Hip-hop heads with dollars to drop will appreciate Sotheby’s recent initiative to auction off over 120 nostalgic hip-hop-related items from some of the greats both past and present.
This includes things like Notorious B.I.G.’s famous “King of New York” golden crown (which sold for a cool $600.000 USD), rare graffiti art, a diamond eye patch worn by MC Slick Rick, decades-old concert flyers, and love letters from Tupac Shakur.
The first-ever hip-hop auction from the famous auction house generated $20-million.
Of the hot-ticket items was a pair of homegrown superstar Drake’s unreleased “Splatter” Air Jordan IVs. The Air Jordan IV sneaker model was supposed to release back in 1989 – when Drake was just three-years-old – but never officially did. There were, however, sample models of the shoes floating around for those who could find them.
Then, in 2017, Drake and his OVO label revisited the silhouette, with a plan to bring the shoe to market – a plan that never materialized. That is, aside from an unreleased pair that found its way into the pricy auction.
The sneakers now belong to a lucky owner, who dropped $32,760.00 USD for the coveted kicks after an intense bidding session. The shoes were estimated to sell for $10,000 USD.