Kanye West's 'Donda' Air Jordan 6 Is Going On Sale.

While Kanye West is arguably best known, in a footwear sense, for his work with adidas; there are a vast number of people who remember, and hold dear, the work Ye made prior to his current foray with the Three Stripes. 

A tenure well documented on the Kick Game blog, looking at the history of Kanye West, the hip-hop legend turned fashion mogul has been working on sneakers for a minute. 

In 2005, West released his second full-length studio album ‘Late Registration’. Previously labelled as a producer, he was keen to break this mould and move into creating his own music. It’s safe to say that he hit the ground running upon releasing ‘The College Dropout’ in 2004 which reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, with West receiving 10 Grammy nominations. 

By his second album, which saw similar critical acclaim with the artist receiving three awards including ‘Best Rap Album’ making him the first artist to win the award twice in a row, West was already rising to superstardom. To celebrate the success he’d seen, Nike approached him to work on the Air Max 180. The design featured bold colour blocking around the heel in addition to leopard print. However, the most notable feature was the College Dropout Bear stitched onto the tongue. While rumour has it that only one pair was meant to be made, a small number of samples have appeared online over the years.

It wasn’t until 2008 that Ye and The Swoosh worked together again. During the time between, the then rising star was working with BAPE and Reebok on further College Dropout-inspired pairs.

During 2008, West was seemingly more unstoppable than ever. He was on tour with the likes of Rihanna, N.E.R.D and Nas as part of his 'Glow In The Dark' tour in which Nike made him a special glow in the dark pair of Air Huarache 08s of which only 5 pairs exist (supposedly). However, the year before, tragedy had struck with his mother Dr Donda West, unexpectedly passing away due to an error in surgery. 

To pay homage to his late mother, Nike made an Air Jordan 6 for West which featured a variety of details paying respects to one of the key figures in his life. Sitting upon a clean white upper with the addition of deep crimson features on the tongue, sock liner and midsole, the upper of the sneaker featured lasered roses in addition to the subtle details of his mother’s name and the lyrics to his song ‘Roses’ printed on the insole. 

As the pairs were made for Donda West’s close family and friends, many assumed that a handful had been made and would be kept within the families they’d arrived in. That is until on the 27th of September, American auction house Christie's listed a pair.

It’s currently unknown how the auction house managed to obtain a pair of the 5-6 (as estimated in the product description on the listing) that were made. 

Currently, it’s a Kanye West x Nike release that holds the world record for the most expensive sneaker when a sample pair of Nike Air YEEZY 1s were sold for $1.8 million by Sotherby’s in April last year. 

Just how much the ‘Donda’ Air Jordan 6 will sell for isn’t certain, however, it is currently slated to be sold for a new record price of $3.5 million. If you’re looking to place a bid, you can do so here.

With the sneaker holding incredibly personal meaning to Ye, the elephant in the room is: what are his thoughts on this item being sold? As well as, whose pair were these and why are they selling them?

Whether we’ll get answers to those questions or not, time will tell.

For the latest on Kanye West, keep it Kick Game.