One week before Usher was set to give one of the biggest performances of his life at the Super Bowl Halftime Show at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, the R&B superstar found out that the custom made Jordan 4s he requested wouldn’t be ready in time. So, Usher turned instead to the famous custom sneaker designer, Dominic “The Surgeon” Ciambrone, to come to his rescue and save the show. The pair initially met through their mutual friend Lil Jon, and Ciambrone was already working with Usher to design his sneaker roller skates that he would wear during a portion of the performance, so he handled Usher’s new request in stride.

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, easy,’” Ciambrone recalls. “I think we had a week to do everything — and that shoe was incredibly difficult. The chrome material needed to shine so bright, and we remade that pair of shoes 20 times. We finished Saturday night before the Super Bowl, and a friend of mine drove it from L.A. to Vegas straight to me. It was a beautiful moment for me and my team, because we work so hard on these projects. I don’t think people understand how difficult this is.” (Billboard)