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YG Talks First Sneaker ‘Block Runner’ and 4Hunnid Brand

YG is expanding his 4Hunnid brand to footwear with today’s launch of the long-awaited Block Runner sneaker.

The first of the brand’s footwear line, which is called The Flame, the Block Runner style is a white low-top sneaker silhouette with red flame motifs and red flame design sole, retailing for $200 exclusively on 4Hunnid.com. The sneaker also bears resemblance to the Nike Cortez, Puma sneakers and other West Coast favorites, which was intentional, according to YG.

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“This is the official West Coast sneaker for the new generation,” he said of the shoe, which took three years to create. “The silhouette was inspired from the West Coast culture and how we grew up and what we grew up on, so we’re paying homage to every silhouette that was part of our culture.”

The “Go Loko” rapper, who dropped his fifth album, “My Life 4Hunnid,” in October, teamed with designer Chris Burnett on the shoe. YG said he and Burnett went back and forth for years on the style, but they couldn’t land on a logo until YG consulted his friends, who all agreed that they’d finally found the right design.

YG and Burnett then found the right manufacturer, and finished designing the sole and the box. “When I got the first sample back, it was close to [the finished product] so I gave some tweaks and on the next [version] that came back I was like, ‘Let’s go,’” YG said.

The rapper said companies approached him to collaborate on a sneaker, but he was inspired to make one himself by artists like Pharrell Williams, who developed sneakers with Adidas and with Reebok for his Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream labels.

Block Runner is the first of more sneakers coming from 4Hunnid, including more colorways, silhouettes and collaborations. YG is also planning to open a pop-up in Los Angeles next month to support the launch of the shoe.

As for the 4Hunnid apparel brand, YG said it has been “growing every year” since its launch in 2017.

“My mission is to build a brand that’ll be around for 20-plus years and not one that’s hot for five years and then goes away,” he said. “Then my whole family runs the company. I’m trying to build a long-term thing.”

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