May 9th, 2013 by Brendan Dunne
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The termination of Rick Ross’ Reebok sneaker sponsorship has freed up the rapper’s footwear quite a bit. Soon after him and the Vector Brand parted ways, the portly southern spitter immediately began bringing out some other stuff that had his rotation looking more like that of MMG labelmates Wale and Stalley. The most recent Heat/Bulls game was one such occasion, wherein Rozay sat courtside in the Nike Air Yeezy “Zen Grey”. Let us know if you like Ross‘ transition back to the Swoosh stuff after you check the rest of the shots post-jump.
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February 11th, 2013 by John K.
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Two of the biggest names in sneakers comes together as LeBron meets Yeezy in this amazing custom by Gourmet Kickz. However, it’s not the Air Yeezy 2 that’s used as the focus, but the original Black/Pink (aka “Blink) release of the original Nike Air Yeezy from back in 2009. This concept, derived from graphic artist Mas, is part of Gourmet Kickz’s “Homme Project” of Yeezy-inspired LeBron customs and uses the original Air Yeezy detailing like the ‘Y’ print on the heel and the matching colorway all around the shoe. A detailed gallery is just below so take a look and stay tuned for more of this great series of customs.
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February 6th, 2013 by Brendan Dunne
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Did the nearly $100,000 price tag on the recent signed Nike Air Yeezy 2 end up just a little bit out of your budget? If so then there’s another chance you get your hands on a West-blessed pair. Pictured here is the Nike Air Yeezy ‘Net’, the last of the original three to release, that has Kanye’s autograph on the right sneaker, again with that weird logo also scribbled on. Continue reading for a better look at this signed pair of the Air Yeezy and then check out the auction from jodibethbrown on eBay.
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October 22nd, 2012 by Aaron Hope
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The word “V-Chip” was a household term as 1996 rolled into ’97 here in the United States, as the Federal Communications Commission rolled out its Parental Guidelines to aide TV viewers with their content choices. The FCC’s initial ratings has stood the test of time unaltered, but a couple of sneakerheads who were rocking diapers during the rollout have exposed a flaw in the system. There’s no code to let you know that you’re about to see some serious heat on the screen (the ‘S’ sub-rating does NOT stand for ‘sneakerhead’), nor apparently is the government’s judicial arm prepared to understand the intricacies of our subculture.
“I have no understanding of this business at all,” admitted New York’s Honorable Judy Sheindlin, the typically mouthy presider, who on a Friday episode determined that a single wear of an un-DS’d ‘Zen Grey’ Nike Air Yeezy was worth $300 plus the gas it takes to get from VA to NJ and back again. The saga continues with a thread nearing 200 pages on the KTT forums (its printed first page a ‘key’ piece of evidence) and video uploaded to WSHH and YouTube; take the ongoing embarrassment as a suggestion to handle your business the right way. You can see the video in full with all the details after the jump below, then let us know if justice was served and if you’ve ever had a scenario that made you mad enough to call up Judge Wopner.
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August 7th, 2012 by John K.
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It’s clear that the Air Yeezy and Air Jordan III have a lot in common, as the Air Yeezy was built on the AJ3 foundation and the all-over ‘Y’ print is a bit of a homage to the elephant print. Another rising name in the field of sneaker customs is DeJesus Customs, who brings us the Air Jordan III done in ‘Net’ Yeezy style, going tit-for-tat in the Air Yeezy colorblocking with the exception of the glow-in-the-dark outsole. More of this simplistic sneaker transformation just below, so take a look and let us know if you think this is better than another Jordan-Yeezy custom that we saw earlier this year.
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July 3rd, 2012 by John K.
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The reality of Jersey Shore is that this group of party-hard Italians that everyone loved to openly hate (and secretly love) has made such an impressionable mark in the turn-of-the-decade era of pop culture. Even if you’ve never subjected yourself to one minute of Jersey Shore footage, there’s a hefty chance that you know who (or what) ‘The Situation’ is; the loud-mouthed frat-boy turned celebrity is certainly one of the more memorable characters of the show, and his recent sighting with the ‘Net’ colorway of the Nike Air Yeezy should garner him some props (or more likely, the opposite) from the sneaker community. More of The Situation in Yeezys below, so take a look and let us know what you think. Photos: starcasm
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June 13th, 2012 by John K.
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Looking at the Nike Air Yeezy 1 and the just released Nike Air Yeezy 2 side by side, it’s immediately evident that they come from the same lineage. The obvious similarities in shape, the mid-foot strap treatment, and the whole glow in the dark opulence lying underneath set up a clear bridge between these two entrances into the high end of collaborative Nike models. The climates the respective models arrived in weren’t quite so similar however, as the sneakerhead landscape changed quite a bit from the short span of the 2009 release of the first to last weekend’s debut of the second. Similarly the release approach was much more traditional, lineups and the occasional raffle here and there, where the second was forced to adjust after the looming threats on public safety posed by the ‘Galaxy’ business just a few months back.
