Kanye West stirs controversy as he announces details of new album with Ty Dolla $ign
Kanye West appears to have announced that his new collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign will be released on Friday (December 15).
West, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, made an appearance in a club over the weekend, where, as reported by The Independent, he was overheard saying, “It’s called ‘Vultures’, and it’s coming out this Friday.”
Last week, Ty confirmed the album’s tracklisting with a handwritten note posted on Instagram. The album is expected to be released under the artist name ¥$, and is said to include features from Freddie Gibbs, Playboi Carti, Future, James Blake, Nicki Minaj and several others.
In November, the rapper returned with the record’s first single, ‘Vultures’. As well as Ty Dolla $ign, the track features Lil Durk and Bump J, and it sees West directly addressing the recent accusations of anti-Semitism against him, before stoking them further by rapping, “How I’m anti-Semitic, I just fucked a Jewish bitch”
Accusations of anti-Semitism were first levelled against West in October 2022 after he said that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”, whom he claims have a link with Black people. An ex-staffer at TMZ has also claimed that the rapper once praised “Hitler and the Nazis” during an interview with the site.
More recently, it was alleged that West drew a swastika in a meeting with Adidas about his Yeezy footwear line and former employees of the company suggested he had been engaging in antisemitic behaviour since early meetings in 2013.
Adidas officially cut ties with West in October 2022 in light of anti-Semitic remarks he made on social media. The rapper denied that his statements were anti-Semitic, claiming the term was “not factual”: “I don’t believe in that term”
He was later labelled the ‘Anti-Semite of the Year‘ by watchdog group StopAntisemitism, and widely condemned by figures in the entertainment industry, politicans, and organisations.
Kanye and Ty’s collaborative album has been in the works for a while, with Ty telling an audience in November that they had just been recording together in Saudi Arabia. Speculation had kicked up in October when West reportedly held an intimate listening party for the record at a recording studio in Italy.
A “multi-stadium listening event” had been planned for the album, but it ended up being cancelled. It had been expected that the record would be released concurrently with the event, scheduled for November 3, having previously been expected for a release on October 13.
Rumours had also been swirling about an upcoming concert in Italy to promote the new album, before sources shared that the concert will not be taking place due to safety fears.
West and Ty’s last collaboration was in the form of the track ‘Junya Pt 2’ alongside Playboi Carti, from Ye’s 2021 album, ‘Donda‘.
In September, ‘Jesus Is King 2’ – West’s follow-up to his 2019 gospel album – was leaked online. Earlier in the month, it was revealed that the rapper was suing an unknown Instagram user over music leaks.
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Max Pilley
NME
