Segments - Introducing: 'History of Heat'
Episode Date: January 13, 2022Have a listen to History of Heat, one of our newest Headgum Originals! Yassir and Isaiah Lester are joined by comedians, artists, athletes, and experts to discuss the history, impact, and fut...ure of culture's favorite topics ranging from sneakers to video games. In this episode, The Hype Portfolio (w/ Michelle Buteau and Amir Blumenfeld), comedian and actress extraordinaire Michelle Buteau joins the pod to flex her collecting prowess. Later, Yassir and Isaiah chat with Headgum co-founder Amir Blumenfeld about his trading card portfolio and the new economy of hype. Subscribe to History of Heat on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Oh, hey, everybody. We wanted to drop a different podcast episode into this feed today. One, because we think you'll like it. And two, because, well, I'm on it. The podcast is History of Heat. And it's two very funny comedians, Yasser and Isaiah Lester. And they discuss the history, impact and future of culture's favorite topics ranging from sneakers to video games. In this specific episode, they're talking about collectibles,
and I'm on it talking about my burgeoning basketball card collection.
But the podcast is about so much more than that,
and it's got very funny guests.
So if you like this episode, subscribe to The History of Heat
wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Enjoy.
This is a HeadGum original.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and every kind of person in between.
God loves you.
This is History of Heat presented by HeadGum and Stalker.
Zay, you like that?
I would stick to your day job and not try to be the black dude from Police Academy.
Okay.
Well, Isaiah,
I thought we were going to be on a more positive vibe this morning.
There's a couple black dudes in there.
I mean the dude who did the sound effect.
Yes, clearly.
I didn't think you thought I was the big dude.
Yeah.
The dude who looks like OJ.
Zay, you know, we've covered a lot of ground on this podcast, right?
We've talked a lot about culture, sports, fashion, favorite brands, favorite designers.
Why grown men shouldn't wear Billie Eilish sneakers.
That was specifically a you thing.
I personally don't believe in policing older men who want to wear teenage girl shoes.
I personally think that it's okay if a 40-year-old man wants to stand in line to get teen girl shoes.
I would never tell a man to not do that.
That's something that you need to do, and you need to stop policing men's bodies.
How about that?
Man, I tell you what.
I would, from that defense, I would wipe your hard drive.
Like, I don't know what you got going on.
I would go home and I would wipe it out.
Oh, one thing we haven't talked about, Isaiah, explicitly, the one thing that everyone cares about, except for me, because I'm a good Christian boy, money.
Right. cares about, except for me, because I'm a good Christian boy, money, right? It's how the things
we collect, our dead stock sneaker collections, our trading card collections, our comic book
collections have a real financial value. Yeah. And you said it yourself, man, in the first episode,
all kids are rich now. The kids that are shopping in Soho and these kids that are bidding against
me on StockX, they're all rich now. It's very annoying. And the main question of this episode is how do
all these kids get so rich? Yeah, I mean, like, OK, sure. Some of them were born rich, right?
But a lot of them were also born very rich. And then also more of them are getting rich,
doing the same stuff that we've been talking, right?
Like flipping sneakers, investing in Supreme, selling basketball cards.
This is a whole new economy of hype, right?
Yeah, there's always been a money side of it to all this stuff like all along.
But the way it is now, it just really feels new.
Right.
I would say specifically for, you know, trying to like dig into it, we want to talk about
like the collecting and investing side of things, right?
Like sneakers and streetwear and cards and comic books.
These aren't just things that you buy and wear to show off your friends anymore.
Like now they're assets and investments.
It's like a stock portfolio or dare I say, a StockX portfolio, Isaiah.
Ooh, ooh, you didn't know I was going to do that to you.
So that's what we'll be talking about today.
We'll be talking about collectibles.
We're going to be talking about trading cards.
We're going to be talking about sneakers as investments.
We're going to be talking about all the different ways people turn their collections into money. So this episode, we've got Michelle Boutteau, the host of Netflix's The Circle. I'm
a huge fan of The Circle. She's going to be talking about her collecting habits, what she's into.
We have Amir Blumenfeld, the co-founder of HeadGum, and the co-host of the podcast,
If I Were You, to talk about his trading card portfolio.
And maybe where our checks are.
Maybe where our paychecks are as well.
Oh, God.
And we've got a sworn enemy, number one hater, dude that we cannot stand, senior stock ex-economist Jesse Einhorn to tell us how to get rich.
Now, this is History of Heat. Zay, it's been a long winding road, you know, for us becoming adults.
There's been a lot of hustles.
There's been a lot of money making schemes.
There's been lots.
Yeah.
Do you kind of remember the first thing that you, like, you quote unquote flipped?
I would have to say, like, I think in my earliest flipping days, there were probably, like, basketball jerseys.
So, like, old basketball jerseys I'd have.
And I would take them to, like, you know, play it against sports or somewhere like that and see what i could get for them or like
you know a vintage thrift store or something like that there's two there's two parts of my jersey
journey yeah first part was like i liked if i liked a player uh-huh i would get their jersey
right like one of my first jerseys was a grant Hill Pistons jersey, though I'm a Lakers fan and the Pistons are hated rivals of ours.
I had a Pistons jersey.
And then I migrated out of that, you know, and I became a Jersey loyalist.
And now I really buy jerseys of teams that I support.
But in terms of trading and stuff like that, I think my earliest memories are of jerseys.
And then it went into shoes.
Yeah.
And, um, being, I didn't know, I didn't understand the power of it either.
And like in back in the day, I would literally just sell them on, I would just sell them
on Craigslist.
I would just post them.
I make a, I make a big post and then i would get five responses about people who actually want
to buy the shoes and then five more of people who just wanted to have sex with me um so uh well to
be fair that's on you for also posting a picture of yourself next to the shoes it's just it was
just like it was just like a pair of jordan 8s and then my nipple like yeah see again that's that's yeah you were
doing anthony wiener style photos where it's just like you laying in bed with a shoe next to you
but yeah that's that's how i that's that's how i used to sell them um yeah and that's really
before like stock x and ebay uh became like a really big player in that game yeah and i would it was so
awkward because like i would rule i would meet these people we meet in the in the ralph's parking
lot on um vineland and near magnolia uh and i meet them there and uh i would show them the shoes they
will buy them and i go straight to the bank to make sure they didn't give me counterfeit money.
Yeah.
That's how I would do it.
But what about you?
What are your earliest sex trading memories?
Sex and gear trading memories.
I mean, I can go as far back as yesterday.
I didn't even realize people were selling shoes like that.
Like, I moved out to L.A.
Isaiah moved out, like, right after me, like, right out of film school.
And he was already, like, on it, right? I remember, like, one of the things he, like, flipped for and got and got dough was like a pair of Jordan two infrareds and he flipped them for something else and then like also got some money for him.
And I was like, what?
Like, because I was like 20.
I must have been 23 at the time.
And like all I knew truly from being in L.A. was like flight club.
Like, I don't even remember there being like reselling stores in Atlanta like that.
But we also were kind of out in Marietta.
So it's like that kind of culture hadn't really made it out there.
So it's just like all I remembered was like going to Fight Club on Fairfax because I wanted.
And now I can't even remember, which it's such a bummer but they're the sb donk lows that have like the
they're like i the name isn't desert marauder but that's who's on the tongue of the sneaker i can
never remember but and it's got like the two uh swords and i just like those were like a grail of
mine as i'm saying this i couldn't remember and. And I was like, whoa, these are pretty ill. And I grabbed them and it was like $500.
