Which is louder and more powerful? The individual that screams look at me!!! Or the individual who makes you notice through action? One would argue they both would be heard but I would ask, which one will you listen to again? When 29 year old West Philadelphia native Anthony Gilbert writes, people not only read but what he hopes people his age and younger will do is apply it to there lives. A.G. and sneakers have been together for a long time but like many other kids who had a parent whom did not see the value in spending $100 dollars on a pair of sneakers (unless they helped you get a degree) was not spending their hard earned money on kicks which sole purpose was to stop your actual feet from touching the pavement. So like myself and many other sneaker addicts, Anthony Gilbert had to wait until he had saved enough money to buy his own sneakers. His first pair of Jordan’s the 4’s he would not purchase until he entered college.

Patience has paid off and Anthony Gilbert has written for Sole Collector, been a featured TV personality on ESPN’s In the Shoes hosted by the legendary Bobbito Garcia and was recently featured in Nike’s 25th Air Force One (AF1)Anniversary film ‘1 Love’, which is dedicated to the phenomenon and culture that is the AF1.

A.G. is growing into a household name and with his principles, love for sneakers and the history of where this all started, the notoriety that has already begun and that will continue to grow will not increase the size of his head at any point and the best is yet to come. If you don’t get enough out of this interview help yourself to order the 6-page spread he has in SneakerFreaker Magazine, but read this first.

Scheme: What have you been up to since we spoke in the summer of 06?

Anthony Gilbert: Last we spoke I was just finishing up the film 1 Love, the Nike 25th AF1 Anniversary. That was televised on MTV in addition to going to DVD, so that helped the Anthony Gilbert stock a little bit. I also began working in November on a Nike project called Onethology which is a website with every AF1 made from 1982 to the present. I wrote little bites on every shoe with interesting facts and I did that from November to January. In between I continued on my regular pace of writing. Currently I’ve slowed down a little bit getting back into my consulting with Wieden and Kennedy Nike’s advertising firm. I just finished an exclusive one on one interview with LeBron James which I didn’t realize until after the interview that it was exclusive because he doesn’t do one on one interviews. I also just did a one on one with Kobe Bryant as well so I’m going after the big fish trying to get the other story.

Scheme: What would you say is the story you always hear and maybe a little but tired of hearing?

Anthony Gilbert: Mostly it’s about X’s & O’s on the court and the fringe story you may hear about a charity, or their going to be on the cover of some video game, its reciprocal and you hear it all the times just at different times of the year. So what I go after are things about who they really are that a lot of people just don’t know. When I show them I know that, then they open up. So you go from the caned phrases and one word answers to some real dialogue and that’s what I always go after.

Scheme: Not to divulge into those two individuals respectively what is one thing that you learned about the both or one of them?

Anthony Gilbert: As far as Kobe Bryant, the more I talk and interact with him he just thinks differently. People look at him as far as his talent and love him or hate him, he’s one of the best players in the league but his mind, he’s on a different level and even though he didn’t go to college but as they say it isn’t for everybody. As far as LeBron, he has some mystery to him. What I learned was that he plays and shoots with his right hand but he does more natural things like eating and writing with is left hand. So there is a lot to say about someone who is at the top of their game and is versatile with both hands. Its little things here and there that open up my stories that lead to other questions.

Scheme: What’s it like because as you said we don’t look up to these players like the young kids do now but there still has to be an awe factor and how to you balance that?

Anthony Gilbert: I’ve been trying to get an exclusive with Lebron since he was in high school. So you’re looking at four years in the making and it was weird to realize I was in there. I was in the Cavs locker room and I was talking to his business partner and then I feel this presence that takes over the room and I turn around and it’s LeBron. That gave me a feeling that this was a much bigger story than I thought it was. A lot of times what gets me when I interview these men, women athletes and celebrities is when they call. I’m headed to South Carolina a couple of weeks ago and I had a missed call and I check it and the message says, “Hey Anthony its Allan Houston just wanted to give you a call.” I’m like what?! So when they call you just look at your phone and your like word? When you ask the right questions you feel like you know them and they open up to you.

“…have folks that follow trends and I don’t knock them but the bible even says, “Study to show thyself approve.” If you don’t know yourself than I can’t help you-I would say if you’re just getting into or are trying to get into it this culture or figure out what your part is in this whole thing is just stay pure to who you are.”

