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Kanye West performs at Rolling Loud on December 12, 2021.
Kadeem CobhamMuch intrigue has swirled around Ye‘s Donda Academy, and on Monday (Jan. 24), the prep school’s basketball team shed some light on the program in a new interview.
In a cover story for SLAM, the elite team talks about being recruited away from their hometowns to attend the prep school named after Kanye West‘s late mother — a professor at Chicago State University and the namesake of her son’s latest, Grammy-nominated album — in Simi Valley, Calif. (While he doesn’t comment in the story, West did pose with the hand-selected team for the cover shoot, wearing a black hoodie and dark sunglasses.)
“A lot of my teammates, when they left [their previous schools], they had some bad reactions,” 6-foot-8 forward Braeden Moore admits to the magazine. “People called them clout chasers and said the [school] offered them money.”
The profile reveals that the basketball team’s custom jerseys are produced by Balenciaga, they wear YEEZY 500s during games, and at one point had their meals prepared by Ye’s personal chef. They also live together in luxury apartments, use an online curriculum approved by the NCAA known as K12 Private Academy and aren’t surprised when the rapper swoops in to direct the team’s photo shoot or call players on the phone for one-on-one mentoring.
“I know how important education is and I have goals that surpass basketball,” adds Moore. “That’s another reason [why] I came here, like with Justin [Laboy] and Ye, creating these relationships not only sets me up for success in basketball, it sets me up for life.”
Meanwhile, vice principal and athletic director Shayla Scott says in the story that Ye’s goals for Donda Academy are only in their infancy. “When I have opportunities to talk with [Ye] about his vision for the school, it’s by no stretch of the imagination something that’s out of reach,” she says, later adding, “In actuality, anybody can do school this way. But, to know that we’re doing it because of the support we have from Ye and all the parents and players, I think is really, honestly, going to build for future years.”
Read the full SLAM cover story here and check out Ye’s Instagram post of the cover below.
NEWS
Brad Paisley has called Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding “one of the least pretentious weddings he’s ever seen”.
The country star attended the ceremony alongside his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They joined around 1,000 guests at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month as the global pop icon married the American football star.
Although the celebration attracted enormous attention and involved tight security and a stunning makeover of the famous arena, Paisley said the occasion never came across as excessive.
“Ironically, (it) was one of the least pretentious weddings that I've ever seen or ever will see,” Paisley told The Associated Press during an interview. “It meant a lot to be (invited). It was, kind of, a big thank you from her to invite us.”
Paisley, who chose Swift as an opening performer for his tour when she was a teenager in 2007, said he was delighted to be included in what many considered the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
“They were very clear with the invite, and I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you're getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” he revealed.
The musician also explained that guests were not told the wedding’s exact location until the date drew nearer.
“It was really fun to watch the cat and mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it's going to be, we're not gonna say what building... and here's the date. If you're in, we'll tell you more,’” he continued. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it, it was RSVP yes.”
Other famous attendees included Brad Pitt, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Grant, Haim and Tom Hanks.
