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Set Free: From AND1 Mixtape to Clarks Legacy 🌍 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Feb 6, 2025
Join Sway In The Morning for an in-depth conversation with the legendary Set Free as he shares his journey from creating the iconic AND1 Mixtape to producing the groundbreaking documentary, "Somerset to the World: Clarks 200." Discover how this visionary bridged basketball, music, and fashion, celebrating Clarks' 200-year legacy and its global cultural impact. Narrated by Yasiin Bey, this documentary explores Clarks' deep connections with hip-hop, Jamaica, and beyond. Set Free dives into the art of storytelling, protecting cultural authenticity, and fostering meaningful collaborations with major brands like Pepsi and Nike. Hear about his creative collective, The Compound, and his role in shaping the AND1 Mixtape phenomenon. Plus, learn how Clarks has influenced artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Slick Rick, and Nas, and why this iconic brand remains a symbol of style and culture worldwide. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation, filled with exclusive insights and untold stories. Subscribe for more exclusive interviews and thought-provoking content from Sway’s Universe. Celebrate the fusion of culture, creativity, and legacy—watch now and stay connected! 🌍👟🎥 #SetFree #ClarksLegacy #AND1Mixtape #SwayInTheMorning #HipHopCulture #Storytelling #SwaysUniverse #documentary #sneakerreleases2025 #justforkicksdocumentary #documentaries #documentaryediting #clarkswallabee #clarksshoeshaul #clarkswallabeecup #clarkswallabeereview #clarksshoessale CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:23 - Protecting Culture with Big Brands 07:28 - Irony of Influencer Marketing 09:42 - Viewing the New Documentary 10:27 - Clark’s Originals Collaboration 13:03 - James from Brooklyn's Perspective 14:18 - Jermaine from Oakland's Insights 16:00 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up
View Video Transcript
0:00
yeah I'm this next segment is for all
0:02
the sneaker collectors shoe collectors
0:06
you know offici that was a a trailer for
0:10
a new documentary Somerset to the world
0:13
Clarks 200 when we talk about Clarks cuz
0:15
it's celebrating 200 years of Clark
0:18
original shoes Heather be when we
0:19
mention Clark's what are we talking
0:22
about shoes wab bees wab bees right and
0:26
my good friend who is a shoe offish a uh
0:29
one of the sought after not only
0:31
podcasters but creatives in the business
0:34
um he's the founder of the compound
0:36
which is a creative Collective and
0:37
gallery where art music fashion and
0:39
sports all intersect he was way ahead of
0:42
the curb when he came up with this idea
0:44
these Concepts I was there I used to go
0:46
to all the early places and hang out
0:48
with them the N1 mixtape was a cultural
0:50
ttin pole a phenomenon um that took
0:54
place in the uh the late 90s into the
0:56
early 2000s he's the creator of that um
0:59
he also produce and co-direct at ESPN's
1:01
30 for30 documentary The Great greatest
1:04
mixtape ever um that was incredible and
1:07
he's here to talk about this documentary
1:09
Nar narrated by yassim B AKA most death
1:12
for those who don't know it's premiered
1:14
in Paris for Fashion Week this past
1:16
January I want to welcome him back to
1:18
the show the legendary set free ladies
1:22
and
1:23
gentlemen set free is in the welcome
1:26
welcome set free what up my brother yo
1:29
that intro is legendary it doesn't even
1:31
do you justice it's you it's you bro we
1:35
were just talking how we met way back in
1:37
1996 wow he was working with Tommy Boy
1:40
Records right yeah I actually got a
1:42
chance to go on the wakeup show it was
1:44
um in California like before he was New
1:47
York's way you know but he that's 30
1:50
years
1:51
ago totally yeah and you were an
1:56
Innovative person back then I never saw
1:58
you in the boxes just the kind of work
2:01
he did you know and the work that you
2:03
introduced like you always thought
2:05
outside of the perimeters for example
2:07
the M1 mixtape yeah totally that had a
2:09
visual component to it right and no one
2:12
had really done anything like that and
2:14
that's when he crossed collateral Lies
2:16
music and basketball and some people
2:19
went off to be major stars were featured
2:21
on that that mixtape right you've always
2:24
thought ahead of the curb how do you
2:27
exercise that how do you discipline
2:29
yourself to to do that after so many
2:31
years um I think well God first always
2:34
you know for me and um with like the
2:36
name of the company is compound so it's
2:38
always about like put every everything
2:40
needs something you know man woman grits
2:42
eggs peanut butter jelly like so for me
2:45
it's like always what things are always
2:46
up under our nose that we don't really
2:49
put together like the music was always
2:51
there with in the basketball it was in
2:53
the Parks the radio was you know the car
2:56
was either the car was playing music
2:58
