On Saturday afternoon footwear fanatics made their way to the opening of the new Foot Locker flagship store on Oxford Street in London.
The opening attracted hundreds of sneaker loving enthusiasts which had DJ Manny Norte on the decks entertaining the excited crowds. UK urban music star Wretch 32 headlined the opening offering meet and greets to those in attendance. Flavour Magazine were invited along and we sent Carly Wilford (@CarlyWilford) to catch up with the ‘Traktor’ star to talk everything shoes and music!
Is footwear something you’ve always been passionate about in life
Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m a footwear fanatic but I’ve always liked nice kicks and clean ones, so I’ve always worn trainers.
How important is it that they stay clean?
Very important unless they were bought dirty, like so they’re vintage so you can mash them up but I’ve always liked them clean. The trick is to stick them with dark colours, that’s the trick so dark blue, grey.
What if I was to come and tred on your trainers?
It’s cool, it’s all over, I’ve got spare in the boot and I’m ready to go again.
What about when you’re partying or at a festival
Due to the festivals last year, rest in peace so many pairs of trainers. I gave up in the end and just started wearing wellies.
What sort of wellies did you wear?
I had some Gucci ones in green.
Nice, swagging it out. So talk to me about your shoe collection, have you got many shoes or trainers?
Yeah trainers, Adidas, Superstars is my thing to be fair, erm Beckham’s got a sick line with Adidas, Edition, but I just like everything that looks kinda classic, like when I see the shell toes, I just think hip-hop and it’s been a significant thing, like RUN DMC. I got some smart shoes, some pointed one, wasn’t a fan of them but I kind of had to adapt for red carpets and stuff. Lots of trainers.
It’s funny how trainers have evolved, like how you’ve evolved as an artist. Can you remember the first pair of trainers you had?
I won’t remember my first pair, I was too young, but I had the trainers that used to light up. My mum got me some from the catalogue and I used to think they’d make me run faster.
Were they called LA lights or something?
Something like that yeah.
Okay, what’s your favourite pair of trainers of all time that you’ve owned yourself?
Do you know what? There was a pair of Superstars that I had with diamantes on the side, they were all white. Them ones. I loved them ones. I wish I could still get them.
What do you do with your old trainers, do you give them away or keep them?
Do you know what, I’m rubbish with throwing stuff away so it gets really bad and then I get to the point where I’m like ah I gotta do something so either I move house or I give them up. I gave them to charities.
Yeah wall to wall trainers, come on Wretch.
Yeah, it’s getting ridiculous now and it gets to the point where I’m like “n’ah, I gotta do something”.
Okay so if you could design your own pair of trainers, like fantasy trainers, what would they look like and what would they do?
Okay, they’d be all black, they’d have a leopard rim and tongue and the laces would be something like something that feels gorgeous like velvet. They’d keep your feet warm and they’d look sick.
Amazing. So onto music, second album.
Third album but second album.
Okay third album but second album, how’s it going?
Yeah good, 92% finished, I picked two cause I was gonna say five but that’s lying. It’s sounding like a progression which is a good thing because you wouldn’t want it to mirror the last two, especially as I’ve evolved as an artist, as a musician, I’ve got more to say. The options of getting people to work with, like production and extra strings, has strengthened. I’m turning into a musical geek now so it’s coming along really good so I’m really happy.
Has your sound changed at all?
It hasn’t changed, it’s just grown, like it’s a bit more mature, each CD I’ve put out, you can hear the growth about me as a person. Just stuff I say. There’s a couple of swear words, but I’ve got so much more to say. The funny thing is that I know when the album is finished because I’ve spoken about this chapter. The first two albums were about how I got here and this album is explaining what it’s like being here, the doubts before and where I aspire to take it too. Of course the next album will be about when I get to the next checkpoint. I know it’s finished because everything I needed to say has been said.
Did you find it difficult getting your head down to write it or did it come quite naturally?
N’ah, the writing is the most natural part of anything I do to be fair and I think if that ever changes…it’s what I’m here for, the other stuff comes off the back of that. It’s natural. The only difference with this is we were on the road a lot more so getting in the studio was slightly more difficult because there was less time and there are more expectations but it was cool.
