Amid Kanye West's ongoing social experiment that's seen him writing a book on philosophyby tweeting it one post at a time, the GRAMMY-winning rapper has ignited a firestorm by apparently announcing the release dates of not one, but two new albums, both set to drop during the first week of June.
Following a lengthy hiatus from social media – during which he ostensibly retreated to the mountains of Wyoming to begin crafting his latest opus with the help of Kid Cudi, Nas, Travis Scott, Drake, and others – Yeezus resurrected his Twitter account, previously dormant for 11 months, and began hurling psalm-like advice and other inscrutable tweets into the social ether.
During a recent interview with his interior design collaborator Axel Vervoordt in The Hollywood Reporter, West expounded further on his newfound Zen, saying "We do these sneakers that sell out and [people say], 'Oh, this is the number one brand' ... and I don't wish to be number one anymore, I wish to be water."
Over the days since the April 13 interview, West has continued his enigmatic tweets, trading deadpan assertions such as "trend is always late," and "stop lyin about s***. Just stop lyin" with longer missives like, "let's be less concerned with ownership of ideas. It is important that ideas see the light of day even if you don't get the credit for them. Let's be less concerned with credit awards and external validation."
All of which brings us finally to today, where just hours ago West dropped the bombshell(s) across a rapid-fire series of four tweets:
And, of course, the web immediately lit up with speculation. Already the unofficial Kanye West subreddit has a stickied thread titled ALBUM HYPE, and articles are likely being written or already live on every major music publication as we speak.
According to Pitchfork, West filed trademark paperwork for "Kids See Ghost" for, "coverage of everything from merch to streaming services to films and TV shows," leading us to question whether West's plan for his collaboration with Cudi will come as a follow-up of sorts to his previous GRAMMY-winning supergroup-style teamwork with Jay-Z as heard on Watch The Throne.
Details on official titles for both West's new solo album and his forthcoming matchup with Kid Cudi remain forthcoming, but at the time of this writing, West has also revealed that a long-awaited new album from Pusha T and new music from Teyana Taylor will be released on May 25 and June 22, respectively.
