Hip Hop News

Jaysse Lopez is a pioneer of the sneaker space. For those who may not know, Lopez is the creator of Urban Necessities. UN is a store located in Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and it is one of the most impressive retail spaces you will ever see. Upon walking through the doors, you are immediately overwhelmed with rows upon rows of sneakers in every color. Leather, suede, and nubuck overpower your senses in an alluring way that will you have browsing each row for hours.

Appropriately, Lopez describes himself as Willy Wonka and his store is like the Chocolate Factory. If you can name the shoe and the colorway, chances are, Lopez probably has it somewhere in stock. Over 10 years, Lopez has been working with consigners and building trust. This trust has allowed him to become a one-stop shop for any person’s sneaker needs. Additionally, numerous athletes and celebrities have come to him to sell their collections. Simply put, he has touched shoes that you probably didn’t even know existed.

Much of Lopez’s success can be attributed to his YouTube channel, TwoJsKicks. Lopez started the channel as a way to advertise and bring attention to his brand. Eventually, the YouTube channel took off, and it quickly grew Urban Necessities into the empire it is today. Now, Urban Necessities is seeing upwards of 7000-8000 guests per day, all while boasting one of the most diverse selections of shoes in the world. 

Just like any great success story, there were some massive hardships along the way. Before opening Urban Necessities in 2014, Lopez experienced a bout of homelessness. Thanks to some hustling and just a bit of luck, he was able to overcome adversity and build what he has today. Luckily, we were able to speak to Jaysse for the latest episode of HotNewHipHop’s “12 Days Of Christmas” series.

During the interview, Lopez spoke to us about his come-up, his philosophy when it comes to retail, and he even gave us the rundown on some of his favorite shoes of the year. This is an interview you won’t want to miss.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

HNHH: for those who might be reading this and don’t know you or hearing about you for the first time, maybe just explain your background and how you came up in the sneaker game.

JL: So my name is Jaysee Lopez. A lot of people know me by twojskicks on Instagram. A couple of years ago, forever ago, I migrated from Jersey out west and made it to Vegas. In my first couple of months, I was homeless and used to panhandle on the strip and went from like panhandling and selling bottles of water to standing in line for shoes for people. Got myself in a Weekly’s job hopped a little bit, met a girl, lost a job, turned into sneakers, figured I’d buy some time till I found another job, I never found another job, right? And then, about eight and a half years ago, we opened Urban Necessities.

I joke now about the hood mall. And then we went from the hood mall to the good mall to the great mall. And this eight-and-a-half-year journey got us back to Caesar’s Palace, which is when I was homeless, I used to shower in the fountains in front of the place. So it’s kind of surreal, you know, the whole journey has been pretty wild man. And it’s a consignment shop. And what we focus on is getting people the items that they want in a safe and efficient manner. We’re getting our consigners paid, without having to go through the hardships of what is retail. Right? And, it’s been a lot of fun kind of growing this brand.

I was reading just about the growth of Urban Necessities really out of the gate. You were saying that you had sold $1 million worth of shoes in just the first three and a half months of the brand. Did that go above and beyond your expectations or did you know you would sell that much?

You know, it feels like I get asked that question a lot more now, right? Because the lights are a little different. But, you know, when I started looking at the business side of sneakers, and really trying to build something that I thought was, I could get to this, I always felt like what we were about to embark on from the very beginning was being approached so differently than everybody else. It was like, Hey, I’m opening a sneaker store. Like I didn’t want to just sell sneakers, I wanted to really get in the trenches of the culture and figure out what the best business practices are and figure out how to scale it. I’ve been in retail for so long.

And I’ve worked for some really big companies over the years with logistics and I just as I was unearthing and learning about sneakers, I just saw the flaws right like so many people that got into sneakers, like myself, it’s a passion it’s something that you like gravitate to because you’re like you know it helps you get away from whatever those deeper issues or whatever and that we all have right like to be a hoarder.

There’s got to be something wrong with you for you to just invest so much time. From day one, the first video I even put out that’s still on YouTube, where I was talking about some of my hardships in the community, I really felt like we were going to open and build something that was different. I’m thankful that as this passion project, stumbled on becoming a business, and went from small business and everybody looks at it as this big business that I’ve been able to put enough lipstick on my pig, to get people attached to what I’m doing to now turn it into a real business.

And it’s tough because the stuff that I used to love doing at the beginning, that was like, ‘oh, we could do this.’ I could just pivot and go in any direction. And so many of the ideas were so different at the beginning that they were really received well, and I’ve been so transparent with the growth and the lumps and like the hardships and the wins, and like the lessons that I think that we’ve been a really good ambassador for sneakers and the business side of sneakers for so many. I’m just really thankful for all of it. 

