Chase B Gives Us the Glowdown on His First Sneaker Colab

Chase B spoke this into existence. In 2012 he tweeted that he would have his own sneaker, and now 13 years later, he’s lighting – or should we say 'glowing'? – up the world with the release of his Chase B x CJ1 T-Rexx colab.

The Cactus Jack DJ and record producer has been a longtime close friend and associate of . From chart-topping hits to internet-crashing sneakers, the duo are no strangers to turning their dreams into reality. Once La Flame let Chase know he would get his own colourway of the CJ1 T-Rexx silhouette, he knew it had to be something special.

We spoke with Chase B on the day of his release to talk everything from his -inspired mixtape to the symbolism behind his T-Rexx's glow-in-the-dark sole.

Houston has always had its own style. How did growing up there shape your taste in sneakers and the way you connected to the culture?
So, I went to this high school called Hightower High School, and it was one of those super fashion-heavy, competitive type of joints. We were always competing over who had the most Polos and the most True Religion. Not even if you had them or not, but who had the most colourways. Being from Texas, it's not like Harlem or somewhere in New York, but it was our own thing. The standard outfit was a Polo, True Religions, and a pair of . It was like, ‘Alright, who can do this the most times without repeating an outfit?’

So that competition at my high school led me to do research on what pairs people didn't have. My mom is from Jersey and my pops was from Connecticut, so I would take a trip to New York at least once a summer and do some school shopping. So I kind of had that angle of what's coming up next and what people in Houston couldn't get. So that was my thing – collecting what people in Houston couldn't have, and then bringing that taste level back to where I was from.

But the basis was still Air Force 1s, True Religions, and Polos. Then it got into those big releases, like the – I remember those were a huge thing, and obviously the ‘Cool Grey’ and the . Those huge market releases were a big thing for us.

You've spoken a lot about your connection to and his shoes. Do you remember the first time you saw those and what made them hit differently for you?
I actually went to Allen Iverson's first game in Philly. I was sitting in the 400 section, me and my dad. He was just the guy growing up, finding [his] footing in basketball and his whole style. I forgot which exact store it was in Philly, but I remember that white and navy colourway of the with the air bubbles and the yellowing on the bottom. Those really got me into vintage. I just remember loving yellowing and ageing in shoes, and the Iversons were the first pair that really got me into that.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes was your first mixtape. What was it about the Spike Lee campaign that stuck with you and made you want to honour it?
Yeah, it’s crazy, I listened to that not too long ago – I still have it on my Serato. So when I was at Howard, at first I was just the MC next to the DJ, and then I was like, ‘Let me go and learn how to do both.’ So I bought some equipment and started DJing, and to just kind of brand myself, I was like, ‘What is my thing that is kind of separate from everybody else?’ Me, my ex-girlfriend at the time, and my homie, started a sneaker blog – just reviewing different events that would go on in DC. It was called Sneak Peak. We’d go to different releases at , do recaps, and take pictures.

So I was like, ‘What can brand myself and the blog at the same time?’ So I came up with the whole concept of It's Gotta Be The Shoes, with songs that are about sneakers or mention sneakers in a certain way. Honestly, I might really put it out with better transitions now, just because the skill level is different. But it was just something I thought would be dope to conceptualise and put out. I think the cover was really cool, and I put different and commercials as interludes in between tracks. It was just fun to do, you know? I miss those days – conceptual DJ mixtapes about certain topics. So that's where that came from.

You had a close relationship with (1966 - 2024) – a true architect of hip hop sneaker culture. What did he teach you about sneakers beyond just collecting pairs?
Clark’s thing was just about being the ultimate. There was never anything shabby about it. Clark was always like, ‘I'm not getting one pair of these, I'm getting 19 pairs!’ Not even two pairs. Even when it came to DJing, it was the same thing. He was like, ‘Yo when I'm in the club, I'm shutting this shit down. I'm God's favourite DJ.’ It wasn't anything like, ‘Yo I'm pretty good at this,’ it was always to take things as far as they could go, and be unapologetic about it.

Obviously everything is subjective. Who’s the best dressed is subjective. Who has the best sneaker collection is subjective. Who’s the best DJ is subjective. It's not like there's statistical things that you can quantise, and it's not a sport. So his thing was proclaiming everything, but just being undeniable at the same time where it wasn't a question. So, that was a big thing with me.

It's kind of like branding yourself in that way, and really taking things further. And when it came to brands – it was executing things to the best of your ability, being respectful, being a good role model, and representing these brands well, while still being authentic and yourself. Being yourself to the utmost, and at the same time, impacting people after you and giving the codes away. He was a great mentor to a lot of people, not just myself. I’m just blessed to have had him help me lead the way when it came to culture in general.

