On New Year’s Eve, Kanye West dropped a diss track, titled “Facts,” aimed at Nike. West used the track to throw major shade at his former collaborator and even added a reference to LeBron James. West recently clarified the lyric via social media.
In a since deleted tweet, the SWISH rapper attempted to blame the media for making more out of the line.
"The media tried to make it seem like I was downplaying LeBron on my song FACTS which I would never do," West wrote, "Lebron is fam bottom line."
On the track, the Chicago lyricist rapped that Nike "gave LeBron a billi' not to run away."
The Cleveland Cavaliers forward responded to the reference and defended Nike. As noted by HipHopDX, he has a lifetime deal with the athletic company.
"Obviously I'm going to side with Nike no matter who it is," James said. "It's just, it's family when you talk about Nike, and I'm always on their side no matter what the situation is."
Elsewhere on the track, which West recorded over Future and Drake’s “Jumpman,” legendary NBA star Michael Jordan also got caught in the crossfire. West rapped, “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman,” a line he echoed from 2012’s “New God Flow.” Nike owns Jordan's Jumpman merch logo.
Jordan’s son, Marcus, took to social media on Saturday (Jan. 2) to comment on the diss track.
After releasing two models of the Nike Air Yeezy over a few years, West jumped ship to Adidas last year. He cited a lack of creative control, among other things, for his reason to leave.
It appears that Nike has also decided to respond to West with the release of a new sneaker. Dubbed the “Red October” Air Entertainers, the shoe features noticeable references to the original Nike Air Yeezy 1 and 2. The “Red October” Nike Air Yeezy 2s ended up being West’s final release with the brand.
