Social media reacted after Nelly denounced Nike and suggested he was behind the price hike on popular Nike Air Force 1s

When Nike released its Air Force 1 Low, widely described as the “perfect white sneaker,” in the late ’90s, the shoes cost around $60 and rapper in 2002 Nelly released a single tribute to the shoe. As the sneaker grew in popularity, so did its price, which currently stands at $110. The St. Louis emcee appeared to be taking the blame for the price hike recently. However, critics on social media are not convinced.

While sneaker-shopping with Complex, the Just a Dream host reflected on the likely implications of the hit album Air Force Ones, suggesting prices rose after the song’s release.

“When we started rocking the Air Force 1s, they were $59.99. We did the song, eight months later it was $100,” he said, before adding, “Now we’re not getting any residuals. So, Nike – yo, yell at your boy.”

He added: “Let me tell you something. … Everyone who has gotten Nike shoe deals now has to thank us because we opened Nike’s eyes to a lot of it,” Nelly claimed during the last interview. “They didn’t do it then. They basically just said, ‘You’re still going to win.’”

While acknowledging the sneakers were released long before his song, the rapper claimed, “When you say ‘made them famous,’ you have to understand that Air Force 1 was more of a New York East Coast thing. We didn’t rock the Air Force 1 in the South or Midwest; They didn’t rock them on the west coast. Until we did what we did, Air Force 1s went from $59.99 to $100 in one year.”

It didn’t take long for critics to start taking notice of the rapper’s testimony. Several fans admitted to being drawn to the “Dilemma” rapper’s influence, including a Twitter user who wrote that Nelly was definitely a trendsetter in the early 2000s. He got everyone rocking the Fubu jerseys with all the city names and Air Force 1 jerseys. That was a time to be alive.”

Another person added: “Nelly did that, he was guilty as fk since he did the song, Air Force 1, the prices have gone up, I remember they were $2 74, for the lows and $80 for the highs.”

However, not everyone was touched, as one reviewer explained, “Its popularity at the time undoubtedly helped with sales, but it didn’t catch on, Air Force 1 was a blast.”