American rapper and business mogul, Kanye West is expected to release a new album this week following rumors that an exclusive listening event for the record was held in Las Vegas.
Speculation surrounding the rapper’s next release has grown since internet personality Justin Laboy claimed that West played the album for himself and basketball player Kevin Durant over the weekend.
Laboy wrote on Twitter: “Kanye played his new album for me and @KDTrey5 last night in Vegas.”
Laboy went on to applaud the album, writing: “The production is light years ahead of its time, and the bars sound like he’s broke and hungry trying to get signed again”.
If you are an ardent follower of Kanye West’s music, you’ll know that whenever he releases an album, it breaks the internet therefore, Laboy warned that “any artist who [planned] on dropping soon should just push it back”.
Laboy followed up his original tweet with two more posts, in which he alleged that West’s new album would be arriving at some point this week.
“Kanye West album is really done. When it drops this week, we probably not going to listen to anything else for a while”.
Well, the rumors of an exclusive album listening event taking place in Las Vegas on Sunday (18 July) appear to validate Laboy’s claims.
Photos emerged on social media of people allegedly waiting in line outside the venue where the listening party was reportedly taking place on Sunday night.
Producer, Teddy Walton, who has worked with Travis Scott and Bryson Tiller, as well as Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated song ‘LOVE’ has since tweeted about the forthcoming album, which he appears to have contributed to. He also took to Twitter to write:
“Honestly can’t wait till @kanyewest drop. And I’m glad to be a part of history. See y’all soon”.
Although no collaborations for the forthcoming record have been confirmed, there have been footages of Tyler, The Creator, in the studio with West circulating widely on social media over the weekend.
Meanwhile, fans have taken to social media to react to this latest development. Some who have been anticipating the album for a while now noted that the album release will be a show stopper.
That notwithstanding, some lauded Kanye West’s creativity as they noted that every album he releases is different from the previous one. Therefore, they are ready to have a feel of this new one.
It can be recalled that in July last year, Kanye West announced that a new album titled ‘Donda’ would be released that week. He even went ahead to share a 12-song tracklist. However, the record never materialized. He had also previously shared the album’s artwork, as well as a collaboration with Travis Scott, ‘Wash Us In the Blood’.
In March, CyHi, The Prynce, West’s collaborator, revealed that West had resumed work on ‘Donda’ “late last year”.
That notwithstanding, Kanye West recently featured on ‘Faith’, the second posthumous album by late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, alongside Pusha T on the track ‘Tell Me The Vision’.
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