Tyler, the Creator has had his work cut out the past few months, releasing his latest album, Call Me If You Get Lost, and self-directing the visuals to go with it. Nevertheless, he’s also found time to write and direct a new video for Converse, celebrating the classic Converse Chuck 70.
The visual revolves around a meeting of the ‘Really Cool Converse Club’ in a community recreation centre. “The name was not planned out,” Tyler tells Dazed. “We couldn’t come up with a name, so we decided to come up with the cheapest name, and it was funny as hell, so it worked out.” The club itself isn’t messing around though, and is seen putting a “delinquent” member on trial.
“I have no choice but to revoke your membership to the Really Cool Converse Club,” says comedian Josh Johnson, before doling out the punishment. The offending member – a greaser played by actor and SNL veteran Tim Meadows – has broken one of the club’s three cardinal rules: “Rule number one: never wear another shoe. Rule number two: if you must wear another shoe, don’t. Rule number three: no denim hats.”
The Really Cool Converse Club is just part of Tyler’s ongoing collaboration with Converse. Since 2017, he’s shared his own interpretations of the brand’s iconic shoes, as well as designing a unique silhouette, the Converse Gianno, that dropped in 2019. This time around, the focus is on the versatility of Chuck 70s, bringing together a diverse cast of the shoe’s biggest fans.
When Converse called for the new campaign, the musician says, he instantly thought of the “many different pockets of people that wear Chucks, from skateboarders, to soccer moms, from the kids down the street, to older people, to some of the guys in the neighbourhood that I grew up with”.
“There’s so many different types of people that wear this shoe and I just wanted to put them all in one place. Regardless of whether it makes sense or not, just seeing them all under the one roof was important.”
The cast list – AKA the members of the Really Cool Converse Club – is also a testament to the broad church of Chuck 70 fans. Tyler taps friends and fellow creatives including Vince Staples, Odd Future’s Davon “Jasper” Wilson, Black Flag’s Henry Rollins, and more, to portray the motley crew of punks, artsy kids, OGs, and even pirates. Did pirates wear Chucks? “A few of them did,” he says. “A few of them was really into Chucks.”