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There's a fair chance the PRO-Keds 69er was your favourite rapper's first 'proper' sneaker. Then again, that Rapidshare MC on your iPod is probably about 17 years old, so maybe not. But we know KRS and the Biz understand the relevance of this model to a nascent sneaker connoisseur culture. We've got to shout out the homie Dante Ross for consulting PRO-Keds successfully lately. The silhouettes were in the archives, and the brand's got more history than most - it's just that previous approaches, especially in the UK where the brand seemed to remain more obscure than in hip-hop's birthplace, were half-arsed. You can't just throw it out there to an oblivious audience in every colour of the rainbow. The Opening Ceremony, HAZE, Patta and (especially) the Bobbito Royal Flash teamups were excellent. Shotmakers are our shit too.

Being typical Euro geeks with stacks of books, magazines and videotapes to compensate for our lack of NYC street smarts, we've seen the PRO-Ked Super, latterly the 69er on some freshly dressed folk in photo after photo from a time before shells and swooshes ruled the pavement. Considering the influence of Harlem and BX street style on kids way beyond the 5 boroughs, and that the 69er was one of the original must-have sneakers, we think that makes this a pretty important part of footwear history, so we're pleased to see them brought back in high and low forms. Get familar. Those canvas uppers, the stripes on the rubber sole and some new tonal tongue branding keeps them ultra clean too. Timeless. These drop soon - check the Crooked Tongues store for our PRO-Keds selection.