All Vince Staples wanted growing up was some Jordans with the blue suede on them.
Now, more than a decade after he released "Blue Suede" — one of the songs that helped put him on the hip-hop map — the Long Beach, California rapper is one of Jordan Brand's favorite spokespeople.
This past week, the athletic company released two "Zero Pressure" ads featuring the MC and Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. Both spots capture the six-time All-Star's cool as a cucumber personality and Staples' effortless hilariousness.
"You know I've been thinking. If you're gonna be the main character, you gotta do more than just play basketball," Staples says in the most recent ad, where he and Tatum, who won his first NBA championship last season, are sitting side-by-side in pedicure chairs with cucumbers on their eyes.
The "Norf Norf" rapper suggests that Tatum could raise his profile further by starting a podcast a la Podcast P with Paul George, trying out for the MLB like the one and only Michael Jordan or buying a soccer team mirroring how LeBron James purchased a stake in Liverpool FC. Or Staples offers another opportunity that's sure to make Tatum stand out.
"Breaking out into Bollywood? I think you'd do good over there."
In the other ad, Staples, who is known as a Los Angeles Clippers fan, is comparing Boston and its rival city Philadelphia while Tatum shoots around. Staples compares the cities' landmarks before analyzing the local food.
"Boston Baked Beans versus Philly Cheesesteaks? Peppers and mushrooms?" he ponders. "I'm not gonna lie, Philly might have that one." And then he cracks his signature smile.
The new ads are a continuation of Staples' partnership with Tatum that started last year when the rapper helped announce the guard's Tatum 3 sneaker.
"It's a shoe commercial, we gotta talk about the shoe," Staples says, emulating Spike Lee's Mars Blackmon character that appeared in Jordan Brand commercials in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While the rapper fires off questions about the sneaker, Tatum is locked in on shooting practice. After slamming a dunk, he spins one of the questions back at Staples, "Tech benefits?"
Tatum received his signature sneaker in 2023 after signing with Jordan Brand in 2019. The shoes are intentionally lightweight and there are kids sizes so that Tatum's spotlight-stealing son, Deuce, can rock them as well.
Staples, who has season two of "The Vince Staples Show" coming soon to Netflix, has done promotion for Converse, which is owned by Nike, and Vans and branched into fashion with ads for Fear of God Essentials and Calvin Klein. But perhaps these spots with Jordan Brand are where he's shined the most — and have been a full-circle moment for him.
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