Roland “Ro Spit” Coit tells me when he gets dressed every morning, he begins by choosing the sneakers he’s going to wear. In an instant, that revelation helps me understand the community he’s built.
Roland owns Burn Rubber, one of Michigan’s most beloved and esteemed sneaker boutiques. Burn Rubber and its sister store, Two18, have teamed up with giants like Reebok, New Balance, and Jordan Brand. Yet for Roland, the shop’s about building a community for folks like him—folks who start their outfits with their kicks.
"Burn Rubber is a lifestyle," he tells me. "It’s an inspirational hub."
How did the store begin? Roland got a sign from the universe. And he acted on it.
Back in the early 2000s, Roland was DJing and rapping. Friends called him Ro, and he was ‘spitting’ rhymes, “so I put the two together: Ro Spit."
To make ends meet, Roland was also cleaning and transporting cars at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, unsure what came next. One day, a sharply dressed customer asked Ro what he loved.
"I was like, I'm in a rut. I don't know what I want to do with my life," Roland remembers. The man asked him what he’d do for the rest of his life for free. "Sneakers," Roland replied. The man told him, "Then you gotta find a way to make money doing it." And just like that, he stepped out of the car and was gone.
"I never even got his name," Roland says. "I'm still talking about that moment 20 years later.
And so are his devoted clients. To understand what Burn Rubber really is, you have to understand Roland himself.
"You can’t put me in a box," he says. "I'm multifaceted. I rap, I DJ, I act…and I'm a businessman."
Burn Rubber and Two18, reflect that ethos. "I'm from Pontiac; I'm no different than the next guy that was born two doors down,” Roland reflects. “But I show people that whatever it is your mind can come up with—it can be done."
The store’s clients range from 70-year-olds coming in to talk about Pro-Keds, to 14-year-olds just beginning to discover their style. “You're not judged,” Roland says. "The coolest thing is seeing kids come in, and then when they become artists, designers, engineers, they say, 'I'm doing this because of Burn Rubber.' That's the warm fuzzy."
I tell Roland my own memory of gymshoes with a cache of coolness: a hand-me-down pair of black Jack Purcells. My ankles had no support—but the comments and looks I got made up for it.
Roland grins. "Same. My parents couldn't afford the name-brand stuff, so I wore Stadiums—that was Kinney Shoes' in-store brand. I remember counting them…I had 18 pairs in my closet."
The first pair that blew his mind? A black-and-cement Jordan 3.
"I just couldn't believe what I was looking at," he says. "Seeing Michael Jordan fly through the air...that kind of took over my world."
When we do the interview in August, Roland tells me he’s wearing the same pair every day for the last week: Rare Air Jordan 3s. "That's rare for me," he says. "I’ve been riding my moped from Auburn Hills to Royal Oak, and I know people driving are going to look at my shoes. I’m hoping someone says, 'Man, I saw those shoes,' and comes into the store. Maybe they sell out—all because of me!"
When I ask what style means to Roland, he doesn’t hesitate: "Style is confidence. It's saying, 'I'm secure with who I am to put this on.' That's way more stylish than spending $3,000 on a Louis Vuitton T-shirt."
I wonder whether confidence grows the more you figure out your style. Roland says no. "Confidence starts from within. It starts when you say, 'This is who I am. Whether you like me or not, this makes me happy.'"
Roland’s point of view resonates with me; I felt more comfortable in my own skin just listening to him. Major shoe brands see Roland the same way, and line up to collaborate with him. But Roland says creating a shoe has to start with story.
"Some brands have reached out and there's no story, there's no history,” Roland notes. “I politely say, 'Maybe this isn't for us.' There are brands that told me I couldn’t include Detroit in the design. I said no. I hope we can work together in the future, but if I can’t do this with integrity, I won’t do it. I have to look people in the eye. I don’t ever want to not be able to do that because of a dollar."
His proudest collab? The 2022 Jordan 2. Not just for the design. For the impact.
"I negotiated that they give 250 pairs to kids in my old school. I wanted them to know I came from the same circumstances. I figured it out…you can too. There were kids like, 'I feel like I can run faster now.' That’s the same thing I thought when I saw Michael Jordan."
So where does Roland get his creative inspiration?
"I realize at my age that I’m not technically cool anymore," Roland admits with a smile. "But I listen to the people at the store. My employees. My customers. Everything is built on relationship.”
He tells me about one of those relationships, with an older man named Gibson, who hung around the shop beating everyone at ping pong. "He never really bought shoes,” Roland recalls, “but he’d talk sports, bring his daughter by. He was a great guy. When he passed during COVID, we were all just down for days. That’s the kind of place this is."
Ro Spit hasn’t disappeared. Roland still DJs and acts. He’s filmed nearly a dozen movies in Detroit’s indie scene.
"There’s art in everything," he says. "Rap had a time limit for me. Acting fills that part of me now. I’m getting better. It’s fulfilling. And I’ll keep creating. We’re only at halftime."
Step into the world of Burn Rubber at 512 N. Main Street in Royal Oak, or online atburnrubbersneakers.com
"I just couldn't believe what I was looking at. Seeing Michael Jordan fly through the air...that took over my world."
"I'm from Pontiac. I'm no different than the next guy that was born two doors down. But I show people that whatever it is your mind can come up with—it can be done."