The Nike Air Yeezy 1 was a bit more insular, a release seemingly driven to a much larger extent by the core sneakerhead crowd rather than the media at large. There was no heavy celebrity seeding (and obviously, no celebrity ‘Tweeting’ of their early pairs), no extensive CNN coverage building up to the moment, no fake $90,000+ auctions. Furthermore Kanye West himself was a bit of a different character back then, with the Nike Air Yeezy 1 more rooted in a history of sports footwear where the 2′s reflect his quick switch to the high-fashion houses right after, a trend played out in his lyrics and his on-going creative endeavors (recall the Louis Vuitton Pack that allegedly had Nike fuming).
Which of these two similar colorways of two separate sneakers in the Kanye West x Nike oeuvre will history be more kind to? At the moment the Nike Air Yeezy 2 ‘Black/Solar’ is a hotter commodity, with prices hovering around $2,000 on eBay whereas the ‘Black/Pink’ Nike Air Yeezy 1 only rose to that figure over the span of three years, but it will take some time before things level out and we can collectively look at them from a distance. There’s no doubt the sentimental attachment and historical signifance of the Nike Air Yeezy 1 will be unmatched for many, but there’s also the consideration of the Nike Air Yeezy 2 being that much harder to track down and arriving with a fervor much greater than before. We’re finishing off our 1 vs. 2 comparisons here with a detailed look at the Black/Pink and Black/Solar Red, so enjoy the gallery and let us know which of the two you like better!
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June 12th, 2012 by John K.
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The gap between signature shoe 1 and II is most often the widest among all others breaks between volumes. The Air Jordan, Zoom LeBron, and Zoom Kobe, etc. have all withstood that extra distance in the evolutionary jump, with the respective sequel taking on a much more distinct persona of the individual it was designed for. The Air Yeezy, however, is the exception to that rule; the first Yeezy, which officially released back in 2009, had some heavy expectations on its shoulders as it would represent the entire ‘sneakerhead’ constituency into one design. A bulky strap, a mega-high ankle cut, custom-designed lace-locks, an all-over ‘Y’ Yeezy press-mold print, glow-in-the-dark outsoles – it was the perfect sneakerhead’s shoe designed by perhaps the exemplar of the sub-culture in Kanye West. The Air Yeezy is also credited as the first signature shoe for an influential non-athlete, so the finished product was certainly an enticing news story for media outlets outside the bounds of the sneaker culture; the biggest pop culture superstar is getting his own Nike sneaker – this we gotta see.
The public outcry for a sequel followed not much after the mid-2009 release of the Air Yeezy, and since we first spotted it with our own eyes during the February 2011 world premiere of Kobe Bryant’s ‘Black Mamba’ short, the Air Yeezy 2 was a massive ongoing headline over the last sixteen months. The sneaker was kept under heavy wraps, with Kanye himself acting as lone ‘trailer’ as we witnessed him rotate a variety of different colorways on the street and during live musical performances. Eventually (in a long and dragging saga), Nike unveiled the final release information and the Air Yeezy 2 released globally this past Saturday, but what was already considered to be one of the toughest sneaker acquisitions of the year turned out to be much more difficult due to a variety of factors, with many pointing to the overall mainstream movement of ‘sneakers’ being the primary culprit. The landscape of the Air Yeezy 2 release was in clear contrast with the original Air Yeezy release; while many stores – official Nike retailers included – celebrated the momentous Yeezy occasion with themed in-store events, the dangerously high demand and ultra-low supply raised major concerns for Nike and ultimately forced the release to take on a ‘quick and painless’ approach; the Twitter RSVP took center stage (with controversial results) while other stores depended on controlled raffle/lottery arrangements, and a massive chunk of the hungry were left un-fed. The demand remained, and so the resale market value of the Air Yeezy 2 eclipsed that of the original Air Yeezy at its highest point, reaching jaw-dropping amounts in a short period of time.
The design contrast between the Air Yeezy and Air Yeezy 2, displayed in the following gallery, also speaks on Kanye West’s changing tastes in fashion and style, but surely Kanye’s own sneaker obsession played a major role in the design concept as the base of the shoe is shared with one of Nike’s most revered designs – the Air Tech Challenge. Above it is a slimmer, sleeker, and more luxurious build, opting for extravagant tastes like anaconda-skin and intricate details like the hieroglyphics and Horus logo on the tongue. The Air Yeezy 2 certainly met Nike’s fastidious demands of a signature shoe, as the overall design exuded Kanye’s more recent fascination with high-end luxury and fashion and grandiose self-imagery. The Air Yeezy 2 was a clear overlap of the sneakerhead community and the pop-culture/contemporary fashion circles, becoming a must-have item for a much larger population of fashion-forward, but Kanye’s ongoing relationship with Nike, based not only on this release but his participation in Kobe Bryant’s ‘The Kobe System’ ad campaign, will always be on the sneakerhead’s radar – regardless of where (or when) fashion trends evolve. Will there be an Air Yeezy 3? Kanye’s already hinted at that a few months back, but for now, let’s enjoy the Air Yeezy 2 for what it is and see for yourself just how similar and different the Air Yeezy 1 and 2 truly is by flipping through the gallery below.
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