Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, received mixed reactions on social media when he announced his new album, DONDA 2 will not available on Apple Music, Spotify and other digital streaming platforms.
DONDA 2 latest: Album won’t drop on DSPs, Ye confirms
The 44-year-old rap-fashion impresario, whose Netflix documentary Jeen-Yuhs has been the talk of social media, took to his Instagram page to announce that his follow-up to DONDA will exclusively drop on Stem Player, a handheld music device that includes features like isolating different instruments on a song, 4-channel lossless audio mixing, sound effects to customise original songs, and much more.
In a series of posts we suspect will be deleted soon, Ye doubled-down on his assertion that DONDA 2 will not be shelved on DSPs.
“I feel that same feeling like when I first moved to New York to make it in Music. I ain’t know what was gonna happen but I knew had to move. After 10 albums after being under 10 contracts. I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected. We set our own price for our art. Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours you don’t eat.
“Jay Z made Tidal and fake media attacked him. Well in the words of my big brother. Come and get me. I’m willing to die standing cause I ain’t living on my knees no more. God please cover me. I run this company 100% I don’t have to ask for permission. This is our 2nd generation stemplayer We have more things we working on. I feel like how I felt in the first episode of the documentary,” he wrote.
The stem player device is available for $200 (est. R3 012 excl. shipping and taxes) and purchases are available to South Africans.
Draft tracklist confirmed
Amid speculation on the release date of DONDA 2, Kanye dropped a rough draft of the album’s tracklist, which features 19 confirmed song titles that, at this stage, are without any confirmed guests.
Of course, Ye fans are well aware of the fact that neither the confirmed release date of Tuesday 22 February 2022 nor the draft tracklist should be taken without a grain of salt.
After all, Ye has built a solid reputation as a serial latecomer in music releases.