Jerry Lorenzo & John Mayer Talk Nike, Sobriety & More

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Jerry Lorenzo and his label Fear of God have received well-deserved attention across the fashion industry due to their newly announced Sixth Collection and the Nike x Fear of God collaboration. Also worthy of praise, John Mayer has reigned as a unicorn in the music industry because of his unique style and strong songwriting.

Recently, Jerry Lorenzo and John Mayer sat down with Complex’s Joe La Puma to discuss Fear of God, music, Kanye and even more. Here’s some of what they had to say.

Jerry Lorenzo on Working with Nike

Jerry Lorenzo: I respected the opportunity to work with Nike so much that I was willing to not have the opportunity if I couldn’t honor it through my gifts and talents. I went to Nike and I said, ‘My gifts are not coloring up anything. My gift is in shape, and not only do I need my own silhouette, I need to fly my last [sneaker] in from Italy. It needs to be this shape.’ Nike said, ‘Hey, we feel like kids just aren’t wearing our performance shoes during the day. Straight up. How can we style this?’ I’m like, ‘It’s not a style thing. It’s a shape thing.

John Mayer on His Sobriety

John Mayer: I have the most amazing last-night-of-my-life-drinking story. It was Drake’s 30th birthday party, and I made quite a fool of myself. It took me weeks to stop doing this every morning I woke up. And then I had a conversation with myself. I remember where I was. I was in my sixth day of the hangover. That’s how big the hangover was. I looked out the window and I went, ‘OK, John, what percentage of your potential would you like to have? Because if you say you’d like 60, and you’d like to spend the other 40 having fun, that’s fine. But what percentage of what is available to you would you like to make happen? There’s no wrong answer. What is it?’ I went, ‘100.’

John Mayer on Mac Miller

John Mayer: I just wish figuring out your life didn’t take your life away from you.

John Mayer on Kanye West

John Mayer: I’m not gonna shy away from the Kanye conversation because it’s like an MMA fight where the guy’s not tapping out and his ref isn’t calling the fight. So he’s still a topic of conversation, and I cannot wait until the day it would be insensitive to talk about him. I can’t wait. Please, do us the favor of making it seem a little unsavory and a little tacky to talk about it because you tapped out. Please, tap out. I tapped out. Tap out. You know? Instead, the ref’s going, ‘I don’t know what to do. He’s still fighting. He’s still punching back.’

Jerry Lorenzo on Owning Fear of God

Jerry Lorenzo: I want to provide opportunities for my family. I got a job in baseball after getting my MBA because my dad coached baseball. If my nephews graduate high school, it’s like, “Yo, I got a job for you. You don’t have to do it, but it’s an option.” Most blacks don’t have that, you know? There’s a part of me that feels a responsibility to maintain ownership to do that.