Read These Nikes # 1: Air Delta Force Hi

Nike Air Delta Force Hi as seen on ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ 12″ by N.W.A.

The good doctor knew a pair of half-decent sneakers when he saw them back in NWA’s heyday. Dre’s decision to keeping it gangster with some seriously big-arse Nikes that would cause the legendary Swoosh-shoed freeloader Jerry Seinfeld to fall back. Given that the brief prior to the studio visit was to wear something appropriately white and sporty that would add the necessary emphasis to this visual subversion of servitude stereotyping, Dre’s sneakers are the absolute anti-shoe shine creation in all their ankle-supporting bulk.

The Nike in question is 1988′s Air Delta Force Hi. Many will remember 1987′s original Team Delta Force – it’s been reissued in mid and low variations over the years, (as a spot of hip-hop trivia, Japan’s Nitro Microphone Underground got their own hyper and quickstrike special makeups of the retroed mid) and now a pointless Hi with an even duller sole unit, but beyond the perforations, if truth were told, it’s a pretty underwhelming shoe. No Air for starters. Hoop shoe afficionado Dante Ross says as much in Bobbito’s book. They seemed to be a budget version of the Air Force II design.

The Air Delta Force, worn here, is a lot better, with the extra support, more padding, and that ill tongue branding (one of the first to carry it), yet it’s not as good as 1989′s Delta Force ST, just because that funny-shaped midsole was a little off-putting, and greys and whites were straight snoozeworthy. An odd choice considering 1988 was the year of the vasttly superior Air Revolution and Air Force III. Still; while they never made a lasting impression beyond this single sleeve, the technical, honed precision, and and updated formula kind of reflects the work of man wearing them if we’re going to overanalyse to the point of self-parody. Fuck that. We’ll just stick to the aethetics.

Nike have made no effort to reissue this model, but if you try to wear a deadstock pair to the shops on a Frijj and Rizla mission, there’s a fair chance they’ll crumble into dust like a CGI vampire death, leaving you staggering home shoeless as if you were returning from the Hammersmith Odeon Public Enemy show. Still. It means you’ll have an authentic late ’80s experience, if that’s what you’re craving.

Yet. Post-NWA, Dre rarely matched this pick on his feet again. He kept it crispy with Superstars and simpler out-the-box pieces, made a few music video footwear missteps, but these are one of his defining sneaker moments. Eazy with the Jordan IIIs, plus the Air Flight Hi (as rocked by EPMD) on group members were other attention-grabbers. That coast-to-coast appeal, and confidence in their own sonic unique selling points meant that NWA didn’t need to lapse into the Chuck Taylor gangbanger and hoo riding stereotype. Well, not yet. You wouldn’t catch South Central Cartel in moonboots, and its doubtful this cover could’ve had the same impact if it was awash with canvas and vulcanised rubber. As sneakers in cover art go, it falls behind LL’s Quantum Forces, but just about defeats Audio Two’s Air Pressures.

Words by Gwarizm

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