Christmas came early for former U.S. President Bill Clinton last week. During a recent Clinton Foundation event, Fat Joe gifted the ex-prez a pair of his sold-out sneakers, the “Blackout” Terror Squad x Nike Air Force 1s.
In a video posted on social media by Fat Joe, the “Lean Back” rapper presents the sneakers to Clinton and tells him, “Special delivery. Hottest sneaker in the game. Sold out in five minutes. But if I didn’t bring it to Bill, it wouldn’t be official.”
Clinton responded with the word, “Wow” and took one of the shoes to admire it. In the caption for the video, he wrote, “Mail man at it again TSAF1 Billllll.”
Then, someone off camera asked if the gift made him an honorary member of the Terror Squad. Fat Joe responded in the affirmative. “I love you so much, man,” he said. “So many years you fought for the people. We love you. I’m a huge fan of yours.” Clinton responds, “These are cool.” The same person who asked about the Terror Squad then tells Clinton that the shoes, “give you some street cred.”
In a subsequent social media post, Fat Joe shares a black and white photo of Clinton relaxing on a couch wearing the kicks.
“Yesterdays price TSAF1 BILL!!!!” Fat Joe wrote in the caption.
Some of Fat Joe’s followers were upset that instead of giving away sneakers to people who needed them, he gave them to a rich politician. “Instead of giving to rich people that can afford everything they want, I think you should give back to the fans that made you rich and been supporting you since day one!” one commenter wrote.
As for the collaboration between Fat Joe and Nike, it’s been nearly 25 years in the making. The Terror Squad started working on nine different colorways – one for each member of the hip-hop group – after their 1999 self-titled album dropped. However, none of them were ever released to the public.
Along with Clinton, Fat Joe has gifted his Terror Squad sneakers to other notable individuals like U.S. vice president Kamala Harris, sports personality Stephen A. Smith and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu.