Steve Stoute has made some big claims in a recent interview, and one of them has fans of Run-DMC ready to throw their adidas.
In his sit-down on a new episode of Shannon Sharpe‘s Club Shay Shay podcast, Stoute — an executive who has made a career of bringing together Hip Hop and the corporate world — talked about his influence in the context of shoe deals for rappers.
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But his claim that he “started” that trend had many commenters rushing to point out a prior example: Run-DMC’s deal with adidas, which resulted in the legendary group having their own line of shoes in 1988.
Sharpe started his question by mentioning a number of rappers who have had shoe endorsements over the past two decades: JAY-Z and G-Unit with Reebok; Travis Scott and Eminem with Nike; and Jack Harlow with New Balance.
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“Now you see the culture…and the influence that it had with brands, you see a lot more of that,” Sharpe said.
“I started that,” Stoute responded. “Started that. Everybody knows that. That’s me. “That’s called, ‘Corporate America, I’m going to introduce you to this thing called Hip Hop. And the music, and the culture, and everything that it represents can help you.’
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“That’s what I did. And everywhere I go around the world, anyone who knows me, knows that I did that. I feel great about that.”
You can see the exchange beginning at the 32:13 mark below.
A reposting of the clip by Hip Hop Wolf was met by a number of comments mentioning the famous Run-DMC/adidas deal.
“He definitely has selective amnesia… RUN-DMC started it. Then LL Cool got his sneaker deal with TROOP,” wrote one commenter. “I really wish people STOP trying to change/erase Hip Hop HISTORY!!!”
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“It is well documented that Run-D.M.C. signed hip-hop’s first sneaker contract in 1987 when they partnered with adidas in a deal worth $1.6 million,” said another.
“I guess he did the @adidas deal with @rundmc in the 80’s!” wrote a commenter ironically.
Elsewhere in his Club Shay Shay interview, Steve Stoute talked about the origins of 50 Cent and Ja Rule’s long-running beef.
Sharpe asked the CEO of UnitedMasters how the two New York MCs fell out, to which Stoute replied: “That’s a good question. I think 50 knew that Ja was not who he was portraying as an image.
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“Ja [was a] Jehovah’s Witness… I’m not saying they not supposed to rap, but Ja was coming up with this gangster image. It was like, ‘That’s a stretch for you…’ They had some very neighborhood beef.
“I remember when we signed 50 there was something going on. I think he snatched Ja’s chain, or somebody snatched somebody’s…And then they had a fight in Atlanta…and it was just like, I never understood it.”
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Stoute continued: “I was like, ‘Why do you keep having problems with this guy?’ It was like he was always looking for problems…I think it was driven by this idea that this image he was portraying he didn’t think was authentic.
“It led to big issues. Ja and his guys ran up on 50 in the studio one day. They touched him up.”
