This is a fan concept by Can You Kicks It, not a product. The shoe does not exist. The rapper Token has never had a sneaker collaboration, so this piece imagines six design elements and a box for a concept shoe built entirely from documented facts in his life, from a treadmill after school to the "Locomotive" singles, each one traced to a specific moment in a decade-long career.
This article is not affiliated with Token, Never Too Different, Atlantic, Hopsin, New Balance or any other brand. Every design decision you will read here comes from what the rapper Token from Marblehead, Massachusetts has said publicly and what the record shows. Nothing is for sale.
A Record About Leaving
Token's I'm Leaving Soon is his fourth studio album, released 24 July 2026 on Never Too Different, the label he founded in 2020. The lead singles are "Locomotive" and its Part II with Lil Darkie. Between those tracks, the album is broken up by "Diary" interludes, short spoken pieces that thread through the record like entries in a journal nobody was supposed to read.
The title carries a double meaning, and Token put it plainly: "will this moment be leaving soon? And writing this album I was also wondering if I will be leaving soon."
He told Mundane: "before this album, I never thought about my own death," and "Death is a terrible thing but I think the bright side of it is, it really forces you to realize what's important."
The weight of those words is real. So is what came next.
"It was really fun making this album."
That balance matters. The record sits with mortality, but it was made with joy. A listening party was held with family and friends at Mary Jane Lee Park in Salem, as reported by The Town Common in August 2026.
From Marblehead to the Mic
Benjamin David Goldberg was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1998. He got into hip-hop at 6 through his sister. By fifth grade he was running on a treadmill after school. By 10, he was writing raps.
At 13, the rapper Token freestyled for his idol Hopsin after a show at The Middle East in Cambridge. Hopsin told him to "steez it out more." That encounter later led to a tour opening slot. He chose the name Token partly because he felt different from other emcees as a white Jewish kid from Marblehead.
Then the internet found him. In October 2015, "No Sucka MCs" dropped: a video of Token rapping while walking through a Marblehead neighbourhood that passed 500,000 views in 3 days. The following April, his freestyle on Sway in the Morning over Lil Wayne's "Believe Me" went viral.
The discography runs from there: Eraser Shavings (2016), Between Somewhere (2018), Pink Is Better (2022), I'm Not Supposed to Be Here (2025), I'm Leaving Soon (2026). He founded Token's Never Too Different label in 2020, between his second and third records.
Token has said: "I came into this as a young kid trying to prove to everybody that I was meant for a culture that wasn't created for me." And: "I feel my purpose in hip-hop is to tell my full truth."
That purpose is the blueprint for everything that follows.
The Gap No Brand Has Filled
The rapper Token has never had a sneaker collaboration or a footwear campaign of his own. No collab. No capsule. No limited edition bearing his name. That gap is exactly what makes the concept worth imagining.
The biography has all the raw material a great shoe needs: a specific geography, a decade of documented moments, a label name that doubles as a personal philosophy, and Token's songs that give you the lyrical thread tying it together.
What follows are six design elements and a box, each tied to a specific fact, building a concept that tells a story only this artist could tell. This is a fan concept by Can You Kicks It. Not a product. Not affiliated with any brand or artist.
The Silhouette: A Boston Running Shoe for a Boston Rapper
The concept is built in the spirit of the New Balance 990v6, a running shoe with a chunky, layered cushioned midsole and a sculpted heel.
New Balance has its world headquarters at 100 Guest Street in Allston-Brighton, Boston. Token is from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and he has been described as a "Boston rapper". The geography is the logic: a running shoe from a Boston company for a rapper described as a Boston rapper.
Token started running on a treadmill after school in fifth grade. Can You Kicks It chose a running shoe for that reason. It is a callback to where the story began, before the raps, before the viral videos, before the label.
Grey Suede and Mesh
The upper stays close to the classic 990 look: grey suede overlays over grey mesh, with laces in the same grey. The midsole is a pale grey, almost white, so the colour on the shoe comes from only a few places, and every one of them carries a reference.
Keeping the base grey was a deliberate choice. The grey is the Boston running shoe the concept starts from. Everything else on the shoe is added on top of it.