When I first started getting into sneakers, you were one of the first YouTubers that I was really watching. What made you specifically want to get into the YouTube game?

At the time, it was free marketing, which was more than 15 seconds on the platforms that existed. Especially at the beginning, I was so foot in mouth and didn’t understand like, this is forever, this is representing you forever. I just focused on that one moment. And I don’t have regrets about the content. But I just wish I would have had, I mean, can’t change anything. I’m not upset with the way anything played out. But I just wish I would have had a little bit more business acumen with it. And I know that I’m removing the emotion from it. And it’s not that I don’t care in that sense, because I really do. But like, if I even now I struggle with the consistency on it. Because I’m still running a business.

The guys and girls that are jumping into this, this is their passion project, right? It’s like, how do they get in this space, and they’re representing this culture. And we’re trying to be a voice for others. We’ve had some really cool videos and some monumental moments. We’ve had some ‘I wish I could have done that a little bit different’ moments with how I went with some of the business sides of it. But Instagram and YouTube and Twitter, like they all changed the dynamic of a brand. And like I feel like I’m putting out better content now. It’s just not as much, right? And yeah, man, the YouTube was extremely important and vital to my brand.

I’m sure you must get a lot of people who will just come into the store and who probably heard of Urban Necessities just through the YouTube channel, or just, you know, the YouTube algorithm pushing your videos because a certain release was happening. Speak on how those videos really helped with foot traffic.

Oh, yeah, I mean, there are so many videos. To this day, this one video, gets talked about, it’s almost nine years old, right? Like, my most viewed video is a sneaker collection I pulled from Mayor, right? It’s got three million views almost on it, right? And there are people still commenting, I’m still reading the comments. Like I get the email notifications. The shit mattered so much. And like it every single day. There’s somebody that it’s new to, right, and that’s why I haven’t deleted any of those ‘foot in mouth’ videos.

And you were mentioning how you moved into Caesar’s Palace and you’ve got the biggest space you’ve ever had 18,000 square feet. How has it been trying to manage a store that big for the first time?

Oh my Gosh, just the most overwhelming project. It almost took me out physically. When we went in we loaded up on staff way more than I think any resellers that are not corporate have. I think we had like 50 or 60 staff members and they were dropping like flies at the beginning. And it’s not that we were asking people to do traumatizing or overwhelming work. It was just that it was all hands on deck and it was coming at us from every different direction and like a slow day was 2000 guests and busy days were like 7000-8000 guests. It’s a lot of different emotions with a lot of different people. Imagine being stressed out and a moment being bigger than you and then like, what your reaction is to that moment.

Also, it’s retail…you’re lucky to get six months out of people, no matter what you tell them what you give them or how much you give that raise. There have been all these bottlenecks that you don’t necessarily foresee. There’s no manual that says, ‘Oh, hey, you sign up for an 18,000 Square Foot space.’ And because he did this, there’s like no algorithm that you can build to yank analytics at the beginning to say, ‘Okay, well, this is how you’re going to need to play. Here’s your playbook A to Z there.’ We’re still writing it. We’re now going on year two. I’m at peace with the data that we’ve pulled, I’m at peace with the processes that we’ve built between me and my new partners. And I trust my leadership, now more than ever, so like, ‘Hey, you got enough data and information to run this correctly?

Is it gonna run 1,000,000% efficiently and smooth, and it’s like, the best well-oiled machine in the history of sneakers?’ No. But I feel confident enough that I don’t have to micromanage it anymore. And so that’s allowing me to work on bigger projects, that when we first started selling sneakers we never even anticipated.

You see, we’re opening a store in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. If you would have told me that, you know, day one, that I would have a store in Saudi, I wouldn’t necessarily think that that would be the second, like, try at something outside for me outside of Vegas. But I felt like I’ve always wanted something in the Middle East, I just felt like it was important to have something there. And I think we’re going to be doing a lot of cool stuff going forward that just people didn’t see. And it’s because of eight and a half years of lumps.

Now, understanding and having the business acumen to know, ‘okay, well, this is what I think I’m worth and this is what I struggle,’ and then finding the right people that can articulate and delegate and create and scale with the profits that you need to be able to keep adding layer after layer after layer. It is the American dream. So yeah, man, you can see why all the grey hairs are here.

You were saying that you’re sort of expanding into the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, stuff like that. Just off-rip, what have you sort of noticed in terms of the difference between the sneaker culture maybe here in North America and then in Saudi Arabia?

