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Angolan and Manchester-residing singer, songwriter, and rapper, IAMDDB — born Diana Adelaid Rocha De Brito — is best known for her ability to switch pockets and genres more naturally than other artists.The 26-year-old first emerged onto the scene with her debut 2016-released single “Leaned Out,” before going on to capture the masses with one of her biggest singles to date in “Shade” a year later. Since then, IAMDDB has continued to deliver a flurry of lo-fi R&B, rap, and trap jams such as “Give Me Something,” “Urban Jazz,” and her latest, rowdy record, “F****d Uppp.”Fans have caught a buzz off a bunch of well-received projects, that still, to this day, hold stellar replay value – tune into Swervvvv.5, Flightmode Vol. 4 and Hoodrich Vol. 3 for proof of that. But recently, the Angolan artist has taken some time away from the limelight to realign with herself, her feelings and her goals. As a person with such an infectiously positive personality as hers, it’s refreshing to see that even the life of the party needs time to recharge.It’s safe to say life is good for IAMDDB these days – but sold-out shows and country-hopping won’t change who she is. ‘D’ represents a different side to Manchester and her Angolan roots and stands up for all those who want to achieve greatness as females – especially in such a male-saturated music industry. But aside from just music, IAMDDB is intent on being unapologetically herself, and continue carving out an untouchable legacy in the process.Joining Hypebeast backstage for a Manchester-based eBay performance for this issue of Sole Mates, Hypebeast speaks with IAMDDB about her life as a Mancunian-Angolan while learning more about how the codes of her style – ranging from the influence of her parents, emotions, and the YEEZY FOAM RNNR – give her the unparalleled aura and artistry she has today.Hypebeast: How are you doing, are you excited to get on stage? IAMDDB: I’m good, it’s been a minute since I’ve been back home. It’s great to reconnect with great musicians and a lovely crowd that wants to be here. And it’s great that we can now talk about fly shit – because we’re fly.Who and what was your first major fashion inspiration? My first inspiration was my parents. My daddy was always a fly guy and when he was touring the world, he cared about his presentation, his shoes – his shoes, he loved Texas boots. He loves the buckle on the back. [screams] My daddy was sassy!And my mum, she was very classy and loved her bracelets, her hair… she would experiment with different styles and she loved the eyeliner – that’s where I get it from. So, I feel like they were my first inspirations and they taught me that you can express yourself through how you dress.Also, my first two friends, Jennifer and Jasmine Mcking, taught me how to appreciate the importance of being able to put things together. I’ve come to realize that you can be fly, but if you don’t know to construct an outfit, it can look messy.”These industries want to seem like they are individual, but you can’t have a great fashion show without great music.”Would you say your mood influences your day-to-day style?It completely influences it. If I’m not feeling sexy, I won’t put on a slinky dress with heels. Sometimes if I’m feeling like a tomboy and I want to be in baggy clothes and be comfortable, we can do that.But really, it’s just about expressing the different sides of myself. There are so many different sides and versions of myself, the only ways I can really express all of them is through the way that I dress and through the music I make, and the instruments I choose. My mood is a reflection of my emotions and the things I’m currently going through and the things I have overcome. It all blends into one.How much do you believe that fashion and music intertwine?I feel like they are one. These industries want to seem like they are individual, but you can’t have a great fashion show without great music. You can’t have a great music video without great clothes. People like Busta Rhymes, Little Kim, Tupac, Missy Elliot – there are so many icons. And why do we love them? Because their artistry was A1, the sound was A1, and the fashion was always giving. All of these elements help to build the bigger picture and the bigger picture is what the consumers invest in.If you feel like you can be an artist and not care about your presentation, you’re bugging. It’s important to care, I’m not saying be shallow, but this is how people will react to you as a person and as a brand when they first look at you.”Fashion influence comes from all over Africa, but Congolese and Angolan people especially… we’re extra.”For your issue of Sole Mates, you’ve decided to spotlight the YEEZY FOAM RNNR. Why do you like this pair?I was a late bloomer to the whole YEEZY flex, but when I started tapping in, I was like, oh okay! When I first put them on – I got it. It was the whole comfort level and just feeling like I was floating. When I wear YEEZY’s I feel like I’m floating on the ground.But I just love how weird and comfortable the shoe is and how not everyone can pull it off. I don’t want to wear a shoe that everyone can wear. I want to wear something that only a certain kind of person can wear. To me, the shoe reflects me as an artist – I’m not for everyone, and that’s okay, but the people that f*ck with me, they’re going to f*ck with me for life. That’s what I think Yeezy is like as a brand, if you get it, you get it. I love authentic vibes and that shoe is authentic – nothing is like it.How has your style evolved over the years?I think it has grown with me. At first, I didn’t care about it too much, I wasn’t pulling up to a show to look good, I was pulling up to make sure my vocals are on point and I sound good. I’ve always known how to put an outfit together but I never knew the importance of it until I met the Mckings. When I met them, I realized how much fun you can have with your style and how many different versions of yourself you can create. We speak the same language in a spiritual, emotional, and mental form, it’s so beautiful that you can experience that through fashion. Jess GovindenHave your Angolan roots influenced your fashion taste?I feel like my roots influence my fashion for sure. Fashion influence comes from all over Africa, but Congolese and Angolan people especially… we’re extra. When we say we’re pulling up, we’re pulling up the best dressed and you’re going to want to be like us because best believe we are fly!But in the same breath, there’s still so much I need to experiment with from my heritage for what I wear. I want to explore the things that my ancestors were wearing; the patterns, fabrics, the materials they were creating themselves. So yeah, it has influenced me – but there’s so much more I want to discover and indulge in.What’s next for IAMDDB?New music! I had to take a break from it for a while – I took two years off and I told myself that as a human, I needed to get straight and when you’re straight as a person, your music naturally elevates. So, I took some time off, and now that I’m back, it’s headshots for the rest of 2022 and until the day I die.

