MSNow Opinion: ‘A’ja Wilson’s on top, top, top’ in brilliant new Nike ads for her A’One signature shoe

The WNBA’s superstar's story and the new ad for her signature shoe reveal how much the world still needs to make room for Black girls’ joy and brilliance and power.

A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces prepares for a free throw against the Phoenix Mercury on May 6, 2025. David Becker / NBAE via Getty Images

May. 8, 2025, 8:22 PM EDT

By Kyra D. Gaunt

Black girls’ musical play — embodied percussion passed down through generations — is rarely seen as sport. But it is. The 1980 Fantastic Four Double Dutch Champs, who joined the first international rap tour in ’82, are proof. But because these games are songs — and center girls — they’re rarely taken seriously. A new Nike ad campaign starring A’ja Wilson that includes Malia Obama as a director makes us take them seriously.

Obama directed the ad for Wilson’s pink A’One signature shoe that shows Wilson, a two-time WNBA champion and three-time league MVP with the Las Vegas Aces, sitting on the steps of a front porch with a girl of about 10 who’s teaching a handclapping game-song to the tune of “Miss Mary Mack” — correcting the 28-year-old athletic genius when she messes up:

♪ A’ja Wilson’s on top, top, top / Can’t take her spot, spot, spot / She’s a real one through, through, through / Always does what she’ll do, do, do. ♪

Another ad, directed by Jenn Nkiru and featuring the same rhymed chants, is a montage of HBCU cheer formations, sashays, stomps and hair politics, too. It opens with (more)