With amazing giveaways, dope installations, exclusive releases and crazy guest appearances ComplexCon did not disappoint!
While you’ve probably seen the highlights from ComplexCon on your IG or Twitter feed, you know we gotta do an official recap to show all the dope stuff we saw this past weekend. And yes, while some of the weekend’s festivities seem to be overshadowed by the latest Tekashi 69 beef with YG’s crew, we were more focused on the REAL Takashi and all the of the amazing displays of art, style and talent brought together by Complex and the associated partners.
There were a host of people I overheard lamenting the big brands, but you don’t get this kind of function without the big brands being involved. Yes there was McDonalds, there was Cadillac, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Nike and the list goes on and on, but don’t let that distract you from all of the AMAZING installations that were by smaller experimental brands.
There were TONS of giveaways and there were some ingenious set ups. There were political statements made and there were vibrant brands experimenting and testing the waters. We really loved all the made to order set-ups like the hot off the press, screen print t-shirts we acquired at the Hasan Minhaj Netflix installation. Or how about the exclusive vintage jacket that we were gifted by Nicky Diamonds at the 1800 bar.. Herschel took us to the moon with some super dope white on black tote bags for their Joshua Vides collab and Pharrell made sure we were ready to vote with his I AM OTHER movement.
Oh yea and it was hella smoked out which was nice to smell. Some people couldn’t hang, but how do you complain about weed in Cali of all places?
You guys are hosting an event where numerous people are openly smoking drugs and no-one is doing anything about it. Had to leave early cause of the severe headaches I was getting from lack of clean air indoors. Fix this it’s absurd. @Complex @ComplexCon @LBConventionCtr
— hi (@mvhxmmd) November 3, 2018
Check it all out below! More pics coming
Check out a few highlights and pics below:
THE Shop HBO
On site, celebrity barbers from Bevel (Marcus Harvey, Donald Long, Geiva and Jabree Turner) who are known for their work with talent such as Nas, Klay Thompson, Ty Dolla $ign, Ludacris, Damon Lillard, provided free haircuts for all attendees throughout the weekend.
Over the two days key attendees included Nas, Victor Cruz, Grant Hill, Sarunas Jackson, Demetrius Shipp, Matt Ox, Icewear Vezzo, THEY., Young Dirty Bastard, Tinashe, Big Boy, Jeff Staple, Nick Grant, JAMESDAVIS, Njomza, BJ The Chicago Kid, Marc Byers, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and more.
Some key moments during the activation were panel discussions with Capitol and Motown records and on-camera interviews with Nas, Big Boy, Jeff Staple, Grant Hill, Victor Cruz and more. As our, ‘hook-up men’ Shiggy and Juhahn Jones were on site to hype up attendees and promote the activation with giveaways. In addition, SneakerLab provided free sneaker cleaning and protection for attendees.
Cadillac, Nas and Complex Gave One Fan A Caddy Chain
Cadillac’s weekend long celebration of the launch of its newest vehicle, the XT4, ended in something incredibly special. Throughout the weekend Cadillac and Complex delivered unique drops of merch, items, and experiences for fans at the convention center as a part of its campaign #XT4thedrop. This culminated with a set of custom Cadillac/Nas merch that the brand and rapper worked on together, with 10 lucky fans getting Nas to sign the hoodies. Following the signing, Nas surprised one fan with a one-of-a-kind Cadillac pendant and chain. The chain was an incredible work
THE GRINCH w/ Karen Civil and Pharrell Williams
To celebrate the upcoming release of the latest rendition of Dr. Seuss’ THE GRINCH, Universal Pictures and Illumination held a special screening on Saturdayat the Cinemark at the Pike Theater in Long Beach. Prior to the start of the film, media personality Karen Civil introduced the film and the film’s narrator Pharrell Williams was also in attendance as the host for this special evening. Isn’t amazing to see Pharrell branch out into so many of these animated movies?!