while they was playing ball or the radio
2:59
was there
3:00
but we just never put it on the object
3:02
so you know it's always like you know
3:05
it's some it's some girl out there right
3:07
now doing ballet to hip-hop music but
3:09
yeah we never seen it together it's
3:11
somebody Kanye yeah you know it's
3:13
something it's it's these relationships
3:15
is always there so I'm always like okay
3:17
what are the relationships that's there
3:19
and let me be the one to bring them
3:20
together to the to the masses I like to
3:23
Seth free is here you can also follow
3:25
him at I Amore setfree the way it sounds
3:28
is the way it's spelled
3:30
how do you would you mastered that and I
3:32
and there was another man by the name of
3:34
sincere Thompson you know sincere he be
3:36
early on you know sincere too right
3:38
early on he was able to transition from
3:42
just being in the in the Realms of music
3:45
and and the skills he learned by
3:46
marketing and pro promoting music he
3:48
applied to corporate Brands like Pepsi
3:50
and Nike and all of these different
3:52
things when that happens because you
3:54
have great brand
3:55
relationships how do you protect the
3:58
content how do you protect the story how
4:00
do you protect the culture because
4:02
brands have a way of coming in and want
4:05
and dilute what it is you're trying to
4:06
put off what would you suggest to people
4:08
who are starting to work with bigger
4:10
Brands uh um always stay true to
4:12
yourself my dad always told me make sure
4:15
you could fall asleep at night and be
4:17
proud of yourself and look yourself in
4:19
the mirror and I think you know when you
4:21
you working with these Brands first make
4:23
sure your integrity for yourself is
4:25
there but you know you you got people to
4:27
answer to you know hip hop we got a lot
4:28
of people to answer to to like with the
4:30
great that came before us so I mean I I
4:33
hold myself in that that esteem of like
4:36
making sure that I can look myself in
4:38
the mirror at no matter what the job I
4:40
do and then the people that come from
4:42
that Community you know and if that's
4:44
hip hop if that's basketball if that's
4:46
fashion whatever it is I want to make
4:48
sure like if it's fashion I want to make
4:51
sure the April Walkers or you know the
4:53
car canaz or the Maurice Malon is like
4:55
okay he's official freeze official if
4:57
that's basketball from the rash walles
5:00
to the Iman shumer the alen Ives all my
5:03
guys from all the way up into the jayen
5:05
Browns the Jason tatums or carelo anony
5:08
they like no Free's official so it's
5:10
it's a community of people that you want
5:12
to stand behind you in in the work you
5:14
do amen what about a lot of these Brands
5:17
early on in Hip Hop we didn't have great
5:19
relationships with Brands when Run DMC
5:22
made my Adidas yeah you know or Pastor
5:25
cavasier think Grand po by Tommy
5:27
Hilfiger owes him a check like he's the
5:30
reason why we started wearing the Tom
5:32
Hill figure ruges and it became
5:35
something in the hood like it was
5:37
because of his him so yeah the
5:40
relationships were not there were not
5:41
there but but I feel like Seth free has
5:45
put yourself in a position where you've
5:46
been able to kind of be a Lea on and
5:49
menend some of the relationships with
5:50
Brands and certain artists we're talking
5:53
about Clarks when you think of Clarks
5:55
the artists you think about that war
5:56
Clarks were who Dana D slick slick
6:00
krs1 um
6:03
Ray ghost ghost Nas right rayan M how
6:08
much mending of relationships between
6:11
the artists and the brands have you had
6:12
to do and then how did you go about
6:14
doing it I think what Happ because
6:16
artists feel like they were taken
6:18
advantage or weren't paid back for all
6:20
the promotions they done for these
6:21
Brands right y I think one of the things
6:24
I realized man I mean even with me with
6:25
an1 it's you know every brand the person
6:29
that built the house is pretty much no
6:31
longer there like during these years you
6:33
know Clark's a little different cuz they
6:34
have 200 years of The Branding as a
6:36
family but think about it you go buy a
6:39
new house and if you take the person
6:41
that lived in that house if Heather
6:43
lived in that house 50 years ago and
6:44
somebody living there you can't really
6:46
go to the new people in the house and be
6:47
like hea like this mother like it's not
6:49
even going to so it's about trying to at
6:51
least get both new parties to the table
6:54
because it's probably a new CMO there
6:56
and then it's a you know the artist did
6:58
something 15 years ago it's like okay
7:00
look that person that budget ain't there
7:02
no more but are you at least willing to
7:05
understand that these people did have a
7:07
a significant role in building a pillar
7:09
for this community we're not saying that
7:11
the africanamerican our culture did the
7:14
whole company because we didn't but we
7:15
did build a big pillar there and if your
7:18
budget can reflect whatever you can do
7:20