You paid tribute to his with your CJ1 T-Rexx (aka ) colourway. Were you able to show them to him?
So, we have a podcast called Aux Money. It was June 2024, we were shooting the Father's Day episode with him and his son Mage, and I had just gotten the pictures of the final samples. I was able to show him that and he was really happy for me. He looked at me and was like, ‘Man, these are so dope. Yo honestly, y'all gotta let me do a pair of those too.’ I was like, ‘Oh, shit!’ It was the first thing he said. It would have been crazy.

was another big influence. What was it about his approach to music, style, and culture that really connected with you?
It's almost the complete opposite of Clark's influence on me, just because I didn't know him at all. I was never in the same room as him. Just from afar, it was so intriguing. I love his music and his approach to music, and he always had these goofy interludes like on ‘Sofa King’. I was just like, ‘Man, this dude clearly doesn't give a fuck about anything around him.’ He just had tunnel vision and was super niche and really catered to who fucked with him and didn't really worry about outside influences.

You never saw him on an end-of-the-year list. I'm pretty sure DOOM has never even been nominated for any type of Grammy or anything like that, but obviously he's a legend in the culture and none of that even mattered to his legacy. So that whole approach to creating and being a musician always intrigued me, and it was just fire. It all made sense and he just seemed so unbothered. And that's really how I live my life in general. So that's why I want to make sure I always take that into account – just like, 'What would somebody do with tunnel vision?' and staying true to what you believe in.

You referenced the MF DOOM for your design as well. Were those a big grail for you?
I just had to – that was a super special shoe. It’s like a grail of grails. Aside from MF DOOM being who he is, even if you don't like MF DOOM, those are just a shoe that are damn near still impossible to get a real pair. I’ve had my pair for a long time. I might even start wearing those more often just so people really understand that story. Yeah, those shoes are top five to me, for sure.

You’ve worked with Travis Scott on music for years. When that collaboration crosses over into sneakers, what changes in the creative process – and what stays exactly the same?
It's kind of the same as the music. I don't like coming in initially. Trav is such a visionary that he comes in with a plan off the rip. Especially when it comes to colours – like his development of the colour brown, I feel, is a whole phenomenon in itself. But it's really similar to the music. I kind of pride myself on being a really critical thinker and an executive decision maker. So a lot of final decisions, he'll either leave up to me, or just take what I would do into account.

It might even be as simple as I wear something a certain day, or he wears something a certain day, and be like, ‘What what the fuck was that? Where did you get that?’, and just kind of taking off of each other. We’re around each other so much, so we're always buying similar things and wearing things a similar way, not even on purpose. It’s just kind of how we operate and take our influences and join forces when it comes to that.

So with the T-Rexx silhouette specifically, he would call me almost every step of the way and be like, ‘Yo, what do you think of this material? We're gonna use this mesh right here on the back.’ And I'll come and try them on and be like, ‘See, I don’t like how this folds' or whatever, so he'll change something up.

The whole development of this silhouette, I was just really impressed by it. You know I've been telling people, 'This shoe isn't a retro', so to have people so excited about an original silhouette is something really difficult to do.

When it came to my colourway, [Travis] has his whole energy when it comes to the browns and the earth tones of the world. It's not really my place to go and do that. So I was like, ‘What's my role as far as sneakers, as far as Cactus Jack, and as far as who I am?’ So I really wanted to have it be very distinct, like, ‘Alright, this is Trav’s vision when it came to his shoe, and this is mine.’ It's a whole yin and yang type of thing.

When it came to designing the Chase B x CJ1 T-Rexx, how did you think about colour, materials, and texture – and why did details like the glow-in-the-dark sole matter to the story?
It took a little while. I like to work really fast, even with making music. I don't really like to second guess myself. So we sat in this room in Orlando a couple of years ago and I started with a or something like that. It was a whole different vibe. I was kind of looking at it, but I was like, ‘This tells no story. It's a cool colourway, but it doesn't mean anything to anybody, including myself.’ So I just had to dig a little deeper and be like ‘Alright, what really means something to me, what makes sense, and what looks good?’

So the whole glow-in-the-dark just came from being the DJ – it's kind of like your job is to glow in the dark. You walk into these clubs and festivals, and it's your job to kind of light up the room, physically, mentally, and even spiritually. So the glow-in-the-dark concept came from me being the DJ and lighting up these dark spaces. The grayscale came from, I've just always been a fan of black and white. Even when it comes to movies, like [2005's] V For Vendetta. That's just always been my preference as far as aesthetic, and so I wanted to represent it.

