S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West recently delved into his break-up with mega sneaker retailer Nike and relied on rap foes 50 Cent and Game to get his point across to the hip-hop community.
According to Kanye, he was ultimately penalized by Nike for being so successful with his Air Yeezy sneakers.
“This is an analogy, so this is nothing. 50 is my brother, Game is my brother, but I just want to use this as an analogy because I want to put this into rap terms so you can understand what happened and why I was frustrated. So say 50 signs Game and gives him the opportunity to do a demo. Just one song or something. He does that song and everybody likes that song better than any song 50 had done over the past ten years, since 50 made the Jordans. And 50 saw that and was like, ‘Huh, I don’t know about that.’ But then people, everybody’s pressuring him, ‘Let him do it again.’ So he lets him do one more song and that’s even bigger. So 50’s like, ‘I don’t even know that.’ Then Game is like, ‘Can I do more?’ They’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ And 50 is just sending people to Game to just talk to him. He won’t even talk to him himself. Said, ‘Can I do more?’ He won’t even get on the phone with him. This man made the biggest song and it’s for G-Unit. 50 won’t even talk to him. So that’s what I’m talking about when I say Mark Parker.” (V-103)
Kanye also denied using his public interviews and on-stage rants to destroy fashion companies.
“Like, thank-you for the opportunity but as a man, ’cause I don’t want everybody to think that I’m on stage, everybody thinks that I’ma 50 everybody, all the corporations. Don’t think that I’m trying to put everybody on the Summer Jam screen. What I’m trying to do is talk to you. I want you to understand why you need to talk to me.” (V-103)
While details are scarce, reports last week claimed Mr. West recently landed a $10 million deal with Adidads.
Kanye West had a monumental falling-out with Nike over their marketing of his sneakers, and is about to get his revenge by signing a $10 million deal with rival Adidas. Kanye designed a range of sneakers for Nike, but sources tell us relations soured because he “only got 10 to 20 cents on the dollar for sales of his sneakers from Nike, and he only had a small personal stash to give out to his friends.” (Page Six)
Despite trying to stay with Nike, Yeezy recently credited Adidas for winning him over with royalties.
“I gotta get my money up to another level because it ain’t on Jay Z level,” Kanye said in an interview. “It ain’t on Diddy level yet. … The old me, without a daughter, might have taken the Nike deal because I just love Nike so much, blah blah blah. But the new me, with a daughter, takes the Adidas deal because I have royalties and I have to provide for my family. Whatever’s official, non-official, what y’all are gonna see is I am going to be the Tupac of product. It ain’t no Tupac of rap except for Tupac. … My designs are based on what I grew up on in hip-hop. My references be like, ‘Girl shaped like Kim.’ Not these skinny, trying to look like a boy-type models that they try to put on the runway in fashion. My reference is Nas and Mobb Deep. … I’m gonna be the first hip-hop designer and because of that, I’m going to be bigger than Wal-Mart.” (“The Angie Martinez Show”)
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Check out Kanye West’s interview:
