People are losing it over the price of Kanye West's Coachella merch
23 April 2019, 13:41
Ye has started selling "church clothes" following his Sunday Service performance.
Kanye West made sure his Coachella 2019 performance was one to remember and he didn't even have to wear glitter, or assless chaps… Ye brought his weekly Sunday Service to the festival, which you've probably seen on his wife Kim Kardashian's Instagram by now.
Performing on a giant hill to over 50,000 people, the "I Love It" rapper delivered his hits with a gospel flare. Rapper DMX give an uplifting morning prayer and Kanye's daughter North West busted her iconic moves. It was all streamed through a fisheye lens too, and yeah, we don't have a clue why.
But would it be a Kanye moment without some ridiculously overpriced merch? Of course not. The Yeezy designer and fashion icon opened up shop at the festival and started selling "church clothes".
The Kanye #coachella merch is in high demand. pic.twitter.com/Sp9LjiVASl
— Lindsay Weinberg (@WeinbergLindsay) April 21, 2019
The eight-piece collection included sweatshirts, t-shirts and jogging bottoms in his signature neutral pallette, bearing the slogans "Holy Spirit" and "Trust God". He even had "Jesus Walks" plastered on a pair of socks.
And the price for this spiritual experience? A LOT. Sweatshirts ranged from $165 to $225 and the socks were a cool $50… $50 for socks!? Did we mention this happened to fall on Easter Sunday (April 21.) too? No discount whatsoever.
You don't have to have been at Coachella to part with your dollars either. Kanye's church clothes are still selling for a huge amount on his official website too.
Naturally, people took issue with the extortionate prices.
Kanye is selling merch that says “Holy spirit” on it for $200+..... I just... pic.twitter.com/NENIcVZgsR
— KING HU$$LE (@MindOfPryze) April 21, 2019
$225 for that sweatshirt.... $70 for the tee and $50 for socks.... pic.twitter.com/4CIQN6tS4p
— Keep it a bean (@L3tsB3Honest) April 21, 2019
$250?!?!?! I better be able to walk with Jesus forreal!!!!!
— Isaiah Freeman (@bigpapafreeman) April 21, 2019
Jesus walking up on Kanye West’s “Church Clothes” table selling $50 Jesus Walks socks on Easter Sunday. #JesusWalks #SundayService pic.twitter.com/UdRvatX2tv
— Marla Cozart (@itsmarcozy) April 22, 2019
I’m trying to think of an image that better displays the con job that is organized religion than Kanye West selling shitty faded “church clothes” at Coachella for hundreds of dollars 😂. Anyway, happy Easter fam 🐇🐣🐰 https://t.co/6kOLNDKjrf pic.twitter.com/Z7mJ3fd6F6
— Jimmy Weber (@JimmyTheGhost) April 21, 2019
Ummm, dis some Easter bunny shit! This doesn’t have anything to do with Resurrection Sunday.
— Gailonda Adams (@GailzHurst) April 21, 2019
But others thought it was actually a genius move.
First, nobody's making you buy overpriced #KanyeWest merch. Second, you're at #Coachella so pretending you're a savvy shopper is ludicrous. https://t.co/WFWUbay8eq
— Lex Jurgen (@MyTerribleWords) April 21, 2019
A pair of socks
— NAPPYB0YY JR (@CJ_Johnson17th) April 22, 2019
Gucci = $120
It’s luxury, it’s swag, high end, drip
Kanye = $50
“Scam”
“I’m a designer. A musician. A manager. The media tries to dehumanize people who believe in themselves.” - Kanye West pic.twitter.com/HjlHmYsrNg
Not really a fan of merch but Kanye’s “Jesus Walks” socks is kinda lookin’ dope #sundayservice
— Marc Mangapit (@marcxious) April 21, 2019
Why yall so mad about the pricing of #kanyewest merchandise? U muthafuckas will buy a gucci shirt with ni?ger on the back for $750 .. like stfu 🙄
— LissDaDon (@Thimslick_liss) April 21, 2019
Nonetheless, not taking the price point into account, many people accused Kanye of trying to win black people back on his side by using links to Christianity (especially practices symbolic in black churches) after he was cancelled for saying that slavery was a choice and showed his support for President Donald Trump.
I have weird very-not-good feelings abt Kanye capitalizing imagery of the black church while selling bare min t-shirts & socks at $50-70 a pop & providing others viewership to his spectacle through an actual peephole lens. I cant entirely enunciate my disdain for it but its there pic.twitter.com/gh8FZAzIGk
— Jonathan H. Gray @ TCAF 🤪 (@jongraywb) April 21, 2019
So all it took for y'all to uncancel Kanye West was for him to peddle around in the Black church ala #SundayService,
— ً (@shawnallenlive) April 22, 2019
Kanye is a genius. He is using the very tool (church & religion) the oppressors used on us to gain back that support, all while maintaining his support for Trump
Yeah, no. I REFUSE to support a man who proudly supports a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic, anti-Semitic president whose policies endanger the very people who subsidized his career just because he's selling redemption dressed up in church clothes. GTFOH.
— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) April 21, 2019