Sneaker Shopping with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence: Watch the Bad Boys Stars Spend Over $8,400!   

The dynamic duo are set to star in the upcoming action film Bad Boys for Life

Before Will Smith and Martin Lawrence hit the premiere of Bad Boys for Life on Jan. 17, the actors hit Stadium Goods in New York City for a new episode of Sneaker Shopping with Complex.

During the clip, Smith and Lawrence reminisce on some iconic hip hop trends and share behind-the-scenes secrets about their footwear in sitcoms like Fresh Prince of Bel Air and films like Do the Right Thing.

“Do you guys remember, from an early age, what good shoes can do to a kid’s confidence?,” Complex’s Joe La Puma asked the actors.

“Most definitely,” Lawrence, 54, said with a smile.

And reflecting on his early career as one half of the West Philadelphia-born hip hop duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Smith, 51, added that shoe style “was everything.”

“It was like a serious status symbol,” he told La Puma. “When me and Jeff [Townes] first started up, it was like what you had on on stage was everything. It was part of the performance.”

Complex/ Youtube

Smith also shared that, while filming Fresh Prince, he wanted his character to wear trendy sneakers before they were released to the public. The Oscar nominee gravitated towards colorful styles to reflect the goofy attitude of his character (and it was the 1980’s, after all!)

He then proved his sneaker-head status by giving a quick lesson in fashion history: “Run [DMC] started the fat laces, then people started doing all the designs and all that stuff, and then they switched to none.”

“So I started doing that on the show [Fresh Prince of Bel Air] — no shoe strings on the show — and it was really just ease,” he said. “It was the ease to just jump up and pop right in them.”

While Lawrence’s contribution to sneaker pop culture came during one of the most memorable scenes in Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do the Right Thing, when one character almost got in a physical altercation over a scuffed-up pair of Air Jordan IVs.

Complex/ Youtube

“It was just fun. And it was real!” he revealed of the clip. “If somebody steps on your shoes, it could start a fight — especially Jordans!”

As La Puma pointed out in the clip, both Bad Boys stars set sneaker trends that were validated years later — in 2019, Nike dedicated a pair of purple and black Lebron 16’s to Lawrence and a pair of white and purple Air Jordan Vs to Smith.

“That was big for me,” Lawrence said. While Smith added, “That was very special.”

Following their interview with La Puma, the co-stars embark on an epic shopping spree. Their combined total? A whopping $8,400.