The Pink N and the Pink Outsole
The N on the side is soft pink leather, set against the grey. Below it, the outsole is pink rubber, a pink edge that shows all the way round the bottom of the shoe. Round the back, the NB logo on the heel is pink too, and a thin pink stripe runs down the pull tab.
The reference is Token's 2022 album Pink Is Better. The concept uses the title and nothing more.
Pencil-End Lace Tips
The laces are grey, and each one ends in a tip made like the end of a pencil: a thin silver band and a small pink eraser.
The reference is his debut album, Eraser Shavings, from 2016. As with the pink, the concept takes the title only. The tips are small enough to miss, and they sit right where your hands go every time you tie the shoe.
Never Too Different on the Tongue
On the tongue sits a small grey tag with three words in pink: "Never Too Different".
Never Too Different is the label Token founded in 2020. The name connects directly to why he chose the name Token in the first place: he felt different from other emcees as a white Jewish kid from Marblehead. On a shoe that is grey almost everywhere, the tag is one of the few places where the pink spells something out.
The Diary-Page Insole
Look inside and the insole is printed like a diary page: a white page with thin blue and red ruled lines.
The reference is the "Diary" interludes that thread through I'm Leaving Soon, and the line Token has carried across his career: "I feel my purpose in hip-hop is to tell my full truth." The insole is the part of the shoe closest to you. Nobody else sees it. That is where the writing belongs.
Rail-Track Stitching Round the Heel
Round the back of the heel runs a thin line of stitching crossed by short stitches, like a railway track. It starts on one side of the shoe, crosses the heel and carries on to the other side.
The reference is the two singles from I'm Leaving Soon, "Locomotive" and its Part II with Lil Darkie. The track is stitched in a pale thread close to the colour of the suede, so it reads as a detail rather than a graphic.
The Box: Grey With a Pink Lid
The box is grey like the shoe, with a pink lid. Inside, the pair rests on pale pink tissue paper. The grey is the 990 the concept is built on, and the pink lid is Pink Is Better again, this time on the outside of the package.
There is no extra text on the box. The colours do the work.
What Comes With the Pair: An Eraser and a Card
The pair comes with two small pieces.
The first is a pink pencil eraser stamped "Eraser Shavings". It is the lace tips made full size, a nod to his 2016 debut.
The second is a small white card printed with four words: "Steez it out more". That is the line Hopsin gave a 13-year-old Token after a show at The Middle East in Cambridge, an encounter that later led to a tour opening slot. On the card, the advice is printed in plain black type and nothing else.
Why the Story Makes the Shoe
A collab shoe earns its place when every element traces back to a story only that artist could tell. Token's runs from a treadmill after school to a Cambridge venue, through his first album, his own label, a run of "Diary" interludes and the "Locomotive" singles. Each design detail in this concept exists because the biography demanded it, not because a mood board suggested it.
This is a fan concept by Can You Kicks It. The shoe does not exist. This piece is not affiliated with Token, Never Too Different, Atlantic, Hopsin, New Balance or any other brand.
The New Balance 990v6 is a real shoe with a real market. Look up the New Balance 990v6 in Can You Kicks It and see what real pairs are worth today.
FAQ
Who is the rapper Token?
Benjamin David Goldberg, born in 1998 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, is a rapper, singer and record producer who founded his own label, Never Too Different, in 2020. His fourth studio album, I'm Leaving Soon, was released in July 2026. He first broke through with the "No Sucka MCs" video in 2015 and his Sway in the Morning freestyle in 2016.
Is there a real Token sneaker?
No sneaker collaboration exists for the rapper Token. This article is a fan concept by Can You Kicks It and is not affiliated with Token, Never Too Different, Atlantic, Hopsin, New Balance or any other brand.
What is I'm Leaving Soon about?
I'm Leaving Soon is a record about mortality, framed in Token's own words. He told Mundane: "before this album, I never thought about my own death," and "Death is a terrible thing but I think the bright side of it is, it really forces you to realize what's important."
How did the rapper Token get started in rap?
Token got into hip-hop at 6 through his sister, started running on a treadmill after school in fifth grade, and was writing raps by 10. At 13, he freestyled for Hopsin after a show at The Middle East in Cambridge, an encounter that later led to a tour opening slot.