Kanye West’s New Album and Adidas Shoes Spark Rumors, Hoaxes, Hateration

Even when Kanye West isn’t making the news, Kanye West is making the news, as evidenced by the rumors and speculation surrounding not only the outspoken rap star’s forthcoming album, but also the footwear he’s designed along with Adidas.

In keeping with his self-proclaimed fashion maven status, Kanye has a new set of kicks set to be unveiled later this year. The Adidas-made shoes are separate from the Air Yeezys, which are the result of a partnership between Kanye and Nike. The weekend brought rumors that the forthcoming designer shoes had leaked in new pictures, with some comfy-looking kicks popping up on the @Four_Pins Twitter feed.

Because the internet is the internet, the complaints came fast and furious. Commenters kvetched that the supposed Kanye shoes looked like boat shoes. HuffingtonPost, that bastion of style, said that the Kanye Wext x Adidas footwear “instantly reminded us of our grandmothers’ orthopedic walking shoes,” but also noted that grandma’s walking gear “had more flair.”

It turns out, though, that the #GeneralHospitalSwag shoes are not, in fact, Kanye’s new creative design. A representative for West informed HuffPo that the sneak peek was not Kanye’s shoe, so now we’re back to not knowing at all. Is there any way of knowing what Kanye is thinking on the design end? Not really, as his comments at the time of the design’s initial announcement focused largely on appreciating the opportunity Adidas had given him.

“To get to the point to be able to make your own shoe, and have people react to it,” Kanye said this month at the Adidas Brand Global Conference, “was such an amazing feeling that I can never let go. When I create and when we create, it’s not based off the idea of celebrity advertising. With this opportunity to create, I feel like I can be myself. This was the company that was experienced and brave enough to give me the opportunity to create.”

Supposedly, we’ll all get a better look at the new Kanye West x Adidas shoes in June, though an Adidas rep told HighSnobiety that the shoes might not see release until Spring 2015. That’s a departure from earlier reports that had the new Kanye kicks debuting in June. There’s an outside chance that some facet of Kanye’s sneaker line could hit stores in Fall or Winter 2014, but Adidas isn’t exactly forthcoming with that sort of information.

In case you’d forgotten, Kanye also does music, and he’s supposed to have a new album releasing this year as well. The producer-turned-rapper-turned-designer even canceled the last leg of his Yeezus tour earlier this month in order to devote more time to putting the finishing touches on the new album.

The past few days have brought a bit more information on what music lovers can expect from the next Kanye West effort, and all signs are pointing toward “more experimentation.” In an interview with Self-Titled, producer Evian Christ, who worked with Kanye on Yeezus, said that Kanye is continually pushing for more experimentation for his sonic landscapes.

“Kanye is the one dude who’s like, ‘This is not experimental enough. This is too poppy. Make something else,'” Christ said.

Christ is hard at work sculpting the base sounds of Kanye’s next effort, which will reportedly be only eight songs long. The best hints we have so far at what some of the album might sound like come from the Self-Titled interview, in which Christ says that he’s working on “something that sounds a bit like Otis Redding, a bit like Mobb Deep.”