And I was just like, this is what?
So then Zaya came out and started doing it.
So I just like got more into like the sneaker part of it.
But again, like the thing that like kind of no one tells you, and this is, though it's
the great equalizer being online, it's also like one of the terrible things if you like
don't have the bots or this or that.
But like to really get in the sneaker game, like you have to have sneakers like no one tells you that you kind of just you can't just come in willy nilly.
Like unless you're, again, one of these rich teens, it's like I have seven hundred dollars to blow, which is like that's like an impossible amount of money to me.
Right. So like it was like and again, like unless you have something to put up to also get the cash and then flip those for another thing, like you're kind of just like S.O. Right. So like, it was like, and again, like, unless you have something to put up to also get
the cash and then flip those for another thing, like you're kind of just like SOL. Right. So like,
so I was always kind of watching from the sidelines, but again, Isaiah has always had
like an ill collection. Like I've always been like, and I've kind of talked about this before,
but like, I was like a much more casual dude. Like, you know, I had, you know, I had Nikes and, you know, I still had things I was
proud of. I had SBs, but like, I never had like rarities, right? I was like, I was wearing like
New Balance and Sockanese. And like, again, like I wore like a lot of Nike Vandal Lows,
which were like my, like to this day, still just one of the illest shoes of all time to me.
So my, my first like real trading experience
thing came from comic books like i understood it with comics and comic cards i knew that it's like
i can give like this holofoil apocalypse card and also give you know like uh a spider-man uh
number one todd mcfarland with the silver webbing versus the gold and then get, you know, 10 bucks for those two things and get an issue of Wolverine 100.
So, like, I didn't even realize that it could go with, like, you know, what I considered more adult things like shoes, you know.
So, I was just always in that vibe of it. Like I was always constantly doing it in terms of like things that I consider like, you know, children's entertainment, if you will, because I was a child at the time.
But like, you know, like you go into a comic book store and be like, what can I get for these?
Or like walk into like, you know, a CD place and be like, what can I get for these CDs?
Right.
But it's like I didn't even realize there was reseller markets for all these other things,
you know?
I think, yeah.
I mean, I remember
going into comic book stores
with you
and you literally having
boxes of comic books
and putting them there
and being like,
what can I get for these?
And you essentially,
like, almost never getting
actual money for it,
but usually trading
for something that you wanted.
I would also, like,
we would be remiss
not to talk about
your time working. Like, you were at working at what essentially was stock x stock x was stock x
yeah it was a it was a used book cd and dvd not even dvds like half dvds have yeah and half
called the book nook by the big chicken in marietta georgia right next to the big chicken
if you don't know what the big chicken is it is what it sounds like it's a giant mechanical chicken
uh that has been attached to a normal size kentucky fried chicken but downtown marietta
but that kfc also has a gift shop it does there's a big chicken gift shop on the inside so i would say that's
kind of your kind of your trading real origin story right having like you were the man behind
the you're like you know the sean wotherspoon of round two sitting behind a desk and being like
now we'll take this we won't take this? Lord of the Rings? Pass if it's
not the special edition.
Doing that kind of stuff.
It's not the edition that looks like the Bible
so I don't want it.
Yeah, that's literally what I was about to
say. I was like, people will come in there with that
regular clamshell DVD version
and I was like, buddy, this ain't even
the Lord of the Rings one that looks like a book.
Hey, you know what? Get out of town what get out of town get get out of here get out of town all right people of earth we got
isaiah i want to say one of the most majorist guests in history for sure and i said majorist because i had to i had to make up a word because nothing
nothing quite encapsulates the superstardom of this person we're about to bring on truly i've
i've known her since i was a doorman at the improv a doorman a doorman and you and isaiah
used to come with me because he could eat and drink for free. I didn't have, that would be my only meal of the day.
The improv dinner.
And I used to watch this person destroy on stage.
She's truly one of my favorite comics.
I can't say enough about her.
I mean,
she's truly one of the funniest people on this planet.
She has a special on Netflix called Welcome to Putopia,
a star of the first wives on this planet. She has a special on Netflix called Welcome to Butopia. Star of the first
Wives Club television series.
Host of
one of the most
majorest TV shows in history
also. Truly.
The Circles.
That's where we call it.
We call it The Circles.
Y'all.
Michelle Buteau. Hey Michelle. Y'all. Michelle Buteau.
Hey, Michelle.
Oh, my God.
What in the BET award is going on?
That was so nice.
That felt like a wedding speech when no one's getting married.
Oh, my God.
You know what?
Because you part of the streets and we married to the streets.
Look, I remember the first time I met you.
It was awkward.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Because I don't know if it was your first or second date
with one of my friends.
I don't even think it was a date.
No, I met, this is, here's a more embarrassing story.
It was, I guess technically was,
but we all went to a bar called like The, The Village Idiot in L.A.
Oh, God.
Yes.
Hangout Rose.
Yep.
And we all got, like, drinks and food and stuff.
And, like, I think y'all had already started.
But I was like, I'll put it on my card.
And I put the remainder of it on my card.
But you guys had already closed up,
but I was like, let's get more food and drinks,
so we ordered all the stuff,
and then I went up to the bar to close out,
and I was like, I'm ready to go,
and the bartender was like, your card's declined,
and I was like, okay, hold on one second,
and y'all were like, let's all leave,
and I was like, all right, I'll catch up with y'all,
and then I just left,
and I left my card there.
This is not an exaggeration.
I went back three months later
being like they'll never remember me i walked in and the dude was like get the hell out of here
okay valid valid i i mean yeah but i did not know the black story on that michelle i was trying to
ball out in front of you and your home girl over nachos and a beer oh no nachos and a few beers
okay which by the way looking back i was like it was probably 27 dollars yeah that's the saddest
part i could not have had less money yeah oh but look at you now bud look at look and it all it
took was 15 years to come back on a podcast but to be fair he is still my doorman
so that's what yasser is up to he still works the front door of my building yeah but you know
i'm your brother and no one's gonna watch you more carefully and i love you i love you too
i was gonna say there's always an awkward moment when I see you, though, because we went to I saw you at like an HBO premiere thing.
And we asked there was hors d'oeuvres being passed around.
And you asked the lady, is this vegetarian?
Because I'm vegetarian.
And she said, yes, no meat.
And you took a bite and it was meat.
It was like, by the way, not just meat.
It was like full on sausage.
I was like, you could have gotten further it was like full-on sausage i was like you could have
gotten further away from what vegetarian means i know i was like let me just walk away from this
moment i'm so sorry yeah thank you for that though next time i'll hold your hair girl
michelle you get sick first of all you know in the hood i will do that
in the hood they call me girl so you're making yourself real familiar all right michelle this is we're we're talking about collectibles and i isaiah has a question
for you because you know i i as your friend and number one fan have already spoken too much but
he was like you know i'll know her as well and i'm taller and
darker and more handsome and i feel like i should interject myself and i was like all right you
didn't have to say all that but go ahead and ask your question um we did meet once briefly outside
of the hollywood improv but neither one of you remember that so i guess it wasn't that big
was it one of those moments where like a show just let out?
Yes, it was.
Okay.
Yes, it was.
Yes, it was.
That feels like the end of like the night at the club where everyone's coming out.
And it's like, that's what you look like.
You know what I mean? Or like when the wedding just got done and we're just like, why is there rice in my eye?
So I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
I didn't have the inner power and strength that I have now back then.