in your budget like let's let's start
7:22
from scratch with that budget and give
7:23
these people they just do and then that
7:25
that's kind of how I go about it Seth
7:27
free is here man free what's interesting
7:29
is now we have the arrival of the irony
7:32
of influencer marketing you know which
7:35
kind of flips it upside down where you
7:37
speak about the pillars of our culture
7:39
who didn't get the credits and the
7:42
dollars right um for putting these
7:45
brands on such major platforms and
7:47
introducing them to a wider reaching
7:49
audience and then you can have like a an
7:52
average girl from Middle America you
7:54
know what I mean who's getting a check
7:56
from whatever brand because she takes 30
7:58
seconds yep and the numbers can you
8:00
speak about how you feel about the
8:03
influencer economy now and its impact on
8:06
how we view capitalism and also
8:08
consumerism yeah uh for me it's you know
8:11
even me on social media I'm not my
8:12
numbers is not crazy like I'm at like
8:15
60,000 followers come on man you got
8:17
60,000 people on the planet that follow
8:19
you that's crazy that's not I I think I
8:22
think who told you that's not crazy them
8:24
Brands yeah totally exactly they have
8:27
but I think for like in the just a
8:30
position it's like The Art of
8:31
Storytelling is still there the art of
8:33
the the authenticity the organic like
8:36
like if the influencer is you know more
8:38
power to them they're they're killing it
8:40
how they're reaching all these numbers
8:41
and these kids and their growth but if
8:43
you still are creative and you really
8:46
study the brand and you want to tell the
8:47
story of the brand the right way and you
8:49
you do your research that brand will
8:51
listen to you you know listen and and
8:53
that's what's happening for me to be
8:55
able to still get these opportunities to
8:57
do documentaries for Brands um and being
9:00
able to to find the right people that
9:02
you know that connected the Clarks which
9:04
was the like the um Eric Hayes been
9:07
wearing it since he's designing for the
9:10
Beasty Boys like um Chris Robertson who
9:13
did the Apollo kids video did the he
9:15
built the uh WABE Factory in Queens and
9:18
like that's bigger than sometime the
9:20
influencer and that's bigger than the
9:22
numbers cuz a lot of people didn't they
9:24
don't understand like wow he really
9:26
built a WABE Factory yeah and queens for
9:29
a video shoot so I think the um if you
9:32
don't have those numbers like just
9:34
really do your research understand be
9:37
authentic and true storytelling is not
9:39
content and true storytelling is not
9:41
going nowhere we got set free here we're
9:43
talking about the new documentary
9:45
sumerset to the world Clark's 200 if
9:47
you're a sneaker head you're Sho lover
9:49
uh celebrating 200 years of Clark
9:51
original shoes Nar narrated by yasim Bay
9:54
how can people see this um film comes
9:57
out tomorrow it's going to be on on
9:59
Clark's YouTube channel okay um the
10:02
Instagram it's like a 20 minute doc um
10:05
it's narrated by Yasin Bay I'm super
10:08
excited stories about how Clark's
10:10
connected all over the world from
10:12
America to Jamaica we got big youth in
10:15
there um big youth yeah big you wow I
10:18
wanted
10:20
legendary my guy big youth look like
10:23
he's still a youth though man that dude
10:25
running around here like he 24 the right
10:27
name he looks great man
10:30
Ray um Chris Robertson you know we um
10:34
Liam Gallagher from Oasis is in itow um
10:37
so we got a chance to go to a bunch of
10:39
different countries and talk about how
10:41
like Clarks is connected to a lot of
10:43
different countries music the quality of
10:45
the shoe and um I'm just super excited
10:47
about it man I'm proud of you for this
10:49
give this man a round of applause I used
10:51
to have the most Clarks in New York
10:54
really is that who said that who said I
10:56
did man I used to get them from MTV all
10:58
them years I was on on TV I made them
11:00
get me Clarks so I kept getting all kind
11:03
of Clarks and then my ex threw them away
11:06
wow what did you do she just didn't like
11:09
them oh cuz once the souls get was your
11:12
souls redy well you know Clark you got
11:14
to keep
11:15
getting funny they like they like the
11:17
shoe like a Air Force One of shoes
11:20
because but I I bought you a special
11:22
pair I got a special pair you want to do
11:24
a a drum roll to move your your your
11:27
monitor down to he can't
11:30
death wow droll I can get the best shot
11:34
you get the special fabric on it too
11:35
like man give me drum
11:38
roll
11:42
you had hit you with a a different
11:45
fabric too oh wow oh wow you got the
11:50
pony got the pony and we gave him we
11:52
gave him the black soul yeah soul so
11:55
your soul is good soul is good it match
11:58
my hat yo free you hooked that man up
12:01
that's ni happy s day for real yeah man
12:04
thank you those are oh my God nice oh my
12:10
gosh and and I'm single now so nobody
12:12
going they not going to throw them away
