energy surrounding the launch of the original Air Yeezy then?
Levi Maestro: It’s so interesting on a lot of levels. When the Nike thing happened it was surprising. It was interesting like, “Wow, a rapper with a shoe!” And it kind of happened before but not in that way, not to a marquee brand like Nike, so that was crazy. But I kind of feel like it’s almost stronger now because he already ran that course and it proved to be so successful that now [the new shoe] was even more exciting because the audience knew they were expecting something that they’d like. Also, sneakers in the last five years have become so much more powerful. They were already big, but now it’s bigger than just sneakerheads. Back then, I don’t think people other than sneakerheads were really buying Jordans — other than the people that grew up on Jordans. But now, it’s all the fashion people and kids wanting Yeezys as if it was its own brand. Now it’s more polished, it’s better executed and it has it’s own appeal. It still looks like other shoes but not the way that his Nikes looked like six different Nikes. I was just thinking that it is very impressive how in demand each and everyone of his shoes have been in the last few months.
Nice Kicks: You just launched a new show with Fox Sports. Tell us about that.
Levi Maestro: I’m doing a new show for Fox Sports called The Maestro. It’s really similar to the videos I’ve been doing for years except these are all on athletes. We’re a few episodes in and I just did one with Karl Anthony Towns. He had an appearance at DICK’s Sporting Goods in Minnesota and he gave all the kids from the Boys & Girls Club $150 gift cards. They all like playing basketball so they bought sneakers. It’s crazy to see someone that’s still so young already giving back to the youth. Karl is easy to talk to, he’s a bundle of energy and you can tell he’s very focused on the game. The show is on the digital format and you can watch it anywhere online.
