Kanye West released a new single for New Year’s, “Facts,” which is essentially an extended ode to West’s hate for one prominent athletic shoe company.
See, West used to be a brand ambassador for Nike, which used to make “Air Yeezy” shoes, but he left the athletics apparel brand for Adidas in 2014, and put out a new line of shoes with them instead.
That’s the Cliff’s notes, anyway. What you need to know – and what is, frankly, almost impossible to miss upon listening to the song – is that the lyrics of “Facts” are a verbal victory lap for West, peppered with Nike put-downs and praise for the new Yeezys.
But West doesn’t save all of his insults for Nike, so we have helpfully collected the rest of them below, with a big hat tip to the annotations on Genius.
– Nike
The whole song is basically calling out Nike, as we already told you.
– Michael Jordan
“Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman” makes reference to Michael Jordan’s brand, unfavorably against Kanye’s own Adidas brand of sneakers.
– Drake
The structure of that “Yeezy Yeezy” hook, and really the whole song, is a very direct reference to Drake and Future’s “Jumpman.”
– Lebron James
“Nike, Nike treat employees just like slaves / Gave LeBron a billi’ not to run away (Yo!)”
– Anyone running against him for president in 2020
“2020, I’ma run the whole election, yah!”
– Certain unnamed people with less impressive Twitter trending histories
“I’ve been trending years, y’all a couple days”
– Women who aren’t married to him
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“10 thousand dollar fur for Nori, I just copped it (Yo!) / Your baby daddy won’t even take your daughter shoppin’ (Yo!)”
– Fashion designers
Although West doesn’t specifically name names when he says “I done wore designers I won’t wear again / Make ’em n– famous, they get arrogant,” he’s criticized Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane in the past, Elle notes.
– Kimoji haters
“Plus Kimoji just shut down the app store, uh! / And we made a million a minute, we made a million a minute”
– Bill Cosby
“Do anybody feel bad for Bill Cosby?”
– … and Steve Harvey
“Did he forget the names just like Steve Harvey? (Yo!)”