Kanye West has legions of devoted fans who follow his every move. Many of his followers in music, and of his fashion line Yeezy, will buy anything that West puts his name on. And no matter how controversial he may be, it seems like there is nothing the star can do wrong—even his controversial tweets won’t stop Kanye fans from spending $1,085 on pairs of Boost 350 V2’s. Which is why it comes as little shock that he has sold nearly $500,000 worth of ye tour merch.
When Kanye cryptically flew an exclusive group of people out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to preview his new album, he knew what he was doing. He was orchestrating a viral spectacle, like he has with past launches. Just look at his various Yeezy fashion shows and the demand that they created for his often sold-out duds.
In an interview with the radio station Power 106 Los Angeles, Kanye’s ex-manager Scooter Braun turns to ‘Ye to tell him that he had just sold half a million dollars worth of tour merch in 30 minutes. The huge number produced an enormous grin across Mr. West’s face.
Of course, as soon as the tour merch was made available, Hypebeasts were buzzing on social media for it.
One fan wrote, “Kanye West sold $500,000 worth of merch in 30 minutes following the release of his new album… meanwhile your idol took 3 days to get 4 preorders for his new pop socket.”
“Sometimes it sucks being a fan ok @kanyewest only reason being is every time I try and get merch. Non-fans want to make a wuick buck and resell shit way to high. Just want a sweater from my idol ??♂️,” Tweeted another Kanye idolizer.
Kanye has another collaborative project with fellow rapper Kid Cudi in the works, which is set to drop on June 8—let’s hope the tour merch is half as good as that of ye‘s. Until then, watch Kanye’s full interview with Power 106 below.