Scheme: Who in general would you love to interview and what angle would you go at that individual?

Anthony Gilbert: It’s no secret that I’m not done with Kobe Bryant (laughs). The angle I want to cover is how Kobe became Kobe Bryant. I feel he became Kobe Bryant by being overseas, watching his dad play, wanting to play basketball and coming to Philly every summer and getting waxed on the court. Going back to Italy for the school year and trying again. So all that trial and error really made Kobe determined and made him a great player. His Philadelphia story is crazy but you look at all the other Philadelphians from Wilt Chamberlain, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and Patti LaBelle.

Scheme: Who is and what made to this point Anthony Gilbert?

Anthony Gilbert: (Deep breath) Who made Anthony Gilbert, not to be sarcastic but much respect to my mother Mona Lisa Gilbert with all the love, reprimands and discipline and the genuine desire to raise a young man. My life experiences, living in Philly, New York and spending my summers in Prince Georges County (Maryland) with my uncle. Those three areas are rather interesting but they help make me who I am, they help me in my job everyday, I know my way from point a, b and c. Its really good experiences that make me a well rounded individual and the last point is just sports. Sports has led me to a passion for sneakers and the various games I attend and write about and all of that has culminated in me making a living and on some days it’s a lot more descent than others (laughs).

Scheme: That’s interesting because I read in an article that you were holding a job where you came to a crossroads. How did you keep moving forward to develop AXG and not fall into the category of here is another Black man who lost it at work and is complaining about the “Man” keeping him down.

Anthony Gilbert: How I began writing was out of a necessity. I got laid off at my job from the NBA headquarters in New York City. Came back to Philly and wrote my first story with SLAM Magazine on Maurice Rice who is currently playing for George Washington. From writing in magazines and going to the store and picking it up and seeing my name that was a great feeling. So I began to writing for SOLE Collector Magazine writing about sneakers, the industry and the culture and I kind of came to a crossroads with them because with a lot of things you run into you have these things called creative differences. As an African-American male, I feel in journalism, I have a certain voice I have to carry, portray and I have a certain image that I want to uphold of positivity and self respect and I felt challenged in one particular issue and at this moment it’s a non-factor but I will say last summer it was a test of what I believe in and who I am. I decided that I wasn’t going to totally buck this system I’m going to stand true to what I believe in but that showed me that I needed to start my own thing. At the time I came up with anthonygilbert.com but then I googled it and it belong to somebody (laughs). A lot of people think my initials start with an X but that’s not my middle name. The X in the sneaker community stands for collaboration and it’s more like the multiplication symbol. I kind of did the X between Anthony Gilbert to let people know that Anthony Gilbert is working with himself now, which equals AnthonyXGilbert. I also like X because I’ve always looked up to Malcolm X so it has that double meaning. I called up a friend of mine who did the logo and he we are writing from that stage and doing consulting work.

Scheme: What is your current view on the accessibility of sneakers in general and has technology and the internet and the fact that a person can Google a sneaker and find it-do you feel that, that has taken away from the art of having that fresh kick because you know there is that person who had to go to Hoboken, NJ to get that sneaker and you run into that person and your like, “Yo, where did you get yours from?!”, and your like, “I went to such in such in torrential down pour, where did you get your’s?”, and he/she says, “Online.”

Anthony Gilbert: The way I see the world today is the internet, cell phones and 900 channels on DIRECTV has really brought the world together and made certain communities a lot smaller and in this case the sneaker community. What it has enabled for most people that when a sneaker comes out in Asia only or in the United Kingdom only you can barter and trade and get those shoes which is the really good thing. The part about the technology even in the warehouses I’m not a fan of fake products. People are out here selling fake products and that hurts because I’ve always enjoyed people like Michael Jordan, Dr. J. and Charles Barkley and I’ve enjoyed and appreciated their apparel and their shoes and for somebody to be on Minnesota Ave. (SE Washington, DC) across the street from the Downtown Locker Room selling fake products for the same price it’s disheartening. Or back in Philly on Germantown Ave. or you go to the barbershop and someone walks in and says I have those AF1’s and I’m like, “No thanks.” What I always like to tell people is there are no rules in this game, whether you wear it or put it in a shrine, do what you like. I went to go buy some Jordan’s last week and I wore some rather interesting shoes and people were like, “When did those come out?” I was like, “Three years ago.” That was amazing to me because if you’re in line for shoes and you’ve been waiting for a couple of hours I would think you would know what is going on. You have folks that follow trends and I don’t knock them but the bible even says, “Study to show thyself approve.” If you don’t know yourself than I can’t help you-I would say if you’re just getting into or trying to get into it this culture or figure out what your part is in this whole thing is just stay pure to who you are. Don’t buy something because you think you can sell it on eBay unless that’s what you want to do. Bobbito (Garcia) just sent me some kicks to the house Friday and I wore them Saturday (laughs) why, because they don’t come out for another month and some people are like I can’t wear them because they are to nice.