So if you didn't read it,
it was,
it was me.
I had a lot of growing to do.
Speaking of growing,
girl,
I'm so proud of you.
What a journey.
You better take your space.
Speaking of growing,
growing up,
did you collect anything?
Is there anything?
we got a segue.
Yeah.
I told you my inner power.
I can't, I i cannot be contained what in the steve harvey is going on honey so i love anything that is like slightly
caribbean or african that has um my zodiac sign on it oh cool so this is what I've collected. I used to do stamps, but then we moved and there was a flood.
And postcards, because my dad traveled to over 50 countries for his job,
so I used to collect postcards.
But really what I've held on to over the years is stuff with my Zodiac sign on it.
Ken, did you mention to your dad to be like,
oh, Yasmin and Isaiah don't talk to their dads
was that like a thing was that a yeah i'm so glad you i'm so glad you picked up on it okay i just
want to make sure because it feels like you didn't need to say that part you could have just said i
collect postcards but you were like my dad it was like okay michelle thanks so much wait the thing
that you were holding up that had your zododiac sign on it, what was it?
Just for the listeners at home.
No, let's get back to your dad.
I mean, did someone like cut their finger?
Because we hit a nerve.
So, yeah, I mean, this is from Jamaica. This is is supposed to be a lion let's just say it is
we don't know it kind of looks like someone's single auntie at a family reunion yeah
yeah and this is like the national flower okay and and that's the other things but what's the
is it a paddle what do we look i'm just trying to figure out what the actual item is it's up or is
it just like a beautiful adorned wooden plank?
Yeah.
You just.
Yeah.
Like there's a lot of wood stuff in the Caribbean.
You just hang it up.
Now, Michelle, besides talking about your dad all the time, you're also known for having kids.
People aren't really talking about the career.
They're like, she has a dad and she has kids.
And that, you know, that's what, what you know i would say the two biggest things but the question i was
going to ask is uh you know and we're going to get into it for you in a second but like
for for the babies is there something like you know for you it was postcards and like zodiac
signs stuff for your your sweet little kids is there anything that you're starting to collect
for them that you you might pass pass down is there is there something they're into like uh
you know anything they've shown interest in in that regard it's funny because there's a lot of
gifts from people and there's like because my uncle's the archbishop of jamaica there's like a
lot of catholic gifts happening it's a lot of Noah's Ark type shit
being thrown at me.
But husband and
I like to get the kids a new pair
of Adidas's, or is it Adidas?
Adidi? Every
year for their birthday.
So I think the one thing we
will end up
collecting, or what is it?
Bronzing?
Yeah, you can bronze them. you yeah we're gonna yeah we're
gonna taxidermy their first pair of vans okay that you don't have to say it like that that is
that implies uh something else dear michelle well that is something else so they're so you're
they're already sneaker heads without even trying really yeah i can't think of anything
else that they would collect because they destroy everything they love huh oh okay okay well that's
kind of how i've been with personal relationships in the past but again i've grown a lot i'm
stronger than i once was and uh i don't do that well you're just a walking Kelly Clarkson song, aren't you? I think so. I think so.
Please, somebody tell her that.
All right.
For you, Michelle, as an adult now, is there a broad swath of things?
Like I like, you know, clothing or bags or shoes or whatever.
And if so, is there something that gets more specific?
Like, you know, people are, especially StockX customers, are going ham on like Telfer bags, you know? Like is that something that gets more specific like you know people are especially stock x customers are going going ham on like telfer bags you know like is that something that that no i don't really
subscribe to any of that bullshit i do what i like and what serves me in the moment um and i've
always been like that like you know i'm a plus size bitch i've been a size 12 since i've been 12
actually um that's why i wrote my book survival the thickest plus size
essays in a small-minded world bitch because because I've always had to like style myself
and find my own way you know it wasn't until like what 10 years ago that the fashion industry deemed
us worthy of spending our money on their bullshit so yeah I don't have any of that i don't have like my mom's louboutins or whatever right um
yeah so nah what i do like is i like to support black owned businesses especially haitian people
just coming out here trying to make jewelry and shit yeah like that's my jam okay um not to be
all like a brown titty rachel madd, but here the fuck we are. Okay.
By the way, who's to say that? Oh, that's just Joy and Reed?
Who's to say hers aren't also brown?
Let's step back.
Let's ask her.
Let me do the research.
You know what?
Get Maddow on the phone.
Like, hey, we got a question for you.
All right, Michelle.
She's probably listening.
Oh, God. I hope not.
It really terrifies me.
Okay, real talk.
We've spoken about
your dad. We've spoken about
your book. We've spoken about
your
wood collectibles. We've spoken
about your kids. We've spoken about how you don't
subscribe to any of that stuff.
Uh-uh.
Is there anything else
that you want to
plug?
Is there anything else that we should be on
the lookout for you?
Should we be on Batow Watch
2021 slash 2022
slash 2023 slash 2024 and beyond?
I have some things in the works.
We're going to go ahead and film season three of First Wise Club,
available on the PET Plus app.
So if you like quality black content, go ahead.
And reruns of Martin.
All the reruns of Martin.
You can have a mother fucking want.
Yeah, there's also a season four and five of The Circle coming out, which is really fun.
It's such a fun show.
I mean, VO is dope because I could just be braless and work from – look how you guys look.
You know what I mean?
Just comfortable.
Just really comfortable.
Okay, my outfit was $10,000, but go ahead.
But I also think it's a very important show, too,
because you can't get away from social media.
And it's just like, how does that even look if we make that a competition game?
And it's so interesting to me, too,
the people that go on there and catfish,
because the reasons why they catfish is, sure, it's gameplay,
but it says a lot more about society.
I'm a pretty girl, and's gonna fuck with me and not take me seriously
or I'm a butch lesbian and nobody
wants to be friends with her so I'm gonna be
like it's always interesting or like
I'm a bigger person
and I can't flirt with anyone cause no one
finds me attractive so I'll be cause my
strategy is flirting it's like
fascinating
and also important so anyway
season four and five of the circle I feel like there's
some other stuff going on but I don't know
we'll see okay
on the podcast
are you willing
oh no give your home address
so me and Isaiah can come by
no
okay do you have any
general advice for us?
Just anything?
I have
general advice for you and for people,
anyone that's listening.
And I always say this to people
too when they're just like, how do I get started in comedy?
Which is such a dumb question. It's like, just start.
Don't talk yourself out of what you believe in.
The most talented people I know are always in a corner,
like second guessing themselves.
And it's just like, there are basic people out here
making lots of money.
You can go out there and just show your shit
and do your thing.
It'll only get better.
Don't be afraid of success or failure.
The end.
Wow.
Okay.
That was actually really great.
Here's the thing.
I want to give you credit for saying something really smart, but I already have that all
tattooed on my back.
So you can stop.
You can stop quoting Tuesdays with Maury because I read that passage also.
P.S.
Little known fact.
I used to do warm up for the Maury Povich show
when I first started
seeing her comedy
I really couldn't
do warm up
it just ended up
being like dance contests
between like a white person
and a black person
so I was like
what the fuck
am I gonna do
and they didn't even pay me
they paid me
in pizza slices
see
that's cause they knew
you knew who your father was
and they were like
she doesn't need
any more confidence
that show is specifically
for people like me and Zaya
I feel like y'all should be doing a podcast
for 23andMe
yeah but
they don't on 23andMe they don't be fresh
though they be all sad cause they're like
who's this person in relation
to me you know they spend all their money on genetic
testing they don't really step out the house fresh They're like, who's this person in relation to me? You know, they spend all their money on genetic testing.
