DAMN: Kendrick Lamar Rocking Fake Air Jordans With $75M In Bank

This is absurd. One of the best rappers ever — Kendrick Lamar — posted a gallery of footage of him buying knockoff Air Jordan 12s on his not-so-secret Instagram burner account, Jojoruski.

Kendrick was putting together his birthday outfit by shopping at a sketchy Canal Street clothing store. You can find these stores in the five NYC boroughs and throughout downtown Los Angeles -- including K-Dot's hometown, Compton.

As a New York-transplant living in Los Angeles who's been poor most of my life, I'm familiar with these stores. However, how many years removed from being poor is Kendrick?

When I moved to LA in late 2011, Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City was the biggest album in hip-hop. From there Kendrick has only gotten bigger. All of his albums are certified platinum and he's won 17 GRAMMYS.

Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar at the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. (Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

I get it can be tough finding vintage Air Jordans. All sneakerheads know the SNKRS app is garbage. But, Kendrick must have a sneaker connection. Hell, K-Dot is in the tier of success where he might be able to call Nike or Michael Jordan himself for some 12s.

Several rappers with Kendrick's type of success have previously made their own shoe lines. Kanye West did the Yeezys with Adidas, 50 Cent and Mark Ecko collaborated to make the G-Units, and Jay-Z had the S. Carters with Reebok.

This begs the question: "Why is Kendrick Lamar buying fake Jordans?"

Kendrick Lamar reportedly has $75 million in the bank

My favorite answer for why Kendrick is buying BS Jordans is "inflation." Maybe Lamar's margins are thinner in President Joe Biden's economy.

These counterfeit Jordans probably cost Kendrick less than $100. The manufacturers might even pay their laborers more than Nike does with theirs. You can't find legit Air Jordan 12s for less than $200.

The other explanation I've gathered is from people accusing Kendrick of trolling fans. Lamar uses his high-pitch tone while buying these counterfeits on the video part of his Instagram gallery.

There was a time when kids were bullied for wearing counterfeit sneakers or, in the suburbs, buying school clothes at Wal-Mart (or K-Mart, for the 90s kids). Perhaps Kung-Fu Kenny is trying to help those kids who can't afford Jordans.

Some kids might be thinking, "Hey if Kendrick is rocking these then they aren't that whack." Who knows. But, how effective of a troll job is it if K-Dot is posting from a burner account recently made public anyways?

Whatever the case may be this bums me out. Kendrick is one of my favorite rappers and it's ridiculous he's out there rocking Fucci Js. At least he's supporting a small business. It's not like Nike needs the money.