Kanye West Bashes Nike During Big Sean’s All-Star Concert
Big Sean‘s Yahoo! Live performance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles Saturday night turned into an all-star event as Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, YG, DJ Mustard, Travi$ Scott, J. Cole and Meek Mill all hit the stage at various points during the evening. However, it was Kanye West who made his presence most known after slamming Nike in a brief onstage tirade.
Over the past few days, West had been teasing his upcoming yeezy.supply partnership with Adidas on Twitter, with the unveiling scheduled for New York Fashion Week. In fact, when West took the stage to debut his and Big Sean’s collaborative cut “Blessings” live (sans Drake), West was wearing his new Yeezy 750 Boost sneakers. With his new kicks in tow, the rapper decided to take aim at Nike, the shoe company that West previously partnered with – they released his first two Yeezy sneakers – before an acrimonious split in 2013.
“I just want to talk to Portland right quick. Everybody at the Nike office right quick,” West said before locating Jay Z in the crowd (via Miss Info). “Hov, I ain’t going to talk too long, but I got to say something. ‘Cause I know the execs are saying ‘Nike ain’t scared of Kanye West.’ Should Nike be scared of Kanye West?” When the opening notes of Yeezus‘ “New Slaves” pumped over the House of Blues speakers, West added, “Y’all should thank Nike because they made me make these songs right here.”
West’s mini-set also featured a medley of “Black Skinhead,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Gold Digger” and “Clique.” The rapper will be back onstage tonight at the 57th annual Grammys for a pair of performances: First as part of the “FourFiveSeconds” super-trio with Rihanna and Paul McCartney and then with his own “never-before-seen solo performance.”
Big Sean’s Yahoo! Live concert wrapped up with a mega rendition of the rapper’s breakout hit “I Don’t Fuck With You” with Brown, Bieber, YG, Ty Dolla $ign, DJ Mustard and Tyga.