Saturday, March 31, 2012

PAYING DUES ...


We are proud to announce that Nation Of Hardwear will be attending and vending at this years PAID DUES < click the link for show and ticket info) Saturday, April 7th @ the NOS Event Center in San Bernardino, CA !!!

The Line Up is ILL (Wu Tang, Odd Future, Mac Miller, Living Legends, DipSet, Three 6 Mafia, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Quik and many many many many more.

Put on by MURS 3:16 x GUERILLA UNION a slew of big name sponsors including Heineken, Nooka, OkayPlayer, Monster Energy, The Source & Capcom ! It's going to be a awesome event.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE !!! NOHx2012

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Nike Air Yeezy 2 – Black and Wolf Grey Colorways Both Dropping in June


In the latest bit of release info for the Yeezy 2, HS is reporting that both the Black and Wolf Grey colorways will drop in June.

Previously rumored to be a staggered release of some sort, it now appears that both colorways will be hitting spots on the same day.

Info has been unreliable up until this point, but it appears that concrete info is finally starting to trickle out. Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to the release. via Sneakerfiles

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Drake Asked to Pay Oklahoma Club Owner for Getting Club Manager Arrested


An Oklahoma nightclub owner is suing Drake for getting his club manager arrested.

According to TMZ, the owner of Dollhouse Lounge in OKC sent Drake and his reps a letter claiming the rapper got his club’s manager arrested when cops found a half-burnt marijuana cigarette in the VIP section, where Drake and his entourage were stationed, after Drake held a private party there on March 1st. The club was also issued a ticket, according to the letter.

The owner says the venue was closed, but he opened it just for Drizzy after he asked the owner to allow him to host a private event there. According to the owner, Drake showed up with a large number of people, and when the party was in full-mode, employees started to notice the smell of marijuana coming from the rapper’s section.

At that point, the party was shut down, claims the owner, but when the Oklahoma City Police showed up to restore order and usher partygoers out of the club, they arrested the club manager but not before issuing her a ticket.

The owner is asking Drake to pay up a couple thousand dollars for his troubles. Drake’s reps didn’t respond to email requests as of press time. —Gina Montana for XXL

LeBron James, Miami Heat put their hoods up to show support in Trayvon Martin case


LeBron James tweeted a picture on Friday afternoon that showed the two-time league MVP and his Miami Heat teammates clad in hooded sweatshirts, hoods up and eyes down.

The photo, accompanied by the hashtags "#WeAreTrayvonMartin," "#Hoodies," "#Stereotyped" and "#WeWantJustice," followed a mass protest Thursday in which people all over the world donned hooded sweatshirts in solidarity with the family of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old high school student who was found dead on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a community north of Orlando. Martin was shot and killed. Police found George Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, standing over Martin, wounded and armed with a handgun.

Zimmerman told police that he killed Martin in self-defense. Police found no weapons on Martin's body — just an iced tea and a pack of Skittles. Martin was reportedly wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up, at the time of his shooting. It was raining. Martin was black. Zimmerman is Hispanic.

Martin's death, and the case's subsequent handling by Sanford's police officials, have drawn national headlines and widespread attention. President Barack Obama made his first public comments on the case Friday, offering a highly personal perspective: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

On Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton led a rally demanding that Zimmerman be charged with Martin's death. The same day, Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced that a special prosecutor would be appointed to helm the state's investigation into the shooting, and Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee decided to "temporarily" step down amid criticism of his department's handling of the case.

Before James tweeted the Heat team photo, James' teammate Dwyane Wade posted a photo of himself in a hoodie on his Facebook page. Wade told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman that he thought the public outcry surrounding the Martin case presented a "great opportunity to use [the photo]," which was "a picture that [I'd] taken before," to show solidarity and "get the people to understand what we're in support of." via Ball Don't Lie

Air Jordan XII GS ‘Obsidian’


Come June, you can cross off the ‘Obsidian’ colorway of the Air Jordan XII from the list of ‘OG Air Jordans yet to be retroed‘. That list is getting shorter and shorter every year, but a release so popular like the Obsidian XII is worth it to break open the vault once more. The last time two occasions the Obsidian XII was in stores, it came in Force Fusion and Low-top form, so while those two releases were popular in their own right, neither comes close to the original via Sneaker News

Air Jordan XII Retro
Obsidian/White-French Blue-University Blue
130690-410
06/23/2012

Nike Air Max 1 and Dunk High ‘Leopard Pack’ – Fall/Winter 2012


After Nike Sportswear dropped the “Animal” and “Beast” packs back in 2006 and 2007, the brand has returned with a new “Leopard Pack” for Fall/Winter 2012.

Featuring the Air Max 1 and Dunk High, the kicks come with black and leopard print uppers alongside white accents and red lining.

Checkout this first look at the upcoming release and stay tuned for more info. via Sneakerfiles

Monday, March 26, 2012

Curren$y Sues Damon Dash Over Music


Curren$y is taking his one-time friend, Damon Dash, to court.

The rapper filed a lawsuit against Dame for $1.5 million in damages for releasing Curren$y music he had no right to drop, reports TMZ.

In the lawsuit, Curren$y claims he and Jay-Z’s former business partner tried to come to an agreement to release music together in 2010 —the same year Dash released two of Curren$y’s albums —but the deal never materialized. So, Curren$y went off and signed a deal with Warner Bros. in January 2011. Apparently, Dash continued to released the rhymeslinger’s music despite him being signed to WB, which gave Warner exclusive rights to Curren$y’s records.

Dame has since responded to the accusations, alleging he has the right to release the albums because he was given permission to do so. Damon went on to say Curren$y back-stabbed him for backing out of their agreement and signing to Warner instead.

