Kanye West's June Takeover - 8th Solo, Cudi Collab, Nas, and More

[Ja'moke]

Kanye West returned to Twitter last week, and in between tweets about consciousness, ownership of ideas and terrible footwear designs, he announced a series of upcoming projects, including his next solo album, a collab album with Kid Cudi, and a bunch of other albums he's helped produce.

25 May - Pusha T album
1 June - Kanye 8th solo album (7 songs)
8 June - Kids See Ghost (the name of Kanye and Cudi's duo)
15 June - Nas album
22 June - Teyana Taylor debut album

Kanye has produced all of these apparently, and not just "exec-produced", as in produced-produced, in the lab chopping up samples produced. Teyana Taylor, a female singer signed to GOOD Music, who has appeared on a lot of Kanye's albums, said that he produced her entire record and it's got an old-school Kanye vibe. And also... Nas on Kanye beats?! Yes please.

What do we make of all this?

Personally, I'll always be excited by a new Kanye album, even if his last one, The Life of Pablo, is still a source of frustration. I have a love/hate relationship with that album. There are some amazing highs, but so much messiness surrounding those moments of greatness. Although, given his subsequent mental breakdown and hospitalisation that same year, it does put that record's scattered, falling-apart-at-the-seams aesthetic in a new light. It's a great summation of the man at that period in his life if nothing else.

That said, I don't want another TLOP, I want a record that has a consistent sound and theme. I relistened to Yeezus the other day and it's still stunning. If he can match something with that clear a vision then I'll be very happy. The positive is, he spent months in a recording studio in Wyoming, basically locked himself away to work on all this music. That's what he did for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, arguably his best album (at least his most critically acclaimed album), when he spent months in Hawaii crafting every piece of that record. Also, if he sticks to his word (which is a stupid thing to rely on when it comes to Kanye West), then the album is only going to be 7 songs, which I'd take any day over the bloated tracklist on TLOP.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

he doesn't half tweet some bizarre shit. i do hope he's taking care of himself

[Z]

I don't really expect Kanye to not half ass a collab album. Will be expecting watch the throne levels of quality at best.

7 songs with heavy kid Cudi collaboration sounds utterly horrible to me, tbh. Seven long bores. A completely manic mess like tLoP is much more alluring.

[sevendaughters]

Kids See Ghost really sounds like a group that would have opened for Saves The Day in a rec centre in 1995. I can't pretend to be excited by any of this - have a real problem with hype so I duck out until they become less famous, I did like 808s tho - but don't let me waylay this thread.

[Ja'moke]

I don't really expect Kanye to not half ass a collab album. Will be expecting watch the throne levels of quality at best.

7 songs with heavy kid Cudi collaboration sounds utterly horrible to me, tbh. Seven long bores. A completely manic mess like tLoP is much more alluring.

Kanye was on fire for Watch The Throne, definitely the most effort he put into the rapping side of things, which isn't usually his main appeal.

And the 7 songs is his solo album. The collab album with Cudi is separate. Though I'm excited for both, I don't think Kanye and Cudi have made a bad song together, in fact, Cudi has been a highlight on most of Kanye's albums - Gorgeous, Guilt Trip, and Welcome To Heartbreak being the standouts.

[Z]

Wait, he's doing a solo album and a cudi album?

[Ja'moke]

Wait, he's doing a solo album and a cudi album?

Yep. June 1st he's releasing his 7 track solo album. Then on June 8 he's releasing Kids See Ghost, his collab album with Kid Cudi.

[Z]

Ooooh, a lot more interested in both so.

It's kinda weird to me Kanye has never done an instrumental album. Has he even some an instrumental track?

[mr. logic]

Obviously, the one everybody is looking forward to is Nas

[up_the_hampipe]

Excited about the Nas and Kanye solo albums.

[Ja'moke]

Nas' main problem has always been his beat selection (other than Illmatic obviously), so working on an entire album with Kanye is exciting. But I'm also hyped for Pusha T, that guy has been killing it since Clipse, and I really enjoyed his last two albums. I assume this is the "King Push" record that he's been working on for ages, so I expect big things.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

we live in hell

[Ja'moke]

[thugler]

Who are those tits?

[Ja'moke]

Who are those tits?

Kanye West and his new white friends (Lyor Cohen and some other music exec).

[Porter Dimi]

He looks dead behind those eyes. Poor sod.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

[itsfredtitmus]

kanyes_maga_hat

[Large Noise]

Grimly satisfied to see Kanye disappoint all the people who've been pretending not to notice that he's a total fucking idiot.

[itsfredtitmus]

kinda sad really https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989192498307219456

[Ja'moke]

Grimly satisfied to see Kanye disappoint all the people who've been pretending not to notice that he's a total fucking idiot.

He's always been like this, for better or worse (and this recent shit is definitely in the "worse" cateogry), he is 100% himself and obviously not managed by a PR team. It's one of the things that make him one of the only, if not THE only, interesting mainstream celebrities, especially in the music industry. Obviously it helps that he's a super talented producer and puts out interesting work.

Though I understand why many people just see him as an idiot, and that's valid.

[phantom_power]

Who is it signed by, a fucking ECG?

[Brundle-Fly]

He's always been like this, for better or worse (and this recent shit is definitely in the "worse" cateogry), he is 100% himself and obviously not managed by a PR team. It's one of the things that make him one of the only, if not THE only, interesting mainstream celebrities, especially in the music industry. Obviously it helps that he's a super talented producer and puts out interesting work.

Though I understand why many people just see him as an idiot, and that's valid.

tag   Morrissey nods sagely

[up_the_hampipe]

Nas' main problem has always been his beat selection (other than Illmatic obviously), so working on an entire album with Kanye is exciting.

I think Nas has selected many incredible beats throughout his career.

Side note: very sad to see Kanye turn into an alt-right knobarse.

[Z]

Kanye put a track in his last album purely because someone said he was stealing a word (wavey?). Every song on this one is going to be about trump and his new line of shoes,the cover is probably going to be a selfie of the two of them.

It's all extremely embarrassing.

[Ja'moke]

I think Nas has selected many incredible beats throughout his career.

One or two per album maybe, surrounded by lots of terrible or boring ones.

All of these new Kanye albums (including Nas', Pusha T's, etc) are all just 7 songs each apparently.

[rjd2]

I think Nas has selected many incredible beats throughout his career.

Side note: very sad to see Kanye turn into an alt-right knobarse.

Doubt he agrees with any of that alt right stuff, probably just likes the flamboyance of Trump and those sexier lower taxes Republicans offer to people of his wealth.

[up_the_hampipe]

Doubt he agrees with any of that alt right stuff, probably just likes the flamboyance of Trump and those sexier lower taxes Republicans offer to people of his wealth.

He says he likes how Candace Owens thinks.

One or two per album maybe, surrounded by lots of terrible or boring ones.

More than that. He had a couple of dud albums in the 90s but Stillmatic onwards he's been very consistent.

[Funcrusher]

Having not bothered with him since The College Dropout, that's not motivating me to investigate further.

[Ja'moke]

He's all into this "victim mentality = new slaves" shit at the minute.

"Free thinkers don't fear retaliation for your thoughts. The traditional thinkers are only using thoughts and words but they are in a mental prison. You are free. You've already won. Feel energized. Move in love not fear. Be afraid of nothing."

"there was a time when slavery was the trend and apparently that time is still upon us. But now it's a mentality. self victimization is a disease"

It's easy to think like that from your mansion in Calabasas, I guess.