WTF. Sneaker Blogs Completely Missed This.
Drake's new shoe has some forgotten roots.
I’m going to try my best to not sound like the old man yelling at the cloud trying to get free sneakers right now, but it’s completely wild to me that I haven’t seen a single mention of the inspiration behind Drake’s newly unveiled sneaker, the Nocta Hot Step 2. I don’t know if that’s the real name or if it’s just an assumption from every sneaker site and account, and frankly, I don’t really care. I like the shoe. Maybe because it’s orange. Or maybe because it has some features that seem to come directly from Nike Basketball’s best/worst era of sneaker names.
Over the weekend we had our monthly community call in the Sneaker History Discord. The community has been my rock throughout the past few years and while sneakers definitely brought us together, it’s so much more than that. Community Calls and Trivia Nights, however, often lead us down rabbit holes of nostalgia, digging through eBay after someone pulls out a pair that has never been seen in person by most of the people on the call. This week was no different, except there were a handful of new releases I hadn’t seen that were mentioned. One of them was the latest Drake shoe.
My good friend, Travis, mentioned that he hadn’t seen anyone talk about the actual midsole design and cushioning unit of the shoe, so I had to take a look…
The first thing that came to mind was the Nike Air Howsyagame. The second thing was how terribly awesome some of the names that came from that era. Along with the Howsyagame, were the Wheresyagame and Bringyagame models that shared a similar vibe, as well as a truly unique naming convention. While I may have plenty of typos in my writing, this trio of Nike Basketball sneaker releases from 1999-2000 used all one word to make their statement. The Howsyagame was even worn by Penny Hardaway during his time with the Phoenix Suns, so as the top-tier model of the trio, you’d think it would be more well-known.
The overall design of the new Drake shoe doesn’t carry much more from the “yagame” trifecta. In fact, the Air bubble isn’t an exact connection to the Wheresyagame either, but like the Zoom Flight 95-inspired Nocta Glide, it’s clear that either Drake or someone at Nike was digging through the archives when the planning for these was in the works. I always love seeing bits and pieces from the bygone eras of sneakers returning in unique ways, so props to the team that brought this shoe together.
That said, it is pretty disappointing that nobody mentioned the Howsyagame in any of the write-ups or social posts that littered the internet over the past few days. It’s to be expected, I guess. There aren’t really many people who were passionate about sneakers 25 years ago that are still working in the industry, and even fewer who actually care enough and are in a position to offer guidance to the next generation.
If footwear brands don’t care to put the value of their history above the profit-driven approach to everything, why should anyone else? Then again, maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe the few dozen people that actually care, aren’t buying this shoe anyway. Maybe nostalgia is a dying light in the footwear industry. I can’t even type that with any sense of seriousness because I just picture Converse Chuck Taylors, adidas Sambas, Nike Dunks, Retro Jordans, and the entire trend of Y2K running shoes that are blowing up right now. I guess some nostalgia is just more important than others, at least until someone goes viral on TikTok.
Anyway, enough of my rant. Based on the people who I know read this and the number of people who listen to the podcast, I’m sure we’ll see a ton of mentions of the Howsyagame going forward, let’s just hope they give credit where credit is due. The photos below I took of Scoop Jackson’s Sole Provider book from 2002. You can typically find it on eBay if you care to see more of the impressive Nike naming conventions of yesteryear.
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Jamgasmic Flight lol