J Balvin x Jordan 3 'Rio'
I had mixed feelings about this colorway when I initially saw the leaked photos, because it was really hard to make out the shoe. I will say in hand, the cw is a very deep black shade & is pretty hard to see in darker settings, but the gradient color fade gives it a nice, loud pop. I wouldn't have been able to grab this w/o @excusemejayburnz , so thank you for always looking out to help make these reviews possible 🫶.
Materials: the upper of this 3 is a premium black leather that feels really nice in hand & on foot. Like I said earlier, the shade of black is very dark, but plays into his Sunrise & Sunset narrative. On the toe cap & back heel, there's elephant print nubuck with an onyx gray base. Starting at the first divot b4 the air bubble is where his gradient fade begins. It fades from dark purple (night sky), to infrared, to a 🧈 yellow, then stops at the back heel and begins again. You will see more of that gradient fading on the back heel tab as well, but on the right shoe, there's NIKE AIR branding with his signature bolt as the I in AIR & on the right pair is his signature smiley face logo with ⚡⚡ eyes. The outsole is a bright, see-thru orange that's similar to the orange on the gradient. Lastly, branding... the tongue has a gold embroidered jumpman on top of a black leather tongue w/ infrared on the other side. The insoles have more of that fading effect, w/ the jumpman logo & NIKE A⚡R branding. Overall, he made a solid follow up from his white pair, but those still stay at the top for me.
Comfort/Sizing: The AJ3 is my favorite model in the JB line-up & is one of my go to pairs to wear. They have a somewhat firm feel on foot, but are more squishy than most models. This specific pair feels nice on foot bc of the premium leather on top & a thicker insole. For sizing, I got these in my tts (US 8) & would recommend going tts as well, even if you have a wide foot.
Overall Opinion: these are a pretty solid follow up & contrast well w/ his previous AJ3. Even though I prefer the 🤍 pair, the execution was still great with premium materials & a pretty unique 🌄 special 📦. But it's up to you 🫡