Today, we have the honor of giving one of Chicago’s own his flowers, hailing from the south side of Chicago, Common formerly known as Common Sense is a legend in the game. From Unsigned Hype (Source Magazine) to being one Tony award away from achieving EGOT status is no easy feat and as it stands no other rapper has ever won an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar—he’s the first to ever do it. This puts Common in rarified air but he’s often overlooked when the greatest of all-time rappers are discussed.

His debut album is considered a classic today but that wasn’t the case when it first released in 1992 produced by NO ID, Twilite Tone and the Beatnuts it had no big name features, he was almost the first rapper to go platinum without a feature word to Cole.

It’s safe to say that at 31 years old, Can I Borrow A Dollar? has aged beautifully, now an industry veteran, Common is as relevant today as he was when he first burst unto the scene and that is why we have partnered with him to release a Can I Borrow A Dollar? Inspired 33 HI. We chose this album because the 33 HI appears on the album cover. 

The 33 HI features a black leather upper with royal blue accenting and sits atop a gum sole but what really sets this shoe apart is that it features a colorful stitched pattern all throughout the shoe to represent the road map of the United States featured on the album cover. As Common explained to us the reason he had a road map of the United States on the album cover was because “I had cats from the East Coast on here and cats from the West Coast, that’s what Hip Hop just was at that time and as a Chicago artist I wanted to say hey, can I get a piece of this? So thats what Can I Borrow a Dollar? Was”.

In a full circle moment, the Can I Borrow A Dollar? 33 HI was designed with the help of Marc Davis (a childhood friend of Common) who’s also on the album cover and Pritt Kalsi. The Can I Borrow A Dollar? 33 HI is now available in limited quantities in sizes 5-16 exclusively on ewingathletics.com so borrow as many dollars as you need because once these sell out they’re gone for good.

The flagship Ewing Athletics shoe, the 33 HI is an exact retro of the 1990 original, and features a classic reversible ankle strap that can be worn on the front or back of the shoe, full leather upper and a full length PU midsole for cushioning and a rubber outsole.

Product # 1BM02159-018