Scheme: How do you feel about that because I feel like sneakers are made to be worn?

Anthony Gilbert: Yup, that’s what I hear (laughs).

“I always look at it as what’s really going on because we all know that perception is reality and at the time I’m thinking to myself, I took Greyhound from Philly to New York and paid $13 dollars one way and I was just at my moms house.”

Scheme: So what is your opinion on icing?

Anthony Gilbert: Well I like to ice shoes, when I know that I have something special and I’ll pull them out even after the retro comes out. So the original comes out and I get a pair. A couple of years later the retro comes out and I still haven’t worn them (originals) and then I bring them out. What I do a lot of times now is wear Nike basketball shoes from 1998-2002 because a lot of them have yet to be retro’d and I wear those and people are like, “Yo!!!” I will put on the record I like to show off my kicks and that’s one of the reasons why I wear the ones that I do and I actually get a toothbrush and clean my kicks too.

Scheme: As far as getting your name out their and raising your stock, you were featured in SneakerFreaker Magazine. What is it like to be inching very closely to that point when people discuss sneakers from 2007 moving forward Anthony Gilbert’s opinion or voice is the one that is drafted? Before and still you have legends like Scoop Jackson and Bobbito Garcia so what does it feel like to be nearing that plateau?

Anthony Gilbert: It’s a real honor because I did my internship with the New York Knicks and we were at Temple (University) and Scoop Jackson was the editor-in-chief at XXL and he was editor-at-large at SLAM and I really looked up to this dude. I always looked at him and Bobbito because Bobbito always did Nike commercials. So I looked up to those guys, I wanted to be on the top of my game in writing and media like these dudes. Not so much like an anchor with a shirt and tie and two pounds of make-up on. I wanted to do it my way and still be fly and cool and relevant to my age group. I looked at them like here they are late 30’s early 40’s and they’re here identifying with college kids. So while writing and not knowing it, I was getting on the same platform as them. It didn’t hit me until the AF1 film 1 Love because the director Thibaut Delongville told me I was the star of the film and I’m like, “What!?” Then we go to the AF1 One Night Only Party and the guy from SneakerFreaker comes up to me and he was like, “We’re doing a special AF1 Edition and we really respect your basketball knowledge and sneaker intellect and it wouldn’t be an issue without you.” Right after that a lady comes up to me and says I’m with MTV United Kingdom and we’d love to interview you and we saw you in the film and you’re great.” I always look at it as what’s really going on because we all know that perception is reality and at the time I’m thinking to myself, I took Greyhound from Philly to New York and paid $13 dollars one way and I was just at my moms house. I’m not the dude you think I am but in essence I am but it’s really based on what I know and I don’t see myself as some billionaire but because of who I am and where I came from it enables me to take it in stride. Then in January MTV airs part of the film!

Scheme: What’s it like feeling and seeing yourself grow into that, especially for the people coming up after you and are thinking they want to find their lane like you found yours?

Anthony Gilbert: Well I always carry a black marker and a silver marker because I never know when I’m going to be asked for an autograph and that’s cool and I have it signature down now so I’m ready. What it feels like going through it, is it’s just like any other day and going through it I didn’t realize that I was in it. It took the international stage to come calling and for people in other countries to understand who I am, read what I write, appreciate it and recognize me as an authority is like okay, now I got it. Even though I’m going through it, in my eyes you never really make it, you get to these moments and your life and their great peaks but you have your valleys too. A lot of times when you lose you have to learn how to win going through it. My advice to the immediate generation under me is to just be yourself. I always talk about keeping integrity, especially in writing and it should come from the heart.

