What We Know About Kanye West's Upcoming Album...

Written by: Luke Halko

Edited by: Maddie McVey

The night of September 6th, 2018, Kanye West directed—and performed—at his first-ever

Pornhub Awards Ceremony. This was the night Kanye debuted his now-famous collaboration with America’s favorite up-and-coming hip-hop artist: Lil Pump. The song, titled “I Love It,” was accompanied by a music video where Mr. West and Lil Pump boast highly disproportionate, Minecraft-esque costumes.

For more than an entire year following this stunt, Kanye has managed to remain one of

the most relevant names in hip-hop without actually releasing any real content. On September 18th, less than two weeks after his performance, Kanye announced his upcoming album Yandhi the only way he knows how—an ominous Twitter post. At this time, the album was slated to release in just eleven days, sparking excitement amongst the entire Kanye West fanbase. Fans inferred that the album would be a sequel of sorts to his 2013 album Yeezus, and would likely bear some kind of religious context based off of the album’s title. At this point, however, this was all speculation.

The original September release date came and went in typical Kanye fashion without any new music or any real explanation as to why there was no album. Fast forward a few weeks to October 16th; Kanye announced that he would be making what some may call a pilgrimage to Africa where he would make an effort to finish Yandhi, with the release date being pushed to November 23rd—Black Friday. This time around, Kanye was more proactive in informing his fanbase that his album would not be ready by the release date, and did all

Kanye loyalists a favor by not promising any more false releases.

Kanye was quiet for several weeks following his album’s latest delay. This changed on

January 6th when the rapper held his first Sunday Service, a weekly religious gathering where he and a choir would create gospel-inspired music. Kanye held these gatherings all over the country, but many details are still unknown as one must be invited to attend, and audience members are required to sign a contract promising not to disclose any information. This series of secret church-like gatherings were capped off by an appearance at this year’s iteration of Coachella, one of the most popular music festivals in the country.

After his appearance at Coachella, Kanye was quiet once again, and the hip-hop

community largely forgot about his fabled album. Many fans were under the impression that Yandhi may never be released. This all changed just over a month ago, when an image of a tracklist for a project titled Jesus is King emerged on kanyewest.com, with the date

September 27th written along the bottom.

If this were any other artist, it would be unmistakably clear that an album titled Jesus is King would be released in a month—but this is Kanye West. After a month of speculation, to

the surprise of almost nobody, no new music was released. Instead, Kanye resumed his weekly Sunday Service gatherings, where he is allegedly premiering his album to those lucky enough to be able to attend. The secretive nature of these Sunday Services has caused the status of this album to remain a mystery, leaving many wondering if there will ever be new a new Kanye West record.