{"id":828542,"date":"2025-04-14T13:28:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T17:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=828542"},"modified":"2025-04-24T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T18:18:12","slug":"sneaks-movie-bobbito-garcia-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/slam-255\/sneaks-movie-bobbito-garcia-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes of SNEAKS With the Film’s Sneaker Culture Ambassador Bobbito Garcia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Remember when you got that<\/em> pair of kicks to play in? You know, the ones you were begging for. Hoping for. Praying for. And then that anxious, exhilarating feeling that led up to that first time lacing \u2019em up? Then you\u2019ve probably got something in common with our guy Edson, one of the characters from the new sneaker-themed animated film, SNEAKS<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where talking sneakers embark on adventures, SNEAKS<\/em> follows a pair of high-end sneaker siblings, Ty and Maxine, voiced by Anthony Mackie and Chloe Bailey. When Maxine is stolen before Edson\u2019s (Swae Lee) high school game by the nefarious Collector (Laurence Fishburne), Ty journeys throughout New York City to find her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Deadstock kicks collectors, hoopers wanting the latest heat and even replica endorsers are all represented. You\u2019ve got original music by Mustard, Ella Mai, Roddy Ricch and more. You\u2019ve got Chris Paul. Keith David plays a pair of Chuck Taylors, Martin Lawrence voices a scuffed-up sneaker named JB and Olympic skateboard phenoms Rayssa Leal and Sky Brown conduct the Borough Board Express as a pair of Nikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a flick that follows sneakers running around the streets of Harlem and playing pick up at the park, writer-director Rob Edwards and the producers behind SNEAKS<\/em>\u2014including SLAM\u2019s sister studio, RTG Features\u2014brought in Bobbito Garcia, the legendary outdoor hoops historian (and baller), DJ, radio Hall of Famer, filmmaker and sneaker culture icon, to put that authentic stamp on it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For decades, Bobbito has contributed and chronicled NYC\u2019s cultural rhythm and heartbeat, even rocking out with us in these pages since our inception in \u201994. And with his memoir, Bobbito\u2019s Book of B-Ball Bong Bong!<\/em>, arriving in July as a historical documentation of NYC\u2019s outdoor hoops scene from the 1960s to now, the multifaceted aficionado sat down with SLAM to discuss how his years of experience in various lanes aligned to serve as the film\u2019s Sneaker Culture Ambassador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: Over the years, you\u2019ve had a hand in nearly every cultural avenue that stems from the game. How did you get involved with SNEAKS<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobbito Garcia:<\/strong> SNEAKS<\/em> became, like, this culmination of almost everything that I\u2019ve contributed to the culture in one project. Because they reached out to me basically based on, You\u2019re an icon, sneakers, you\u2019ve done designs for Nike, adidas, Pumas, Pro-Keds. You wrote the book<\/em> [Where\u2019d You Get Those? New York City\u2019s Sneaker Culture: 1960\u20131987]. You hosted the first TV series in media history, <\/em>It\u2019s the Shoes, with ESPN.<\/em> They knew what I had done. They wanted that authentic name attached to the project. I don\u2019t think they knew how much they were getting when they brought me on board, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: When did you start consulting on the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> This whole process has been five years in the making. They first hit me up in 2020. I did most of my script consulting in 2021, 2022. I did the voice-overs in 2023. You know, animated features, it\u2019s a big project. But ultimately, I don\u2019t need to be on a basketball court uptown to be able to evoke the electricity that seeps out of the asphalt. Case in point, when I did NBA Street Vol. 2<\/em>, I was in Vancouver, bro. I was in a studio in Vancouver, 3,000 miles away from Manhattan. But I brought that flavor within the chain link. When I was reading the script and working with Rob, anytime they stepped on the court, it was like, Oh yeah, that\u2019s my life.<\/em> That city shit is still inside me. It\u2019s a part of all my organs; it\u2019s a part of my brain, a part of my heart, a part of my liver, a part of my blood. I just tried to kind of let my ideas flow, and I\u2019m grateful to their team for [lending the] ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: What kind of notes did you provide on the script?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> They kind of did really well with the sneaker stuff. Truth be told, I didn\u2019t have to change too much in that world. But what I did do was, the film is based in New York, up in Harlem, and in certain scenes, [I was like,] This word is not really used. This slang would be better.<\/em> And then I started tinkering, particularly with the basketball scenes, too. And here I am, this f**king indie filmmaker who\u2019s done docs. I\u2019ve got no representation. I\u2019ve got no agent. I\u2019m not a CAA. I\u2019m not Hollywood. Rob Edwards has done Disney movies, sold millions at the box office. I\u2019m in a Zoom with, like, five producers and yo, they are listening to everything I say! It was trippy. Here\u2019s this Puerto Rican from 97th Street telling these big box office people, like, Nah you should do it like this. <\/em>And they\u2019re giving me no pushback. They\u2019re like, OK, yeah, OK, cool, cool, cool. <\/em>And I see the next script revision. And bro, everything I told them to do, they did. So that was empowering. It was like this culmination of, all right, cool, I\u2019m not just a sneaker dude. I\u2019m a ballplayer, first and foremost. And I\u2019m a DJ. And I\u2019m a filmmaker. And I\u2019m a storyteller. And I\u2019m an author. So I\u2019m looking at the script, and I\u2019m not looking at it like, Well, you know, this sneaker didn\u2019t come out until \u201977.