EXCLUSIVE: A$AP Rocky on His Puma Collab Disrupting Sneaker Culture, Bringing ‘Cool-Ass’ Street Savvy to Affluent F1, for FNAA 2024 Honor

On Dec. 4, A$AP Rocky and Puma will be honored with the Collaboration of the Year award at the 38th annual FN Achievement Awards. Below is an article from the magazine’s Dec. 2 print issue about the significance of this collaboration for the rapper. 

Tucked away in a corner on the third floor of Puma’s Fifth Avenue flagship store, A$AP Rocky was all smiles as he celebrated the latest drop of his tie up with the German athletic brand.

Indeed, the celebrated rapper, who had just hosted a public event at the store to fete his newest night racing-inspired capsule collection with Puma, was eager to speak with FN about the significance of his Collaboration of the Year award ahead of this year’s FNAAs.

The personal importance of this moment was felt before we even started the interview. In fact, Rocky, who just spent the last hour talking to other media outlets, went to work on creating the perfect backdrop for our discussion — having his team remerchandise the shoe wall he was posed against while taking a moment to change his clothes.

Swapping out a head-to-toe A$AP Rocky x Puma look, the “Fashion Killa” rapper stepped into a monochromatic gray designer outfit that was reminiscent of the many street style shots snapped of the star throughout the years.

“This collaboration means the world to me,” Rocky, born Rakim Athelaston Mayers, said as we settled into our conversation. “I’m really excited about this collaboration because when we first started off, it felt like we were the underdogs. We weren’t part of the overall conversation, but I think over the past two-and-a-half years, our mission and our goal was to establish that seat at the table more so than anything.”

“Now, we became that girl at prom who took her braces off and showed up looking like Sandy from ‘Grease.’ So it’s just one of those situations where I’m on my John Travolta sh*t right now and no one can compete with us,” he added with a laugh.

And Rocky isn’t wrong. His collaboration with Puma, along with a similar tie-up with Rocky’s partner Rihanna is part of the brand’s push to reenter the style conversation after several years of its competitors leading the discussion around must-have sneakers.

Jon Tang, Puma’s lead design of sportstyle footwear for ambassador, described working with Rocky on this project as a true “creative immersion.”

“We both have an affinity for pulling from the archive and nostalgia,” he said. “We both love Tim Burton. We both love ‘Nightmare Before Christmas.’ We have this very similar mindset to things. So working with him is just a natural flow of ideas. He’s like a pool of creativity and has a unique vision. But his way of looking at references and things like that is refreshing because he wants to help Puma craft different stories. And it just works.”

HIGH OCTANE DESIGN

Since Rocky joined Puma late last year as the creative director for the brand’s Formula One partnership, the music star has incorporated motorsport design elements across all of his offerings. And with the rising popularity of F1 in the U.S., the timing of this buzzy partnership couldn’t be better.

According to the “Peso” rapper, he sees his tie up with Puma as part of the plan to make F1 more inclusive. “When I used to go to races before my involvement, you wouldn’t see Black people,” he told FN. “That’s plain and simple. But after that Netflix show [“Formula 1: Drive to Survive”] and different advocates, a lot of Black people are really interested in Formula One. I plan on becoming that bridge between the sport’s wealthy Caucasian audience and the cool-ass street-racing scene and make it something significant. That’s why I’m here.”

Rocky also applauded F1 champion and fellow Puma collaborator Lewis Hamilton as being another contributor in making the sport more inclusive. “This is important because the only person to advocate for anybody of color or minorities was Lewis Hamilton, and we just needed to show there’s not much differences between us. There’s not much separation,” he said. “[Society still] really separate us as classes. But no need to get that deep, we have a cool-ass design.”

Cool design, indeed. One of Rocky’s most interesting Puma creations to-date was his take on the Mostro sneaker. Officially released in September, a version of the A$AP Rocky x Puma Mostro 3D made its first debut at the German athletic brand’s “Welcome to the Amazing Mostro Show” at New York Fashion Week in February.

The new style brought Rocky’s “Grim” vision to life through the use of Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (Carbon DLS), a resin-based 3D-printing process that reimagined the recently revived archival sneaker as an alien slip-on. Spikes of varying sizes protrude throughout the perforated shoe, with a wider honey-comb pattern used around the ankle. The thicker spiked sole leaves a cavern at midfoot, with a spray paint-like finish.

He’s also taken on Puma’s Inhale sneaker for his ongoing collaboration. Interestingly, the shoe is often seen in pre-distressed colorways — a design technique that harkens back to Rocky’s childhood.

“When I was younger, my family moved from Harlem in New York to a small town between Hershey and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, called Rutherford,” Rocky said. “All of my friends at the time were white middle-class kids, and I was the only Black kid from the ghetto. I noticed that all my friends used to come to school and their sneakers always looked dirty. I used to wonder why that was the case. My friends later cultured me and let me know that when you got money, your shoes should look aged and outdated. You want to look like, you know, quiet luxury. If you’re a person with the same kind of taste and style as me, you’ll know it ain’t that cool to show up extra crispy and fresh.”

Rocky’s youth is a reoccurring theme in his design codes. “I take inspiration from my childhood experiences and just what I went through culturally,” he said. “I try to embed that into everything. When you manifest what you know, what you’re curious about, you embark on something new. So that’s how we start something while carrying on tradition. We do that in everything.”

FUTURE FOCUSED

The “Tailor Swif” rapper made sure to tell FN that he is just getting started.

“I feel like with every drop, we expand more creatively,” Rocky said. “We’re able to do more. We put out more silhouettes, more styles. And I’m learning from this experience. I’m learning how to be compatible with corporate America and try to get a cohesive flow. But, you know, 2025 is gonna be crazy. A lot of ideas that I was sitting on and trying to put out and produce, they’re gonna see the light of day in 2025. I’m so excited about that.”

As for what shoe style he’d like to get his hands on next, Rocky, without hesitation, said the Puma Cell sneaker. “Right now, it’s all about the Cell. The Cell series is crazy. I’m dying to get my hands on it and revise some of it.”

But until then, Rocky is thankful to be living out his dreams through his Puma collab. “We’re doing some interesting stuff together,” he said. “To be here living out my dreams and to have the world and my fans receptive to it, is all we do it for. And, you know, we attacked our competition in a way they didn’t see us coming,” he said. “That’s the best way to do it. By surprise.”

For 38 years, the annual FN Achievement Awards — often called the “Shoe Oscars” — have celebrated the style stars, best brand stories, ardent philanthropists, emerging talents and industry veterans. The 2024 event is supported by sponsors Listrak, Marc Fisher, Nordstrom and Vibram.