Once a brand becomes successful, should people who publicly endorsed it before it blew up be compensated for it to an extent? Juelz Santana and Jim Jones believe so.
In an interview with the No Jumper podcast, the Dipset members recalled how they backed Supreme early on before the hype.
To celebrate Juelz Santana and Jim Jones being featured guests on his show, Adam22 rocked the popular 2006 Supreme shirt of the duo wearing the streetwear brand. What started as paying homage turned into the telling of the backstory.
The Harlem rappers confirmed the claim that they are the ones to have “ushered Supreme into Hip-Hop.”
After receiving a random call about the company’s photo gig, the two accepted it. According to Julez, they were paid $15,000 to sport the brand, which they were initially unfamiliar with. Although he described it as a “genius idea,” he believes they should be recognized for the impact of their name and likeness.
“I wish that we knew that factor of it,” Juelz said after Jim Jones noted that Supreme knew their level of influence. “At the time, we didn’t know that. And they were allowed to capitalize on us. I don’t hold no grudges…It’s not about money for us or y’all owe us nothing. If y’all wanna throw us something, you know what it is. We here.”
“Even us just getting sh-t. Sending us boxes of clothes,” he added.
While Jim Jones claims to no longer wear Supreme, Juelz Santana admitted that he still does during the interview.
The recent interview isn’t Jim Jones’ first instance of speaking on the matter. Back in 2018, he publicly called out the brand.
“They owe us piece of th [sic] company,” Jones wrote in an Instagram post, per GQ. “Rappers n my black people had no idea wht Supreme was…they new who dipset was lol.”
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As previously reported by AfroTech, Supreme was acquired by VF Corp for $2.1 billion in late 2020.
Earlier this year, Lil’ Kim’s collaboration with the clothing brand sold out within minutes of its release. Additionally, Andre 3000 being the face of Supreme’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection resulted in its “most viral moment thus far.”
The influence of the culture is clear, but according to GQ, those who are booked for photo shoots are given a one-time fee with no licensing, residuals, or back-end percentages.
