No longer was West the dorky producer turned rapper agitating to break out of Jay-Z's shadow. He had become a true star. The only person who could stop Kanye was Kanye - or Ye, as he prefers to be known of late.
His empire lies in a smouldering heap in the wake of the 45-year-old artist's October media blitz. West says he lost $2bn in a single day last week.
First there was the smear campaign against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, then the White Lives Matter fashion statement in Paris, then his complete transformation into an "alt-right" puppet. And it crescendoed with West's antisemitic commentary.
The Gap, JP Morgan and Creative Artists Agency are among a raft of partners that quickly cut ties. All the while West dug in, claiming Adidas would never leave him regardless of how many antisemitic assertions he made.
But a week later, Adidas went its own way, a move it reckons cost it $246m in potential fourth-quarter earnings - West's Yeezy line accounted for as much as 8% of its bottom line.
This story is from the November 04, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the November 04, 2022 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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