They don't really step out the house fresh. I guess, but it's really great.
They tell you what you're predisposed to, why you might not like cilantro, why you have a freckle on your butt.
It's very interesting if you let it.
Okay.
This has been Michelle Bateau for 23andMe.
We just want to thank everyone so much for tuning in.
But now, Michelle, thank you so much for stopping by and giving Isaiah the confidence that he's needed.
I've been fine.
Okay.
Yes.
Thank you.
That's cool.
I didn't even know I was doing this podcast.
I thought it was Joe Rogan.
Oh, no.
He's next.
We're the warm-up for Joe Rogan.
So have your horse pace ready, girl.
Yeah.
Oh, boy.
He's sick right now.
So he's coming a little late.
He said he had a pretty bad cough.
I'm going to go watch episodes of Fear Factor, BRB.
Welcome to StockX, the only live marketplace for what's now and next.
From the most historic heat to the latest instant classics,
StockX specializes in giving everyone access to what they want and love.
With StockX, you have the power to shop millions of hard-to-find or sold-out products at their true market value.
And thanks to StockX's live marketplace, you have the ability to instantly shop the latest and greatest.
Download the app or sign up online to start buying and selling in a few easy
clicks. That's right. You can use the code HISTORYHEAT for free shipping on your first
purchase of any order of $240 or more. Start shopping at StockX.com. Access the now.
Oh my God, people of earth, it is going down in a major way.
Isaiah, we got a guest in the building.
We got a major.
We got a leader of sorts, a president of sorts, a Joe Biden, a Kamala, if you will, of sorts, a GWB.
That's George W. Bush.
I would say this next guest is the George W. Bush.
The George W. Bush
of HeadGum. That's right.
Yep. And I don't want to hear
another credit out of this guy's
mouth. He's for sure
the George W. Bush of HeadGum.
He's the co-founder of HeadGum, co-host of
the podcast, If I Were You.
People, make some noise
at home. I want you to stomp your feet clap
those hands for amir blumenfeld ladies and gentlemen thank you thank you i do get that a lot
so it's cool that it trickled all the way down to you all right amir look you thought you were
gonna come on here and just teehee and kiki with your boys, Isaiah, Big J, and Yas.
But we got some Katie Couric-style questions for you, all right?
Okay.
Some morning show style.
Yeah.
You know?
We're coming at you like Reese Witherspoon in the morning show.
No mercy.
All right?
You ready for this?
Okay.
I'm scared now, but yeah, I think I know.
You should be.
You should be.
Where were you the night of December 12th, 1998?
Jesus, this is gotcha journalism.
Yeah, it is.
All right.
We're going to ask you some Katie Couric style questions.
First one, Amir, is the collectibles episode.
Did you have trading cards as a kid?
If so, do you have a favorite one?
And, ooh, here we go, here we go, with the journalistic integrity,
do you still have that trading card?
I did buy some as a kid.
Like, you know, you go to a birthday party in third grade, and it's 1991,
and somebody gives you a pack of whatever,
Skybox basketball cards, and you open them at home.
I remember keeping one Chris Webber card when he was in the Michigan jersey.
I don't know where it is.
I remember having a Thurman Thomas Bills running back card.
I don't know where that is.
And then during the pandemic when everyone was stuck at home talking about how these cards are now worth a lot of money again, I got sucked back into the hobby because it combined
my two passions of making a quick and easy dollar and also Nick Van Exel. So together,
those things came together. Love it. That's right. Yeah. Okay, good. Hey, and by the way,
big shout out to Sick Van Exel.el if you at home listening right now nick
the quick yeah we wish you boy we always wish you nick the cool thing about that chris weber card
when he was in college is that he definitely got paid to make it oh definitely yeah so that's that's
my favorite part about that and the shorts were so baggy they came out of the cart
kenyan martin style was filled with the shorts. The shorts were sagging because they were filled with money.
Yeah, cash.
Sweet booster cash.
So what kind of cards do you collect now?
Are you still in the basketball world?
Yeah, mostly basketball.
I sort of tried to dabble in football a little bit, but that didn't really appeal to me.
I'm more of a basketball fan.
I do have one random hockey card
in my collection, which is I couldn't afford the Wayne Gretzky card. So I went for the one other
player I can name from my childhood, which was a Patrick Waugh, goalie for the Montreal Canadiens
rookie card. I noticed that there were only 90 of these PSA 10 graded Patrick Waugh rookie cards.
I'm like, you know what? If I can't afford a Gretzky, give me the best goaltender.
Again, I don't watch hockey, so I can only assume
he's the best goaltender of all time because I actually remember
what his name is. I bought one of those too.
The rest of them are basketball.
I think so. He's the
only goalie I've ever heard of.
I remember him playing
in my Sega Genesis game
growing up. I remember Gretzky, I remember Patrick
Waugh, and a few other players. I went for the one that I remembered. I remember Gretzky, I remember Patrick Waugh and like a few other players.
So I went for the one that I remembered, yeah.
That Wayne Gretzky card sold for $3.75 million recently.
Yeah, so if I can get half of that for the Waugh.
So I'm kind of surprised you can't afford that.
That's good, yeah.
Honestly, I'm not greedy.
I will take that $2,000 card
and I will sell it for 1.8 million.
That's enough too.
I don't need the full Gretzky for it.
And if anybody's listening, you can make me an offer
at 1.5. I will gladly
take it. Dude, that's really kind of you. This
Wah card is just burning a hole in my pocket.
Okay. Just real quick.
I know you think that's the second most
expensive hockey card, but I did
look and it is actually
Adam Banks from the mighty ducks
really um damn yeah the character adam banks from the mighty ducks who left the nice team
to play for the mighty ducks i was gonna say was he the one without the dad but that was charlie
that was conway right that was yeah that's charlie conway he had no dad. Adam Banks was preppy slash cake eater.
Remember?
Oh, yes.
Cake eater, of course.
Yes.
Very famously.
So, Amir, you're not doing nearly as well as you think you were.
Questioned for you, Amir, a.k.a. Kamala, a.k.a. George W. Bush.
Yes.
What is the most expensive car you own or that you've paid for?
I went Dutch or whatever the three-way equivalent of Dutch is
on a LeBron James PSA 9 rookie card.
Those were like $10,000 at the time.
I'm like, I don't want to spend the price of a car on a piece of cardboard.
Let me grab two friends that are Laker fans like me. Let's buy a LeBron James rookie card.
If it's worth half as much as a Michael Jordan rookie card one day, that'll be a fun investment.
So we went three-way on this 2003 Topps Chrome LeBron James rookie card.
Where does it live?
It rotates. So it was in my house a little bit. Now it's in my friend's house,
maybe the third friend's house. It's like that Simpsons episode where they split the comic book three ways.
So yeah, he gets it on Sundays and Thursdays.
I get it on Tuesdays and Fridays.
And then there's one day a week where, you know, that's God's day.
We give it to the man upstairs.
You give it to the Lord.
You just put it in the sun.
We put it in a hot air balloon.
And if it loves us, it comes back.
That is so, so funny.
The goat deserves the goat.
Yeah, yeah.
No.
The glory, you know?
The god of all time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ultra light beam.
Yeah.
So what's your grail card?
The best card that I own or the one that I'm aspiring to get one day?
I think a Grail is something that you kind of aspire to get, in my opinion.
