Ye

Kanye West’s Listening Event For ‘Donda 2’ Will Livestream Exclusively From His Stem Player Website

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Last month, Kanye West announced that his eleventh album, Donda 2, will arrive on February 22. He even gave an astronomy-related reason for the specific release date. And yet the day is almost over the album is nowhere to be found. It shouldn’t be a surprise, given Kanye has failed to drop an album on its initial release date since 2013’s Yeezus. That being said, Kanye is still hosting a listening event for the album tonight at Miami’s LoanDepot Park Stadium. For those who will not be there in person, Kanye revealed where a livestream can be found.

An announcement from the social accounts of Kanye’s Stem Player device revealed that the listening event for Donda 2 will livestream exclusively from the company’s website. The event is set to begin at 8 pm EST, but it remains to be seen if there will be any delays.

The announcement comes after Kanye said Donda 2 will only be available on the Stem Player, which he co-created with Alex Klein and which retails for $214.50. He said the album will not be available on streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and others.

“Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” he said in the announcement. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.” Afterward, Kanye revealed a 22-song tracklist for Donda 2 in a now-deleted Instagram post.

Kanye West Fans Are More Than Mildly Miffed ‘Donda 2’ Didn’t Arrive On Their $200 Stem Players

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Apparently, Kanye West did not make his new album, Donda 2, available to people who purchased his $200 “stem player” today as promised, and fans are certainly upset about it — despite his half-decade-long history of putting out projects late (Ye, the first Donda) or incomplete (The Life Of Pablo).

A month ago, Ye promised that the new album would be released on 2/22/22, then, just four days before that intended release date, he announced that the album would not be available on DSPs, and instead would only be available via the stem player. The stem player device itself is basically a smaller, more stylish version of the Artiphon Orba with way fewer features and a heftier price tag, while his idea to cut out the middle man is reminiscent of Nipsey Hussle’s 2013 Crenshaw mixtape, which the Los Angeles legend sold for $100 each.

However, while Nipsey simultaneously made the mixtape free to download or stream, the 1,000 or so fans who purchased the $100 version included tickets to his shows, an autograph from Nipsey himself, and random incentives like personal phone calls from Nip, signed photographs in the mail, and even an invitation to visit the rapper in his studio. Fans who bought Kanye’s stem player got… well, a $200 music toy and the hope that he’ll actually make the album available for download after his show in Miami tonight.

Adding insult to injury, Kanye apparently gloated on Instagram (according to The Daily Beast; the post has since been deleted), “To earn the $2.2 million we made on the first day on the stem player the album would have had to stream 500 million times. We did more revenue on stem player, without the album even being out than we would have done with the album being out on streaming.”

Which, you know, might have been the whole point. Kanye fans still have some hope, though, and kudos to him for finding an alternative means of releasing music (?) that defies the traditional system — which, to be fair, does suck for artists in a lot of ways, although he hasn’t pointed out how this makes anything better for anyone besides himself. Until the album is actually out, though, Twitter will likely be abuzz with fans grousing that he’s pulled the rug on them once again.

Kanye West Called Jack Harlow One Of Today’s Five Best Rappers And Harlow Is Thrilled: ‘I Could Cry’

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Jack Harlow had a huge weekend: He dropped a video for “Nail Tech,” he participated in NBA All-Star festivities, and he received high praise from one of his idols, Kanye West (aka Ye).

In a now-deleted Instagram post shared on Friday morning, West posted a thumbnail from Harlow’s “Nail Tech” video and wrote, “This n**** can raaaaaaap bro And I’m saying n**** as a compliment Top 5 out right now.” Harlow shared a screenshot of the post and expressed his excitement over the situation, writing, “This right here…is one of the greatest moments of my entire life…glad y’all all get front row seats to it…suddenly all the hate means nothing…imagine your hero saying this about you…I could cry.”

This is just the latest in a series of feel-good moments Harlow has had in recent months. On December 18, 2021, Louisville, Kentucky celebrated Jack Harlow Day. Also that month, Harlow visited his old school, and naturally, the students were pretty amped about it. Back in November, he reunited with one of the few fans who attended his first ever concert and showed gratitude.

Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kanye West Shares A Lengthy List Of People He’s Had Beef With

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Earlier this month, Kanye West revealed that Kid Cudi would not appear on his upcoming album Donda 2 due to his friendship with Pete Davidson (or “Skete,” as Kanye calls him). Just like that, Cudi joined a long list of people with whom Kanye has had issues. In case you forget everyone who’s gotten on Kanye’s bad side, the HipHopNumbers’ Twitter account jotted down a list, though they clearly forgot some names.

HipHopNumbers’ initial list included names like Taylor Swift, Wiz Khalifa, Billie Eilish, Pete Davidson, Drake, Ray J, South Park, Harriet Tubman, Bruno Mars, Louis Vuitton, Amber Rose, TMZ, the American Music Awards, 50 Cent, and more. However, today, just a few days after the initial list was shared, Kanye took to Instagram to add more names to it.

“Come on guys… This list is twice as long,” Kanye wrote. “You gotta put Apple, Spotify, Vivendi, Universal, [Lucian Grainge], Tik Tok, Black History Month, Obama, the whole cast of SNL, Hillary Clinton, the Devil himself, Corey Gamble, [Jeff] Bezos, Charlamagne [Tha God], Disney, [Liberals], and of course Skete and any and all corny sh*t in general.” He added, “Can somebody from Chicago let these people know what Skete meant when we was growing up? It’s up for everybody!!!!!” before concluding with, “Wow. Being rich is fun!!!!”

Kanye West May Face Charges For Punching A Man As Investigators Reportedly Have Enough Evidence Against Him

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Kanye West is just a few days away from the release of his eleventh album Donda 2, but he may soon have some legal troubles to deal with. Last month, it was reported that the rapper was being investigated for punching a man outside a nightclub in Los Angeles. The incident occurred after a fan approached Kanye while he sat in his SUV around 3 am one morning. One thing led to another and the two began arguing which led to Kanye punching the man in the face and causing him to fall to the ground. TMZ now reports that Kanye could soon face charges as the investigation around the incident is almost complete.

The publication reports that law enforcement sources have told them that officials will soon ship off their findings to the L.A. City Attorney’s Office, who will then decide whether or not to charge Kanye. TMZ says investigators believe there’s enough to charge Kanye with battery thanks to paparazzi video evidence and witness statements. It was also reported that police officers wanted to interview Kanye, but it did not happen due to the rapper’s busy schedule.

Last month, Kanye spoke about the incident shortly after it occurred during an interview with Jason Lee on Hollywood Unlocked. “It’s 3 am in front of the warehouse,” he said. “I’m saying, ‘You don’t know what I’m dealing with right now.’ This dude, he just had this attitude like, ‘What you gon’ do?’” He added, “Imma just tell you, that blue COVID mask ain’t stop that knockout.”

Kanye West Says ‘Donda 2’ Will Only Be Available On His Stem Player And Not On Streaming Services

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Kanye West has been teasing the release of his eleventh album, Donda 2, for the better part of three weeks. He previously revealed that Future would executive produce it while rumors said Marilyn Manson was working closely with Ye on the project. Additionally, Kanye shockingly announced that Kid Cudi, someone he’s worked closely with for more than a decade, will not appear on the album due to his friendship with Pete Davidson, who is dating Kanye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian. With just four days until the release of Donda 2, Kanye returned with another announcement about the project.

According to Kanye himself, Donda 2 will only be available on the stem player he released last fall and not on streaming services. That means all of you who hoped to enjoy the album on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and more will have to fork over $200 to hear it on Kanye’s stem player. “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” Kanye wrote in an Instagram post that revealed the news. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”

If you’re interested in purchasing the stem player, which is priced at $200, you can head over to its official website to buy it. The device was announced before the arrival of Donda and shipped out to fans two months after the 2021 album was released. It let users control vocals, drums, bass, and samples, isolate certain parts of a song, and add effects. The stem player also supports Bluetooth capabilities and features a headphone jack, volume buttons, speakers, a haptic engine, and 8GB of storage.

You can view Kanye’s announcement in the post above.