So who have you been working with, are you allowed to say?
I’m working with, producer wise Wizzy Wow, a new guy called Nooks Brown I’m really excited for the world to hear his stuff, a singer called Jacob Banks who just bought an E.P out which of course you know about…who else is there who I can say? Nobody else I can say.
Has the level of artists gone up? Are they all UK based or any international acts on there?
At the moment, there are no international ones on there, we might have one, but I wouldn’t want to have too many, just a different flavour. But with me, I don’t look at it like “don’t work with someone cause they’re from Australia”, if it’s something that relates to me and it sounds good and it fits then I’ll do it but it just so happens that it doesn’t fit right now ’cause I want the UK story to be told.
And the thing is, you’ve been part of such a massive shift in the music industry, look at all the people you were working with and where they’ve ended up and where you’ve ended up. How important is it for you to leave a legacy especially with a guy like Jacob who you’re helping?
It’s so important, it’s only the other day I realised, years ago me and my manager went and sat down with a label who listened to 17 of my songs. He was looking for a hit song so he skimmed through my songs and he went “yeah, it’s a great album, great body of work but we don’t want a body of work, we just want song”. I thought it was a bit weird because music is about the exhibition and it just made me realise that it’s never something I would want to do. So anyone who I’m working with now, I couldn’t care less about the single, I just care about them as an artist and what you have to offer to the world. Someone like George the Poet, I don’t know how it fits but what he does it just phenomenal and whenever I listen to him, I get blown away. I just feel it’s something I have to get involved in with stuff like that, ’cause I wouldn’t want someone to be in the position I was in a couple of years ago when someone just wanted a single.
Have you found a lot of your knowledge you’ve been able to cross over in a mentor way instead of a preachy way and do they listen to you?
They don’t listen to me, they have their own thing, I’m like an old man. N’ah, I’m not too preachy and I suppose the best example is what you show and not what you say sometimes. So I’m trying to lead by example and show them you know the way. But they know what they’re doing.
Okay cool. Okay, your stuff with Giggs is more gritty than the commercial stuff you have done recently. How important is it for you to stay true to your roots and where you came from?
It’s the most important thing man, you’re supposed to grow with your community, you’re not supposed to outgrow it and just leave it there. You wouldn’t have any significance, it’s not how you leave a legacy, you won’t leave a good taste in people’s mouth if you do that. It’s so important and like Giggs is an artist in his own right and he’s in his own lane and I’m so competitive and so is he, so his fans are gonna say he’s the best and my fans are gonna say I’m the best so the only way to work it out is to come together. It’s definitely healthy, it keeps me on my toes and it strengthens my writing, that’s what I got in the game for. I would never lose that.
So far in your musical career, what’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome, do you think?
Biggest obstacle…I suppose there’s always an obstacle, there’s always a fight. Biggest challenge is every day, but I suppose, something that sticks out to me is when we tried to get onto Jools Holland and we couldn’t get on for a while but when we got on, we did some mad musical arrangement and I just wanted to stamp my mark. Coming from an Urban background I just wanted to get rid of the stigma and prove we are musicians and we can be on the same stage as anybody at anytime and I think that’s definitely something we have to prove.
Okay so one last thing for anybody trying to break the industry and they’re coming up against those obstacles and battling against themselves more than anything else, what advice and support do you offer?
I just think just be you, be strong and believe it man. It doesn’t matter if the doors closed keep going, there’s another door. If you want to do it, you’ve got to keep going. You gotta think every artist was probably told no at some point, Chris Martin was probably told no, Jay Z was told no, y’know, Gary Barlow was told no, everybody was told no and just imagine if somebody had told Michael Jackson no and he went “okay, I’m not going to do this anymore” and he went, stopped making music. We would never have been graced by such an amazing person and a phenomenal artist so everybody gets told no, but you gotta ignore that, you know what you have to offer so don’t stop until you’ve delivered that.
Wretch 32 was speaking at the new Foot Locker flagship store on 283 Oxford Street, London, to promote Adidas Originals available in store. Photo Credit: Colin Baldwin Photography