They’re pretty hip and most of the consumers that are asking or buying or hoarding products in those regions have the ability to travel. They’re on the internet way more than we are I mean, they’re, I don’t want to say they’re in the middle of nowhere, but it takes them a little bit longer to get to the product right? Because of the logistical issues for some of these brands, and then the taxes and duties, it’s just that like, it doesn’t really move the needle for them to feed them 100,000 of whatever, so they might get 1000 of something. So it’s the same, it’s the same diet, it’s the same appetite for what we’re selling.

You know, you see all the weird stuff that’s going on with certain individuals that are really tied to sneakers. And you’re like, ‘Hey, man is like, is there still an appetite for this product from this person?’ And the answer is yes. The tougher part, and setting up over there is finding partners that could represent your brand, in the same way, and intentions that you have to stick to your core values. And then how do you get the product over there? Those were the two bigger issues, but once we found our workarounds, we felt really confident about not only signing up to do this first store but multiple stores over the next couple of years. 

With the stores you have built in Vegas and now overseas…What is your philosophy when it comes to retail? Because you have so many shoes and streetwear pieces that it feels like you put a lot of stock into enhancing the in-store experience.

Retail, for it to work, and this, in my side of it, it has to be an experience that you’re there for greater than north of 30 minutes. And it’s not about necessarily getting you to buy something on the first row, but it’s more about planting the seed that says I gotta keep an eye on this on this spot. So the sneaker wall, that’s, you know, 15 rows, 156 feet, almost half a mile long, when you piece it all together. At its peak, it had over 5000 different pairs of sneakers. As we’ve gotten on, some of those one-offs that were on the wall have sold, and it’s not as many, and I’m sure my staff is thankful that it’s not over 5000 pairs anymore.

But you know, at any given moment, we have 50 to 60,000 pairs ready to sell thanks to the amazing network that we’ve built. And we do a little bit of clothing, which is Urban Necessities stuff. There are some brands that we’re going to start carrying in the store that I think are up-and-coming brands that are relevant, that are going to stay in the light for a little bit that I’m excited about carrying and that offer better margins for me to be able to keep the lights on. There’s an ice cream shop that we named after one of my Frenchies that we named BilliUN Flavors. It kind of got away from me a little bit, but we now have the time, energy, and effort to run it correctly. Imagine being able to buy candy, sneakers, and milkshakes, and win sneakers from buying candy and milkshakes.

Upstairs, I have a handful of master barbers. I have a handful of award-winning tattoo artists. And even that’s getting revamped. We’re probably going to be adding a bar up there for you know, private events and stuff. Harder-to-find stuff is going to be showcased a little bit differently. So think like the aquarium that I have. But there’s another aquarium with even crazier stuff upstairs. So it’s definitely a unique environment. I’m not playing music that you hear at H&M. It’s all rap but it’s all stuff that dates from the early 90s all the way to right now. And it’s like every direction. It’s equal east, west, north, and south. You know, I got a playlist that’s like over 6000 songs. And every Friday I’m adding new music to it.

You were noting how you have over 5,000 shoes in the store at times. This means multiple colorways of the same silhouette. Multiple sizes. How do you manage to bring in staff that can handle the legit-checking process? Fakes have gotten so good these days so how do you make sure everything that comes through the store is real?

That’s such a great question. Right? The reality of it is is no matter how well-versed someone is they don’t know everything, right? So you know, when I’m in the store, I definitely try to verse myself on stuff that’s coming in. I have a group of individuals that have been around me for a really long time. I’ve kind of shared some of my best business practices and what I’m looking for. The reality of it is if it’s something that pops up that we’ve never seen, or we’re unsure of the first thing we’re doing is run into the internet.

The second thing we’re doing is reaching out to the community, whether that’s another shop or resources that we’ve built over the years through the community. You know, truth be told, if we get one wrong, and we find out that we got it wrong, we’re doing everything, not only to make it right. We hold the moment. I’ve had a few scrapes. For the number of shoes that I’ve touched, I could count the [fakes] on one hand so to speak hand. The community’s done a great job of letting us know, ‘hey, this one wasn’t right.’ Or we caught it. It’s not like 1000s, but we’re catching probably 10 to 15 fakes a week. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that with sneakers becoming harder to cop, many are normalizing fakes. People will wear them with no shame like they might have done in the past. What are your thoughts on fakes and this current trend in the industry?