That led to me looking at it like, ‘Oh, this is kind of like the 112 – it's kind of reminiscent of that with the and everything. So, let's just tell all these stories when it comes to what I can put together, and not in a forceful way, but in a really subtle, homage type of way.’ So we landed on that after an hour and a half or so.

And then the materials, that's a whole different ball game. That's one thing about creating a shoe that I think a lot of people underappreciate, because the material can throw off a colour in a totally different way. You think, 'This is about to be like anthracite or something', but if you put it on the wrong type of material, it might shine the wrong way and make your shoe look a little too oily, or make it age a whole different way. The materials are really a huge thing to take into account. Even with the final sample, there's like four colourways of grey shoes that I did with different suedes, different rubbers, and different leathers, that I just felt weren't as effective as the one that we ultimately decided to go with. So I feel like the material is the most underrated part of creating a shoe, because that really can make or break the whole thing. So it was really important to get those right.

Even with the glow-in-the-dark, a lot of times it’s like a whitish type of hue. But I wanted that splash of colour, I didn't want it to just be white on the bottom. With it being green, it makes it glow even more. I think that's what people are most excited about. And the box glows too, which is crazy.

Wow, the box glows too? I didn’t know that.
Yeah! I asked when we were in Portland, I was like, ‘If the answer is yes, I'm not gonna do it – but has anyone ever had a glow-in-the-dark box?’ It just kind of seems like something that somebody would have done at least once in the past, and they just looked around like, ‘No, I don't think anyone ever has.’ So they picked out the right vinyl to execute it, and it came out really fire. I hope everybody keeps the box.

Looking at your personal collection, which sneakers mean the most to you – not because they’re rare, but because of the memories tied to them?
First is the . Like I told you, we had that sneaker blog in DC, and when I ended up having to drop out of college, I sold all my sneakers so I would have a little bit of money to just move around. I sold everything and the only thing I [kept] was some De La Soul Highs, because they kind of went with everything. I wore them so much that the outsole came off, like my sock would be on the ground. There's tons of pictures of me in these shoes because I wore them for like a year straight. So that pair means a lot. I got a new pair now, but I wish I still had those OGs.

There's a pair of that I went and got sole-swapped. I think it's a pair from around '98, but I went and got them sole-swapped and those look fire. Even now with the sole swap, they're still talking on the back, but I wore those for like three tours in a row. And then the – I just think is one of the most coveted shoes ever. damn near. And it's purple, you know, it's the whole Houston lineage for us.

Is there a true grail you’re still chasing, or waiting on the right moment to finally land?
Yeah, there’s a few things. I think the 4s are hard. I keep saying 4s, but I sold a pair of 4s that I really need back. I don't know how I'm gonna get them, but especially now with the Superman – Clark Kent’s whole thing was Superman. So I definitely need a pair of those. And I still don't have . I'm just a big fan of that ‘Kelly Green’. Those are hard.

2025 was stacked with releases. Which sneakers from this year hit for you personally and why?
Obviously Easy’s pair, the . Just the storytelling he did with those, I didn't even know it could get that deep. Even him bringing back Q Rich and Darius Miles, just everything he executed with those. That was genius. It came with the gloves and the box and everything. [To] get people excited about a 17 is a really hard thing to do.

My sleeper...? I don’t know if it’s a sleeper release or not, but I really fuck with the – the magenta, fuchsia, purple and white pair. I wear those all the time, just because they’re a lot more comfortable than a lot of other .

If you could go back into the archives, which silhouette would you want to put your stamp on? Or is there something already in the works?
We were talking about it a lot, especially after the success of these. I don't see why not. Why wouldn't we get back in there? Just the relationship – I feel like there's a lot to be explored there. I really like the with the elephant print. I feel like those are really fire. Obviously I talk about 4s a lot. I think Trav kind of killed it with the 4. But I would never say no to designing a pair of 4s.

I know the 30th anniversary of is coming up, so I feel like Jordan is probably gonna want to attack that. If I could be part of that whole movement, I think that would be really fire. So just any one of those, you know? I'm not gonna be too choosy about it – whatever they decide to give me, I'm just gonna do that to the best of my ability. But I really would probably prefer one of those, sooner than later too. I'm ready to get back to work.

Curious about the next colourway of the T-Rexx silhouette? Check out the upcoming pair slated to drop in March.