Well, since getting into this hobby nine months ago,
it seems like the biggest, most expensive, fanciest card
is this Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer rookie card.
There's only a certain handful amount of this PSA 10,
which is like a mint condition card that's 40 years old at this point. That one was almost selling for a million
dollars. So I guess I'll say that's my grill card. Hopefully the market collapses to the point
where me and my friends can now invest in that card. We already have the LeBron rookie. And then
there's just favorite players of mine growing up. A Van Exel rookie card an Anthony Pila rookie card let me give Eldon Campbell a shout out uh so there's
like personal grails yeah personal grails and then like you know famous ones just a follow-up
do you have any cards of a player that you absolutely hate yes oh I invested in a Chris
Paul rookie card oh I also hate Chris hate Chris Paul. This is fantastic.
Yeah, I don't know why I did it.
It seemed undervalued at the time, and it was like a black refractor.
So I'm like, oh, this is cool.
It's a numbered card.
It's a Chris Paul rookie card.
It looks kind of cool because he's in a Hornets jersey.
Dislike Chris Paul as a player.
Think he's kind of annoying.
Super annoying.
Like, you know, not fun to root for, but it just seemed like a good business investment so yes
so were you like rooting for the suns in the finals because it would have probably doubled
in value if he'd won that one that shit i was kind of conflicted because like i had this chris
paul rookie card and then i also bet on the bucks to win the finals before the playoff started so
i'm like okay you know it either way i'm happy it's a short-term long-term situation exactly
yeah chris paul has that uncle energy that I just don't like he's got that
he's just got an uncle
you know
where them kids at
it's the gif of him
laughing and then
not laughing anymore
and that's like his essence
yeah it is
like he's just
he's a
I don't know
he's a troll
he's a twerp
he's a
he's annoying
but he like
he's so good at it
he's really good
and then he also cheats
so like
you don't have to do both, Chris Paul.
You're great.
You don't have to run into people also and yell at the refs.
Yeah, he's so annoying.
Great basketball player, though.
Amazing.
Yes.
One of the best point guards of all time.
Let me not take his value.
The card is worth thousands of dollars, I assure you guys.
And I love him personally. Well, as someone who's known as the Chris thousands of dollars, I assure you guys. And I love him personally.
Well, as someone who's known as the Chris Paul of podcasts,
I got to say that this is pretty conflicting for me.
Well, you know what they mean is it's just that like,
I should be taller and I'm not, and I have really nice eyes.
Oh, wow.
Thank you.
Okay.
I'm probably Chris Paul's height.
I'm like a little under six feet
which i assume chris paul is yeah yeah in his whack jordan's he's probably a little bit over
six feet oh my god um i i mean i take shots on every chris paul on every podcast i'm on yes or
you know yeah yeah this is really it's not you're gonna get cast in a state farm commercial with it
one day and be like yeah i'm such a big fan. Wait, I feel like our own, you know, our best friend,
our own Robin Quivers, Jesse.
Oh.
Jesse had a question.
I'm raising my hand.
Let's do this.
You guys can't see it because you're listening to this,
but I'm raising my hand.
No, I'm curious.
So, okay, you think about these as investments.
How much are you really taking this into account?
I'm sure you're a smart man.
You're a financial planner.
You've read all the books about how to retire at a young age.
How big does this actually play into your long-term retirement plans?
Is this just funny money?
Or are you like, you know what?
This is going to pay for a lake house someday.
I think it's mostly funny money.
It's money where it's like, if all these cards got devalued, it wouldn't ruin me. I'm not like putting my actual life
savings into these things. But like at the same time, if they like, you know, five to 10x,
I'm like, oh, that's kind of fun. I was so smart in 2020 that now it's 2036 and this Patrick Waugh
card is worth $800,000 because I don't know he was in a famous murder-suicide and there's only
92 of these.
What?
I mean, you know
these hockey players.
The goalies get enough hits.
Their heads aren't good.
Their heads aren't good.
Yeah, yeah.
Take enough hits.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously
I don't want it to happen
but I'm just saying
I'm financially incentivized
for Patrick Waugh
to maybe go crazy one day
kill a few people
himself.
Hey, Amir,
you're saying that now
but the value of my Chris Benoit trading card tanked.
Tanked after that whole thing.
Yeah, man.
So be careful.
I don't know what to root for.
I'm really conflicted.
Hey, you know what?
I'll say don't root for a murder-suicide.
Okay, that's fair.
But you know what?
You call me the George Bush of podcasting.
And I love it very much.
He's doing it. He's doing the George Bush of podcasting. So now I'm very... Yeah, he's doing it.
He's doing the George Bush thing.
I'm going to throw my shoe at you.
Now watch this drive.
Remember that from 9-11?
Oh, yeah, buddy.
That was the...
Was that the closing thing?
Or was the closing thing him stumbling over the shame on you quote?
Oh, no, I think it was that.
Now watch this drive.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's so funny.
Great drive.
Man, one of the best comedies, Fahrenheit 9-11.
Yes, people don't talk about it that much.
Oh my God, I know.
Do you guys remember that shoe that they threw at George W. Bush?
Yeah, he ducked it really well.
Yeah, we have that on StockX.
Wow, you have that shoe.
What is it?
It's an Air Max 1.
Oh, man, that's a decent sneaker you're chucking your
good shit at yeah george w bush right left no that's why it was such a powerful political point
i would have worn a pair of rebox he just thrown like a beater at it it wouldn't wouldn't have
nearly as much as this is the day i'm chucking a shoe at bush i'm wearing some one of one yeah
yeah yeah shape ups i have the shoes i bought them off stock. I have the shoes.
I bought them off StockX. I have the shoes that Terry Crews was wearing when he tweeted,
BLM is becoming black supremacists.
Wow.
Yeah, yeah.
They're worth four bucks.
Damn it.
Yeah, they're worth four bucks.
I sold them to someone who works at news max um amir it feels like amir it feels like you are like i love what these guys are talking about but
i gotta go no no not at all look man it's so clear you gotta go okay so you know what you
should just get out of here okay thank you and thank you for having me um
oh man thanks for being on first of all first of all don't play us like that you
begged us you were literally begging us every email every text every tweet well you know
isaiah pull up the tweets where amir was begging us to be on the podcast those were dms we don't
have to yeah yeah i don't want to encourage people to go to my Twitter.
Amir, you've already, you know, we've plugged the podcast.
We've plugged how you are our boss.
Hell yeah.
You did it all.
And we got it out of the way.
Well, do you want to give everyone your home address real quick?
Yeah.
I mean, I guess it's 318 South Broadway Avenue, New York.
New York. 104. That's it. That's the zip code. Okay. No, there York. New York.
104.
That's it. That's the zip code.
Okay, and there's for sure, come on, where's the apartment number?
Don't be stingy.
No, it's a full townhouse.
I sold the walk car and I bought a three.
A split level.
Two family in Park Slope.
Oh, God.
Amir, for real, thank you so much for joining us.
Hang out a little bit longer
so you can give me
and Zaya a ride.
Oh, my gosh.
All right, fine.
Can I leave now
and call you guys an Uber?
Do I have to wait?
No, no, you have to wait.
All right, fine.
I don't want to wear a mask, so.
No.
No.
We are back with, I would say,
probably one of the least liked segments on the show, according to Twitter, Instagram, and his family.
We're here for The Price is Hype with Senior StockX Economist.
Again,
not very
beloved, Jesse Einhorn.
