Billboard Kendrick Lamar Cover - P 2014
The road to Yeezy — Kanye West‘s long-awaited, highly hyped Nike high-tops — hasn’t been an easy one, with false starts, giveaways gone wrong and, ultimately, the rapper’s decamping from Nike to Adidas altogether. But regardless of its many plagues, the style was finally released in a chill, Beyonce-esque Tweet on Feb. 9, selling out in a mere 11 minutes and leaving latecomers to scour eBay — where pairs of the $240 sneaks are currently fetching upward of $1,500.
But as luck would have it, Kendrick Lamar was able to score himself a pair of the “Red Octobers,” which he wore to cover the March 8 issue of Billboard, on stands now.
STORY: Katie Holmes Shutters Fashion Line Holmes & Yang
The Compton-bred rapper — who covers the music glossy along with Schoolboy Q — debuted his Air Yeezy 2s while performing during NBA All Star weekend on Feb. 16. And he showed up to Billboard‘s shoot in his own clothes, kicks included.
Other lucky souls to score the highly coveted, uh, soles — the promise of which has left sneakerheads salivating ever since Kanye’s original Air Yeezys debuted (and subsequently sold out) in 2009 — include Macklemore, actor Jesse Williams and fellow rapper Tyga.
As for Kanye, he hasn’t been spotted in the shoes (which officially dropped via Kim Kardashian‘s Instagram last May) since his Yeezus tour in the fall — just before he started publicly ranting against Nike’s CEO.
