Everson Bboy

Puma Suede

01—19—2018 Photos by: Kickstory

Interview # 74

Everson is a bboy, graffiti artist, boombox collector and VJ. He became into sneakers by watching old Black and Rap music videos when he was a teenager,it evolved into a passion and mixed it up with his dancing. Everson told us the story of his @puma Suede, classic sneakers that made history in the world of Hip Hop.

“My name is Everson but within the break, graffiti and Hip Hop culture I’m known as Pateta (goofy). At the moment I work as a led technician at events. I break dance for around 15 years, I graffiti, I’m a VJ – you can find all this information on my Instagram account (laughs). I live Hip Hop culture and I consider myself a Bboy.”

Everson, what’s your relationship with sneakers?

~~everson~~When I was a kid, I would always watch dudes ride their skateboards down the street, playing basketball with their high top sneakers, watch the rap videos with dudes wearing dope sneakers, I thought that was all so cool. A memory I have of a sneaker that really got to me and made me think: “I need one of those on my feet” was a white high top Puma. At the time the commercial for that shoe was a puma jumping a mountain with some lightning – special effects from the 80s were really crappy – and out of nowhere a puma jumped out than a lightning bolt and them POW there was the sneaker!

I was born and raised in Guaianases, I was never able to get cool sneakers, my mom would give some shoes but it was never the ones I wanted. As a teenager, I skateboarded and Quix Evolution was at its peak, all my friends had one, but the only ones who wore them where the playboy kids, dudes from my hood would steal to get a pair of these sneakers. My dream was to have one of these but my mom was never able to afford one, so I always had that thing of wanting a sneaker you couldn’t have, so when I started working my main focus was to buy those Qix.

Within the Hip Hop culture, I started watching old school Black and international Rap videos with cats wearing all white Air Force 1s and I would think to myself: “Bro, one day I’m going to get me one of these”. So, later on, I started working and buying my own kicks, I would buy similar ones to the ones I liked, but when I got my first pair of Nike Basketball sneakers – only the dopest cats rocked Basketball sneakers – so I thought: “now I’m one of those dope cats”.

Then I got married, had a kid and started buying my own kicks for real. I was already addicted so I would buy a lot of the cheaper ones like the Pumas Suede but when I got my first white Air Force 1, that’s when I told myself that I would only get the ones I wanted, so that’s when I started collecting. And look, I’m really metrosexual, I got my perfumes, I like looking good, I’m a very vainly person so my kicks have to match my outfit, if they don’t I won’t leave the house. Every time you run into me when your going out my kicks will be matching my outfit and for that to happen I need a lot of sneakers.

I took a break recently, I was spending too much on sneakers – there were times that I would buy up to 3 pairs of Superstars or All-Stars in the same week. And it was not like I needed them, I would only buy them because they were cheap and I would end up selling later on. But I really wear the ones I have, I don’t stock them up, and when they get worn out I donate them or throw them away. The only exception is my first white Air Force 1 which is destroyed, dried up, with the outsoles turned yellow, but they’re going to stay right where they are.

What’s your story with this Puma Suede?

~~everson~~I started breakdancing when we went out, I didn’t much and I was the famous ballroom boy, I would break everyone, but I never danced within the actual scene. So I started to practice the moves, study the history of breakdancing and I learned what was Toprock, Footwork, Freeze. This clubber guy that worked with me new a lot about music and he told me about a classic Bboy movie – Beat Street, which has a battle scene between the Rock Steady Crew vs. NYC Breakers with one side sponsored by Puma and the other by Adidas. I dance Pop and during the battle scene, there is a guy who starts dancing Pop all floppy, with the same Puma tracksuit that I’m wearing, all red suede, I always wanted to have one just like his.

These suedes I bought back in 2014 and the shoe was on a low point, almost no one had Pumas. There was a moment when Hape, a Brazilian brand, took the silhouette of several classic Pumas and they sold for super cheap at Galeria do Rock, so I bought one of those that had the same shape as suede. After searching for a long time, I found a Puma in a Korean shop and she sold me for $ 180 – at the time it was kind of expensive but when I put them on, I had to take them. I left the store with the sneakers on, bought the pants and a red shirt.

And for me to wear this Puma? The first time I used them to go out I went to an ice cream shop with them, stepping on clouds because the suede is not resistant at all, you do one footwork and you already get them scuffed. Real Bboys, when they hear music playing they just start to dance, even being on the asphalt; even if they might be out of practice, but they will dance. But anyway, I went to the ice cream shop and then to a brother’s house, we started listening to some music, I made some toprocks moves and then I did some footwork on the floor, and I got a little scuff on my sneakers, I snapped right off. I stopped dancing – I’m very strict with this kind of thing, I get very angry when someone steps on my sneakers. Even today, when my son steps on my sneakers, he looks at me and says, “Father, forgive me please” (laughs).

At first, I would rock the suedes to show up looking fly, but I had but I had an extra pair of kicks in my backpack for when it was time for dancing. This Puma represents the Breakdance lifestyle, represents what a Bboy wears, he wears a Puma suede, Adidas Superstar or an All Star Chuck Taylor. And for me, Hip Hop is not just a movement. For example, my friend Julio, we’ve known each other because of Hip Hop since we were 15, we didn’t even have mustaches at the time, but we’re still here.

And I’d like to tell people to research more about street culture, Hip Hop, Boomboxes and to know more about the sneakers you wear. All the sneakers you have, besides the design behind it, it has a story. The toprock, the footwork I do, each move has a history of why it began, how it began.

I don’t consider myself a sneakerhead, I don’t have what it takes to spend hours in line to buy some kicks, but I have great affection for my sneakers. There are a lot of fake dudes out there, there’s a lot of sneakerheads who stand in line, and spend 2k on a pair of kicks, but doesn’t know the story and has no love for them. They buy it just to take some photos, put them up on I Love Sneakers and then resell them, that’s messed up man. My Puma suedes are here all torn up, but I know their story.