TBT: I Miss the Old Kanye

… Straight from the ‘Go Kanye. Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye…

Believe it or not, at one point in history Kanye West wasn’t as polarizing as he is now. Even more unbelievable (joke), Kanye once wore Nike and Jordan! From his raps to the streets Mr. West was about that Nike life – Checks over Stripes life (if he sees you driving around in some Dri-Fit now, then he’s going to think you’re the kind of person to dry snitch). Above we see ‘Ye in some Air Jordan III ‘White Cements’ with his wife and it’s eerie how easily someone can photoshop some Adidas Yeezy Boosts onto his feet and make this picture look like it’s a month old.

Look at him, look at how young and borderline habitually happy Kanye looked. Kanye’s affinity towards Jordan was deep rooted. Being a Chicago native born in the 1980’s meant you were a Bulls fan because of some guy named Michael Jordan. Even when Kanye was a producer in the early 2000’s he’d be seen rocking clean Jays; this obvious love made the proclamation of “Yezzy jumping over the Jumpman” even more complexing. Kanye’s about Kanye’s success (as he should be), so his transition from fan (of Jordan) to a competitor/ adversary shows how badly he wants his shoes to be number 1. Which is cool, it’s cool Kanye – just we need to never forget who Mr. West rocked with for so many years… Mr. Jordan.

Look at these outifts and tell me he ‘Ye didn’t help steer fashion’s trajectory over the last ten years. Most of the ‘fits we rock now-a-days look heavily inspired by Kanye’s pants and the way they fit and shoes. We’ve taken these types of looks and slapped designer labels onto them and made them ‘heat’. Just look, take a Throwback Thursday moment and just look at how Kanye rocked what he rocked… enjoy and take notes! 😛

Tell me you haven’t seen a million people rocking Jordan 1’s like the above and below pictures… I dare you.

Who’s that guy next to Kanye in the picture below? He’s kind of a big deal.

Did Kanye help make the OG Jordan 1 cool? Yes and no. Yes because there’s a direct timeline correlation to Kanye wearing Bred/ Royal 1’s and Jordan Brand’s “OG remastering” of the Bred & Royal Jordan 1’s in 2012. Kanye was pictured time and time again in these two shoes in particular and then poof, the masses get an OG retro. No Kanye didn’t help make the OG Jordan 1 cool because it’s always been cool. The Bred and & Royal 1’s have been retroed __ times in total and they’re the pioneering Jays so their spot in pop culture was firmly cemented before Kanye entered the picture. With all that said we think there’s something to be said about the way fans/ sneakerheads/ hates/ everyone watches Kanye. He’s such a polarizing figure that regardless of your stance you’re going to watch – when you watch you’re going to notice the kicks…

Rockstar ‘Ye.

Surfing.