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Kanye West Advocates For $20 Yeezys

Kanye West and Joe Rogan sat down for a three-hour conversation on Friday that eventually made its way to the internet on Saturday. The podcast already has just under four million views and it is expected to get even more engagement in the coming week as people who missed it, get themselves caught up.

There were a wide variety of topics discussed in this podcast, including West’s desire to run for President of the United States. They even touched on the world of sneakers, where West went in-depth on his infamous Adidas Yeezy Foam Runner.

“I designed this thing, we call it the Foam Runner, and we built a factory for it in Cody and you can make these in 25 minutes. And what I’m saying about design, I was talking to one of the awesome designers we just got over at Yeezy. We’ve got this amazing crew. We’ve got guys that Nike sued us for, and one of these guys, I was trying to hire him for two years, he had to go surf for a year, and now he’s in,” Kanye divulged. “When he does his cad drawings, it’s like one shot one kill. Sometimes you design stuff and you have to re-do it five to eight times. His first one is so close to being ready for market because he sketches in a certain type of way.”

Kanye went on to talk about the shoe and how much it’s worth. As it stands this is the least expensive Yeezy to date although West is hoping for it to be even cheaper. In the interview, West said he hopes for the shoe to cost just $20 someday. “So for me, I’m gonna make this shoe be $20,” West said. “Money isn’t real, so the world should eventually be free.”

As many already know, Yeezys can cost upwards of $300 USD, so a $20 shoe would certainly be a welcomed change of pace. If Ye were able to get this done, he would certainly change the entire landscape of the sneaker industry.

Kanye West

Brad Barket/Getty Images for Fast Company

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DJ Akademiks questions if Lil Durk will get bond as the racketeering case goes on

Lil Durk’s legal battle is about to take another big step, and DJ Akademiks is already sharing his expectations for what could go down when the rapper returns to court in November.

Durk is in custody, awaiting his next VICAR case in which authorities say he was running a criminal enterprise. His next trial was set for October 5, but recent developments have called into question when those proceedings will occur.

Durk’s murder for hire trial recently resulted in a not guilty verdict in November. Regardless of that outcome, he remains in custody because the separate racketeering related charges remain unresolved. Durk’s attorneys have asked for the new hearing and have been ordered to appear by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, which also must submit a fresh bail report.

Against that backdrop, legal commentator Bradford Cohen had previously suggested Durk could eventually get bond. That view ties in with Durk’s not-guilty verdict in the earlier case, and the argument that the outcome could make it harder to sustain the remaining allegations.

DJ Akademiks sees things a bit differently. In a recent livestream, Akademiks predicted that Durk would not get a bond at the Nov. hearing. He believes the charges will stick and cites the seriousness of the allegations in the VICAR case as his reasoning. He also doesn’t appear to expect the rapper to be released from jail anytime soon as the case moves forward.

Akademiks’ prediction concerns the bond hearing, not Durk’s chances at trial. Durk’s legal situation remains unresolved for now. His recent acquittal has altered the circumstances of his arrest, but the separate racketeering case still looms over the rapper as both sides prepare for the next phase.

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DJ Akademiks Resurrects 2015 Drake vs. Meek Mill Beef With Alleged Nicki Minaj Backstory

DJ Akademiks is digging up hip-hop history buried for 10 years as he offers his supposed explanation for how the Drake/Meek Mill feud came to a head in 2015. The back-and-forth between Akademiks and Meek Mill has resurfaced the conversation. Akademiks returned to the long-running Drake-Meek beef on his stream last night, saying a comment by Nicki Minaj had something to do with what happened between the two rappers.

According to Akademiks, Meek and Minaj were shopping at a designer fashion store when they got to the register. He says that when Meek told her he didn’t have the cash to pay for Minaj, she allegedly told him he would never be Drake. Akademiks also claims Minaj left the store on her own, and then Meek went on X, and what happened next started the infamous feud with Drake.

The account remains an allegation, not a confirmed explanation. The information provided has not been independently verified, and ultimately only those involved, including Minaj and Meek Mill, could confirm the story’s authenticity.

The beef between Drake and Meek Mill started in 2015 and has become a staple in hip-hop conversation. Meek struggled after the fallout, while the beef became a defining moment in Drake’s career. However, the two eventually made up and collaborated on “Going Bad,” signaling a return to a more cooperative relationship despite the rivalry’s tension.

Now that Akademiks and Meek are throwing shots again, the events of 2015 are back in the conversation. By reflecting on the feud, Akademiks has added another possible piece of context to a story that has been a hot topic in hip-hop for years.

Whether his version of events is what actually happened, however, remains unresolved. Currently, the designer-store story isn’t factual, but it is Akademiks’ version of the events surrounding the beef.

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