While Kanye West is arguably more famous for his work with adidas these days, it’s relatively common knowledge that the rapper worked with Nike prior to his three stripe deal. Throughout his time at the Swoosh, Kanye launched several different variations of the Nike Air Yeezy before he left the brand due to the fact he wasn’t able to express himself through designs fully due to Nike limitations.

While many of you are no doubt familiar with the Nike Air Yeezy I and II, it’s less-known that before he set to work on the aforementioned silhouettes, Mr West created a sample pair of Nike Air Max 180’s that never made it to production stage. Inspired by Graduation and it’s accompanying artwork that was designed by Takashi Murakami, these are the definition of early Kanye at his best.

These pairs were indeed only samples therefore a jaw-droppingly low amount of just 5 pairs were produced, meaning they’re potentially one of the rarest sneakers to exist. It’s not a common occurrence to even see new images of these sneakers as there’s so little in existence, yet sneaker collector applied.arts.nyc has now photographed two pairs together, which is enough to send any sneakerhead into an instant frenzy.

While most of us can only ever dream of owning such an important piece of sneaker history, it’s clear that this a huge flex. Unfortunately unless you’ve got seriously deep pockets you can continue to just drool over these images! Make sure to keep it locked in right here at The Sole Supplier for all the latest, and while you’re here take a look at Aleali May’s latest Jordan collaboration!