Fat Joe says DJ Khaled refused to sell him Eminem’s rare Carhartt Jordans, even when he offered $30,000.
Back in 2015, Eminem dropped one of the rarest sneaker collabs ever made: the Carhartt x Air Jordan 4. Only a handful of pairs were auctioned off to raise funds for the Marshall Mathers Foundation. The black canvas design featured signature Shady details like his hockey mask and the Shady XV logo.
These weren’t for retail. They were strictly friends-and-family exclusives, nearly impossible to get, even for the most connected collectors.
Fat Joe on the Hunt
Fat Joe, one of hip hop’s most passionate sneakerheads, has made no secret of his obsession with those black Carhartts. On the Got Sole podcast, he revealed just how far he was willing to go and how DJ Khaled shut him down.
“I needed the black Carhartts, the black Eminem’s. Khaled might’ve had 10 pairs. I walk into Khaled’s closet. He’s 11.5, I’m 12. That man tried to fight me!”
Joe wasn’t joking. He says he was ready to spend $30,000 to get his size, but Khaled refused to sell, gift, or even negotiate.
“I said, ‘Yo Khaled, I’m about to buy these for $30,000!’ He was like, ‘I ain’t giving you shit! Hell no!’ We were about to fight!”
The tension in Joe’s voice is still palpable. Clearly, he hasn’t let this one go.
Respect, rarity, and frustration
This fight wasn’t about a regular pair of sneakers. Khaled saw them as something more than sneakers: not for sale, at any price. Joe’s story was illustrated with footage of their interaction inside Khaled’s sneaker room, where he had some items along with their duplicates. This man does not leave anything to chance and pays handsomely for what he has.
However, one of those pairs Eminem gifted him. DJ Khaled got a pair sent to him back in 2016. Not like he was not happy about that, but he still felt slightly bitter about not having a verse from Marshall. Ten years later, he got Em’s verse, even though not directly, but through Kanye. Maybe he hopes to have as many Eminem collabs as he has his sneakers? In this case, no wonder he would not let go of a single pair.
Sometimes the culture around rare sneakers can look bizarre. However, it shows that value is not always monetary. It shows pride, power, and the lines people draw, even in the same industry.
