“Yeezy season approaching/ Fuck whatever y’all been hearing.”
Last year, Kanye West dropped his left-field, sixth studio album, “Yeezus” with little notice and minimal marketing.
Since November, when West first shared his plans to release his seventh studio album this summer, we’ve been wondering: When? (Followed with: How ’bout now?)
While ‘Ye preps for his wedding with Kim Kardashian, to take place this Saturday (May 24) – and rumors and rumblings of a new (quick post-wedding) song begin – we’ve compiled everything we know, thus far, about West’s 2014 full-length effort.
Place(s) of Recording
Los Angeles
Potential Players (Emphasis on ‘potential’ seeing how ‘Ye loves to switch it up last minute.)
James Fauntleroy: “I went in there and did some stuff on that shit. I sang shit on there and left. We’ll see how it turns out,” James Fauntleroy tells Billboard. “When I went in it was early, [during] the early stages. I know there will be a lot more other people, a lot of interjections.”
Gee Roberson: “We’re working on his new album right now,” he told Billboard in February. “When you’re a genius, you’re a genius.
Mike Will Made It: “Kanye has been trying new ideas and has been reaching out to me for new ideas,” Mike Will told Billboard in February. “Whether or not it’s the ‘Black Skinhead’ remix, we don’t know, but it’s definitely dope what we have so far,” he tells Billboard. “[We’re] are just working, period. It depends on where the music is lands, but hopefully we do something on his next album.”
Kanye West Recruits Q-Tip & Rick Rubin for Upcoming Album
Q-Tip: “I’m producing Kanye’s new album with Rick Rubin.”
Rick Rubin
French Montana: “We’re supposed to be working on a couple of songs together for his album.”
Young Thug: “I went to his house and we did a couple of songs.”
Da Internz
James Blake: “I have been in contact with him.”
DJ Mustard: “I gave him 100 beats… so I’m sure we’ll do something.”
Sound
Yeezy told Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club that his 2014 album will be his very own “Born In the U.S.A.” S1 added that it will “connect strongly.” Evian Christ told self-titled that ‘Ye wants “something that sounds a bit like Otis Redding, a bit like Mobb Deep.”
Structure
The album will be eight songs, Kanye West “thinks.” DJ Folk took to Twitter to co-sign the number of songs, but his tweet has then been deleted.
This story will be updated as more details arise.
Update: A source says that as of two-weeks ago, there’s 12 songs on the album. Out of six heard, it’s “mostly a mixture of soul samples and tamed ‘Yeezus’-esque darkness… nothing abrasive.”