A jude hasn’t ruled on the case as of press time. —Gina Montana for XXL

Picture perfect: LeBron James, Miami Heat snap photos with servicemen during OKC layover


If you're of a mind to hate LeBron James regardless of instance or circumstance, it probably won't matter much to you that he reportedly did something really cool a few weeks back for members of the U.S. Armed Forces during a layover in Oklahoma City. But if you're the type who thinks virtue is its own reward and that small acts of kindness performed when you think no one's watching might reveal something about a person, then maybe you'll think a little more favorably about the All-Star forward after the story Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman wrote this last weekend, before James' Miami Heat took on (and lost to) the Oklahoma City Thunder.The story's set three weeks ago, when the Heat headed west to Portland for a road trip. Miami's team plane needed to make a refueling stop en route at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, so Heat players and personnel got off the jet and headed into the terminal to wait for the fill-up to finish.

Inside, as one "airport worker who witnessed the entire scene" told Carlson, James "noticed a couple of uniformed military personnel" — helicopter pilots and crew members whose birds were also making a refueling stop at Will Rogers — "approach the team's security person."

Some of them wanted pictures with the players, but when the crew members approached the team's security detail, they were told no.

Maybe LeBron could overhear the conversation, or perhaps he could just tell by their body language what was going on. Either way, he piped up.

"Hey, hey," he said, "any of these military guys can take a picture with us."

He turned to his teammates.

"You guys get up," he told them.


More from the Oklahoma's Carlson, whose recounting of the meeting you should definitely read in full:

[James] started to wave the servicemen over but noticed that some of the players weren't yet on their feet.

"Hey, everybody get up," he said. "Get in a circle here. Anybody that wants their picture taken with us, we'll do it."

And that's exactly what they did. Any of the four or five dozen helicopter crewmen who wanted a photo got one. Not all of them did, but LeBron and his teammates posed with each and every one of them who asked.

It is not exactly breaking news to report that a lot of people don't like LeBron James. They think he's overpaid and overrated, they think he shrinks in big moments, and nearly two years later, many still think he's a jerk for "The Decision" and its aftermath. On top of that, there's likely not much that LeBron can do to sway public opinion of him at this point — if he wins titles with the Miami Heat, his detractors will always decry him for needing Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and company to do it, and if he doesn't, his shortcomings will continue to be viewed as evidence of some essential, inescapable flaw.

Better or worse, right or wrong, that's the spot that LeBron occupies in sporting and popular culture now. To some extent, he's made his bed, but we've also taken particular delight in poking fun at what a sloppy job he's done ("You call THOSE hospital corners?") and the fact that he doesn't seem to get too many solid nights sleep despite stepping his thread count up.

In what seems like a no-win situation, then, pretty much all LeBron can do is try to be excellent on the court and a decent dude off it. There's no question he's done the latter this season, performing night-in and night-out as the clear best player in the league and strong favorite to take home his third league Most Valuable Player award come season's end, even if his Heat don't end the season with the NBA's best record and finish as the East's top team. via Ball Don't Lie

Nike Foamposite Pro Release Confirmed for September 2012


A new Nike Foamposite Pro has hit the release schedule for September 2012. Info is very sparse at this point but we have a confirmed style code of 624041-016 and a potential colorway of Platinum/Crimson-Black. The *closest* Foamposite Pro that we have seen to link up with this info is the one pictured above. More info soon but if you are jonesing for some Foam Pros, get ready. via KATC

Air Jordan V ‘Grape to Aqua’ Customs by Rudenes


Both situated near the very top of the list of non-Bulls Air Jordan colorways, the Air Jordan V ‘Grape’ and Air Jordan VIII ‘Aqua’ share a common recipe for success: adding teal and purple accents to one of Tinker Hatfield’s masterpieces. Seeing as we haven’t seen either retroed in recent years, sneaker customizer Rudenes decided to give us both in a single black leather package. The Air Jordan V ‘From Grape to Aqua’ looks exactly as its name would suggest, though there’s no use of the VIII’s signature graffiti print as you might expect from a project of this sort. via Paint or Thread & Sneaker News

Nike Air Max Barkley HOH – Obsidian – Team Orange


You can always count on the House of Hoops to release some unprecedented high-energy colorways of Nike Basketball Retros or new designs, like the earlier ‘Michigan’ colorway of the Air Max Tempo or the Highlighter Pack quartet. This latest releases uses the re-vamped Air Max2 CB ’94 simply dubbed the Air Max Barkley in an Obsidian/Team Orange-White colorway, continuing a line of eye-catching colorways like the ‘Action Red‘ and the ‘USA’-inspired pair. You can find these at House of Hoops soon if they haven’t dropped already, but check out these new images courtesy of sneakermanid and cop one of the available pairs on eBay. via Sneaker News

Nike Air Max Barkley
Obsidian/Team Orange-White
513796-481

Nike Air Yeezy 2 ‘Cheetah’ – New Images


Following up the first look earlier this month of Kobe Bryant’s “Cheetah” Air Yeezy 2 are some more pics of the kicks from the folks over at Sole-U.

Supposedly created for the Black Mamba to rock during the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend in Orlando, the kicks resemble the “Cheetah” Kobe VI from Nike Basketball’s Christmas Day pack and pair a purple upper with a white midsole, glow-in-the-dark outsole, red laces with gold lace tips and a lime green Horus logo on the tongue.

Take another look at the exclusive kicks, complete with wooden box and purple dust bag, and stay tuned for more Air Yeezy 2 info. via Sneakerfiles

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

It's Been A Long Time...


After a temporary hiatus The Retro Sole is back! A new blog and website are here...let's gooooooo!