Well, I’ll say this, if you focus your energy on one thing, you’re going to find that or you’re going to notice that more than the other. I hope this doesn’t get taken out of context when I say it, but this is a part of the business that has to happen for the brands to understand where their flaws are. We have to do better educating the consumer where they know what these look like, what they feel like. Then the brands need to figure out a better way to create you know, CODs or the certificate of authenticity for these items. Whether that’s an NFT or RFIA, that’s where all of this is going.

I used to get really bothered by the fact that people would justify the expense or go out of their way. But I am also judging it with what I have in my pocket, judging it, assuming that everybody acts, thinks, and feels like I do. And that’s not necessarily the case. Right? So it needs to be an education. There are parts of the world where fakes is all they know. I’ve been to China for trade shows. There are facilities that the Nike and Adidas of the world were using them to create their work. But then these warehouses are left with all this machinery and employees, and they got to do something. I understand the positives and the negatives of it.

I really try to look at stuff without emotion. I’m not a fan of it personally, but it’s here and you can’t really ignore it. I just really feel that there’s a lot of people that are making these purchases without a full real understanding of why it’s wrong. But then I also understand that there are people that want to fit in so bad and need the attention because there are deeper issues there that they’re not comfortable talking about that gives them joy. It gives them a sense of belonging, and you can’t ignore or ridicule that either. Now more than ever, we have to be mindful of each other’s emotions. And I think now more than ever, we’re in a position where we can articulate it, and not feel bad about, ‘hey, this is why I’m doing stuff.’

Shifting into sneakers from 2022 to now. Maybe just tell me what were some of your favorite sneakers from the past year so far.

Almost everything New Balance 2002. As I get older, those are easier on my feet. I was such a fan. I’m such a fan of that silhouette that Shoe Surgeon and I, our anniversary shoe for the store we themed it after 2002. Tom Sachs, I like that bigger sole. The colors were easy. I’m a big sucker for earth tones. The AMM [A Ma Maniere] Air Jordan 4s were a great shoe. The Crocs that Salehe [Bembury] did…If you look this year at sneakers then look back 5, 10, 20 years, some of the things that happened would have been considered blasphemy.

Using certain colors, using certain patterns, neck faces, and patches all over a shoe. That wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago.  Some of the imagery used, we would have been like, ‘Nah, man, we’re not using that.’ I think now more than ever, we’re at a point not just with sneakers, but just consumerism, where, like, if you can imagine it, it can be created. Right? I think it’s great. Now more than ever, you got people that don’t look the part they want to be the part and they’re more consumed with learning more so than the guy that looks the part. 

Just in terms of brands, which one do you think is the best in the game right now when it comes collabs, new silhouettes, and just pure execution?

Well, that’s sort of subjective right? I really like New Balance. I think they’ve found their seats, but I think they found a format that they could run for a little bit. But consumers get tired and everything man so you know what I mean? For a while there, Adidas was everything, and now, Adidas can’t get one out of the infield. So I’m curious to see where fashion is taken and where marketing takes some of this stuff and I can’t wait to learn and adapt and shift in whatever direction we need to continue providing the products in a safe and efficient manner for our guests.

You just mentioned Adidas and I wanted to touch on that for a moment. With Adidas dropping Kanye, how do you think that affects the brand, moving forward?

Oh, man, what, uh, what a touchy, crappy, weird, frustrating conversation that you wish you didn’t even have to acknowledge the elephant in the room. No matter what you do, you have to acknowledge it. So I’m frustrated that one of our heroes, one of our good guys is turning into the bad guy, right? But you do something long enough, sooner or later, you’re going to be the villain. So he’s the bad guy right now. It’s very frustrating to see him be so inconsiderate of so many emotions, with the type of people he’s talking about. You know, the religions and all that other shit.

Adidas doesn’t really have much of a choice. When you’re a brand that big, you have to scale so far in advance. Right from the second somebody says something from the second every department that’s attached to the green lighting of a project or an item. It’s like at least six months of production because it’s not being just fed into your town, it’s being fed to the entire world, which is, you know, billions of people. And in some cases, some of the silhouettes are in the millions, right? So how many items were already made before this ‘foot in mouth’ moment? It’s billions of dollars. I mean, how much of a percentage of the business was Yeezy?

No matter how you splice this they’re losing, but they also own the silhouette. And from a business, the show must go on? Are there gonna be the sneaker purists that are like, ‘oh, man, I can’t wear that no more. It doesn’t even have his name.’ Yeah, sure there’s gonna be a lot of those. Those are the tryhards that are going to talk about I can’t wear this anymore. Their affiliation is with Kanye, not Adidas, which is cool, fine, and respectable.

