Jordans Daily History Lesson: Air Jordan IV White Cement

The Air Jordan IV ‘White Cement’ will reissue this Saturday, February 18th, for the third time in the history of the signature line. The anticipation is well deserved for the 2012 retro of this original colorway as it last retroed thirteen years ago in 1999, and along with the ‘Fire Red’, ‘Black Cement’ and ‘Military’, the ‘White Cement’ IV was among the four original editions of the AJ IV that released during the 1988-89 NBA season, but has undoubtedly been the scarcest of that group. Michael Jordan didn’t wear the particular colorway of the Air Jordan IV until after All-Star Game, with its first appearance being against the Atlanta Hawks on February 14th, 1989; the Bulls would go on to lose that game, but Michael quickly made up for that loss by scoring 50 points against the division rival Milwaukee in their next game. The ‘White Cement’ IV would serve as Michael’s go to shoe during the Chicago Bulls’ run to the NBA Playoffs, finishing 21-14 in the process and earning the sixth overall seed in the East.

Not only would the Air Jordan IV ‘White Cement’ gain notoriety on court, it would go on to become well known off the court and cement itself in pop culture history; in addition to being the shoe worn by MJ in a number of advertisements, friend and director Spike Lee centered a scene around the shoe in his 1989 film Do The Right Thing.