<\/em> It\u2019s like, no, I\u2019m looking at it from a storytelling aspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: You also voice yourself in the film. How was your character created?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> They were so happy with me during those sessions that they were like, Yo, we want you to be a character in the film, to voice-over one of the characters. <\/em>I was like, Cool<\/em>. I don\u2019t think they knew what they were getting themselves into, because I don\u2019t think any of them have played NBA Street Vol. 2<\/em> or Vol. 3<\/em>. But even before that, I did 12 years on the radio in New York, and in 2023 I got inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Not only that, I did like 40 commercials for Nike. So, I\u2019ve got, like,  30 years of voice-over experience that they\u2019re unaware of. They\u2019re just thinking like, Yo, this dude is sneakers. He\u2019s authentic. He\u2019s credible. He\u2019s going to add energy to the cast. <\/em>So we start recording. It wasn\u2019t an audition. It was like a test. And I remember [producer] Robyn [Klein] hitting me up: I knew you were going to be good. I didn\u2019t know you were going to be <\/em>that good.<\/em> I kind of tore that shit up. And then she came back and she was like, We want to make the character you. We want the character to be Bobbito. You\u2019re going to play yourself.<\/em> And then it was like, the guardrails were off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: How did your past voice-over experiences compare to voicing your character in SNEAKS<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> When I did NBA Street Vol. 2<\/em>, it\u2019s not a knock on EA or a knock on the NBA, the League, but there were guardrails. The League represents a lot to a lot of people, and they have checks and balances. So even though I went nuts in the studio and was going off script, the NBA came back and was like, Well, we can\u2019t say this, we can\u2019t say this.<\/em> But with SNEAKS, because I was already consulting the script, I could handcraft what I was going to say. And because I\u2019m portraying myself, you\u2019re getting full unabashed me straight from the court. That\u2019s me on the court. That\u2019s me at the Goat, aka Rock Steady Park on 99th and Amsterdam. That\u2019s the character that you\u2019re getting with crazy<\/em> flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SLAM: There\u2019s so much inspiration to pull from with the movie based in NYC. Where does that authenticity shine?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> I told [Rob], You\u2019re going to have a smash film. But there\u2019s going to be a small community of people who enjoy this film on another layer that\u2019s going to go over the heads of the mainstream public. <\/em>And that is what\u2019s going to make this project have longevity. And they clearly understood that. It\u2019s something that I really didn\u2019t have to explain to them. And it wasn\u2019t something that they were apologetic about either. They knew. They were like, Yo, if we\u2019re going to do this, we\u2019ve got to do it right. Let\u2019s get Bob. Let\u2019s get Chris Paul. Let\u2019s get Mustard. Let\u2019s get people who are loved [across] different generations, different subsets and everything.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SLAM: Your memoir chronicling your journey on outdoor courts across the globe comes out this July. How much of an impact have these two recent projects had on you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BG:<\/strong> In my memoir, I\u2019m talking about [how] I was a scrub, going to the Goat, looking up to Mario Elie, the legend Earl Manigault, and how I\u2019m inspired by these people and trying to work on my game. I\u2019m still that 14-year-old who\u2019s mystified by all of this. I worked so hard for decades and decades, committing myself to become a better ballplayer and helping out others and providing platforms for unknown up-and-coming MCs, players, poets, writers, you name it. I\u2019ve done so much to give back. And then for this to happen. Time will tell, but this could very well be the biggest shit I\u2019ve ever been a part of. And for it to happen at this stage of my career, yo man, that\u2019s crazy. That\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SNEAKS<\/em> hits theaters April 18th.<\/em> Get your tickets here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos via Briarcliff Entertainment.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember when you got that pair of kicks to play in? You know, the ones you were begging for. Hoping for. Praying for. And then that anxious, exhilarating feeling that led up to that first time lacing \u2019em up? Then you\u2019ve probably got something in common with our guy Edson, one of the characters from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":448,"featured_media":828548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65371],"tags":[2151,62525,64260,65376,63148,65389],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-828542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slam-255","tag-bobbito-garcia","tag-feature-1","tag-kicks","tag-slam-255","tag-slam-kicks","tag-sneaks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/448"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828542"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828559,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828542\/revisions\/828559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828542"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=828542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}