1800 Tequila, Adam Lucas and Nicky Diamonds had ComplexCon on fire with their jackets and tequila. Margarita after margarita made this a perfect jump off to kick back after a few hours or running around the show floors. On both Saturday and Sunday the art experience was gifting only 100 one of a kind jackets. We happened to win one which you can check below as we sipped specialty cocktails. We feel super lucky to have won a customized Nicky Diamonds-designed vintage denim jacket with patches and pins created by Adam Lucas. Thank you guys soooo soooo much for putting this spot together.
Here is a break down of everything that Complex captured:
- Allen Iverson dropped his first kicks in more than four years, the I3 Legacy from Reebok, at ComplexCon. Two colorways were released and all sold out immediately. Reebok hosted Iverson in their booth for a fan Q&A moderated by former Complex Sneakers editor Russ Bengtson. Lucky fans got their kicks autographed by Iverson.
- Michael B. Jordan and the cast of “Creed II” participated in a Q&A hosted by Terrence J in the Creed II boxing ring on the show floor.
- Pharrell Williams visited the Billionaire Boys Club installation for a book signing with fans, photo opps and to celebrate their Human Made x BBC ICECREAM 15th Anniversary collaboration. He then joined i am OTHER artist Kap G at the #iamVOTER installation.
- Allen Iverson made a surprise appearance at the ComplexCon(versations) panel “Crossed Over: Jordan vs. Iverson” with moderatorJemele Hill, Jerry Lorenzo, Kerby Jean-Raymond, Pierce Simpson and Victor Cruz.
- Rae Sremmurd brought out surprise guests Tyga, Ozuna Miri Ben Ari while Ty Dolla $ign joined Vince Staples’ headlining performance on the Pigeons & Planes stage in the ComplexCon arena.
- G-Eazy was hanging at the Puma activation, that took fans back to one of the most memorable hangouts in the 90s – the mall, to release their latest sneaker the RS-X.
- Pharrell Williams visited the Billionaire Boys Club booth for a book signing with lucky fans, photo opps and to celebrate their Human Made x BBC ICECREAM 15th Anniversary collaboration. He then joined i am OTHER artist Kap G at the #iamVOTER booth.
- Lena Waithe joined Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors for a fireside chat at the Black Lives Matter booth.
- Takashi Murakami hosted “Sneakers for Breakfast” featuring creative sneakerheads who united exclusively for ComplexCon to curate a range of custom kicks by six prominent footwear designers/innovators that will be in a silent auction with proceeds benefiting a charity.
- For a third year in a row, it was standing room only at ComplexCon’s most popular ComplexCon(versations) panel “Sneaker of the Year” with Joe La Puma, Allen Iverson, DJ Clark Kent, Don C, Lena Waithe, Trinidad James and Wale.
- Pusha T stopped by the Adidas booth to commemorate his limited edition EQT collaboration. He also sat down with the first round of adidas soundLabs finalists to review their work ahead of selecting the winners of his grant and mentorship through Adidas.
- Jaden Smith made an appearance at the G-Star Raw booth to launch his new line of denim.
- Snoop Dogg celebrates the launch of @adidasLA and the 25th anniversary of Doggystyle at the World Famous VIP Records booth.
- T-Pain arrived at the T-Pain Wiscansin University booth ushered in by a live marching band playing his hit song “Can’t Believe It.” Ace Hood, Shiggy, Lil Pete and Arab Music also stopped by the booth for photos.
- Grant Hill, Marcus Harvey, Victor Cruz, Demetrius Shipp, Young Dirty Bastard and Shiggy stopped by HBO’s barbershop experience in celebration of “The Shop,” inspired by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s new unscripted series of the same title.
- Flosstradamus performed at Four Loko. Dillon Francis stopped by to make a customized jersey with Four Loko and Flosstradamus patches, then Francis danced to Flosstradamus’s DJ set. Riley Reid also made an appearance at Four Loko and posed for photos with the can and with fans.
- Pharrell Williams, Sarah Andelman and Marc Ecko checked out the Pangaia booth, then met up with Don C to pick up PopSockets at the PopSockets art installation.
