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Trinidad James is no rookie to the sneaker community. Even before the fame — and well before his celebrated sneaker show, Camp Jame$ — Trinidad was taken to the worlds of footwear and fashion, as one might expect from a soon-to-be Atlantan superstar.
“I remember chasing the Copper Foamposites in 2010,” recalls James. “I had to have those. I drove through the cold and the rain just to get ’em from this one place that had them. That was me in my purest form of collecting sneakers: when it didn’t matter who the fuck was behind a style.”
Now that he’s solidified his place in sneaker culture, James plans to give his followers a new way to explore his growth as one of rap’s most successful independent artists. With his role as a leading star of Studio 13’s newest digital-docu series, INDEPENDENT, James hopes to show viewers what it is truly like to be an independent hip-hop artist seeking further success.
In honor of the show’s debut, we caught up with Trinidad to talk sneakers, recent politics and just what fans can expect from him in his newest show, INDEPENDENT.
Nice Kicks: You’re from Atlanta — when did you first get into sneakers and how has your interest and access to sneakers changed since fame?
Trinidad James: Being in Atlanta around the time of the first “Grape” 5 retro was what started it for me. It was a general release — but not general release — if that makes any sense? [Editors Note: ’06 “Grape” 5s were very hard to get]
Around that time, there were a few things coming out, but I remember being like, Dawg, I’m not about to cut these out and then never be able to get them again, ’cause these are so crazy. Even though I didn’t have to do super super crazy things to get them, I still felt the energy of that, Damn, these were hard to get, people really want these! I might of had to pay even a little extra for my pair, but I think that was what triggered in my mind that I should start collecting shoes kind of in a more responsible way. I realized that I could chill. I don’t have to rock the shoe into the ground before buying another pair. I could rock a shoe a little bit, then get another one, then get another one. And that’s kind of how it started, that was the start of the madness. [Laughs]
Nice Kicks: Was that the first shoe that you ever chased?
Trinidad James: Um, man… Was it? It lowkey feels like it, but, it was some things in between that period where I was like, Bruh, what’s going on here. Like, I remember chasing the “Copper” Foamposites in 2010. I had to have those. I drove through the cold and the rain just to get ’em from this one place that had them. For some reason that just wasn’t a very popular shoe in the South when they released. I remember Wale being on the stage with all these different people to debut the bitch. I was like, Ohhhh shit, what is this! This is crazy! I feel like that was me in my purest form of collecting sneakers, because it didn’t matter about who the fuck was behind the style. I didn’t give a fuck about all that until Kanye West came up I was like, Oh shit. Whatever this dude is doing, I support it. And that was 2008 though. But before that it was more like, how does this shoe make me feel? The design, what was the concept behind it, is this something that can sit with me? The more paths or obstacles that I had to get through to get the shoe, it made it a little more special to me. And that’s what made the collection start growing and growing, with special pieces.
Nice Kicks: You’re big on both high fashion and streetwear. How do you adapt your wardrobe as brands like Supreme that you’ve been on trend so high upward?
Trinidad James: First of all I don’t consider Supreme high fashion. Supreme is the top of the totem pole when it comes to streetwear. When you can’t get something that you want, and you finally get the chance to get it, you just go crazy! People are usually like, Oh my God! I’m in New York, I can just go up to the store! Get me anything. Fuck it, get me a skateboard! You know? As you realize that there’s less hype attached to it, it’s like, ehh, whatever.
I don’t really care about Supreme clothes that much anymore. I haven’t been the New York store myself, it feels like, in a year or something like that. I either get it online or even get it from a reseller if I really want it. As you get older and you’ve been doing it for a minute, it loses its appeal. Even before music though, my style has always changed. I pay attention to what’s going on and I see what feels good for my DNA. I always say in my mind I want to wear these things, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna wear everything.
Nice Kicks: What place do you feel hip hop has had in making streetwear evolve into something that can blur the lines of high fashion?
Trinidad James: I mean, just the success of these streetwear brands alone has done a huge part of it. Don’t get me wrong, the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collection is dope — and it’s high fashion quality. But it’s still just a hoodie and a t-shirt — or, it’s still just a skateboard. It’s the same shit that they would have released normally for $40 or $180. The only difference is that you’ve put a high fashion name on it, but that doesn’t mean that you’re high fashion. It means you’re doing a high fashion collab. With that being said, the success of these streetwear brands to be able to partner up with huge brands like that is incredible because the respect factor for these brands, like Bape or Supreme, is just as high as those brands that they want to collab with, like LV or Gucci.
Nice Kicks: You are a very active artist, and one of the more successful independent artists in hip hop. What can we expect from your upcoming show INDEPENDENT?
