It’s safe to say that people love their kicks. It’s safe to say that people also love their beats. Luckily, the folks over at the marketing and branding company Neely And Daughters have finally given the people what they want, with a prototype shoe that combines the classic Roland TR-808 drum machine—the ever-popular drum machine behind any number of songs released since the 1980’s and now—with the iconic Adidas sneaker.
Their future-retro design is fully functional—in addition to looking sweet as hell—with a built-in start/stop button, volume and tempo control, and speakers to its six pre-programmed beats. Luckily, these innovators recognized we’re not in the stone age anymore, so they did consumers the courtesy of also embedding a USB port and making the shoes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatible. This way, once you’ve spent hours sitting cross-legged on the floor, toiling away at your shoes and cranking out beats for your new mixtape, you don’t even really have to get up to upload it for your fans. Yes!
While these shoes are highly practical as a portable beat lab, it’s nice that their prototype design also address aesthetics, bucking the tradition that mandates “function over form” and boldly declaring, “Let them have both!” As we mentioned before (and snarky tones aside), the shoes look sweet. The yellow, red, and orange color palette is pulled from and the numbers along the shoelaces inspired by the rhythm buttons at the bottom of the TR-808. Plus, TR-808 is written across the velcro straps while the Roland logo graces the heel of each shoe.
Unfortunately, these prototypes never made it into production, so all you producers out there may have to postpone your dreams of being able to make your beats while riding the subway, renewing your license at the DMV, or stretching before, during, or after a jog. Check out the pictures of the Adidas X Roland hybrid below, and take a moment with us to mourn what could have been.
[H/T Consequence Of Sound]