This seems a little strange, on par with Bow Wow declaring himself the King of Air Jordans (although no one else has ever called him that) and then signing on with Starbury; Fat Joe is designing a shoe for low cost brand Protege, the company started by Al Harrington and Rodney Henry and sold at K-Mart. The shoe, titled “The Recession” will have a price point of $34.99 and apparently will be worn by Fat Joe in concerts and public appearances. According to Joe, via ESPN.com:

They’re only $34.99, and they are crazy. If you know me, you know that I only wear fly things, and these are fly. I think in this economy it’s hard for kids to get sneakers that are $150 and up so I did something about it. And yes, you’ll see me in them during shows, in the videos or just chillin with my family.

I’m really interested to see how this plays out, because I wouldn’t bet on most shoes like this doing well (Starbury, Shaq, etc), but Fat Joe is known as basically one of the most high profile sneakerheads out there; it’ll be interesting to see if he can sway some public opinion toward Protege. I’d also like to see if he actually stops rocking Nikes and all the other brands. My money is on “no.” Picture courtesy of SneakerFiles.com