Kanye West made it abundantly clear during one of his recent concert rants that he was on the outs with Nike since the brand wouldn’t properly compensate him for the success of his insanely popular Air Yeezy sneakers, and after hinting that he would take his business elsewhere, Adidas has confirmed that Mr. West is officially on their team.
“For 2014, we welcome to the adidas family one of the most influential cultural icons of this generation, Kanye West,” Adidas said in a statement on Tuesday (December 3). “Well known for breaking boundaries across music, film and design and partnering with our history in street wear culture and leading innovations in sport, we look forward to creating a new chapter. Details to follow.”
During a Yeezus tour stop at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center last month, ‘Ye directed some scathing remarks at Nike CEO Mark Parker for downplaying the success of his in-demand Air Yeezy sneakers. Kanye, who once rapped on “New God Flow” that the “Yeezy’s jumped over the Jumpman,” didn’t spare any details.
“They tried to make it as small as possible. Mark Parker even talked sh–, talking about, ‘We don’t even know why people like the Yeezys,” Kanye told the crowd, also revealing on The Russ Parr Morning Show that he wasn’t receiving royalties for the limited-edition sneakers.
During a later chat with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez, he noted that Nike had caught wind of his words, but they were offering too little too late, and he was already entertaining a deal with Adidas.
“I start turning up in the BBC interview and they say cool, we’re gonna give you a bigger sandbox to play in,” Kanye told Martinez. “The old me might have taken this Nike deal because I just love Nike so much. But the new me with a daughter takes the Adidas deal because I have royalties and I have to provide for my daughter.”
No word yet on what exactly Kanye will cook up with Adidas, but fans are still waiting on those Air Yeezy 2s.
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