I picked up the latest issue of Slam magazine with the jump man 23 himself. .Michael Jordan on the cover. I read the article about Jordan then proceed to do the girl thing and look at the pretty pictures in the magazine. While skimming through the latest fashions in t shirts and sneakers, I stumbled across the illest looking vandals. Upon closer inspection I realized these were customized dunks (damn there goes my pair). The artist is simply known as TTK an acronym he came up with as a kid. Oddly, there was no picture of TTK. Being somewhat familiar with the graffiti culture I assumed TTK was a former if not still graff artist. I kept looking at the small picture of the customized vandals, the art work was so detailed and precise that I had to learn more about this artist not to mention I need to send him a pair of kicks to customize for me!

I had the pleasure of actually talking to TTK himself not so long ago, let me say that he was so laid back, cool and humble that it was like speaking to an old friend. 

Finding inspiration from comic books  to clothing, TTK has carved himself a nice spot in the sneaker game as one of its top customizers. His knack for detailed artwork combinedwith  his fearless approach to using colors that folks would fear would put them on the worst dressed list if they walked out of the house in them, has made him one of the most sought after artist in the game. “When I am working on a pair of sneakers, I like to add my own touches in there while keeping the customer’s style in mind as well”. But why sneakers? “First and foremost I am an artist, sneakers just happened to be the canvas that put me in the public’s eye”. Thank you to that!!!

Sneaker customization has allowed TTK’s fan base to grow over several continents, “People as far out as Japan, have contracted me to do some work on their sneakers”. We the people know a good thing when we see it and we seem to love TTK’s work. I wondered to myself if TTK has ever showcased artwork  outside of sneakers so I asked and was presently surprised with his response. “I will actually be showcasing my latest project called Urban Equestrian. This collection is based on Polo Ralph Lauren and its influence in street culture”.  I loved the oxymoron he used and I am excited to get another glimpse into TTK’s colorful world.

TTk and I ended the interview with some friendly banter on which comic book the other should read and appreciate the artistry in. Like I stated earlier, TTK is a pretty cool guy and  he can definitely count on me to support his artistic endeavors! I may not know much but I do know a great talent when I come across it. If you want learn more about TTK and his upcoming show, please visit his website www.gottkgo.com.

Many people have a favorite perfume, article of clothing or sneakers which they would wear non stop. In this case, I have 2 favorite styles of sneakers; dunks and the sb dunks top my sneaker list.

The Nike dunks (& SB dunks) are in my opinion are so versatile. I love the simple cut and line of the sb dunks but what i really love is that anything can influence the style or color of any upcoming dunks.

For example, if you have been reading my blogs you may have seen the pictures of the “Bruce Springsteen” sb dunks hi. If you are sb fanatic you know that there are supposedly a Street Fighter combo pack influenced by the characters Ryu and Chung Li coming out soon. Now you may say but the SB look like regulars Nikes and u may be right if you don’t take in the details. Take the Hawaiian sb, on the insole there is a picture of the a Hawaiian dancer and on the side is a picture of the island. The PeeWee Herman dunks are all in grey like Peewee’s famous suit and the Nike check is red like his tie lastly, the bottom sole is white like PeeWee’s shirt. How can you not notice the artistry in  this shoe?

The regular dunks  lo seem to look good on those with no arch in their foot. It seems to me that the sneaker form is kept in tact on my “flat foot” friends. The hi dunks have that classic retro feel to them, makes it the perfect sneaker to wear to an 80′s party (I know, I know many will opt to wear the classic shell top Adidas but I am only presenting you with another option.) Presently, I have a small collection of dunks but you better believe I will hopefully expand it in the near future!

Now that I have told you what my preferred style of sneaker(s) are, I want to know…What’s your kicks?

What ever happened to Etonics? My cousin Raul used to buy these sneakers at least ever other week. He literally had them in every color possible. In my eyes, it seems like Etonics disappeared of the face of the Earth. In reality, Etonics are a golf & bowling  shoe company so it still exists but as for street wear not at all. Whatever happened to them?

  (dont the nike air max resemble these a bit? is it just me?)

                     Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, the NJ native is getting the honor of having a Nike SB Dunk named after him. In 1984, Springsteen released the highly successful album Born in the U.S.A which lead him to win many awards and produced the iconic music video for the song Dancing in the Dark. Springsteen has long sung about the American dream and the struggles of the American man so to commemorate his patriotism and his album, Nike has decided to release the Nike SB Dunk “Bruce Springsteen” on July 3 (available at NJ Skate Shop which is highly approriate since he is a son of NJ)

The design concept for the sneaker came from the Born in the U.S.A album cover where in the background is the is the red & white stripes of the flag, foreground is Springsteen’s denim clad booty as you u can see above. So the Sprungsteen SB Dunks include the denim and stripes are present in the back ankle part of the sneaker. Here is a look of the “Bruce Springsteen” Nike SB Dunks:

Back in 1986, a film by Spike Lee introduced us to a character named Mars Blackmon. The Brooklyn loving & bred, oddly dressed, name chain wearing Mars Blackmon become pitch man for Nike Air Jordan during the late 80s early 90s. The catchphrase uttered by Mars was “is it the shoes?” while Michael Jordan grinned at the camera. In October 2006, Nike decided to release a mash up sneaker called  the Jordan Spiz’ike   to commemorate the long standing friendship between Mike & Spike.