But there are also a gazillion people in the world that have absolutely no clue about anything Kanye is saying. And they’re in a region doing their own world, where they’re not paying attention to anything. They’re still going to be able to move those units like before. He revolutionized the group of individuals that were attached to that sneakers. They essentially created the new Jordan 1, the new Jordan 3. They’re here to stay those silhouettes.

Throughout the year, you’ve had so many people come through the store, whether it be consigners or buyers. What seems to be the shoe that you keep seeing over and over again?

Everybody’s favorite is the black-white tongue. Black-White Dunks have been selling wild man. We’re not tired and I don’t think we’ll ever be. We’re not tired of that silhouette and we’re not tired of that color pattern. Air Force One white on whites. I’m selling more Air Force One white on whites, there are times when we have we don’t have sizes, guests are asking us for sizes, and we’re walking right over to Nike and buying it for them. Tons of New Balances, though. Remember, Vegas is a hub and we’re seeing 2000 guests on a slow day. So let’s sat at least 14,000 people a week. The National conversion rate is like 7 percent, we’re a little bit higher than that conversion rate. So we’re selling a couple of hundred shoes a day. People from all over the world. It’s like, no, two people do sneakers the same.

At this point in your career, you have seen so many sneakers come through your door. Your collection has also grown quite a bit. It’s probably hard to be surprised or shocked anymore, but what is the one shoe that you saw that really blew your mind when it ended up in the store?

I’m Willy Wonka in the candy store, in the Chocolate Factory. I try my best. I love what I do. And I love the world that I’ve been able to create for myself. I was always into learning. History was my favorite class in school. Sneakers… it’s so new. It’s like a history class. And every single day, I’m seeing something that I forgot about, or never thought would come in. Forget the dollar amount, you know, but just the rarity of stuff. I’ve slowly become the guy that when you want to shed, you call me.

Those conversations always wind up being with people that have been pillars in their industries. A lot of rappers, a lot of athletes, and they’re seeded stuff you didn’t even know existed. So I geek out. Mike Bibby, Marshawn Lynch, some of these guys that I’ve worked with on pulling their collections. Guys that I’m about to work with.

The part that geeks me out the most when I’m talking sneakers with them is seeing which ones they nerd out on, or get those goosebumps or the hair standing up and then putting that shoe in their hand and then watching that reaction or emotion. There was a lot of them with Mayor, there was a lot of them with Joe. Like, for me, Paris Dunks… when I first started selling shoes, I never thought that I could even afford and they were only like 1000 bucks when I started selling now they’re like six figures, right?

So to have that shoe, see ‘em a few times knowing the sacrifices I had to make to buy a pair and I didn’t pay $1,000 for my pair, I paid way more. I could have bought a car. A nice car. That store has shoes from 100 bucks all the way to $300,000. And all of them are going to make you say, ‘Wow,’ in some shape, form, or fashion.

This goes into my last question which is, as someone who can pretty much get any shoe they want…

You know, believe it or not, I really still don’t feel that way. Like no matter how hard I try, there is still stuff I can’t get…

So would you say that there is still a grail out there that you want to get or do you have a grail that you finally got your hands on recently? 

When I opened my business, I wrote down five things I wanted in five years, and a couple of those were shoes I was able to touch. But like most people, there were still moments throughout my career, with my business where I was living outside my means. And sometimes you gotta let them go. Right? So Kanye Air Max 1, which I know he’s been very ‘foot in mouth’ but that was such a crazy shoe. At that point in my business, I had a partner and my wife and we tell each other, ‘alright, this is our Grail list. So no matter what we’re doing, we’re all chipping in and getting each other’s Grails kind of thing. I spent money we didn’t have for mine. Then there was a big moment in the business and you just got to let them go.

I’ve had two pairs of Wu-Tang dunks. I wish I could get that one again. I pray that I no longer have to make the sacrifices that make you cry kind of thing. But I sell shit man. So I’m really learning how to remove the emotion from it. When we moved to Caesars, you know, I was partnered with a really big brand. One of the conversations was about opening a store in Caesars and the dream was too big at the time. That dream required me to sell like 1400 of my personal pairs and timepieces and this and that and it really sucked to let them go. But I get to look at probably one of the coolest stores on the planet. And one of the most monumental parts of a mall that’s like iconic you know, like it’s a fair trade-off.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s a really sort of poignant way to end. I just wanted to thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate you and what you’ve done for sneaker culture.

Thank you. I’m excited, you know. I think we’ve had enough practice over the last eight and a half years and I think the people that have been watching us up into this moment are really going to be proud and happy about the next couple of layers that are next. All of its getting more efficient, and I can’t wait to share it with the world, man. So I appreciate the platform and the opportunity tonight.