Scheme: Do you ever feel like an added pressure being an African-American male writing and you leave a window for the critics to speak that its that much more pressure when you write to keep it that much tighter because of the race factor?

Anthony Gilbert: I never write with that kind of pressure but what I do keep in mind is my integrity and my responsibility because I have people of all ages looking up to me, reading my work, watching me on television and that’s my responsibility to keep it pure for them. As far as being an African-American the responsibility is times two. I feel like there is always a solution and we concentrate and focus on what we don’t like and who we don’t like I’m not trying to perpetuate stereotypes for that matter.

“Sneakers help you remember a certain place and time in your life where you remember down to the socks everything you did in those shoes.”

Scheme: I saw the new issue of Sole Collector which dedicated the whole mag to Jordan’s. Your top three J’s and why?

Anthony Gilbert: (laughs) We’re going to start in 1989 the Jordan (4) black, red and that shoe was in Do the Right Thing and MJ did some pretty amazing things throughout his career but in 1989 I remember him hitting the shot over Craig Ehlo and I wasn’t really a Bulls fan but when his shoe came out my mother didn’t even think about buying them. My next pair would have to 1996 Jordan (11). There was just something about that shoe with the patent leather, and then you had the all Black with the red Jumpman and the red bottom. I had my first dunk in Santa Monica on the court right next to Muscle Beach in a pair of Black/Red Jordan 11’s. I’ve cleaned that shoe at least 200 times. The sweet 16’s and a lot of the Jordan’s they always go back to the commercial. It had Eddie Jones, Derek Jeter, Michael Finley and that commercial was crazy.

Scheme: I went home after I bought them, played the Umi Says track…and just looked at them.

Anthony Gilbert: (laughs) I can dig it. I was living in New York City and I was working full-time at the NBA Headquarters, it was right after September 11th and I lived in Brooklyn and I’m headed to Queens to get a haircut. I’m walking through downtown Brooklyn through the A-Train and I look through the window and this dude has all these Jordans in here I was wondering what sneaker store was this. So I walk in there and walk in the back and there are the sweet 16’s. We all know the Jordan rule is if you don’t get them when they come out, you’re not getting them. So I see them and they were $225 dollars. I made a deal with the guy and I was like look I work in pro-basketball and I was like you need and autograph I got you, do you have layaway? I was like here is 20 dollars and I’ll be back next week to pay it in full. He was like nah I can’t so I pull out the business card and he says the Jerry West Logo and his eyes light so he agreed to hold them. I gave him the money didn’t get a haircut and went back home. Next week I came back and got them. I didn’t just wear them to the gym but I balled in those for a company league I was in and times were heard with the economy and the state of the nation and I needed to feel good again and those 16’s did it for me. Sneakers help you remember a certain place and time in your life where you remember down to the socks everything you did in those shoes.

Scheme: Some people don’t understand what it’s like to smell a new sneaker, what does that do to your senses when you smell a fresh pair of kicks?

Anthony Gilbert: (laughs) I think it’s kind of like that new car smell and it just gives you a euphoric feeling and gives you something that you really prize and its in your possession at the same time. I don’t necessarily do the sneaker smell but my older brother growing up, he used to knock on the sole so that’s what I do and I don’t know why.

Scheme: Where do you see yourself this time next year because clearly you have a plan?

Anthony Gilbert: Daryl Goins (Photographer) and I want to continue to work together through editorial and photo-journalism but instead of working and submitting our art and our craft to a magazine or television or other media outlets we want to do the work, bring it in house and bring it directly to the masses. So I want to continue to work in that same capacity but I want to earn a different paycheck and something a lot more direct to us and then we can disseminate funds where need be.

Scheme: Regarding sneakers, is it ever enough for example I feel like the culture is backwards and their priorities are off. I feel like people have to look fresh first before they do what they need to do and I was wondering what your opinion is on that?

Anthony Gilbert: Here’s my take and I can only speak for me but what I’ve learned is if you’re not totally happy with who you are than you may seek happiness in other things. Whether it’s gold, cars or sneakers that’s where things get distorted because you’re putting your happiness in things that can’t make you happy. Hopefully people will read this and it will make folks think. I’m not trying to be pampas I’m just trying to show people how I think and that may help someone with how they think and in journalism that’s all you can wish for.