We keep
having him back, even though people are like, definitely
not. That's the big thing.
I would say, people slap me on the street.
They don't really know me like that,
but they're like, you're Yasser Al-Assad? I'm like, yeah.
They're like, the Jesse guy,
big no, and they do a thumbs down.
No, it's like my dad actually sent yasser an email being like can you can you just like not have the segment i love the podcast right i'm tired of hearing this guy talk right
that's my dad yeah i was bcc'd on that email yeah he was bcc he actually he he were a bunch of people
were actually cc'd he doesn't know the difference between bcc and cc okay so like he actually put
like like my teachers growing up yeah like a couple cousins you were on that and like he
couldn't even figure out how to bcc it so it's like i saw them all and uh it was really uh a
blow to my soul i was gonna say yeah this is weird but your girlfriend called isaiah on facetime and
said can you stop like i don't like the way jesse sounds on the podcast do you remember that yeah i've never
there's never been such a consensus around around a single issue than like me not doing the same
but you know what contracts we gotta keep doing it wow so let's do it yeah let's do it yeah
so how are the kids on the streets um in homes, houses that I'll never be able to afford to buy, making money off collectibles?
Yeah.
I mean, it's crazy.
Stepping back for a moment, it's like we talk about this a lot at StockX, which is like this new – there's this new paradigm emerging of alternative asset class
investing. And it's like, no one just wants to invest in like Walmart stock anymore, or like,
you know, whatever, Oklahoma real estate. Like everyone wants something that's both like
culturally meaningful, but also kind of like financially savvy. And there are a number of
these products that have emerged, sneakers, but also collectibles, trading cards, comic books that serve this kind of dual function, right? They are both, you know, cool to consume,
right? They're cool to own and collect, but they also are like, you know, kind of a savvy investment.
I think we've kind of talked about this before, but like, especially with like a collectibles
market, you as senior economists, are there like tangible cultural moments or things
that you can look to and say like, this has affected the price of, for the sake of argument,
not even just like sneakers, but like things all around, like now collectibles have gone up or like
trading cards have gone up because LeBron talked about it or, you know, whatever.
Yeah. Trading cards are probably the best example because there's like a really predictable kind of movement,
both in like the overall market and then specific cards.
So it's like, yeah, like when a player gets injured,
value goes down, right?
When a player gets like inducted in the Hall of Fame,
value goes up.
But then there's like crazy seasonal stuff,
like pretty much every time the NBA draft rolls around,
like the market heats up and like prices start going up.
And so there's like, you know, I think trading cards are maybe the best example of that.
But then like outside of that space, there's obviously, I don't know if we've talked about
before, but like, you know, with sneakers, for instance, the last dance had this like
huge effect on, on sneaker prices, particularly Jordan prices.
And also like Pippin, Pippin stuff on StockX, Robin stuff, it all went up in value.
And so those kind of cultural moments
can also be huge for sneaker collecting as well.
Okay, I have two questions.
One, do you guys think Scottie Pippen is okay?
And number two, if you had a trading card,
a trading card of yourself,
and someone put it on StockX,
what do you think the highest it would go for?
I think right now,
like I'm going to give myself 50 bucks.
I'm going for 50.
Okay.
Would it be like one of the,
it's like they make,
you know,
they make kind of insert chase cards.
There's like refractors and like autos.
Would it be an auto card or would it just be like a face card?
We'll say base, but it's a rookie. Okay. It's a Jesse say base but it's a rookie okay it's a jesse einhorn it's an isaiah lester
rookie yeah i think like i i i would say like a hundred a hundred bucks i got some people in my
life willing to pay oh wow okay no okay but that's no but that's a thing yeah it has to be like it's
just it oh it can't be friends and family no no no no then like just like uh i don't 10 10 bucks five bucks maybe what about you yes i was gonna say 50 bucks yeah i was gonna
say that not that there's anything special i think so seeing one person bid on it would drive it just
enough till at once it got to 50 someone would be like wait who is this guy right there'd be like
some hype yeah like it would just kind of be like oh i gotta get it right right there'd be like some hype yeah like it would just kind of be like oh i gotta get
it right right there'd be like some yasser rookie fomo right in the marketplace um but yes i and
then pippin being okay i mean i hope so it was like you know we got there was a lot of interest
in the last dance when when that came out and and it was like 99 of questions about that team when
it comes to stock x are like tell me about jordan's But that week, the week of the Pippin episode,
people wanted to know what Pippin products were doing on StockX.
And it was nice to give the guy
flowers. I mean, he's so
good. It's just like, I just like that now
he's gone full
Phil Jackson sucks, Michael
sucks. It's just very... He's better.
He's a better guy. He's a better guy. He had a good
life though. He had a good life, you know.
But future will ruin... Once future is had a good life, you know? But future will ruin.
Once future is involved in your life.
Yeah, it is.
It is a grease mark you cannot get out of a t-shirt.
So if future is listening, please stay away from me and my family.
We all understand why certain products go up in value, like a classic Jordan 1 Chicago.
That's an iconic sneaker.
It makes sense that it would grow more valuable over time.
But what are some reasons why values go down?
Yeah, I mean, that's obviously a super important question.
And it's one a lot of people ask, you know, what for sneakers, right?
There's a really obvious one.
The biggest risk if you're like a sneaker investor is restocks.
And it might
be so obvious that you don't even think about it. Right. But it's like it really if you're an
investor in these things and like your portfolio is built around, you know, say like Yeezy 350s,
if Kanye goes on a run and starts restocking like, you know, 10 colorways of the original Yeezy 350
V2s, like you're going to lose significant value. We actually did a study of this and tried to quantify how much restocks affect Yeezy values. Because Kanye was doing this a lot. He still does
it a lot, but there was a period where it was like every other week there was a new restock.
And we found that values after those restocks went down between 30% and 50% on average.
So if you had a Yeezy Beluga 2.0 and it was worth
$400, like it would be down to, you know, 250, maybe even, maybe even $200 after the restock.
Prices would go back up eventually, but like, it's a pretty significant hit. And like, you know,
with Kanye, especially that was an interesting time too, because you probably remember he was
like on this tear where he was like, I'm going to democratize access to Yeezys.
I'm going to make it so everyone, you know, there's a Yeezy in every household.
And like, and like, you know, what that was basically signaling is that there's going
to be a huge influx of supply and that there's like the runs on these things is going to
be huge.
And so like that was a real risk.
And there was, there was a, there was like a few months there where, where, where Yeezy
price premiums and Yeezy prices like really bottomed out.
And it was like, you know, again, it's like there's a there's a bright side to this.
Right. It meant that more people could buy them at retail.
But like as an investment, it was not good.
And, you know, and also I would argue that it's not great for the brand either.
Like there has to be a certain amount of hype and exclusivity around these things.
Right. out of hype and exclusivity around these things right but with something as uh i don't know as
iconic as the yeezy brand does that matter as much because like he does restock them and he does do
all this stuff but he still sells out whatever shoe he puts out every single week so is it is
it more important for other brands to be more aware of that than it is to say like a yeezy who's
gonna sell a shoe no matter what or if it's like a Yeezy who's going to sell a shoe
no matter what or if it's like let's say if it's like they're going to redo the cross the air cross
trainer bow nose one the medicine ball shoe you know like that I see or like the Kobe Grinch
even when the Grinch came out because that was like my grail and I got the restock which ended
up being essentially a quarter of the price of what the og was worth
on the market um is it is it the brand though because i do think that in a weird way kai is
kind of won by doing that because like again the same thing happened where there was a pair of
shoes that only released in asia that he released here that i got that he re-released
here and i was just like oh these are significantly cheaper but i don't know is that one specific pair
though like i i don't know like and i know like there's rumors of like the beluga reflectives
coming out soon that are he's supposed to the rule the word on the street is that he's releasing a
million pairs of them so clearly the beluga OG will be more valuable than the reflective,
but I was just wondering,
like,
does it matter more for certain brands than it does for others?
