FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 77
Air Jordan 4 Retro OG 'White Cement'
In Do the Right Thing, a passing cyclist scuffs a pair of brand-new Air Jordan 4s and nearly starts a riot, and in 2016 Jordan Brand brought the white-and-cement 4 back exactly the way it looked that summer of 1989, 'Nike Air' heel and all.
- Year
- 2016
- Maker
- Nike / Jordan Brand
- By price in sneakers
- 76 of 100
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- Air Jordan 4 Retro OG 'White Cement,' sold as the Air Jordan 4 '89
- Style code
- 840606-192
- Colorway
- White/Fire Red-Black-Tech Grey
- Release date
- Saturday, February 13, 2016, during NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto
- Retail price
- $220, $30 above the traditional $190 retro price
- Heel branding
- 'Nike Air' on the heel tab, insole and sole, as on the 1989 original
- Designer
- Tinker Hatfield
- Original
- One of the Air Jordan 4's four launch colorways, listed as White/Black
- On screen
- Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing
- Earlier retros
- 1999 (Nike Air) and 2012 (Jumpman); a newer retro followed in 2025
The fourth Jordan
Tinker Hatfield designed the Air Jordan 4 as the follow-up to the Air Jordan 3. It introduced molded support 'wings' for the laces, mesh paneling for breathability and a more angular midsole, and it was the first Air Jordan with a herringbone traction pattern. It was also the first Air Jordan sold on the global market.
The shoe came in four colorways: White/Black, Black/Cement Grey, White/Fire Red-Black and Off White/Military Blue. The White/Black pair, with its cement grey speckled accents, is the one collectors call 'White Cement.'
Sources disagree on when the 4 first reached stores. One reference work says Nike released it to the public in December 1988; another account says Hatfield debuted the four colorways at the 1989 NBA All-Star Game in Houston. Either way, it is remembered as a 1989 shoe.
108 with tax
Spike Lee, who appeared in the shoe's ads as his character Mars Blackmon, put the Air Jordan 4 in his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. In the best-known scene, Giancarlo Esposito's character, Buggin' Out, confronts a neighbor whose bicycle has just scuffed his new Jordans. Asked what they cost, he answers: '108 with tax.'
Accounts of that scene differ on which colorway Buggin' Out was wearing. Some describe his scuffed pair as White Cement 4s; others say the scuffed shoes were the 'Fire Red' 4. Either way, the scene tied the Air Jordan 4 to a Brooklyn summer, and to an argument about street etiquette and gentrification, in a way no other sneaker had been tied to a film.
Jordan Brand nodded to the scene in 2017 with a 'Buggin' Out' Friends and Family pack that included Air Jordan 4s with a pre-scuffed look. On May 21, 2024, for the film's 35th anniversary, Esposito recreated the scene, this time in the then-new Air Jordan 4 'Military Blue.'
Four releases, two heels
The White Cement 4 first returned in 1999, carrying the 'Nike Air' branding of the original. It then disappeared for more than a decade. When it came back in 2012, purists were disappointed: a Jumpman logo had replaced 'Nike Air' on the heel, and the grey was a slightly different shade, called 'Tech Grey,' with a speckle pattern that did not match the original.
The 2016 pair was Jordan Brand's answer. Officially called the Air Jordan 4 '89, it restored the original colors, used better leather, and put 'Nike Air' branding back on the sole, insole and heel tab, the first time the Nike Air heel had appeared on the shoe in the new millennium. It was part of the brand's Remastered series.
It released on Saturday, February 13, 2016, during the first NBA All-Star Weekend ever held outside the United States, in Toronto. The $220 price, $30 above what retros had traditionally cost, caused some grumbling among collectors.
The White Cement 4 returned again in 2025. That pair has a slightly higher profile, a sleeker toe box, firmer grain leather and tighter netting; the 2016 version is remembered for softer, more pliable leather and chunkier netting with wider gaps.
How to identify the 2016 pair
Look for style code 840606-192 and the colorway White/Fire Red-Black-Tech Grey on the box label. The upper is white leather with cement grey speckled overlays, black wings and eyelets, and red accents, with 'Nike Air' on the heel tab.
The heel separates it from the 2012 retro, which carries a Jumpman. The speckle should look random rather than rounded, one of the corrections made in 2016. Compared with the 2025 pair, the 2016 shoe has softer leather, a thinner foam footbed, flatter speckling and coarser netting.
Kids' sizes released alongside the men's pair, but one report notes the smallest sizes did not carry the Nike Air branding.
Why it endures
Of the four 1989 colorways, White Cement is the one most bound up with the culture around the shoe rather than a single basket. It is the 4 of the Spike Lee ads and of the Brooklyn block in Do the Right Thing. The 2016 release was the first chance in 17 years to buy it at retail with the original branding.
The numbers
- Release date
- February 13, 2016
- Retail price
- $220
- Style code
- 840606-192
- Colorway
- White/Fire Red-Black-Tech Grey
- Series
- Remastered
- Production
- No production figures have been published
Timeline
One reference work dates the Air Jordan 4's public release to December 1988.
By another account, the four original colorways debut at the NBA All-Star Game in Houston.
The Air Jordan 4 appears in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.
First White Cement retro, with 'Nike Air' on the heel.
White Cement retro with a Jumpman heel and a 'Tech Grey' shade.
The Air Jordan 4 '89 White Cement, 840606-192, releases at $220 during All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
A 'Buggin' Out' Friends and Family pack includes pre-scuffed Air Jordan 4s.
Giancarlo Esposito recreates the scuffed-sneaker scene for the film's 35th anniversary.
A new White Cement 4 retro releases with a reworked shape and materials.
The world in 2016
The Powerball jackpot passes $1 billion for the first time.
Denver beats Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.
Zach LaVine edges Aaron Gordon to repeat as slam dunk champion in Toronto; Justice Antonin Scalia dies the same day.
Kobe Bryant plays his 18th and final All-Star Game, the first held outside the U.S.
Bryant scores 60 points in his last NBA game.
Prince dies at 57.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | $300 | Asking price, not a saleLowest listed asking price at a U.S. sneaker retailer on this date. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Air Jordan 4 Retro OG 'White Cement' is number 76 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (77 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The Air Jordan 4 was the first Air Jordan with a herringbone traction pattern.
- Buggin' Out tells his neighbor his Jordans cost '108 with tax.'
- The 2016 White Cement 4 dropped the same day as one of the most famous dunk contests ever, LaVine against Gordon in Toronto.
- Its $220 price was $30 more than the traditional retro price, and collectors noticed.
- When Giancarlo Esposito recreated his scuffed-sneaker scene in 2024, he wore a different 4: the 'Military Blue.'
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026