Trinidad James: Just me man. You’re gonna get to see the honest reality. With all the artists on the show, you know, you never get to see what’s really going on so you’re gonna see the reality of everything. I don’t hold back. You’re not gonna see no angry rapper syndrome or nothing like that. It’s just honesty man, I’m giving you facts.
Nice Kicks: You recently posted Eminem’s BET cypher on your IG, which was a strong political statement. Previously many artists have shied away from politics or not viewed it as their place to speak on. Do you think that the paradigm is shifting in favor of speaking out?
Trinidad James: Well music has always been about freedom of speech. I just had my brother tell me, “I’m down to pay the cost.” That’s what he said to me. In general, that’s what’s happening today — people are just ready to pay the cost. Kaepernick was ready to pay the cost. He could’ve not said anything and just remained rich, he’d still be up like fuck. But sometimes you see things that you just gotta fix, because you believe in them. And shit, I respect it.
Nice Kicks: How do you use both social media and fashion to express your views on politics versus that of day to day in real life?
Trinidad James: Honestly, what makes the world really work in the future is just everybody getting along. But we need to respect our own cultures first. When people start realizing how much power we posses together then they’ll be able to work better together. That’s my honest opinion. To answer your question, I do it to remind people not to get it mistaken: you might see me hanging out with whoever, Donald Trump or 10,000 white people or whatever, but at the end of the day I still stand for my people and I still stand for my culture.
Nice Kicks: You recently announced a break from Camp Jame$, do you have anything currently in the works with SNKR Inc?
Trinidad James: Yeah! I posted that cartoon of Lil CJ, he’s the future of Camp Jame$. His appearance might change the next time you see him, but he is the future of Camp Jame$. I’m getting older and just busier in general, plus there aren’t really any sneakers coming out that make me want to buy them.
That’s what the premise of Camp Jame$ was all about — shoes that I camped out for, or shoes that I was purchasing every other week, or two weeks. It got to the point honestly where I’d be the first to see the shoes. But my first 26 episodes — the original Camp Jame$ — that’s what allowed people to know what Camp Jame$ is really about, even if you didn’t know anything about the sneaker world. With those episodes, I was able to form a fan base with the sneakers. But it got the point where it felt like I was just buying shoes to talk about them on the show because I knew people wanted to know about them, even when I didn’t care about them so much. Plus those type of shoes weren’t for retail, so I had to pay resale for a shoe that I really didn’t want to pay resale for. So I just got tired of that or whatever. That’s why took a break the first time, after the first 26 episodes and moved to LA.
When I moved to LA, it was about finding the right person to shoot it. So when I decided to bring it back, Snkr Inc. wanted to shoot more content, so it worked out beautifully. Shout out to my boy John, he’s the one that reached out. But the difference now is that less things have come out that hype me up. I don’t wanna hit you up with an episode where I’m just talking about three shoes, you know, that’s boring [laughs]. I kind of look at Nice Kicks as the major label of the sneaker community and I’m sure that not even you guys have time to pick that shit out — like 20 minute content just to show off a collection of sneakers. What sneakers y’all collecting? Oh yeah, y’all got all of them! [Laughs] You’d be talking forever about all the shoes. So it’s one of those things going into 2018, we at Snkr Inc. have some really cool, new ideas that we want to bring to the show. We’ll give you a taste of something in the season finale, then build off of that for the next season. So we’ll see how it goes, it’s a process.
Nice Kicks: With music, media and kicks, what can fans expect next from Trinidad James?
Trinidad James: I just have my hands in all of it, you know I’m always gonna be a fresh mother fucker no matter what. I’m making the best music of my life right now. I have my own foundation and I’m here for the world. I went to Kenya to show my support, really to donate a check, and help this university get back on its feet after a devastating shooting that killed 147 people about a year and a half ago. I raised some bread for them so they’d be able to venture into new things. I do my share to help the Earth.
Politics, I keep my ear to the streets and I see what’s going on. Once again, I’m one of those people who just pays my respect, but at the same time I’m a realist. I wouldn’t walk into President Obama’s house and keep my shoes on if Michelle said, “We don’t wear shoes in my house.” The same way I wouldn’t walk into Donald Trump’s house and keep my hat on if he said don’t keep your hat on in my house. It doesn’t matter how cool I am, it’s another man’s house. My whole point here is that, yeah I’m my own individual and black lives definitely do matter. Mexican lives definitely do matter. People’s live matter, Asian, White, you name it. But if he’s running this country, he’s gonna run this country his way. So to some extent, this is his house. We all know he ain’t going no where no time soon, and we’re the ones that put him there.
So we gotta figure it out and not necessarily stop complaining, but work smarter and make your circumstances work for us. That’s what he’s doing. That’s what he’s always done — make business and America work for him. Shit that’s the American dream, too. So we should do the same.
Keep up with Trinidad via Instagram and keep an eye out for new episodes of INDEPENDENT via Stage 13’s Twitter account.
