04.07.09 ----   Saturday marked the release of the Nike Air Yeezys, Kanye West's much talked about collaboration with the sneaker giant.  While sneaker releases can often be chaotic, these fans were reportedly camped out for days — stretched down and around the block.

Lines began to form early outside of the Nike Sportswear store on 21 Mercer Street in New York. With other stores claiming to be sold out of the shoes already and a few others charging far more than the suggested $215 retail price.

At Sportscenter, the store set up a raffle where perspective buyers could enter a lottery, give their size and, if they were lucky, the store would call them back to let them know they had a pair of the popular shoes reserved.

Many artists — including Pharrell, Eminem and even Dinosaur Jr. — have collaborated with Nike to customize their own version of a shoe, but West was able to design his own model completely.

Photos of prototypes of the shoe began surfacing last year, just before West's Glow in the Dark Tour. As more and more information was posted on sites like Hypebeast and Nike Talk, buzz began building among West fans, sneaker-heads and resellers alike.

Nike creative director Mark Smith said: "Kanye could wear and perform in these shoes and really identify how we could make the shoes perform better.”

Kanye added in a statement: "Nike is such an important brand to me. Growing up, we looked forward to the release of new Nike's the way we would an album by our favourite artist... I've been designing Nike's in my sketch pad since the fourth grade. So to say I've been prepared for this would be an understatement. The really fun and challenging part for me was learning about Nike's design process, learning more about fabrics and functions and colorways, and all of the details that go into designing a shoe of this quality."