Kanye West slammed Nike CEO Mark Parker at his latest stop on his Yeezus tour in Nashville for not paying him royalties on his Air Yeezy collection.
After Kanye burned bridges with Nike in order to obtain a partnership with Adidas, he was free to voice his frustrations with the sneaker company.
“Do you know who the head of Nike is,” he asked the crowd at the Bridgestone Arena. “No? Well let me tell you who he is: His name is Mark Parker, and he just lost culture. Everyone at Nike, everyone at Nike, Mike Parker just let go of culture.”
Just in case Parker felt like Kanye was trying to throw jabs at him behind his back, the self-proclaimed “god” was specific.
“I’m talking directly to you,” Kanye said referring to Parker. “No miscommunication.”
He then asked the crowd how they felt about the Yeezys being incredibly difficult to find and even hard to afford.
“Did you not want the Yeezys? Nike would make you believe it was my fault that you couldn’t get them, but that was not the case,” he said. “I wanted there to be as many Yeezys as there was LeBrons, and I wanted them to be at a good price, but that was not my choice, and we’re going to change everything. . . I’m going to create more than you think that any musician in the history of time ever could have.”
During the rant he also confirmed that adidas will be giving him royalties on his sneakers and in an interview with Hot 97 earlier this week, Kanye said, “Nike told me, “We can’t give you royalties because you’re not a professional athlete. I told them, ‘I’ll go to the Garden and play one-on-no one.’ I’m a performance athlete.”
While he may be getting royalties on his shoes there is still no word out yet on what the price point will be for the sneakers.