12:15
so those are nice perfect really really
12:18
nice they match they match the Hat they
12:20
they they style those are per yeah no
12:23
notes no notes nice that's it yeah these
12:27
are dope yeah those are dope
12:29
thank you man I appr manat no ladies I
12:32
got to get y sizes we got to make sure
12:34
we send some up here thank you
12:36
definitely man those are those are
12:38
profession shut up SW I ain't going to
12:40
say nothing yeah you was about to mess
12:42
up okay I didn't I didn't hold on free
12:44
you got a call right now man thank you
12:46
he he was about to say it ain't they
12:49
day he was what I'm about to say what I
12:52
actually say a two different things you
12:54
didn't even have to say that what was
12:56
you about to say that's two different
12:57
things what was you about to say it Ain
13:00
day it ain't they dayree so beautiful
13:03
James and BK what you like to say man
13:05
James BK to the fullest you already know
13:08
good morning everybody good morning hope
13:09
everybody's well and
13:12
blessed I just wanted to call and say uh
13:14
free and I'm sure you know probably
13:16
doesn't remember me he's met a bunch of
13:17
people before but I have a black car
13:19
company here in the city and I drive
13:21
some of those people that he mentioned
13:22
so I've been to the compound before okay
13:25
I've brought uh Iman there I've brought
13:27
Melo there uh I brought Rashid and he
13:32
he's got a great spirit to where like
13:34
even to just he's cooled down the Earth
13:36
to where like he even came to me I'm
13:38
just telling in the car he's like yo
13:39
come inside so I actually got to visit
13:41
and see the compound before and it's a
13:44
very very very dope concept and I
13:46
appreciate you for showing me that
13:47
experience and just want to to say that
13:50
you're a dope dude and keep doing what
13:51
you're
13:53
doing I think in at Super Bowl in
13:56
Arizona it might have been at the
13:57
Fanatics I think so but yeah it was good
13:59
to see you and I you felt like you kind
14:01
of remembered me a bit and was just like
14:02
yo hey what's up gave you know gave the
14:04
hood head no like hey what's up my
14:05
brother it it was good to to see you man
14:08
thank you man thank you for the words
14:10
man definitely God bless you man and um
14:12
keep keep just striving to be who you
14:13
are man all right man hey James thank
14:15
you man you're super citizen brother hey
14:18
uh Jermaine from Oakland he been holding
14:19
on for a minute Jay what you want to say
14:21
man talk to us hey J what's going on uh
14:24
Sway in the Morning uh Heather be Tracy
14:27
um but this is really from my brother
14:30
um on behalf of myself and my twin
14:32
brother Tain out here in the Bay Area
14:33
bro we just wanted to say happy sway day
14:36
um from man bro from seeing you from um
14:40
Cel listen to your morning show the wake
14:43
up show wow going to MTV wow I'm talking
14:46
about bro interviewing from hip-hop
14:49
artist music artist to the the White
14:51
House bringing Fab and and 40 and and
14:54
short to the White House with you and
14:56
just seeing all of this bro and then you
14:58
know even the Callaway Family Man we've
15:01
had the opportunity to um um have
15:03
conversations with um T Callaway and
15:05
then even when you come home wow um you
15:08
know it it's just man it's just all love
15:10
so the twins out here in the bay as we
15:12
driving through this rain on 580 you
15:14
know how that is you know I already know
15:16
what that is man hey J Man bro but but
15:18
man just wanted to show you the love CU
15:20
you deserve it man the bar is proud of
15:22
you bro for all that you do you make it
15:24
where you're able to converse with
15:26
anybody on any level and um we just love
15:29
and respect that bro so much love proud
15:31
to be a citizen bro wow man Jermaine
15:34
that's awesome man give Jermaine inaine
15:37
the Wonder Twins out of Oakland yes sir
15:40
give them both a salute Jay I appreciate
15:42
you calling in for that and saying that
15:44
man and I'mma make sure T Callaway know
15:46
that you called in he probably tuned in
15:47
right now okay thank you for that love
15:50
Jermaine and man y'all both are citizens
15:53
a s in the morning baby yes sir yeah man
15:56
get yes take care y'all you too brother
15:58
get set fre Round of Applause y'all
16:01
thank you my brother hey man thank you
16:02
man make sure y'all check out this
16:04
documentary yep tomorrow it's going to
16:07
be on Clark's YouTube channel YouTube
16:09
channel and on Instagram and all the
16:11
links are kick back from compound
16:13
Instagram to Clark's Instagram and um a
16:16
YouTube channel there you go man
16:17
congratulations continue to good work
16:19
brother definitely shout out to my
16:21
compound team my brother Phil Cho helped
16:24
me make this documentary Clarks for the
16:25
opportunity and um shouts out to es B my
16:28
brother in the corner there you go man I
16:29
see you man build
16:33
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