Have you been listening to Ye this weekend, wondering where all the support for Trump and controversial lyrics about Black culture are? Had it not been for Kanye West’s now infamous TMZ interview last month, we might have an entirely different album. In his first interview since his new album Ye was released, West revealed that he completely scrapped the album after his appearance on the tabloid news show.
According to West, his time under the harsh glare of the public spotlight made him rethink his word choices. Everything he says can and probably will become a news story. “Now it’s all headlines,” he explained to radio host Big Boy at his outdoor listening party in Wyoming. The heated discussion surrounding politics, race, and drug addiction West had with TMZ suggested the imminent release of a much more politically-charged album, one that we may never hear. In fact, there is almost no mention of politics save one Trump reference.We may never know what West had originally intended to release, but given the nature of the TMZ interview and his pro-MAGA tweets, maybe his redirection was for the best.
West delved into his creative process with the radio host explaining that finding his voice in each song was his ultimate goal. “I just had to stand in front of that board every morning and ask myself, ‘Do these songs truly make me happy? Are these songs I want to play back? Does the song make me cry? Does the song take me somewhere?” he explained. The artist and producer was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a subject which took centre stage on the album and the album art, which reads, “I hate being bi-polar its awesome” [sic]. West described his shift in focus as one that went from being more singularly focused to a larger scope of reference. “I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible. In the Bible, it means you. So I’m you, and I’m us. It went from Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye just being a reflection of our good, our bad, our confused, everything,” he told Big Boy.
There is a chance that we will hear more from the Kanye West that walked into the TMZ interview in his other three of the four albums dropping this month. Yes, four. He is releasing them in collaboration with other artists including Pusha T, Nas, Teyana Taylor, and Kid Cudi.