For A$AP Rocky‘s new PUMA Suede design, he had to take it to the streets of his hometown to celebrate — Pell Street, in particular. Flacko elected to host at the Lucky Dragon in Chinatown the night before the global launch, opening the dim sum venue to the public for a pop-up during the afternoon, and inviting press later in the evening.

The intimate eatery was transformed into a red-hued, Rocky-fied universe. The shoes were set up in dim sum boxes, A$AP Rocky x PUMA fortune cookies filled the tables, and guests were encouraged to visit the charm station (disguised as a noodle bar, with charms handed over in takeout boxes).

PUMA’s Creative Director for over three years now, Rocky has racked up a Rolodex of fresh silhouettes and reimagined archival revivals during his tenure thus far. Yet again, he’s tapping back into the archives for his new footwear endeavor, this time reimagining the storied PUMA Suede from 1994.

Rocky’s take on the classic sneaker is defined by its full-retro PUMA logo on the quarter panel, something no other Suede iteration has featured. A raw-edge padded tongue, retro woven label, and a slimmer tooling shape the silhouette, with a gold PUMA lace keeper on top.

Of course, for the occasion, Rocky also flexes charms on his shoes. He tells everyone that we, too, should put charms on our shoes to reflect our distinct personal styles and identities. After all, that’s exactly what the mid-nineties in NYC were all about: the convergence of fashion, music, and skate culture to inform a whole new melting pot of creative expression.

Upstairs at the Lucky Dragon, Rocky reflected more about the year that birthed one of the most iconic PUMA Suede silhouettes, Three 6 Mafia’s Underground Vol. 1: 1991–1994, and Kids. 

Hypebeast: These Suedes are from 1994. Let’s go back to 1994. You were six years old…

A$AP Rocky: [Laughs] Wait, hold on! Don’t be giving out my age like that! Nah, I’m just messing with you.

What do you remember about that time in New York? What do you associate with that era?

What I associate with 1994 is the movie Kids. Even though it was technically released in 1995, they shot it in 1994. That’s when you had brands like Zoo York and Supreme making their emergence, right? And it was all about this beautiful, all-inclusive diversity in New York. You had Asians chilling with Black kids, chilling with white kids, chilling with Latinos, chilling with Indians.

If you looked at Washington Square Park or anywhere like that, all of those kids would just be together. I think that is what truly personifies New York City as a melting pot—just different ethnicities and cultures all mixed together in one. It’s that nostalgia that reminds me of this shoe. This Suede came out in ‘94, and I really wanted to tap into that neo-nostalgia.

Obviously, ‘94 was also a massive year for hip-hop. Illmatic, Ready to Die…

Oh, she went there with it!

Tell me about some of those musical references or anything that really impacted your vision from that time.

I think ‘94 was a huge year for the Native Tongues movement — obviously De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. But not only that, you had the Wu-Tang Clan absolutely killing it. You know how much I love the Wu-Tang Clan for bridging the gap between what people consider Asian or Oriental culture and Black urban culture. I thought it was seamlessly beautiful how they took inspiration from karate and kung fu movies and incorporated that into their music as samples.

Not only them, though—Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia were making some crazy music at the time. They made an underground tape called Underground Vol. 1: 1991–1994—go check that out; it was crazy. ‘94 was just an unbelievable year for hip-hop. That’s why it felt so appropriate for us to touch on that era with these skate Suedes, because everyone was skating in these back in ‘94.