Alife Streetwear OGs Drop Mad Sneaker Knowledge on UPROXX ‘The Masters’ Show

Fellow content creators UPROXX have been chronicling streetwear, sneaker, music, and graffiti culture with their interview show called ‘The Masters’. It’s hosted by the publication’s founding style editor and cultural heavyweight, Eli Morgan Gesner, whose impressive CV includes co-founding seminal 90s brands Phat Farm and Zoo York. He’s called upon another member of the old guard for the latest episode: Alife’s Rob Cristofaro, aka Rob 1970.

The all-too-brief 26-minute video offers a tantalising inside look at Rob 1970’s tags to riches life so far, from a young graffiti artist to co-founding Alife as a multi-disciplinary crew in 1999, helping form a cultural crucible in New York City. The brand only grew with their influential Alife Sessions back-of-house music shows that gave then-unearthed acts like John Mayer and Drake a shot at glory, while extending a long-running co-sign with hip hop leaders Wu-Tang Clan. Not to mention their pioneering collaborations that pre-date the ‘hype’ streetwear era.

Even Sneaker Freaker’s early history is mixed with Alife’s mid-2000s golden era. The very first SF colab, the Lacoste Missouri 85 ‘Minty Fresh’ was launched at the Alife Rivington Club back in 2006! Which ties in nicely with a tidbit of sneaker nerdery at about the 10-minute mark of the video…

Watch the entire video above. Thanks to Jarret Myer and the UPROXX team for coming through with some new knowledge!