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by Brendan Dunne
When Kanye West touched down in New York City on Feb. 9, for New York Fashion Week, Yeezy Season officially arrived. In the days that followed, Kanye’s adidas Yeezy sneakers showed up on his own feet, displayed ominously at adidas’ Broadway store, and eventually in the grateful hands of those able to reserve them through the adidas Confirmed app.
But there was one person who found a different way to get his hands on on a pair. Meet Markel Malcom, better known as Cheetah Boy, an 18-year old aspiring entertainer and friend of the paparazzo who waited on Kanye West at the NYC airport at the dawn of Yeezy Season. Hoping to add more famous people selfies to his social media profile, Malcom had no idea that he'd be leaving that airport with a lot more.
"We were just at the airport trying to meet up up with Kim and Kanye to say 'What’s up,' and get some photos with them," Malcom told Sole Collector. "Who knew that would happen?"
In what became something of Internet lore, Kanye West offered Markel a pair of his adidas Yeezy 750 Boost sneakers in exchange for Markel tossing his red Nike Command Forces in the trash. Like many would probably do when confronted with Kanye face to face, Markel answered with a resounding, “Of course.”
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Malcolm can be seen in the video relaying his personal information to Kanye’s bodyguard, hopeful of the future transaction.
We reached out to Malcolm to see if Kanye ended up giving him the shoes. Initially he was wary of speaking on the topic, insisting that he had to OK it with his "life manager."
When we followed up for a full interview, the voice on the other end of the line was clearly different from the first time around. Despite our suspicions that we were speaking with the aforementioned manager, the man on the phone insisted he was Markel Malcolm, and Malcolm himself verified his identity via Twitter.
“As of right now I haven’t received the shoes,” Malcolm told Sole Collector. “The bodyguard called and confirmed the shoe sizes, but [Kanye] flew out of town.”
Kanye’s bodyguard wasn’t the only one who got Malcolm's number. After the video hit the Internet, he was flooded with calls from people who figured his contact information out.
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"I got probably 50-60 calls from random people," Malcolm said. "Some wanted to buy them, some were just interested, and some were just too nosy. Some were threatening. It was kind of a whole array of everything."
He ended up trying to get a pair of adidas Yeezys from the Feb. 14 launch, but came up empty-handed there as well. Malcolm said that he’s never had a pair of Yeezys before, and that he’d hold onto a Kanye-gifted pair rather than succumb to the allure of selling them for profit.
"I want to be able to say, 'This is me holding up those sneakers and smiling,'" he said. "But we’re not there yet. Hopefully soon." Malcolm hasn't thrown his Nikes in the trash yet, but he said he'd keep his promise there if Kanye delivers on the adidas Yeezys.
Despite not getting his hands on a pair as of Feb. 25, Malcolm is hopeful that the adidas Yeezy sneakers he was promised will eventually show up.
“I don’t like bashing him because he is a busy guy,” he said of Kanye. “It's kind of shitty to tell somebody he’s going to give them something right away and don’t follow through at all.”
Until then, he’s stuck in the same boat as other eager customers around the world who missed out asking, “Where are you, Yeezy?”
