Nike Continues its Run of Hip-Hop Sneaker Collabs 

 Editor's Note:

Originally published in Feb 2023, this story on Nike’s iconic hip-hop sneaker collaborations has been updated for 2025 with new releases and highlights.

Nike Classics embraced hip-hop culture in 2023 with a limited-edition hip-hop 50 sneaker. The coveted athletic and footwear brand prepped an exclusive Air Force 1 to commemorate 50 years of hip-hop. With a sleek white, cream and gray palette, the traditional tongue label is replaced by a hip-hop flyer graphic, a caption that reads "50 Years of Hip-Hop," and a golden microphone hang tag. Featured on the insole is the text "NIKE CLASSICS." 

Earlier that same year, the sportswear brand also teased an Air Force 1 High “Classic” sneaker that has a black, white, cement grey, and coconut milk colorways, also having a golden microphone hangtag. Accented by speckled black/white smooth leather on its mudguard and heel, the "Classic" AFI was released in Fall 2023 with a retail price set at $135.

In October of 2022, the brand released an exclusive AF1 homaging the Bronx as hip-hop's birthplace. Modeling the 'Bronx Origins' exclusive was Like...? rapper Ice Spice, and other hip-hop legends from the New York City borough.

"A legend in two games. This Air Force 1 pays tribute to hip-hop's Bronx Origins and the 40th anniversary of the sneaker icon," reads the 'Bronx Origins' product page. "Since it arrived in '82, the AF1 has been intrinsically tied to the world's most influential music genre, serving as the uniform sneaker for the culture."

The sneaker brand is continuing its run of culture-adjacent footwear into the next several years as well.

One big one is CPFM x Nike Dunk Low “Swamp Sponge” with Travis Scott. It’s an uneasy, bold-looking Dunk Low that Travis Scott was spotted wearing. It uses mismatched materials, visible foam in the tongue, big swooshes and an aged-rubber sole. It’s rumored to drop in Fall 2025.

Another is Steven Victor’s Victor Victor x Nike Air Max Dn8. Victor, the music executive and tastemaker, is bringing a collab that leans heavily into automotive design aesthetics — for example the “New York” edition inspired by the Ferrari 488 Pista and a “Tokyo” edition drawing from Japanese Domestic Market car culture. The “New York” version was set to launch globally on September 13, 2025 with the “Tokyo” edition coming in Japan on September 15.