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Kim Kardashian Flew Me Across The World So I Could Meet Kanye and Attend Her Birthday Brunch

A Dutch web designer who helps run a Kanye fansite got the surprise of his life when Kim Kardashian booked him a ticket to LA to attend her birthday brunch.
Wouter van Dijk
Amsterdam, NL

This piece originally appeared on Noisey Netherlands

Maik Leenards is one of the Kanye superfans behind @TeamKanyeDaily. For the uninitiated, this Twitter account and blog share every Kanye West related move with the world - from gifs and the latest updates on Yeezy Supply merchandise to fan made t-shirts, motivational Yeezus quotes, and cookies inscribed with the phrase "that shit cray". It's essentially the modern-day equivalent to a fan club, if fan clubs insisted on sending you mailouts at 30-minute intervals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week (including Christmas).

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TeamKanyeDaily's online crusade is hard to ignore. As Kanye's relationship with Kim has blossomed into marriage and now a family, the Twitter account has taken to providing its followers with updates on the Kardashian side to Kanye West too. Clearly, Kim is an avid follower because, in honour of her birthday party last week, she flew over some of the site's most dedicated contributors for a luxury brunch. Since then, the internet has been awash with rumours (well, mainly one rumour, which is that the TeamKanyeDaily team know what's happening with SWISH) and equal amounts of green-eyed jealousy.

We caught up with Marik to find out exactly how one guy from the Netherlands managed to find himself sipping tea, coffee, grey-coloured juice served in a perfectly perpendicular tumbler, or whatever it is that Kanye drinks, at Kim Kardashian's birthday brunch. Here is that conversation.

Noisey: what is TeamKanyeDaily and what's your part in it?
Maik: We're a team of five people from the US, Britain and Holland. We share news and pictures about Kanye on our website (which is currently under construction). Because we live so far apart, we mostly communicate via chat and e-mail. I joined the crew to help with the web design, but we don't really work with a strict division of tasks.

OK. Enough of the pleasantries. How the hell did you get invited to Kim Kardashian's birthday party? Are you illuminati?
We got an invitation via email from one of her app developers. I didn't believe it of course, because a trip to Los Angeles costs a fortune. But when I was able to check in to my flight I knew it had to be true. I didn't even have a passport, so I had to fast-track my ID application. But it was all worth it.

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So you get into the plane, you fly for eleven hours, and then what?
I was picked up by someone from her team. They arranged a cab that brought me to our hotel. Once they brought us to our rooms, we were welcomed by a gift from Kim, accompanied by a letter thanking us for all the work we did on social media. We had nothing planned the rest of the day, so we decided to do some typical American stuff: watch football and eat hamburgers.

And then it was Saturday morning in Los Angeles - the day of Kim's party. How did you feel when you woke up?
We had to get up early. Like, real early. I'm usually really bad at that, but this time, I felt great. We had a drink and were brought to the brunch room. There was a table where we could leave the gifts. I mean, when you go to a birthday party you naturally bring something.

What do you get Kim Kardashian for her birthday? How do you buy for the girl who has everything?
Everybody brought something different. Some people brought white roses, because she loves those. As a group we brought a photo album we made from all kinds of artwork inspired by Kim, Kanye and North. A little while later she came into the room. Well, you know how that goes. All the girls went batshit crazy.

Now, be honest, you went a little crazy yourself, too.
I have to admit it was quite special. You never see her in person. There was a short introduction round, followed by a photo op. Everything was really well organized. The brunch was really good too. Although - what else do you expect from a five star hotel?

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What was she like?
She's really sweet. There were only nineteen people, so the atmosphere was quite intimate. You could ask her anything, and there was no one getting in the way or hogging all the attention. She just had a real vibe over her. She took her time to answer all our questions until the room fell completely quiet, because the big man himself came in. I almost fell from my chair. It was insane. Everyone said he wouldn't be there.

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What did you talk about with Kanye West?
The first thing we talked about were his shoes. I have those Yeezy 750 Boosts, but he wore the new ones, in dark brown, that aren't available yet. It was the first thing I noticed, so that's what we talked about. It was hard at first. You just stand there and don't know what to say. But after that it went really well, we could just ask him stuff. He was interested in what we had to say, and appreciated our opinions about him. I really got the feeling he was there because he wanted to. When I think about it, we were just chilling together. Now I don't have a #1 on my bucket list anymore, so I have to think of something else.

Did it all go like you expected?
No. It was so much better and so much more awesome. It was the best weekend of all my life. I had expected it to be much more formal and organized. But this was personal. Besides, I didn't even expect Kanye to show up, so it was perfect. I've wanted to visit the US for so long, and now I have been given the opportunity. And everything was paid for as well.

It's been more than a week since that all took place. Have you returned to reality yet?
Well, not completely. New pictures keep popping up, and people ask me about it all the time. This is an experience that will stay with me forever. I'll be still talking about it for years to come. I don't want to boast too much, because it will seem these are the kind of things I do it all for, but we started TeamKanyeDaily because we're fans. We've been creating content for over five years, so maybe we deserved this experience.

So… do you have the new Kanye album on a USB stick?
No. I don't.

FFS. What do you expect from his next album?
I try to keep my expectations in check, because you never know with Kanye. When you expect too much, it can only disappoint. I obviously dig all of his work, but I don't listen to Cruel Summer and Yeezus as much as I used to. You know how it is. From one moment to another, Kanye can completely change his mind about his next release. I'll just wait.

Follow @TeamKanyeDaily if you're cool with knowing more about one rapper's daily movements than you do about your own mother.