Discussion: Did Yeezy Jump over the Jumpman? #FACTS or Fiction? (Kanye Diss Song Reaction)
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Article from Complex:
The Real #Facts Behind Kanye West's Diss Song to Nike: http://bit.ly/1RgDZbd
"Kanye West did something last night that only Kanye West could get away with: releasing a new song on New Year's Eve that had the Internet shift its attention away from reminiscing over the year that was about to pass and focus on West's disdain with Nike, the brand he formerly had two sneakers with before moving onto adidas.
It's undoubtedly been a big year for adidas, which saw the German sportswear brand release three styles of Kanye West footwear — the Yeezy 750 Boost, Yeezy Boost 350, and Yeezy 950 — while connecting with new consumers through sneakers such as the Ultra Boost, which we ranked as the no.1 sneaker of 2015, and signing Houston Rockets guard James Harden to a $200M contract.
James Harden being delivered adidas sneakers, image via adidas
In his new song "Facts," West asserts that the adidas Yeezy line has "jumped over the Jumpman," a claim he previously made about his Nike Air Yeezy sneakers, too. West's rationale is based around the hype — perceived or real — centered around the releases of his shoes, while Air Jordans have had trouble creating the same buzz in recent times. He even goes on to say that fellow rapper Drake and longtime friend and manager Don C., who both received their own Air Jordan collaborations in 2015, are the only two people holding the brand together, rapping, "If Nike ain't had Drizzy man they would have nothing. If Nike ain't have Don C. they would have nothing."
The fact of the matter, though, is that this is the furthest thing from the truth, despite what Kanye or Twitter might say.
Nike is currently the biggest sportswear and footwear brand in the world, with plans to reach $50B in revenue by 2020, according to the brand's CEO, Mark Parker, who also has caught the fury of West's words in the past. Nike recently released its Q2 earnings, and it was found that the company made $7.7B in three months.
According to a report published by Forbes in May 2015, Nike has a market cap of $86.2B, while adidas is at $17.1B. To adidas' credit, the brand is up 13 percent from last year and 5 percent from last quarter, so it is showing positive growth, despite falling behind Skechers for the spot of second-largest footwear brand in the US.
Still there's a large gap between the two brands that even selling a million pair of Yeezy Boosts — West rapped, "I ain't drop an album but the shoes went platinum." — wouldn't close. But, according to West, Nike "can't give shit away," which, if based strictly off numbers, is not true.
It is a fact that Air Jordan releases have not been selling through with the same quickness they did as recently as a year ago, but it's also been revealed that Nike is producing more pairs for every release, flooding the market, and raising prices and quality that cuts out resellers at the same time.
The scarcity of Kanye's adidas shoes has driven up the resale value on them. The Yeezy Boost 350s, which adidas has made in four different colors so far, hover at around $1,000 on the secondary market, while the 750 Boost can go for as much as $4,000.
As West says, "Tell adidas that we need a million in production. I done told y'all all I needed was the infrastructure." This would certainly help adidas' sales, but would ultimately drive down the buzz around the sneakers, which to West says, "Now we the hottest in the streets there ain't no discussion."
In terms of his own sneakers and models like the Ultra Boost and recently released NMD, he may be right, although Nike finds similar popularity in the same market through its Flyknit Racer model.
But West says, "Nike, Nike treat employees just like slaves. Gave LeBron a billy not to run away," in reference to James' recently signed lifetime contract. James has had 13 signature sneakers with Nike and a whole host of other footwear and clothing lines. He also sold $340M worth of sneakers for Nike in 2014, making him the most popular athlete currently in the NBA in footwear sales. It's unlikely that Nike felt pressured that James would run to Under Armour — who's seen a 754 percent increase in basketball sneaker sales, thanks to Stephen Curry — for a deal like Durant was offered this year. Adidas already had its shot at James, too, when he was first coming into the NBA, and the brand didn't pony up enough cash to score him.
It's true that adidas Originals was the most-liked footwear Instagram account in 2015, a member of Donda, West's creative agency, pointed out. But there's a huge disparity between someone double-tapping an image on a phone and entering their credit card information to make a purchase."