Kanye West is rumored to be releasing a new album soon. Here's everything we know so far.
- Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, is gearing up to release a new album, reports NBC News.
- The rapper's last album was released exclusively on his own streaming device, the Stem Player.
- Here's everything we know about the rumored project so far.
Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, appears to be gearing up for a musical comeback.
NBC News reported recently that Ye could be dropping a new project in the very near future, citing sources close to the rapper.
"New music is imminent," a source NBC said is close to Ye told the outlet.
Here's everything we know so far.
Well, he has, but just not to the public.
Ye's last project, "Donda 2," was released in February 2022, but only on his own music streaming device, the Stem Player.
This essentially meant that, besides the few songs that were played on radio, only loyal fans who purchased the device could hear the whole album.
The last album Ye released to the public was the first "Donda," which dropped in August 2021 and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
After its release, "Donda 2" was described by many outlets as sounding incomplete.
"It occasionally feels demo-like, half-finished," wrote The Guardian's Alexis Petridis. Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre called the album a "crudely unfinished dump of songs."
During a performance at Rolling Loud in 2022, "Donda 2" producer Digital Nas appeared to confirm the album was unfinished, telling the crowd that they could expect the full project later in the year.
No such project ever dropped.
West first sparked outrage in October 2022 when he tweeted about "going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."
Soon after, he then praised Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, Ye's remarks were followed by a spree of antisemitic incidents in which the rapper was directly referenced, including two assaults.
In the wake of Ye's comments, Balenciaga cut business ties with the rapper, as did Adidas and Kano Computing, the company that developed the Stem Player.
He was also dropped by his talent agency.
On August 7, Ye made his first appearance on stage since the antisemitism controversy when he joined Travis Scott at his "Utopia" album release concert in Rome.
The pair performed two Ye songs together, "Praise God," from"Donda," and "Can't Tell Me Nothing," from Ye's 2007 album "Graduation."
"There is no 'Utopia' without Kanye West," Scott told the crowd, according to The New York Times. "There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West. There is no Rome without Kanye West."
On Wednesday, Page Six reported that it had been told by a source that Ye has been working on new material for months.
"He's been cooking up in the studio all summer," Page Six cited the source as saying. "It sounds crazy."
NBC News said that one of its sources had been in the studio with Ye and his partner Bianca Censori and heard some of his new tracks, though they did not divulge any more details.
NBC News cited a source that said new music from Ye is "imminent."
No timeline was revealed, however, while the platform on which the reported project will be released also remains unclear.
A representative for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.