This is more than a “Southern streetwear” post. I’m pulling from my memory banks and speaking on a shoe that, in my mind at least, is as synonymous with Cash Money Records from the late 1990s as the term “Bling Bling”. I’m talking about a shoe first released in the mid to late ’80s that was as popular in it’s prime (at least in the South) as the hallowed Air Force One.

I’m talking about Soulja Rees.

The Patron Saints of Southern Hip-Hop are ironically comprised of groups, not individuals: Outkast, UGK,  and No Limit just to name a few. Each representing a period of strength in the grand expansion, and subsequent domination, of Southern rap to the masses. No one group was more influential in my “Pro-South” rearing than a group of young rappers from New Orleans that replaced the “s” in Boys with a “z” and panted like a dog in the background of almost every song they released (“haa, haa, Hot Boyz!!“). I literally grew up with the young men in that group and so I feel a closeness to them that don’t share with many other artist.

Recently I wrote about my burgeoning love affair with gray tee shirts and briefly touched on the introduction of the white tee & Soulja Rees combination. And then it hit me, with all this talk about vintage clothing and accessories why is it that no one has reached waaaaaaaay back and scooped a pair of Reebok Workout mids? My first guess was that they are such a niche shoe (and so easily destroyed) that a vintage pair would be impossible to find. Secondly, they fell so far out of grace that it’s quite possible that they are no longer being manufactured by Reebok. I’m pretty sure I’m right on my first hunch but I was dead wrong on the second.

Finish Line still sells Soulja Rees and they are still as affordable now as they were then. In fact, I think they’re cheaper now because if I remember correctly, weren’t they in the $75 price range in the ’90s?. Wow. With a price point that low I’m leaning toward the “bring ‘em back” direction.

Anyone think they could pull of the Soulja Rees? I’m pretty confident that I can but I’m assuming an actual wear test is the only way to find out for sure.