King of kicks, ambassador of arts, and curator for creative culture—from collecting toys and sneakers as a young boy, DJ Bigboy Cheng has become arguably the Philippines’ most well-known sneakerhead in the world
This is an excerpt from MEGA Man’s December 2022 – January 2023 cover story.
No one can talk about DJ Bigboy Cheng without mentioning his sneaker collection. To paraphrase something that Trinidadian-American rapper (and co-host on Full Size Run, sneaker show on Shoe Collector) Trinidad James said about DJ Bigboy Cheng: Some people have shoes. Bigboy has shoe shoes.
To illustrate: most sneaker enthusiasts might cop the more ubiquitous but beloved and instantly recognizable pairs like Nike “Panda” Dunks or Adidas Yeezy 350 V2s. Some will invest a little more money and effort to chase after the rarer models—the Nike Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1s in Mocha, the Nike Dunks Low in either the Supreme collaboration or the Ben & Jerry’s one, maybe even the Yeezy Boost 700 Wave Runners.
Bigboy’s collection dwarfs them. Not only does he have an entire vault (a vault!) of sneakers, his collection has the “grails” (models that are incredibly difficult to get, yet still most wanted and sought-after that they’re practically Holy Grails) that most people can’t even afford to dream of: the Dior x Nike Air Jordan 1s, which he reportedly paid P850,000 for and flew one of his buddies (with a bodyguard) to Los Angeles just to get it. The Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 by Virgil Abloh, one of the last collaborations of the Off-White designer and were auctioned off by Sotheby’s. The Eminem x Nike Air Max 90, a simple yet swaggy black pair with subtle silver accents of Eminem’s backward E logo. The very, very, very green Air Jordan 4 Wahlburgers (there are only 46 pairs in the world, and 23 belong to Michael Jordan). And even though everyone mentions it, it’s worth mentioning every time: the Nike Mag Back to the Future self-lacing shoes, Marty McFly’s shoes in the Back to the Future II that Nike and the Michael J. Fox Foundation brought to life. Copping a single one of these is already hard enough, but he has both versions—the 2011 and the 2016.
He recalls posting about his sneaker vault on social media, and waking up the next day to find it all over the Internet. He shakes his head in disbelief, but also amusement and joy to find so many people reveling in awe with the dream closet—sorry, vault. He love these interactions with fellow sneaker fans. From sneaker groups to international media outlets to Sneaker Con (“they gave me a warm welcome,” he recalls fondly and gratefully), people from all over the world have gotten in touch with him to collaborate, and sometimes, just to appreciate that love for sneakers.
Read more about Bigboy Cheng’s renaissance from fan boy to tastemaker, and what drives him to continue to share his passions in MEGA Man’s December 2022 – January 2023 issue, now available on Readly, Magzter, and Press Reader.
Photography KIERAN PUNAY of KLIQ INC.
Creative Direction NICOLE ALMERO
Art Direction MARC YELLOW and ANDREW ENCAPAS
Styling RYUJI SHIOMITSU, assisted by BEA GUERRERO and JOAQUIN RODRIGO of NEW COLLECTIVE STYLE
Grooming ARJAY ZURITA
Producer REGINA ACERON
Sittings Editor DONG RONQUILLO
Shoot Coordination KZ FRANCISCO and MJ ALMERO