Kanye West isn’t happy about Adidas’ new shoe, calling out the company’s CEO over “blatant copying” and calling the Adilette 22 slides ” a fake Yeezy made by Adidas themselves.” After deleting his first-quarter shenanigans from Instagram, it looked like he’d return to using the platform primarily to showcase his creative endeavors, like this weird McDonald’s packaging redesign. That lasted less than a month; he returned today to post a screenshot of the Adilette (apparently taken from a sneaker interest site) and lambast the German shoe manufacturer, despite the fact that they’ve been his design partner since 2015.
“THIS IS YE driving down the same street Kobe passed on,” he wrote. “Maybe I feel that Mamba spirit right now To Kasper I’m not standing for this blatant copying no more To all sneaker culture To every ball player rapper or even if you work at the store This is for everyone who wants to express themselves but feel they can’t cause they’ll loose their contract or be called crazy Bravery is not being afraid Bravery is overcoming your fear for your truth This Ye with the blue paint on my face These shoes represent the disrespect that people in power have to the talent This shoe is a fake Yeezy made by adidas themselves I’m not talking to DC about this either Kasper come talk to me Happy Monday”
… Look, man. Not to be that guy, but… Pot, meet kettle. Remember Nike’s Roshe silhouette? That year you couldn’t go anywhere without running into 500 pairs of those things on everyone’s feet from hardcore sneakerheads to errand-running girl dads. Then, Kanye switched teams from Nike because he didn’t like the terms of his partnership there, only to go to Adidas and drop the Yeezy Boost 350 — which looks almost exactly like Nike Roshes, despite his claim that it’s the “most iconic shoe of the past 15 years.” (Let’s not even get into how Walmart sued him because his new Yeezy Gap logo looks just like Walmart’s or how people thought the original Yeezy Slides look just like Crocs.)
Anyway, I’m sure this will lead to all kinds of chaos in the sneaker world this week, so if you’re an enthusiast (or a recovering one), buckle up. There could be some seismic shifts in the future.