- “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans stopped by the Fuse booth to help T-Pain test out the Bierstick, a syringe-like drinking device that allows users to drink up to 24oz of their favorite beverage in seconds.
- DJ Akademiks and A Boogie wit da Hoodie battled it out during a live episode of “On the Sticks,” a new gaming series from Complex and Xbox. The two played NBA 2K19.
- Barney Cools released their biggest collab to date with Dillon Francis & Gerald exclusively to Complexcon. Dillon Francis spent theday hanging at the booth greeting fans. Jaden Smith, Flosstradamous, @thedanlife, Blue The Great, Francis Kenneth, A-Trak and more stopped by the booth.
- Russell Athletic boasted a hyper-limited release with rising designer Rhuigi Villasenor, who made an appearance at the booth to meet with fans, pose for photos and sell his custom sweater collaboration with the brand.
- YouTube sensation @kingvader stopped by the Dumbgood booth to check out the brand and the new Cowboy Bebop collection.
- At the kaikai kiki activation, J. Balvin was gifted a custom diamond and gemstone necklace by Takashi Murakami and Ben Ballerfeaturing an iconic Murakami design before heading to the J. Balvin & Buchanan’s “VIBRAS!” booth. Fans were treated to exclusive blended scotch whisky tastings, J Balvin’s limited-edition merchandise and other surprises.
- Sherbinskis released and sold out its limited-edition Sherbinskis Nike AF1 Low Bespoke, a bespoke shoe design created from of the love and passion Sherbinskis has for the Nike brand and culture.
- Vans paid tribute to NASA’s 60 years of space exploration and innovation by dropping the space gray sk8 high space voyager shoe and more exclusives at @Pacsun’s pop-up at ComplexCon.
- Crep Protect teamed with DJ Khaled and We The Best to release a Complexcon-exclusive box set limited to 250 pieces. The gloss red box set contains all the Crep Protect products needed to keep your sneakers fresh.
- Visitors had a chance to unlock the first unveiling of the upcoming Extra Butter x The Halal Guys x Clarks “Halalabees” through an augmented reality experience powered by Frenzy App.
- Garey The Third released two sets of limited edition porcelain sculptures by Cleon Peterson called “Paint The Town” and released two sets of collaborative skate decks by Cleon Peterson and The Skateroom, both of which sold out.
- All three silhouettes from Herschel Supply x Joshua Vides collection, revealed at ComplexCon, completely sold out around 2 p.m. with more being made available for Day 2! Joshua Vides was on-site to help with the launch.
- Grant Hill, Trinidad James, Lena Waithe, Lance Gross, Robert Horry, Broderick Hunter, Brandon McEachren, Vince Staples andJerry Lorenzo checked out the goods on the show floor and posed for selfies with fans.
Spotted on day two at ComplexCon 2018 in Long Beach, CA include Issa Rae, Yara Shahidi, Lena Waithe, Pharrell, Nas, Future, T-Pain, T-Boz, Virgil Abloh, J Balvin, Jemele Hill, Dennis Rodman, Jaden Smith, Nipsey Hussle, DeRay McKesson, Steve Aoki, Tinashe, Karrueche, Lil Baby, Hype Williams, Teyana Taylor, Victor Cruz, Pusha-T, Action Bronson, Chris Brickley, Greg Noire, Takashi Murakami, Joe Fresh, Elise Swopes, Kali Uchis, Yo Gotti, Jacob Latimore, Bartone Fitzpatrick, Shiggy, Karen Civil, Freddie Gibbs, DJ Akademiks, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Damien Scott, Steve Stoute, Trick Daddy, Patrisse Cullors, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Eric Bellinger, Becky G, Vince Staples, YG, A-Track, FatBoy SSE, Redman, Flipp Dinero, Jacob Latimore, Barton Fitzpatrick, Trippy Red, Jadakiss, Nick Young, Kelvin Pena, Jimmy Gorecki, DJ Clark Kent, Westside Gunn…
