After taking several shots at Nike in his song “Facts,” Kanye West is opening up a bit more on the reason he’s not returning to the company.
A TMZ camera caught Yeezy at LAX and asked him if he would return to Nike–which he left in favor of adidas in order to have creative control for his fashion line–if they offered him a Powerball jackpot equivalent of $1 billion.
“It’s not about the money,” he responded. “It’s about respect, the communication…adidas is my family.” West also assured that the prices for his Yeezy Season clothing line will go down next year, after a reporter made a comment about the costly collection.
Kanye has not been shy about his feelings towards Nike in the past. In an early 2015 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, he said that Nike was “suffocating” him, as opposed to the breath of fresh air he receives at adidas.
“A lot of times people try to block your creativity, control you with money, and Adidas allowed me to make my own whole clothing line, which I wanted to do, and it was just like a little bit of oxygen,” he told the talk show host. He also noted in an interview with Angie Martinez in 2013 (the year he changed companies) that he switched over because the royalties aid in helping provide for his family.
Check out the exchange below.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ANeJ5BlVloA