Beef explained: What is Kanye West’s problem with GAP and Adidas?

It’s been just over a week since Kanye West made his return to Instagram and as always with Ye, it’s been a wild ride. Since returning the rapper has used his platform to go at just about everyone including Adidas, GAP, Kim Kardashian and even poor old Kris Jenner was caught in the crossfire.

It’s Adidas and GAP though who have felt Ye’s full wrath as he’s posted almost daily attacks on the two clothing brands. However, this isn’t the first time West has expressed his frustrations with the brand, earlier this summer he called out Adidas for their slides that look a little too similar to his Yeezy slides. Since then, the Grammy award winner has only made his attacks more personal and scathing.

We’re here to break down this entire saga between West, Adidas, GAP and Yeezy and what exactly all those Instagram posts mean…

What’s West’s problem with Adidas?

So, all of this drama between West and Adidas first became public after the artist called out the brand for their Adilette 22 slide sandals, which West believed were a direct copy of his Yeezy slides. West then deleted the post shortly after it was uploaded.

Things were quiet for a while after that (at least by Ye’s standards) until that fateful day in August, Yeezy Day. West logged back into Instagram and claimed that Yeezy Day occurred without his consent and that the sneakers Adidas were dropping weren’t approved by him either. In all fairness, judging by the awful colourways released, we don’t think he had much involvement.

West kept quiet until he returned once again in late August, but this time he turned up the heat by hurling numerous accusations against Adidas. However, It was on September 2nd when things really started to ramp up. In a seemingly endless series of uploaded and deleted Instagram posts, he made indirect callouts of Adidas executives, specifically taking digs at Adidas SVP, Daniel Cherry III.

Kid Cudi also received a few stray shots while West uploaded screenshots of JP Morgan Chase and Adidas’ executive board (some higher-ups at the bank are on the sportswear company’s supervisory board). He also briefly removed his synonymous black circle Instagram profile image and replaced it with an upside-down image of JP Morgan managing director, Jing Ulrich. He then reverted it to the black circle before swapping it for a photo of Adidas CCO Alasdhair Willis.

The star also posted a screenshot of San Antonio Shoemakers (SAS) in a potential hint that Yeezy could switch footwear production from Adidas to SAS. Some other posts that West has been throwing up include random photos of Willis, some unreleased Hood By Air pants and jabs at Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson (he just can’t catch a break can he?)

After West had shared his frustrations about Instagram trying to remove his posts and giving us all some music tips (he called Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ the “best song in the history of music”), he continued uploading images of Adidas and JP Morgan execs.

West even claimed that Adidas had offered him $1bn as a buyout for his Yeezy brand. As his Instagram rant reached fever pitch, he uploaded an updated version of the Marvel Civil War meme that he posted last February to antagonise Davidson. This time, West pits himself against Adidas and Cherry. 

Cherry still hasn’t publicly replied to West’s harassment, and considering that the rapper is still going at Davidson, Cherry will still likely be a target for West’s cult-like fanbase even after the beef is squashed.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of posts slamming Adidas, yesterday (August 6th) West declared victory over the brand in a post where he wrote: “ADIDAS DON’T WANT NO MORE SMOKE.” Before adding “I GAVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO SETTLE THIS QUIETLY.” Despite the victory cry, West wasn’t letting up just yet and concluded the message by saying: “NOW IT’S TIME FOR GAP…”

We might have to wait for that battle though as in a screenshot posted by West, he revealed a message from his legal team which urged him to “refrain from posting anything on GAP for another 10 days.”

What’s West’s problem with GAP?

Well, much like the whole Adidas debacle, West believes that GAP is imitating the YEEZY GAP ENGINEERED BY BALENCIAGA (YGEBB) aesthetic in its mainline styles. The piece that got under Ye’s skin was a black GAP t-shirt that was in a similar vein to those designed by West himself.

On August 31st, he posted an image to Instagram of some fluorescent Yeezy glasses with a caption that read: “Gap held a meeting about me without me?” Later in the day, he returned once again, this time posting a screenshot of text messages in which he accuses GAP of stealing one of his designs. “This is GAP copying YGEBB,” West wrote in the text. He captioned the post, “But they cancelled the photo shoot with my kids in Japan without me knowing.”

On September 1st, West revealed that he plans on opening his own Yeezy stores despite both GAP and Adidas contractually stating “they would build permanent stores.”

Is Yeezy still under GAP and Adidas?

Yeezy GAP is still produced by GAP and Yeezy is still produced by Adidas. However, there is a fairly new Yeezy Instagram account that doesn’t appear to be affiliated with Adidas. Perhaps this is a preemptive sign of Ye’s desire to turn Yeezy into its own thing, especially with the news of a supposed Yeezy home line in the works.