You Were Right. Kanye West Is An Idiot.
You heard the word? Lord Yeezus has swapped his Swoosh for the Three Stripes. Kanye West will be working on a footwear and fashion line with adidas, the rumour is it will sit within Yōji Yamamoto's high fashion facing Y-3 brand, but we really have no idea yet. Kanye revealed the defection from Nike during a radio interview with Angie Martinez on Hot 97, saying he was going to become the 'Tupac of product'. Some other choice lines included, 'I'm gonna be bigger than Wal-Mart', 'I'm one hundred thousand percent at all times', and the assertion that his fiance is the one of top ten hottest women 'of human existence'.
Martinez served as a perfect sycophantic sounding board for West's monologue – has Kanye had Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Zane Lowe and Martinez sign some sort of agreement pre-interview along the lines of, 'Do not disagree with me or challenge me, only compliment me, or I will not go on your show ever again'?
http://youtu.be/B0eQFYsKHlo
The best line, however, was Kanye's explanation of why he rejected Nike's revised offer to go with adidas... 'I took the adidas deal because I have royalties and I have to provide for my family,' he said. 'In order to protect my daughter I've gotta get my money up to another level'.
It goes against Kanye's rant with Zane Lowe, in which he said he was motivated to make 'dope product' first and then reap the monetary rewards, now he's set personal greed as his starting point. He told Martinez he loves Nike as a brand and the 'old Kanye' would have stayed with them for the love of the product, but now he has a daughter he went with adidas because he was offered royalties. It's a kind of a kick in the face to adidas too, who consistently churn out inventive stuff and have flourishing Originals and Y-3 lines without Kanye.
Supporting your family is a noble cause, of course, but when your net worth is already $100 million and the average American is valued at under 40K, your perception of what you need to raise a kid is whacker than Walmart. Speaking of, is that where the 'Red October' Nike Yeezy 2 could end up? It'd be a snarky way for Nike to slap their Judas (Yeezdas?) in the face on his way out the door.
So, where to from here for Kanye? We've defended him for a long time and held out hope that he was a true genius just trolling us, but we were in denial and never truly believed that theory. The truth is Kanye has lost it and needs to stop talking to the media again, for a long time. He's losing his cool and its destroying his coolness. He hasn't warmed himself to anyone in the last couple of months, other than Kim Kardashian's mother, so the only way back to a mass love-in is to do what he did with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and create something unquestionably brilliant. Adidas, get this guy in to direct the team to create some goodness quick, he's a ticking time bomb – Kanye's collection could blow up or blow you up.
http://youtu.be/EeJcDPP_tQo
Outside of the sneakerworld though, this shot-for-shot recreation for Kanye's indigestion remedying 'Bound 2' film clip is far bigger news.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nRckgn36lzY