2022 marks the 20th anniversary of HUF, and in the two decades since Keith Hufnagel founded the brand it’s grown from a small shop on Sutter Street in San Fransisco’s Tenderloin district to a storied skateboarding syndicate that’s known and respected the world over. Besides clever graphic designs (it’s hard to overstate the impact of HUF’s infamous “Plantlife” print or their “FUCK IT” branding) and boundary-pushing team riders (RIP Dylan Rieder), a key piece of HUF’s growth has been its collaborations with Nike — specifically the Swoosh’s Nike SB division, which, like HUF, was officially formed in 2002. HUF was one of Nike SB’s earliest collaborative partners alongside Supreme and Futura, starting with a now-iconic tie-dye SB Dunk High in 2004 and then returning with an Air Trainer 1 SB in 2005. The two then took a four-year break during the late aughts before reuniting for a duo of minimal canvas SB Blazer Mids. During the same time frame, HUF was cooking up classics with Nike Sportswear, including 2004’s Air Max 1 and its ultra-limited friends-and-family counterpart, 2006’s Air Max 90 that was part of the “Clerks Pack,” plus the legendary Air Max 1, Air Force 1 and Air Max 90 “Hufquake” and 2009’s Air Max 90 Current “Hufquake.” When HUF began producing its own in-line footwear in 2010, the brand’s collaborative relationship with Nike was put on hold, but never went “away” in full. Now, the duo is back together to celebrate two decades of history with a special collection of SB Dunk Lows. A lot’s changed for both parties since 2002, but what’s undeniably the same for HUF and Nike SB is a shared love of skateboarding culture, a deep respect for history (plus excitement for the future) and a keen eye for detail. That keen eye for detail is on full display across the SB Dunk Lows, which are essentially a storybook of HUF history in sneaker form as well as a loving tribute to the late Keith Hufnagel himself, who passed away in 2020. Hypebeast spoke with HUF’s chief creative officer Hanni El Khatib and creative director Romeo Tanghal to get a first-person account of the tales and inspirations behind each piece of the shoe, from the “grab bag” style packaging to the heel details and the insole’s special print. PackagingAny compelling sneaker collaboration has to have equally interesting packaging. To set their SB Dunk Low apart from the competition from the moment the box is first opened, El Khatib and Tanghal opted to put it in a mysterious “grab bag” inspired by both the classic “mystery box” of decks that many skate shops offer and “blind box” toys like Medicom’s long-running BE@RBRICK series. Tanghal, who came up with the concept also notes that the bag is a way for HUF to “f*ck with resellers,” as you don’t know what shoe you’re getting until your bag is torn open. “We made sure the bag was tamper-proof so it actually has to be ripped open” noted El Khatib. “You can’t just open the bag, see what you got and reseal it.” As indicated on the packaging, buyers of the shoes may receive one of three colorways — “New York,” “San Fransisco” or “F&F” — each with an increasing degree of rareness. The most rare pair, not pictured here, is a green-and-gray colorway that draws from 2004’s HUF x Nike Air Max 1, the brand’s first Nike Sportswear collab.”Wait…What?!,” a marketing tagline for the collaboration that’s also featured on the bag is a callout to one of Keith Hufnagel’s signature catchphrases. “Keith would always say Wait … what?!,” chuckles Tanghal. “No matter if you were telling him something or showing him a meme, that was the first reaction you’d usually get.”ColorwaysThe HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low collection’s two primary colorways (not counting the F&F pair) are inspired by the two cities that shaped Keith Hufnagel as a man, a skater and a business owner: New York City and San Fransisco. Hufnagel was born and raised in NYC and learned how to skate in the city’s streets — but then moved to San Fransisco to attend college at SF State. He dropped out after a semester to turn pro, quickly became known for his exploits bombing the city’s hills, shredding at Embarcadero Plaza and eventually opening the first HUF store. Both pairs are inspired by their respective city’s baseball teams, with the New York City pair drawing its elegant mix of navy and white from the New York Yankees and the San Fransisco pair offering a mixture of white, black and grey plus a dash of orange to nod to the San Fransisco Giants. Both feature raw edges on their overlays for a nod to the HUF x Nike SB Dunk High as well. Of extra-special note is that each pair was built on an original SB Dunk Low last, providing an OG-style look and shape that predates the changes made in SB’s “Blue Box” era and onwards. “The reason we were able to get that OG shape is because we have a long history with Nike,” El Khatib said. “They don’t offer that to brands that didn’t collaborate with them in the early years of SB.” The last pair to feature that original construction? 2021’s Supreme x Nike SB Dunk Low.HeelsThe heesl of the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low are its most detailed — and most meaningful — area. Each shoe’s heel tabs read “Keith Forever,” embroidered in either a Yankees or a Giants-inspired font. This a flip on the brand’s “HUF Forever” tagline, and, more importantly, the shoe’s most direct nod to the late Keith Hufnagel. “We started actually working on the shoe after Keith passed, but the conversations about collaborating with Nike again began when he was still with us,” says El Khatib. “[The process] was pretty heavy, as you can probably imagine,” adds Tanghal. Directly below the “Keith Forever” hits sit a custom cityscape graphic. This is a modern-day reinterpretation of the skyline seen on the heels of the friends-and-family only hyperstrike version of 2004’s HUF x Nike Air Max 1. Continuing the collection’s tradition of paying homage to New York City and San Fransisco, the NYC pair features landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers (a truly memorable nod to Hufnagel’s upbringing in ’70s and ’80s NYC) and the Empire State Building, while the SF pair offers a nod to the Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid. Both cityscapes are done up in a special reflective material from Nike dubbed “HF Weld,” which is typically used industrially with PVC and polyurethane. “We tried to embroider the graphic at first, just like the [hyperstrike] Air Max 1, and then we tried standard reflective print, but those weren’t coming back the way we wanted,” said Tanghal. “When Nike offered up this material, it was perfect.”Toeboxes and TonguesApart from the above-mentioned heel graphics, the detail that initially caught the eye of many SB savants on the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low was the co-branded toebox hit. According to El Khatib, it was made as another bi-costal tribute. The HUF logo was the same one that was used at the first HUF store in San Fransisco, while the jewel Swoosh is meant to represent New York City as it’s a detail that’s usually seen on the Air Force 1 — a true-blue NYC staple. “Jewel Swooshes are usually made from a jelly material but we were able to do them in chrome instead,” he said. If you look closely, you’ll even notice that the pattern of the perforations on the toe box had to be changed to accommodate the special detail. The SB Dunk Low’s original fat tongue is nowhere to be seen, as it’s been replaced by a thin nylon Air Jordan 1 tongue. So far, this swap has been a point of contention for SB heads: some appreciate the nod while others pine for the fat tongue. Per the HUF crew, though, the swap was a nod to the original “sought-after” skate shoe, as the Air Jordan 1’s flat bottom, durable leather and (at least in the latter half of the ’80s) accessability made it a favored silhouette of skaters, a position it still holds today. Finishing touches are supplied by custom Nike SB tongue tags that either read “New York City” or “San Fransisco,” while if you flip the tongue over and apply a little pressure to the internal midfoot straps you’ll see green “20 Years of HUF!” and “20 Years of Nike SB!” tags on the left and right tongues’ inner halves.Insoles”It’s what’s on the inside that counts” isn’t just an adage that applies to human beings — it applies to sneakers as well. Therefore, the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low’s insoles are just as tricked out as its outer half is. From heel to toe, the insoles are dressed in HUF’s signature bright green shade and feature co-branded detailing towards the rear, directly above the Zoom Air unit that’s always embedded under the heel. If you pull the insole out of the shoe, you’ll also notice a special graphic on the front. It’s a silhouette of a Chihuahua, but it’s not just any Chihuauhua. It’s Bones, Keith Hufnagel’s beloved dog and and the unofficial mascot of HUF’s first store. OG HUF fans might also recognize Bones from a famous photo of Hufnagel and Lance Mountain in front of the original HUF store.”Keith never put Bones on a leash,” said El Khatib, who created the insole illustration. “He’d always be running around the shop having a blast and making friends.”Hidden Detail?Top to bottom, outside to inside, the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low is absolutely packed with details, a storybook in footwear form. However, there just might be a bonus “chapter” hidden under the quarter panels. Take a knife or razor blade to it and see for yourself.A raffle for the HUF x Nike SB Dunk Low collection went live on Copdate earlier this week, and the shoes will drop on the HUF webstore today, October 22. A global release at skateshops and on Nike SNKRS will follow in November. The MSRP for each pair is set at $130.