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DJ AM Mixes and Matches

Meet DJ AM, aka Adam Goldstein. Here he is with Gene Simmons from KISS. Gene doesn’t look very impressed, probably because DJ AM is wearing a vintage Axl Rose t-shirt and not a Gene Simmons one. DJ AM was a member of the band Crazy Town best known for “Butterfly”; and in modern times is world renowned for his abilities on the ones and twos. His talents frequently land him gigs at private parties for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Leo DiCaprio and collaborations with artists like Madonna and Will Smith. He even guest starred on Entourage, yadda, yadda, yadda. The important part is he does all of these this wearing the rarest vintage tees on the plant. Coincidence? I think not.

You have over 600 pairs of shoes but how many vintage tees do you own? What’s the rarest one you own? You’ve paid $3000 for a pair of shoes, what’s the most you’ve paid for a shirt?

I honestly have no idea how many tees I own. It’s pretty scary though. I have hundreds. I am an addict, period. So when it comes to shirts, I indulge. I can never have too many t-shirts. I don’t know the rarest one I own but I’ve never seen another Eric B & Rakim – Paid in Full shirt. Nas saw me in it and seemed almost pissed like “how come that’s not mine?” I think my favorite though is my De La Soul – 3 feet high and rising promo tee. It glows in the dark and has the four questions from the game show skit on the album on the back. And wait, did I really pay $3000 for a pair of shoes?!

You’re vintage tee collection is overshadowed by your shoes. Are people too busy staring at your feet to notice the awesomeness on your torso?

I do a party in LA every Sunday night called Banana Split. A few friends there are fellow sneaker/vintage shirt addicts. We always try to outdo one another every week. If it’s a Newport cigs tee or a New Kids on the Block or a Rambo III crew shirt – we always try to get an “oh shit” from the other person. As for shoes, nothing will ever beat a clean pair of Jordan 1s in red/black/white. Those are the ones that started it all, and will always end it all for me.

I’m sure you have some rare Nike tees in your collection – which ones? Air Jordan? Pin Wheel? How come you didn’t wear one in the Nike commercial you were in?

I have an Air Jordan 1 tee. It’s not that rare, but I love it. In the Nike commercial, they wanted me to wear some new Nike stuff, so I did.

Do you ever mix and match shoe and shirt outfits? Say you’re wearing a RUN DMC shirt, would you wear shell toe Adidias?

Of course! Somewhere I have a folder of just shirts and the shoes that match. The Andre Agassi shirts had this color called infrared and that’s the same color on the Nike Air Max 90. There are certain colors on sneakers you can never find on clothes. Like the Nike Tiffany dunks blue, happens to perfectly match my Melrose Place tee with this weird turquoise color. I wouldn’t want to be that obvious though to wear a DMC shirt and shell toes. That’s a lil’ overkill – matches, not over matches – is when it’s cool.

Aside from Defunkd (forced plug) do you have any other sources for vintage tees? Is there one t-shirt out they you have been hunting for forever and can’t seem to get on your torso?

I have a few re-sellers I get shirts from and a few friends who promo me stuff. Kirk from 4All2Envy, Corey Shapiro (below, right) from Old Gold Eyewear in Montreal, and I’m forgetting a few others, oops. I want that vintage Black Flag t-shirt Nervous Breakdown (I love that song) featured on this blog. And I want a Daft Punk – Homework (first album) shirt.

Do you remember certain situations by what shirt & shoes you have on?

Yes, I always remember what shirt or shoes I wore to special events. When I hosted the red carpet for the Grammys I thought “ok, this is time I wear this deadstock pair of Jordan 1s” I’m a sicko huh?

Visit our gallery of DJ AM‘s vintage tees or check out our last interview with costume designer Susan Matheson who supplied the vintage converse t-shirt for Step Brothers.