I do think,
I mean,
I do think Kanye has a certain degree of like invulnerability to this just
because he is such a strong brand,
but,
but,
you know,
two points I'll make one is that like,
you know, there was that time,
I think it was like 2000,
I want to say like late 2019, 2020,
where there were so many Yeezy releases
and the releases were, there were so many of them
that prices really were like kind of bottoming out
and they weren't selling out.
There were a couple instances where they would sit on shelves
and like you could get them for days.
And like, you know, alarm bells were going off,
you know, I'm sure in Calabasas and to some degree, you know, also and, you know, among among the day traders and resellers and investors in these products because it was like, oh, this could be the end of the brand.
Wait, can I ask, can I interject with a question?
Yeah, because here's here's here's the if we're talking about like the stock market of it all and the investment of it all, like, again, so much of it is speculation.
Right.
And I think that also we're talking about that I think can't be separated from that is the idea that like Kanye became like publicly became like this hated figure for a second.
Right.
Not amongst me and Zaya, but like, but he was on a,
you know,
it was the Trump stuff.
There was like a lot,
there's the red hat stuff,
like him and Jay-Z.
Like there was all these things happening,
like an announcement
for running for president.
So it's like,
do the hard part for me to reconcile
is how much of that was
actual public disdain that was happening along with a huge
surplus of shoes.
Because I wonder if Hattie just, for the sake of, and again, this is a speculation, but
if Kanye stays quiet and releases the same amount of shoes, does he still sell out?
And I think December actually will be kind of, this will be the kind of marker litmus test for that.
Right. He's releasing 14 Yeezys this month.
And like this is politically the quietest he's been in a long time.
So I guess maybe we'll see. But anyway, sorry, I was just wondering if they look at that.
That's a great that's a that's a great point.
I mean, there was like this is I think a this is not a debate that most people know about because most people aren't this deep in the weeds, but there was kind of, and there is this like kind of debate, right? It's, it's, it's basically a demand side versus supply side debate about why Yeezys being released. And the demand side was like the MAGA hat. And like your point is that, yeah,
if he takes the MAGA hat off
and it's just the supply side this December
and we get 14 Yeezys,
like, you know, will we see the same kind of effect
on prices or will these still be like real investable,
like high quality investments?
And that's a great,
it's a great like sort of natural experiment.
It's like, you know,
ideally he would like change his party registration
and like, you know, endorse, you know, he would like change his party registration and like you know endorse you know people who chose for uh for for president so we could get like a pure
a b test of like you know how kanye's politics affect i honestly think saying he's for pete
butaj would actually hurt him more he puts out he does like a panic at the disco. Oh my God. I, yeah, I truly be like, Oh, I would be like,
I'm out.
Yeah. That might kill it.
I mean,
it is like a very,
it,
you know,
it's a super interesting and kind of open question.
I will say that like,
you know what we saw to,
to give us another data point,
like what happened with Pharrell NMDs where they released just a ton of
Pharrell NMDs in like 2017.
Yeah.
And the,
and the,
they went used to be one of the most like high quality investment sneakers
you could find, like prices would stay up and they released, we did a study of this,
like the number of releases during that, like 2017 era, it was insane.
Like it was like one every other week.
They went from being very limited to being ubiquitous and prices just collapsed.
Like these sneakers used to go for three times, four times retail.
And they, then they would not sell out.
They would go for like under retail.
And it took, it's taken years.
I don't know if they've ever,
they really haven't come back in any meaningful way.
It hasn't fully recovered.
It hasn't fully recovered at all.
No.
Yeah.
Not for the MD.
Yeah.
Not for the NMDs.
And so going back to your,
obviously we've gone on a tangent here,
but going back to your like original question,
like what causes prices to go down?
Like what are the risks?
Like this is one of the main risks, which is like brands, you've
got to be like, you've got to, you've got to have a certain amount of faith that the brands will be
smart about their supply strategy and that there'll be, you know, somewhat like restrained
in terms of how, how, how far they push it. Cause there's always going to be the incentive on the
brand part to like make more money and sell more sneakers and sell more toys and comic books,
whatever.
But like,
they also have to be smart and you've got to have to trust them to be smart
that they're not going to flood the market and just kill everything.
Cause that can really happen.
An analogy,
another analogy,
right.
Is what happened in the nineties with trading cards,
right?
Like,
you know,
at the,
at the peak of the junk wax era,
the card companies were making 81 billion cards a year,
81 billion. They were making. And like you and I, you got, you were from this era, uh, the card companies were making 81 billion cards a year, 81 billion they were making.
And like you and I, you got, you were from this era, right? Like if you bought cards between like 88 and like 94, right? Like those cards aren't going to be worth anything now. Cause there was
just so many of them, they were just pumping them out. And it was like, it just killed the hobby.
Um, and I think this is something that like the lessons have been learned. Like the brands have
learned this, like you can't get too greedy. You can't put too much product out because like you're going to kill like any kind of investment market there is.
Yeah. Well, Jesse, first of all, you talked way too much. So I will say it feels like it's time for you to ask some questions. We'll do a quick lightning round. I want to test some knowledge here, what we've learned. And we're going to be, there's a quick Q&A about investments and
collectibles. So let's start out with this. So I'm going to give you four kind of types of assets,
and I want you to rank which are the most profitable from best to least. And so we're going to start out with Jordan 4s is one, Cause Collectibles, two, Air Max 1s, three, and then the Dow Jones Industrial is four.
So those are your four categories.
And we're going to be looking at, just to give you a timeframe, let's say from the beginning of 2020 to the present, you know,
which of those four from, from best to least was the, was the best investment versus the worst
investment? Air Max lowest Dow Jones cause figures, Jordan fours, Jordan fours being most valuable.
I'm going to go Jordan four cause figure, Air Max, Dow Jones.
Okay, so the answers are, and I got to say this was taken a couple months ago that we did this analysis.
Dow Jones is actually last and the S&P 500 is last.
It's like 30 or 40%.
Air Max won second to last with a 50% price appreciation since 2020.
Cause figures are number two.
They've appreciated by about 60 or 70% on average since 2020.
Jordan 4's are up there at 100% price appreciation since 2020.
Yeah, I was going to say Isaiah nailed that.
Isaiah nailed the list.
Damn.
He nailed the list.
That was good.
All right. nailed that. That's a list. You know, again,
I may have like zero effect
on people and maybe just generally like
a strong
emotion. But Yasser, you
consistently come in second in these guessing games
and I almost think that's like
maybe
a more humbling
fact.
Jesse got the blade.
First of all, a little bit of spicy mustard on the Jesse got the blade out. A more humbling fact. Jesse got the blade. Okay.
First of all, a little bit of spicy mustard on the sausage there.
Yikes.
All right, everyone.
That was resident nerd Jesse Einhorn, StockX senior economist,
probably just tip-tapping away on one of those calculators
that prints out the numbers.
Like you have to crank it as you go?
He wears the little visor.
Yeah.
