Kanye West Explains Why He Left Nike (Video)

What really happened between Kanye and the Swoosh?

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Kanye West just took to the radio waves in New York to un-officially announce his new deal with adidas.

While on Hot 97's Angie Martinez show, the musician shed some light about what caused the deterioration of his relationship with Nike. Mentioning the cloudiness of the Red October release, Kanye also talked about asking the brand for a percentage of sales, a la Michael Jordan and his eponymous basketball line.

"At least give me some royalties. Michael Jordan got five percent of that business. If it’s $2 billion, he makes $100 million a year off of five percent royalties. [Nike] said, 'We can't give you a royalty because you're not a professional athlete,'" Kanye explained. "I told them I go to the [arena] and play one-on-none. I'm a performance athlete."

Kanye continued to say that Nike even approached him to create a two collections of 30 items a year after hearing him talk about the sports brand with Zane Lowe during a BBC Radio interview earlier this year. Although the offer was of interest to the musician, he still passed because there wasn't a promise of him getting a bigger cut of the profits.

"The old me, without a daughter, would’ve taken the Nike deal because I just love Nike so much," Kanye said. "But the new me, with a daughter, takes the adidas deal."

News from adidas on an official partnership is still to come.