Kanye West has a lot to say lately, and, not surprisingly, a lot of it is about sneakers. In a recent interview with Breakfast Club co-host Charlamagne tha God, West spoke at length about footwear and, somewhat surprisingly, his past relationship with Nike.
During the talk, he touches on comparing Barack Obama to Nike, why he wants to apologize to Nike CEO Mark Parker, what it was like designing the Nike Air Yeezy 1, why he ultimately left Nike, and how Puma almost signed him. Oddly enough, there’s very little talk about Adidas or anything on the future of the Yeezy sneaker line. (He does reveal a bunch about the brand’s apparel, though). The interview itself is nearly two hours long. We know you have more pressing things to do today, so we saved you the trouble of sifting through the conversation and highlighted the most memorable sneaker-related quotes.
On comparing Barack Obama to Nike:
“I felt like Obama was perfect. He was almost like Nike or is, or Nike when I was at Nike. Not Nike now. If you sow in the good with everything, and you’ve got your whole thing planned out and strategized, if you have a rogue character like me that comes in and he says, “We need to do this for Chicago.” You’re going to take it with a grain of salt. You’re going to be cordial. You’re going to be all that, but you’re not really going to change anything. When I was at Nike they weren’t willing to change anything.”
On apologizing to Nike and Mark Parker:
“Phil Knight, who I have the most respect for, and I have respect for everyone at Nike, too. These guys, Mark Parker—I just need to speak out as a parent and apologize to this man for ever speaking ill on his name and his company, because he gave me that shot when we did the original Yeezy at Nike.”
On designing the Nike Air Yeezy 1:
“[Mark Parker] was there with me on a plane while sketching. He said, ‘Look at this sketch, I’m gonna give this guy a chance.’ He put me next to Tinker Hatfield. It’s me and Don C making the first Yeezy with Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker. That was the squad that made the original Nike. I always wanted to express that as a father. When my karma comes, I’ll accept it in real time. If Mark Parker hadn’t given me that moment, then he helped turbocharge me. And the combination of Louis Vuitton. I had the Louis Vuitton sneaker and Nike sneaker come out at the same time.”
On why he left Nike:
“I love Nike. I loved Nike. I have to put the ‘ed’ on it for the stockholders. When I was young, I used to sketch the Swoosh, everything. It was heartbreaking for me to have to leave Nike, but they refused to allow me to get royalties on my shoe. And I knew I had the hottest shoe in the world. I knew Yeezy was the hottest brand in the world. But I couldn’t get royalties. They just said, “Look, you can just make 5,000 shoes or 10,000 shoes, and we’ll give some of the proceeds to your favorite charity.’ But it was nothing to build. Now we’re building factories. They wouldn’t let me build anything. And just put out more amazing ideas to the world. My friend expressed to me that he received a royalty, because he’s a store, and I’m Yeezy? That was the final straw.”
On Mark Parker not wanting to talk to him:
“I made the decision and I left [Nike] and I went with someone who allowed me to build something. I can call the CEO of Adidas directly, I have his cell phone. Mark Parker wouldn’t get on the phone with me. They’d say things like, ‘I don’t know why people like the Yeezys.’”
On not signing to Puma:
“I was talking to Puma and Adidas. The dude that didn’t sign me at Puma definitely needs to lose his job. I’m not gonna say his name. Can you imagine? With that infrastructure and these ideas and this connection I have, there wasn’t no way there wasn’t going to be a unicorn.”
On Yeezy being a billion-dollar business:
“Yeezy’s a unicorn. It’s a billion-dollar company. We were at $15 million… two years ago? And we’re gonna hit a billion this year. It’s never ever been heard of.”
On Nike working with all of his friends:
“The funny thing is, look at Nike now. All the people who ever worked with me are all the hottest people at Nike now. They gave them the deals. Because we left and ripped they heads off. I’m not gonna provide them the same opportunity, but I’m not gonna stand in their way either. I heard Nike does stuff like send people to business school, but they’re still at Nike. Best believe, Don [C], Matt [George], Virgil [Abloh}, Jerry [Lorenzo], is still Donda at the end of the day. Louis Vuitton is still Donda at the end of the day.”