It's like, do you have to be union?
Do you have to be in a union?
Yeah, Jesse.
Jesse, do you have to be union?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah, we're with Unite here.
Okay.
Here's the thing.
Again, people can't see you.
So they can't see that you're wearing a little visor and a tiny little bow tie and a vest as you crank away at your little dumb little calculator.
But we want to thank you for stopping by and giving us your nerd knowledge.
Again, you didn't have to.
And it feels like we actively disinvite you every time
and you still show up.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah, and I just want to say solidarity.
Appreciate you supporting our union.
And, you know, it's like,
we'll see you on the senior economist picket line.
Oh my God.
All right.
Zay, you know what we got to do now, right?
A storm front is coming through.
You know what I'm saying?
A heat wave.
Or maybe, maybe a cold pressure thing.
Yeah.
There's never any love for the cold fronts.
I know.
We never talk about the heat wave.
We never talk about the cold fronts.
Oh, we don't talk about the chilly chill.
We never get it
into it as some icy boys so icy man so icy okay but this is you know the you know we're gonna try
and forecast some heat right families you know they used to take pride in having like huge movie
collections at home right me still being one of those guys um i'm families by myself me my wife and my dog um but but now
it's weird right we all we also moved from like records to cds to to mp3s and streaming and now
records are cool again right here's my question to you do you think think like a DVD, a Blu-ray, does that become cool again?
Or in general, what do you think is coming back? Like even like a card you'd want to buy?
I know you have some that we need to talk about, but any dope merch or collectibles from the pandemic, anything like that?
I think what's going to be like in terms of a really good, strong collectible for one.
Yeah, I do. I do think DVDs will be cool do i do think dvds will be cool again i think
any old technology will be cool again yeah i think that like uh any or wired air buds that aren't
apple you know just like old headphones and like cd players you see places like that i'll have like
the first you know first generation iphone it's like 10 grand i think you'll definitely see a lot more
of that especially as we move into like a metaverse and people will be wearing headsets for stuff and
they won't be looking at a computer screen as often as they are now or like a laptop screen
so i do think i think like old technology will be something and just like you know or like it's like
as scary as this is but like a robot that was just a toy and not also your best friend.
Like they will be in 20 years.
That will also be very popular.
But like, yeah, I do.
I do think that kind of stuff will always be popular from here on out.
It's like finding old stuff from like you know like kitschy
stuff from the 50s and 60s like an old easy bake oven it's like now it'll just be stuff that we
kind of grew up with but in terms of what i think the future is gonna have in terms of collectible
i think it's gonna be like newspapers and magazines like even more so as it even more so as it is
than it is now but to like have a time magazine cover with like whoever on it or like the person of the year from 1994.
That'll be like a big get because papers are dying.
So I think to have that like an old like an old newspaper or something.
I think that that will be a collectible thing The sports section from When Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl
Last year, just stuff like that
I think will be valuable
The sports section from the Ray Lewis
Being in Atlanta
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The snitcher bowl
The snitcher bowl
Ray Lewis
When he's dancing
It's like he's not screaming, he's snitching he's screaming somebody's
name after he does that little dance
his name was Mike
man
bad guy
that's what I think
I think it'll be stuff like
the stuff that we're no longer about to start
making like I think people naturally be stuff like, yeah, the stuff that we're no longer about to start making.
Like, yeah, people naturally will want to collect those things.
It's really interesting.
What about you?
Mine's goofy just because they haven't happened yet.
But I do think they're going to come back.
I don't know how long they'll last.
And I mean that sincerely.
But I genuinely think like collectible like cups and mugs. Like remember when it was like you would get like the plastic cup that's like Disney presents or like, you know what I'm saying?
Like a big cup that was like it would be like a big scape of like art all around it.
I would start to wear off.
Yeah, I weirdly think it's going to be stuff like that because like those things, they still make those things. Right.
Like if you go to a Super Bowl or a World Series, a sporting event, whatever, like all those things still exist, but they don't hold any value.
Whereas when we were kids, like you would like run to a Burger King to get one of them.
Right.
Yeah.
They're doing a set of five out of five.
Yeah.
I got one through.
I got one, four and five. I need of five out of five. Yeah. I got one through, I got one, four, and five.
I need the other ones.
Right.
Yeah, you would definitely get that.
Yeah.
But like, yeah, I actually just, because the Braves, you know, Braves just won the World Series.
Shout out to the Braves.
I bought a bunch of that stuff.
Yeah.
I got the cup and I got the pen.
I got like, you know, the novelty towel.
Yeah.
Things of that nature.
But yeah, you're right.
It wasn't, and they were, you know, they were very cheap.
It wasn't like an expensive thing.
Right.
But that's an interesting choice.
I think that because like what you're saying is the smarter answer because that holds a tangible, it holds a tangible value over time.
But cups are those things that do go up and
down and i think right now they just haven't had their moment again yet and i think they're about
to because we've kind of touched on all the other like collectible touchstones like other than like
you know for the sake of like beanie babies which might have a resurgence but like other than that i think the thing that we will be saying is like a a um
is a like cup thing a cup thing a cup resurgence that is that is so weird to me maybe maybe a
little wayne will od with the double cup like a disney princess double cup
oh man that is a bad way to end this episode he'll survive
he'll survive
that is just not a great way to do this one
I gotta say
but that way
what if he's just like
it was princess and the frog
oh no
y'all
but personally i've collected i started doing cards a little bit you know i'm
just like dabbling in cards again i actually ended up buying a pack of cards on a whim
and it had a jalen green rookie in it with a piece of his jersey and i was like oh this is
i'm off to a flying start that's so i get why i get the hook
the hook now because like i want to buy five more boxes after that but that's not going to be in
there again i just got super lucky right yeah you know and now like and now i want jalen green to
just shine with his locks and his his long pretty hair you know he's got he's like he got like the
pom-pom yeah you know like for the girl the little girl from the prowl family yeah he's got the pom-pom. The little girl from the Proud family.
He's got that going on.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, look.
I feel like you ending it on a Lil Wayne, Jalen Green thing is way worse than me calling it a cup thing.
But I digress.
It's Ariel.
The little mermaid drinking off something blue.
It's like, you mean the ocean
you mean the ocean
alright y'all thank you so much
for listening to history of heat presented by
stock x and head gum
the first nerd everyone knows his name
my name is jesse
einhorn thank you very much
my god and my co-host
my co-host and my best friend his name is isaiah lester and i'm yasser
lester thank y'all so much for listening and we will be right back with y'all soon peace Thank you. That was a Hiddem Original.
Hey, I'm Jake Johnson, host of the podcast.
We're here to help.
But this episode right now that you are listening to is sponsored by Brooklinen.
Brooklinen provides luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, and blankets delivered straight
to your door.
How do I know this?
Because Brooklinen delivered me a quilt, sheets, pillowcases, and I love them. Plus, Brooklinen has been tested and
awarded by experts, including Good Housekeeping, GQ, Wirecutter, and the hosts of We're Here to
Help. So listeners can save a ton by purchasing a hardcore bundle, which includes a core sheet set,
which is the thing I got, extra pillowcases, and a duvet cover. You can also mix and match.
They do this stripe thing that's cool, but that's a dealer's choice.
So are you ready to build your dream fall bed?
Visit in-store or online at brooklinen.com.
That's brooklinen.com, B-R-O-O-K-L-I-N-E-N.com.
Get 15% off your first Brooklinen order and save extra when you bundle.