Nike Sportswear Releases Lamar Odom “Always On” Music Video with Track by Stalley, “Born To Win”

As apart of Nike Sportswear’s original video series, “Always On,” Nike has released an exclusive video featuring LA basketball star Lamar Odom and rapper Stalley today.  Stalley created original music accompanying the video, featuring Odom’s journey from his home in Los Angeles to his hometown turf in Queens, New York.  Reflecting a “day in the life,” this installment portrays a homecoming for Odom from walking down Jamaica Avenue and practice at Frederick B. Judge Park.  The video resonates on how deep his roots have shaped him to be “always on” by visiting various places that has helped develop his mentality and dedication to athleticism from his upbringing in NYC.

Included with this video is an original track from up-and-coming Ohio rapper Stalley called “Born To Win”, which was produced by J. Rawls.  Stalley is also a basketball player whom in high school decided to pursue music instead of a career as a pro-athlete. Understanding the heart of what drives an athlete, Stalley’s track flows cohesively with Odom’s laid-back, humble style creating a reflective atmosphere. Behind the scenes footage offers us a deeper look in to the minds of Stalley and Odom and the creative process involved in both outputs.

“Always On” is a Nike Sportswear campaign highlighting the lives of a variety of athletes, coupling them with exclusive music tracks to tell the diverse stories – on and off-court in and out of the studio, in all aspects of their daily lives.  For more information, visit www.nikesportswear.com.

Check this new animated video from Nike called “Tales From The Kitchen.” Cool view on developing the Hyperfuse, hopefully this will be the first of more to come.

During a research trip to China back in 2008 Shane Kohatsu, Nike’s Innovation Lead for Basketball, noticed local ballers were wearing everything from running shoes to hiking boots. The game in China is predominantly played outside in hot, humid conditions and the courts are made of unforgiving asphalt, so naturally, they were picking their footwear to deal with their environments. In some cases the running shoe’s breathability helped in the stifling conditions and for others the strength of their hiking shoes meant their footwear would last on the blacktop.

Shane, and his colleagues in Nike’s Innovation Kitchen, thought they could help these athletes by combining the best of those two worlds. Their solution was to take three materials and fuse them together into one material, to create a shoe that was off the charts in strength, yet allowed for a precise placement of mesh for breathability.

Hyperfuse was soon adopted by other sport categories at Nike. Ben Shaffer, the innovation lead of Nike Sportswear was drawn to the way the technology absorbed color and the beauty of the depth of the multiple layers. He applied it to some of Nike’s most revered styles like the Air Max 90 and the Air Force One. Here is the animated story of their journey: Tales From The Kitchen — Hyperfuse.

In celebration of baseball, summer in NYC and the NSW/Futura/Yankees collab, Nike is blocking of Mercer st and holding the first ever Nike Stickball tournament this Sunday, April 4th. Details are below.