Peep this set of almost mint And1 VHS mixtapes released as promotional items via Footaction with the purchase of sneakers in 1999. It was one of the most successful promotional giveaways ever. This launched the And1 mixtape tour dominating many summers to come. See some of the history below.

I always enjoyed watching these tours on ESPN.

AND1 began in the summer of ’93 in Philadelphia as a graduate school project of Jay Coen Gilbert, Seth Berger, and Tom Austin who were selling t-shirts out of the backseat of their cars.

The brand was founded with an aggressive, street ball, in-your-face attitude using basketball trash talk slogans on t-shirts, like "Pass. Save yourself the embarrassment." AND1 marketed itself towards the “ballers," those who hone their craft on the streets and always think they’re the best players on the court.

1994

THE PLAYER

With the increasing success of the trash-talk tees, the iconic AND1 player logo was soon created.

1996

STEPHON MARBURY

In 1996, legendary NBA player and future Hall of Famer Stephon Marbury became AND1’s first NBA ambassador.

1998

THE SKIP TAPE

In late 1998, a videotape containing streetball stunts was delivered to AND1 by a high school coach in New York. The low-quality video was a “mixtape” of hip-hop music and dazzling basketball moves by a streetballer named Rafer Alston (Skip To My Lou) who had just entered the 1998 NBA Draft.

1999

THE MIXTAPE

Once the “Skip Tape” created major buzz for AND1, the brand began to produce multiple “AND1 Mixtapes." The Mixtapes were all similar to the Skip Tape - clips of highly entertaining streetball moves with hip-hop and rap playing in the background.

2000

THE DUNK CONTEST

The AND1 Tai Chis were always one of the brand’s greatest shoes, known for both performance and style with a yin yang look. But in 2000, they were instantly vaulted into the stratosphere. At the time Vince Carter was between contracts, so he decided to give the Tai Chis a go. Carter then put on one of the greatest performances in NBA Dunk Contest history—all while wearing the red and white Tai Chis.

2002

THE MIXTAPE TOUR

In 2002, the brand’s annual summer tour officially expanded into the AND1 Mixtape Tour. Legendary streetballers such as “Hot Sauce” and “The Professor” would go from city to city, court to court to challenge the greatest streetballers in one-on-one’s, entertaining fans and providing much of the footage for the ensuing Mixtapes. The streetballers who prevailed through the very end of the summer tours would receive endorsement deals from AND1.

Battle anybody don’t care you tell!

In 1985, Def Jam released their first full-length record, LL Cool J's iconic "Radio".

A commercial and critical smash, "Radio" was not only unique in its sound, but in its visual as well, with the tight crop of a boombox and homemade tape on playback.

A direct translation of the burgeoning hip-hop scene coming from the streets to being broadcast to the world.

In as much, we pay homage to one classic boombox with another: this "Radio" inspired Soundwave® figure in silver and gray with red accents.

THE PROBLEM: all of the packages were released with a sticker covering the LLCool J name on the packaging. The reasoning was that LL had competing licenses at the time of release and Super7 could not use the LL Cool J name after the final product was printed and packaged. You can see examples of the sticker online. I’ll try to include a pic.

LL COOL J X SOUNDWAVE X DEF JAM TRANSFORMER

Hasbro

In the latter part of the 1990’s the NYC MTA released what I believe was the first Hip Hop inspired MetroCard: Gang Starr moment Of Truth. Since then, during the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop in 2024, The MTA released 4 more cards featuring Camron, LL Cool J, Pop Smoke, and Rakim. To celebrate the release of the show Wu-Tang An American Saga on Hulu the MTA released the first double sided MetroCard depicting a Wu-Tang sign and a cassette tape prior to the icons above. Even earlier by a few years the Bape Store 15th Anniversary Card and the Supreme brand MetroCard were released. The latest cards depict in my opinion the greatest rapper of all time The Notorious Big, the relatively new Ice Spice and the AARP 50th Anniversary Hip Hop MetroCard. Here they are collected in a double sided frame. Which rappers should we have gotten? And, which cards should not have been released?

Back in the creator owned days of the early to mid 90’s, thanks to the guys at ImageComics, and sheer talent artists like Jae Lee flourished. Released in 1994 this unique collectible from Dynamic Forces and LogoFon Inc, an 1-800 card featuring the character Hellshock.