Roger Steffens
Roger Steffens might be the most interesting man in the world . He played football for Vince Lombardi , lived on Bob Marley ’ s tour bus , appeared in close to a dozen movies , and his list of houseguests include Keith Richards , Leonardo DiCaprio , and Peter Tosh . He ’ s a DJ , photographer , actor , producer , author , lecturer , and the world ’ s foremost reggae historian . Roger has devoted over forty years building his “ Reggae Archives ,” just outside of Los Angeles , that fills seven rooms from floor to ceiling . His passion and dedication to Jamaican music and culture has been instrumental in spreading it across the world .
Within these cherished archives are over 30,000 reggae photos , 10,000 records and CDs , 14,000 hours of cassettes , 2,000 hours of video , 1,500 t-shirts , 3,000 buttons , 2,000 posters , 30,000 flyers , 2,000 hours of Reggae Sunsplash concert master tapes , and 130 cubic feet of magazine clippings . There ’ s even a pair of custommade “ Rasta Man ” Nike running sneakers that were given to him in 1983 . Roger has turned down untold sums of money for bits and pieces of the collection , because his only demand is that it all remains in-tact . His hope is to see it live together in a museum in Jamaica one day .
Roger became interested in reggae music when he read a review of Bob Marley ’ s 1973 debut album , Catch A Fire . The author testified , “ Reggae music crawls into your bloodstream like some vampire amoeba from the psychic rapids of Upper Niger consciousness ,” which inspired him to run out and buy a used copy . The next day he watched The Harder They Come and he was hooked . In 1976 he traveled to Jamaica and in 1979 , he and his pal Hank Holmes created the Reggae
Beat radio show on southern California ’ s local NPR affiliate . Over the next ten years , the program was syndicated to over 130 stations worldwide . From there , Roger created L . A .
Reggae television show that aired for 23 years and published The Beat magazine for 27 years .
Being the most recognized reggae DJ in America had many perks . Aside from the abundance of ganja , there was his connection to the artists . Whenever they came to town to perform , they would drop by the studio to talk and promote their new album . Roger also became the house MC at many of these live concerts . This exposure was recognized by a friend who worked in Nike ’ s public relations department . She asked if he ’ d consider wearing a pair of custom sneakers on stage and he graciously obliged . A few months later , Roger was given a pair of Nike Yankee running sneakers adorned in red , gold , and green suede and nylon , with the words “ Rasta Man ” emblazoned on the heels .
In my twenty years of sneaker research , I ’ ve only seen one small group of low-resolution images of these sneakers online and ( falsely ) rumored to be owned by Bob Marley . I didn ’ t even know Roger had these in his possession . I reached out to ask about a Burning Spear photo he shot . That led to an invitation to visit the archives and , as casually mentioned in a comment by his daughter , Kate , “ a pair of Nike sneakers that you might be interested in .”
Upon my further inspection , I was able to decode the mystery of these extremely rare “ Rasta Man ” Nikes . The model is the Yankee , and the sneakers were given to him in 1983 . It ’ s possible that two or three pairs of this SMU existed back then , but I think it ’ s safe to assume with 99.9 % certainty that Roger has the one and only pair on Earth . This is also a great example of early “ niche influencer marketing ” on the part of Nike .
118 | Classic Kicks | classickicks . com | Volume 1