Fat Joe has opened up about how Michael Jordan’s co-sign helped launch his Up NYC sneaker store.
Joey Crack invited New York Giants legends Eli Manning and Shaun O’Hara to his boutique sneaker shop in June for an episode of The Eli Manning Show where he detailed how Up NYC came to be with some help from MJ.
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“What happened was I went to spend hundreds of thousands to open the store and I brought a friend from Nike up there like, ‘This is my new sneaker store.’
He was like, ‘Yo, you got permission?’ I said, ‘What permission?’ He was like, ‘Nah, you gotta get sanctioned you gotta get vetted.’ I was like, ‘Nah, I thought we was cool.'”
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Luckily for Fat Joe, Michael Jordan was in town hosting a Brand Jordan event where he secured the hoops icon’s approval.
“That night Jordan had a party in New York. I’m up in the party and you hear this just big voice, ‘Big Joe, Big Joe.’ And I turned around and everybody looks and it’s Michael Jordan. He said, ‘Your grand opening, I’ll be there. Your grand opening, I’m there.’ The same guys that told me no ran over, ‘I guess you got a store.'”
Up NYC still operates its brick & mortar location just outside the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
All these years later, Fat Joe’s loyalty remains with MJ. He sided with Jordan in the “GOAT” argument when it comes to the basketball court against LeBron James.
“MJ’s the GOAT,” Fat Joe declared earlier this year. “We love LeBron. LeBron is the greatest, at this time. Actually, we worship LeBron. We love him to death, but MJ’s the GOAT.”
Fat Joe is one of the more bona fide Air Jordan collectors in Hip Hop. The Bronx native showed off his rare multi-colored Jordan 1’s inspired by the Rubik’s Cube on Christmas Day last year.
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The multi-colored 1’s were never actually released to the general public and a handful of pairs were crafted as samples; only a lucky few got their hands on them.
