Proceeds From Kanye West & Drake’s Concert Merch Is Not Going To Charity

One way to think about the whole Ye-Drake, Donda versus Certified Lover Boy schism was as glorified merch battle.

Now, we’ve got a merch-involved détente. Though Ye and Drake duked it out all summer and fall, the duo came together on Thursday evening for the “Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert,” an Amazon-sponsored streaming event, to perform hits new and old.

The #FreeLarryHoover merchandise is being sold on Amazon, and includes pieces “engineered by Balenciaga,” as the product description reads. The merch capsule includes t-shirts (at $100 and $160), jeans ($400), a ball cap ($60), and more, all with the words “Free Hoover” printed on them.

During their performance, the duo and their crew all wore versions of the merch. Drake sported a custom blue hoodie, albeit with a looser, more Yeezy-esque double-sleeve shape, as Pitchfork puts it he characteristically “added his own pinch of patois,” with “Free The Mandem” written on the back.

If seeing Ye and Drake together after years of feuding was a strange sight, so too is the current Amazon Fashion landing page: a stark banner announcing the “YE & DRAKE FREE HOOVER OFFICIAL MERCH” beneath an auto-playing festive fashion vlog from Vanderpump Rules’s Lala Kent.

In a December 10 Tweet that linked to her GQ story, reporter Eileen Cartter wrote that “a rep confirmed none of the proceeds from the Ye x Drake x Demna x Amazon Fashion merch for last night’s Larry Hoover benefit concert will go to criminal justice orgs.” Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Ye, Drake, Amazon, and Balenciaga for further information and comment.