Somewhere buried deep in a sea of Yeezy Boost samples at Kanye West’s home is a black Nike Sportswear bag. ‘Ye probably hasn’t opened it in a long time – surely not since West had a very public parting of ways with the swoosh – but inside that bag is one of the most talked about “friends and family” exclusives of all time, the Watch The Throne Nike LeBron 9. Today, the legendary collaborative album is celebrating its 5th anniversary so let’s take a look back at the special kicks that LeBron gifted ‘Ye and Jay a few years ago in this luxurious edition of Sneaker Grails.
Watch The Throne was a watershed moment in hip-hop and everybody knew it from the moment they heard “Otis”, the album’s second single (sorry, but “H.A.M.” sucks and still sucks). Often times albums that bring together major talents such as Kanye and Jay Z usually fall flat because egos get in the way and no side allows the other parties to shine too much. Watch The Throne manages brings the best out of both, featuring some of the best production work in Kanye’s career and Jay sounding as fierce and hungry as he did during his heyday while also realizing they are both highly successful dudes. The result is well, “luxury rap”.
To go along with the critical and public acclaim of the album was the accompanying tour that was a must-see at every stop. In November 2011, the duo would make their way to American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat and at the time, LeBron James. Everybody knows how close James is to both members of The Throne, so a gift from LeBron is not all that surprising. But what was surprising was Nike’s own collaborative effort to put together the special three-of-a-kind sneaker.
The Nike LeBron 9 Watch The Throne was a joint project between Nike designers Erick Goto (who also designed one my favorite kicks of all-time, the Nike Kobe 9 EM Philippines), Eugene Rogers and artist Gabriel Urist. At first glance, the black and gold colorway is rather simple, but it’s the details like the lining and lacing, which is based off Watch The Throne’s album cover with a touch of LeBron that makes the colorway unlike any other LeBron 9 at the time. And then there’s the wild gold lace jewel, which is actually a molded piece of wax that was also inspired by the album’s aesthetic.
Prior to working at KicksOnFire, I was on the outside looking in, writing mostly about video games at the time while starting to build my own path through various outlets that would let me talk about sneakers. The Nike LeBron 9 Watch The Throne was one of the first stories that really took on a life of its own during my time as a blogger as every leaked image and blurry cell phone shot was headline news. Everybody wanted to know how they could score a pair of their own, people were getting custom versions made and pretty soon you had t-shirts, sneakers, wristbands and everything in between that all “borrowed” the shoe’s instantly classic print.
So much has changed in the years since Watch The Throne. Kanye West is arguably the biggest celebrity in the world alongside his wife Kim Kardashian, Jay Z has a streaming service, a sports agency and a daily reminder never to cross Queen Bey on his plate, and LeBron James has redeemed himself from taking his talent to South Beach by bringing Cleveland its first major sports championship in decades. There have been multiple iterations and samples of the Watch The Throne style being grafted onto other sneakers, but know there are only three true members of the Throne (LeBron 9).
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