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Stephon Marbury's new Starbury shoes light up and flash in time to music

dan devine
Senior NBA writer
Stephon Marbury wants us to know that it's lit. (Bruce Yeung/NBAE/Getty Images)
Stephon Marbury wants us to know that it’s lit. (Bruce Yeung/NBAE/Getty Images)

The holidays are coming, y’all, and finding just the right presents for your family and friends can be tough. If you’re looking for a Candlenights gift for the basketball, music, light and technology-loving special someone in your life, I’ve got good news for you. Your man Stephon Marbury has you covered.

(NOTE: The videos below include rap songs with some NSFW lyrics. Viewer/listener discretion is advised.)

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With technology delays happen but when it happens you'll know the difference between us and them soon enough. Sorry for the wait but we coming! #starbury

A video posted by Stephon X. Marbury (@starburymarbury) on Oct 21, 2016 at 5:32pm PDT

Corner the market with clarity! #starburybumpboxx #starburyelite we coming!

A video posted by Stephon X. Marbury (@starburymarbury) on Oct 22, 2016 at 8:05am PDT

That’s right: not only is the former NBA All-Star-turned-Chinese Basketball Association champion — who has become something of a folk hero in China over the last six years, even earning permanent resident status — relaunching his Starbury brand of affordable sneakers, but he’s doing so with a line of kicks that light up and flash in time to music, all with the help of an iPhone app.

Nearly a year after announcing his plans to re-enter the shoe game, and more than seven months after first sharing the designs via social media, Marbury introduced his new Starbury Elites in a promotional video released last week:

“Well, the shoe is done. It’s complete,” Marbury said. “Seven months. Seven days is completion. You will now be able to go and buy your light-up Starbury Elites from starbury.com.

“It took me a lot of time and a lot of work. We put the work in. We did everything that we needed to do for the technology before we brought it to America, so that everyone would be able to use their phone to control the lights and play music. We truly appreciate your patience. Love is love. Peace.”

And if you’re wondering how exactly the technology behind the soles lighting up and recognizing the beats of the music you’re playing works, well, Steph will happily walk you through all that:

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The Marbury Elites sell for $49.98 — a higher price point than the $15 that the first batch of Starbury sneakers ran, and that this edition’s Highstepper and Streetbeat models run, but still significantly lower than the retail marks for many other basketball and streetwear shoes, which remains a major focus of the former Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics guard:

Marbury has long criticized Nike, and Hall of Famer/Jordan Brand kingpin Michael Jordan in particular, for “robbing the hood” with the high prices of their sneakers, suggesting that lower prices would help reduce instances of violence associated with the releases and re-releases of rare, sought-after and valuable shoes. From an interview earlier this month with NPR’s “Only a Game”:

“They’re selling a false reality in the game of basketball, if you think that you’re going to take flight like Jordan,” Marbury says. “It’s an illusion.”

Marbury was also aware of the illusion that went beyond basketball. He began publicly challenging the man he felt was responsible.

“Jordan, those $200 sneakers you’re selling? Kill it, man. Stop poisoning the hood, man. It’s time for change, man. Let it go, man,” Marbury said in a recent video. […]

Starburys haven’t got [Nike co-founder] Phil [Knight] or Michael shaking in their Air Jordans. But the relaunch has given youngsters and their parents an alternative. This time around, Stephon Marbury hopes it will be an alternative that will last.

“This is something that’s needed, because I was one of those kids,” he says. “It’s not to go against Jordan or to go against Nike. It’s to actually set an example for them. This is forever.”

“Forever” is an awfully lofty goal; it very much remains to be seen whether Marbury’s rebooted and revamped kicks can stand the test of time. Whatever the future holds, the present, at least, looks bright … and, with the right app, pretty colorful, too.

Hat-tip to Diamond Leung of SportTechie.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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