Dart Adams presents The Same Ol' Rebellion With A Different Name AKA A Bostonian Sneaker Fiend's Dream (2009 Update)

I often visit the different drops that bloggers make showcasing new custom kicks (Dallas Penn, I'm looking at you!), but most of the time I can't really get into them because I, like so many other oldhead Bostonians only rock Adidas. You may be thinking to yourself, how the hell is it possible that a whole city can adopt a sneaker brand? Hey, I didn't start the shit...I merely adopted the now 30+ year old custom myself when I became of age in the South End/Lower Roxbury section of Boston.


My big brother Dave was a Nike head, one of the few in our neighborhood. He kept a pair of Adidas handy for when he traveled into other parts of the city that if you didn't rock Adidas bad things could happen to you but for the most part he rocked Cortez Nikes to death. I remember when I asked him to cop me a pair of kicks from Crystal back in 1986. A pair of Knick colored Adidas Ewings. He laughed his ass off telling me that he wasn'y gonna buy me kicks that would get me stabbed and robbed in our 'hood. He copped me some nice Reeboks, though. No one fucked with me but I still wanted those 3's. Those A Dogs. I was an Adidas denied that which I desired most. I had to wait.


While not everyone in Boston subscribes to it, there is NO doubt that Boston is an Adidas town...ask anyone who lives there, has lived there for a considerable amount of time or is from there if you think I'm exaggerating. They even admit to it in the local Hip Zepi stores (ad above), continuing the tradition started by my old (now defunct) South End sneaker spot, Harry The Greeks (keep in mind that it was also a custom to smack Yankees caps off of people's heads in public back in the days..that was before everybody started carrying guns, though).



Recently, Adidas launched a line of custom kicks (Celtics Superstars seen above) for each NBA team (after the Adidas/AG Salomon Group bought Reebok, they allowed Reebok to outfit the NFL but took over as the official apparel maker/supplier of the NBA) and later on a custom line of kicks designed by well known graf artists from all over the world called "End To End" (as shown below the Celtics kicks). While they're both nice, they don't even come close to the creations made by the heads over at Rebellion Customs (formerly known as the Dassler Rebellion).

Inglewood emcee Damani and member of Snoop's Dubb Union (formerly Westurn Union) used to live and reside in Boston because his homie Paul Pierce brought him along to help him with his music career. He worked with some local producers working on demos, my brother Buctayla being one of them. Before they could move ahead he hooked up with Clinton Sparks and began making noise. He has since secured a deal with Snoop Dogg, relaesed a mixtapes and brought back the Boston favorite/classic Adidas EQT B-Ball Low.


While Bostonians heads are scheming about what new 3's to cop so they can put 'em on ice until Spring comes so they can rock the new freshness you can cop some white Stan Smiths and get 'em customized for a special occasion. These cats have made custom joints for some of your favorite artists as well as everyday folks. They usually customize the classic Stan Smiths and Rod Lavers, but they're extremely versatile and keep on coming up with type ill designs that fuck your head up every time. Check out some examples here (all pictures courtesy of Dassler Rebellion/Rebellion Customs):

JDilla customs by Dassler Rebellion/Rebellion Customs

Nas exclusives by Dassler Rebellion/Rebellion Customs

Marvin Gaye Version 3 and Trashy To Classy (Oscar & Grungetta The Grouch) customs by Rebellion Customs For more information about Rebellion Customs (They do Nikes as well) or availability and pricing please visit the following sites:



http://www.rebellioncustoms.com/
http://www.myspace.com/rebellioncustoms
http://www.myspace.com/dasslerrebellion

If you're looking for some ill Adidas to rock this summer check out the following spots:

http://www.harputs.com/
http://www.adidas.com/us/heritage/home.asp
http://www.shopadidas.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=2039765
http://buy.ebay.com/adidas

You can customize your own Adidas at the following brand site, Mi Adidas:

http://www.miadidas.com/US/Main.action

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