Is Yeezy season finally upon us?

Kanye West’s much-prolonged album rollout has left us all with a collective case of blue balls. Following two sold-out listening parties, continuously-postponed release dates and a flurry of news stories about Ye’s makeshift residence in Mercedes Benz stadium, the rapper-turned-edgelord has yet to officially drop what will be his tenth studio project.

DONDA has been almost-torturously teased for months now, but with so few details to go by, fan speculation has turned to Kanye’s recent purchase history after the rapper reportedly bagged a brand new piece of art. Titled The Incomplete Truth, the Damien Hirst sculpture sold for a whopping $1.9 million AUD- no small sum for what is essentially an A4 picture of a green bird. 

Eagle-eyed fans were quick to suggest that the artwork might become DONDA’s eventual album cover, setting up what is likely to be yet another album-related anticlimax. More clues were also found on social media, where internet slueths have taken Kanye’s recent digital detox as definitive evidence that Yeezy season is imminent.

 

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Over the weekend, Kanye cleared all content from his Instagram page before posting a single picture of his childhood home in Chicago. The move is perhaps the most visible sign that something is in the works, and comes ahead of what will be Kanye’s third (and hopefully final) listening party in his hometown next week.

This, coupled with the recent confirmation from Kanye’s manager that his album will “absolutely” be released soon, suggests that DONDA could arrive as early as next week. But if Ye’s track record is anything to go by, we wouldn’t get our hopes up.

The vice president of Def Jam says Kanye West will “absolutely,” “100%” drop #DONDA next Friday following his third event pic.twitter.com/s4l5wkAArz

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) August 18, 2021