FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 37
DJ Khaled x Air Jordan 3 'Grateful / We The Best'
DJ Khaled carried the design on his phone for years, named it after the album he made for his newborn son, and then kept almost every pair for his inner circle, so the loudest Air Jordan 3 of 2017 became one of the hardest to find.
- Year
- 2017
- Maker
- Nike / Jordan Brand x DJ Khaled
- By price in sneakers
- 28 of 100
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Create a free account- Official name
- DJ Khaled x Air Jordan 3 Retro 'Grateful', also called 'We The Best'
- Year
- 2017
- Colorway
- University Red/Black-Cement Grey
- Style code
- No public Nike style code; resale and auction listings use the reference AJ3-770438
- Named for
- Grateful, DJ Khaled's tenth studio album, released June 23, 2017
- Signature details
- All-red leather upper, elephant print on toe and heel, 'WE THE BEST' flanking the Jumpman on the heel, hashtags #majorkey, #blessup and #jumpman23 under the heel tab
- How it was distributed
- Friends and family of DJ Khaled and Jordan Brand, plus a sweepstakes for people who pre-ordered the album; no retail release
- Production
- Not published
- Highest documented sale found
- $4,800 at auction in Toronto, 2024, size 10.5
A design that lived on a phone
In June 2017 DJ Khaled sat down for an interview about his first Air Jordan and said that working with Jordan Brand had been a dream he had chased for about 15 years. The design itself, he said, had been sitting on his phone for four or five years. He picked the Air Jordan 3 because it was his favorite model, and he said the goal was to add to the classic shoe, not change it.
The Air Jordan 3 dates to 1988. It was the first Air Jordan to carry the Jumpman logo, and its designer, Tinker Hatfield, worked closely with Michael Jordan on it. Khaled kept the shape and the famous elephant print and turned nearly everything else red. He told an interviewer that his love of the Miami Heat and of the Bulls-inspired red of the original Air Jordan 1 pushed him toward the all-red look, and he called the result his favorite Jordans of all time.
The shoe was tied to his tenth album, Grateful. Later auction catalogs describe it as a celebration of both his career and the birth of his son Asahd, who was born October 23, 2016, and who is credited as an executive producer of the album.
Summer 2017: the album, the singles, the shoe
Khaled revealed the shoe on his social media accounts in mid-June 2017, about ten days before the album. 'I'm the One,' with Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne, had come out as a single on April 28, and 'Wild Thoughts,' with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, was released June 16. That same day Khaled showed the red Air Jordan 3 up close at a New York consignment shop.
Grateful arrived on June 23, 2017. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 149,000 album-equivalent units, 50,000 of them pure album sales, Khaled's biggest first week and his second number-one album. In January 2022 it was certified double platinum, making it his best-selling album.
The shoe was part of the rollout. Fans could not buy it, but anyone who pre-ordered the album was entered for a chance to win a pair.
Friends, family and a sweepstakes
Reports at the time described the shoe as a friends-and-family release. A June 22, 2017, report said a wider release was expected June 23, but a sneaker magazine wrote that the shoe had not been assigned a wider release or a date, and that winners of the album sweepstakes would be drawn after Grateful came out. Later auction catalogs say that apart from the contest winners, no pairs were sold to the public or at retail and the rest went to friends and family of Khaled and Jordan Brand. This page follows the later accounts: there was no retail release.
Khaled also said he planned to give pairs to children in his community who could not afford Jordans. How many pairs were made in all has not been published.
One sneaker magazine noted that some limited pairs carried the word 'Greatful,' misspelled on purpose, on the inner tongue.
How to identify a pair
Auction catalogs list the colorway as University Red/Black-Cement Grey. The upper is red leather with elephant print on the toe and heel. 'WE THE BEST' flanks the Jumpman on the heel and appears on the hang tag and insoles, and three hashtags, #majorkey, #blessup and #jumpman23, are printed under the heel tab as a nod to Khaled's social media catchphrases.
