--- title: Kanye West Yeezy Sneakers Offered for Kidney description: Kanye West's Yeezy shoe model may cost an arm and a leg on eBay, but no one said the footwear would be worth a kidney canonical: https://time.com/4016872/kanye-west-yeezy-show-kidney/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-31T13:16:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:10.642Z og:title: Michigan Man Says He'll Trade Kanye West Sneakers for a 'Working Kidney' og:description: He says he's been flooded with responses to the offer og:url: https://time.com/4016872/kanye-west-yeezy-show-kidney/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7bde4b7fb03512c/698861ad8e0601695546221c/kanye-west-yeezy-shoes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1678 og:image:height: 944 og:image:alt: Kanye West Yeezy Shoes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michigan Man Says He'll Trade Kanye West Sneakers for a 'Working Kidney' twitter:description: He says he's been flooded with responses to the offer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7bde4b7fb03512c/698861ad8e0601695546221c/kanye-west-yeezy-shoes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michigan Man Says He'll Trade Kanye West Sneakers for a 'Working Kidney' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=822b682d-c9a5-4875-95c9-1e5a4d3e08bf&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kanye West on Why He Doesn't Care About His Legacy [Watch (HLS stream): Kanye West on Why He Doesn't Care About His Legacy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hQZVDnKU.m3u8) (3:58)  _Published 2015-04-16. “Every time I say something that’s extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the internet. So what are we getting all of the rest of the time?” asks West, the rapper and designer._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 31, 2015 1:16 PM UTC  Kanye West's Yeezy Adidas shoes at the 2015 CFDA Awards at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on June 1, 2015 in New York City. Kanye West's Yeezy Adidas shoes at the 2015 CFDA Awards at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on June 1, 2015 in New York City. Taylor Hill—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 31, 2015 1:16 PM UTC Kanye West’s Yeezy shoe model may cost an arm and a leg on eBay, but no one said the footwear would be worth a kidney. Matt Neal, a 26-year-old Michigan resident, is promising a pair of Yeezy shoes to anyone who donates a kidney with his matching blood type, according t0 a [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156066540115093&set=a.111260855092.199959.771525092&type=1) offer. A pair of ultra-rare Adidas Yeezy Boost normally sells for $1,000 or more on the Web. “People are always joking that they would give a kidney for a pair of yeezy’s!!” Neal says in a [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156066540115093&set=a.111260855092.199959.771525092&type=1) post. “Well here’s your chance, I’m 26 with 2 failing kidneys.” Waiting for a kidney transplant can take years in most states in the country, a luxury of time many do not have. Neal said in a Facebook post that he has been flooded with responses to his shoe offer. Neal’s shoe-kidney trade may not actually be possible, however, as federal law bans the exchange of merchandise for organs on an open market. He didn’t immediately respond to an interview request. “With all the people getting in touch with me about getting tested it is going to be really hard to message everyone individually,” Neal said on Facebook. “I’m going to find time over the coming days to get back to you all individually. Thank you for all of your love and interest!” ## Transcript Every time I crash the internet it's like, this little drop of truth. Every time I say something that's extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the internet. So what are we getting all of the rest of the time? [ MUSIC ] I don't care about having a legacy. I don't care about. Being remembered. Cuz the most important thing to me is like, while I'm here, while we're having fun, while we're going to sleep and breathing oxygen and living life, and falling in love, and having pain, and having joy, is like what can I do? What can I do with my voice? What can we do for each other to make life easier? To make life doper for our kids, you know, as they grow? You know, we were. Born into a broken world and we're like the clean- up crew, you know? [ MUSIC ] My mother made me believe in me. When I was growing up, I wanted to make video games. My mom got this Amiga computer when I was in seventh grade and had. 4, 096 colors. I found myself running home to use this sound program that allowed me to play a note. It would stay. Plays another note, it would stay. It plays another note, it would stay. And that's how I learned how to produce in seventh grade. And I was just really making the music to make video. Dreams. They just let me dream. They supported me. They pushed me. They didn't set me up to be inside of a, a box. What's the main thing that makes magic magic. The fact that no one believes it's possible. [ MUSIC ] When I entered the fashion world and I encountered a lot of elitism and all that, it just made me happy. It was something fun, we had the entire world against us. It was like absolutely no allies whatsoever, you know what I mean? It was like the world was against us. The pressure of that was like crazy. It was like a Superbowl. I remember sitting there with my fashion publicist Deborah, and we were supposed to do the Reese's. This is the thing with the editors after the show. They come back to see it and see if they like the collection. And we had, like, two or three people that came to see it and take a picture with Kanye and blah blah, all this type of stuff. I said, do we have any more editors coming? And Debra just looked and says, no. No one else is coming. And I looked at her and said. This is great! Remember this moment cuz it won't always be like this. Embrace this moment where no one came to see the collection. I take, you know, things that people look at as a negative as an inspiration to do. Something better. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] I think there's school teachers that are the, the exact same mission as, as me. I think there's police officers with the exact same mission. As me. Just help. Just do everything you got. Give everything you got. And, you know, our focus needs to be less about what our le -. Legacy is gonna be or how we're gonna control each other. But more how can we can give to each other. 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