Like the odd pairing of Michael & Mars, the Spiz’ike are a combination of 6 Air Jordans:

1. Pull Tab from Jordan IX

2. Tongue from Jordan VI

3. Wings from Jordan IV

4. Laser inside liner from Jordan XX

5. Uppers (part that covers the toe area) from Jordan V

6. Midsole from Jordan III

This particular sneaker is in my opinion is tangible evidence that a friendship amongst two unlikely people with the help of a crazy movie character can create something good. So thank you to Spike Lee for introducing the world to a crazy cat named Mars Blackmon and in turn for allowing his character to part of the Jordan empire.

 P.S. Hey Mars, it IS the shoes!!!

Hey Everyone,

A brief little history on how I came up with the name Mercury Speaks, just in case you wanted to know how it correlates to sneakers. I have been thinking of starting a sneaker blog for quite sometime now and like any blogger knows you need a name that will draw people in. So I started racking my brains for a clever yet cool name for the blog. I must not have been too creative because every name I thought about was already taken or sounded somewhat naughty, yeah I want followers but not that kind. Damn, back to the drawing board to come up with clever something, anything at this point. I woke up one morning thinking about mythology for some reason. Turned on the laptop and BOOM!! I got it!!!! 

What was the name of the messenger of the gods? Come on, you know this one…Hermes! Everyone seems to remember him for his sandals since they had little wings on them. Unfortunately, Hermes sounded too much like herpes so that was a no go.  Then the  little light went off in my head, the Romans took Greek mythology and just switched the names! So Hermes became Mercury, same god just different names with the same sandals. The speaks I added since I intended to speak about something well sneakers in this case. That is the story on how  the name Mercury Speaks came to be )

Many thanks to you guys for taking time out to read the posts on Mercury Speaks!!

Steph O

Hello to all the sneaker fans/lovers (aka sneakerheads) out there.

      In the words of Jay Z, “allow me to introduce myself”….my name is Steph O (pronounced commonly as Steff O or Steve O or as I used to go by in the college radio world for a brief period Stevie O). Yea, I am chick lol.  First a story on how my admiration and love for sneakers* started. One can say my sneaker fascination started late in life, you see I was one of those people who bought sneakers beacuse they were cool and comfortable.  I would check out other people’s kick and think “Damn, those are pretty fresh” then go home, google to death until I found the pair I saw in the street. 

Then one day that all changed, I was over at my best friend’s house and as we sat in her living room, I began to describe to her a pair of kicks she had that I liked. Being the total novice, I described the sneakers to her in detail stating the color, material etc. Come to think of it I have no clue why I just didn’t get up and point out the damn sneakers, call  it shear laziness I guess. After my detailed description, my best friend whom will affectionately be known as Grandmaster M said “oh you mean the space jams!”. Whoooooa! what the heck?!  Her sneakers had a name?! Wait, did she make up that name? Sadly, I not only thought this but I actually voiced it. (Needless to point out that Grandmaster M is a sneakerhead whom looked at me strangely when I asked those questions aloud.) Right then and there it occurred to me that I don’t know anything about sneakers!! It didn’t help that I was completely lost when Grandmaster M would talk in Jordan sneaker lingo, “I have the 6′s but not the 1′s”etc. Strangely enough, I knew what they looked like but not the names the credit goes to growing up in the era where Michael Jordan was king and the Chicago Bulls were illest.

Oh man, after that my quest  to become well versed in the sneaker game started. Like that nerdy kid who discovers hip hop, I needed to learn all I could about this wonderful sneaker culture. That quest has lead me here: I have learned a lot more about being a sneakerhead and the sneaker world but like a new day brings new hope  it also brings new styles to learn about.

 The reason I am starting this blog is to share my opinions and thoughts on sneakers. Before I go any further I want you to know though I love all brands and types of sneakers, my focus will mostly be on nike dunks, jordans etc. Iwill occasionally write about other brands and styles. I will also admit that my sneaker knowledge is somewhat limited but that is where you, my fellow sneakerheads and reader come into play.

This is how the blog section will work….hopefully. I will feature a sneaker, try to give some brief background history on it and then mostly give my opinion/thoughts on the sneaker. Be forewarned, you may  not always like what I write about the kicks featured and thats ok. If that happens I def want to hear from you, as long as it is kept civil. Like I stated before I am still learning about the sneaker culture so please free feel to “school me in the game”. With that being said, “where did you get your kicks at?”

*sneakers will sometimes be referred to as kicks from time to time.