The shoe never received a public Nike style code. Resale and auction listings use the reference AJ3-770438.
Khaled followed it in 2018 with two more friends-and-family Air Jordan 3s, the 'Father of Asahd' and the royal blue 'Another One,' neither of which was released to the public. They are different shoes and should not be confused with the red Grateful pair.
One online archive describes the Grateful pair as a red nubuck shoe tied to Super Bowl weekend in Minneapolis that later got a wider drop. That does not match the June 2017 reports or the auction descriptions of a red leather friends-and-family shoe, and this page does not rely on it.
Where the pairs went
Pairs have come up for sale only occasionally. In a collection sale in Toronto held May 31 to June 1, 2024, a size 10.5 pair sold for $4,800.
One of the best-known pairs belonged to Rick Ross, a longtime friend and collaborator of Khaled. His size 11 pair, sold without a box, was offered in a July 2024 auction of his possessions with an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000 and sold for $2,600.
In June 2025 another size 11 pair was offered at auction in New York with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000; the lot closed and no result was published on the lot page. On October 1, 2026, the lowest asking price found for a pair was $10,257.
The numbers
- Reveal
- Mid-June 2017, on DJ Khaled's social media
- Tied to
- Grateful, released June 23, 2017
- Retail release
- None; friends and family plus an album pre-order sweepstakes
- Retail price
- None published
- Colorway
- University Red/Black-Cement Grey
- Reference
- AJ3-770438 (not a public Nike style code)
- Production
- Not published
Timeline
Nike releases the Air Jordan 3, the first Air Jordan with the Jumpman logo.
DJ Khaled's son Asahd is born.
Khaled helps reveal Trophy Room's Air Jordan 16 'French Blue' and hosts a release-day event in Orlando.
'I'm the One' is released as a single from Grateful.
A sneaker magazine reports the shoe's reveal and a sweepstakes for album pre-orders.
Khaled shows the shoe at a New York consignment shop; 'Wild Thoughts' is released the same day.
In an interview, Khaled says he chased a Jordan collaboration for 15 years and kept the design on his phone for four or five.
Grateful is released.
Grateful is reported to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with 149,000 units.
Khaled follows with two more friends-and-family Air Jordan 3s, 'Father of Asahd' and 'Another One.'
Grateful is certified double platinum.
A size 10.5 pair sells for $4,800 in a two-day collection sale in Toronto, May 31 to June 1.
Rick Ross's size 11 pair sells for $2,600 in an auction of his possessions.
A size 11 pair is offered at auction in New York with a $4,000 to $6,000 estimate.
The lowest asking price found for a pair is $10,257.
The world in 2017
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.
New England beats Atlanta 34-28 in Super Bowl LI, the first Super Bowl to go to overtime.
The Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland in five games for the NBA title, going 16-1 in the playoffs.
A total solar eclipse crosses the continental United States for the first time since 1979.
Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm.
A gunman kills 59 people at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games to win the World Series.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $4,800 | Sold at auctionSize 10.5, sold in a collection sale in Toronto held May 31 to June 1, 2024. |
| Jul 2024 | $2,600 | Sold at auctionRick Ross's pair, size 11, without box; estimate $2,000 to $3,000. Sold price as listed; the buyer's premium is stated separately. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $10,257 | Asking price, not a saleLowest asking price found, size 8. |
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, DJ Khaled x Air Jordan 3 'Grateful / We The Best' is number 28 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 (37 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Khaled said the design sat on his phone for four or five years before Jordan Brand made it.
- Some limited pairs read 'Greatful,' misspelled on purpose, on the inner tongue.
- The hashtags #majorkey, #blessup and #jumpman23 are printed under the heel tab.
- Khaled said his love of the Miami Heat and the red of the original Air Jordan 1 inspired the all-red upper.
- The only way for the public to get a pair was to pre-order the album and win a sweepstakes.
- Rick Ross's own pair sold for $2,600 in a 2024 auction of his possessions.
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 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026