Ten Years Later, Kanye West Admits Sway Had The Answers All Along About Selling Directly To Consumers

Kanye West has been making headlines over his public battle with corporations for weeks now.

As AfroTech previously reported, Kanye West recently declared it was time to cut ties with Gap and adidas and go at it alone.

“It’s time for me to go it alone,” West told Bloomberg. “It’s fine. I made the companies money. The companies made me money. We created ideas that will change apparel forever. Like the round jacket, the foam runner, the slides that have changed the shoe industry. Now it’s time for Ye to make the new industry. No more companies standing in between me and the audience.”

Although West may just be coming to this realization, Sway Calloway suggested that he part ways with major corporations and go solo back in 2013 during his famous interview with the journalist.

“Why don’t you empower yourself, and don’t need them, and do it yourself,” Sway told West during his Sway in the Morning show on SiriusXM.

“You ain’t got the answers Sway,” West famously responded. “You ain’t spent 13 million dollars of your own money trying to empower yourself!”

Now, nearly 10 years later, West has admitted that Sway was right all along.

“So, Sway, almost ten years ago said man why don’t you do it on your own? Was he right?” ABC News Live Prime Anchor Linsey Davis said during Good Morning America.

“You know what, I would go ahead and say Sway had the answer,” West responded.

West still has big dreams for the Yeezy brand despite the changes ahead. Gap recently confirmed they would be “winding down their partnership” with Yeezy after West declared he had “no choice but to terminate their collaboration.”

“We wanted to address the headlines of today and the past several weeks related to Yeezy Gap. Simply put…while we share a vision of bringing high-quality, trend-forward, utilitarian design to all people through unique omni experiences with Yeezy Gap, how we work together to deliver this vision is not aligned. And we are deciding to wind down the partnership,” Mark Breitbard, president and CEO of Gap Brand, said in an email, seen by CNN Business.

It is not yet clear when or if West will take the same route with adidas.

The contract with the apparel brand is set to expire in 2026.