Almost 40 years ago, a young Michael Jordan signed what was then the NBA's most lucrative

sneaker deal with Nike.

The air Jordan line was a culture-shifting juggernaut.

It impacted not just the business of sports, but also fashion, celebrity hip-hop, and street

culture for decades to come.

A new movie directed by Ben Affleck called Air traces the origin of that shoe.

It stars Matt Damon as the Nike marketer responsible for making the historic deal.

It also features Violet Davis, Jason Bateman, a lot of talk about greatness, and the meaning

behind, yes, a shoe.

I'm Stephen Thompson.

And I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about air on Poppature Half-Hour from NPR.

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Joining me today is one of the hosts of NPR's Code Switch Podcasts, Gene Demby.

Hey, Gene.

That was good, Joe.

I'm so excited to talk about this movie, which I'll be back with.

I cannot wait.

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