Kanye West Announces Two New Albums @kanyewest

In the middle of a long series of Tweets that will make up a philosophy “book” that Kanye West announced that he’s writing on Twitter, the MC casually mentioned on Thursday that he’s dropping not one, but two new albums next month.


According to his tweets, one will be a solo album containing seven songs on June 1, to be followed by an album with Kid Cudi on June 8. West added that his new group with Cudi is called Kids See Ghost. West’s rep did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for more information.

The MC has kept a relatively low profile since cancelling the last 21 dates of the 2016 tour in support of his “Life of Pablo” album after he was hospitalized in Los Angeles for psychiatric evaluation. West’s behavior during the tour had been erratic and included several pro-Donald Trump onstage comments as well as his abrupt departure from the stage during New York’s Panorama Festival when he learned that his wife, Kim Kardashian, had been robbed in Paris.

Not much is known about the new album, which he said in March 2016 would be called “Turbo Grafx 16” after “one of my favorite gaming systems when I was a kid,” but it seems unlikely that is still the title, if it ever was. 

Various reports said he has spent several months recording near Jackson Hole, Wyo. — much of the material on his recent albums has been recorded at relatively remote locations — and while he has been photographed or reported to be in the studio with Migos, Big Sean, Lil Yachty, Vic Mensa, Mike Dean, Pete Rock, Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Pusha T, The-Dream, Travis Scott, Dave Chappelle, and others, it’s unclear who will be on the album.

In June of last year, Steve Bartels, then-CEO of West’s label Def Jam, told Variety that the MC doesn’t necessarily keep the label apprised of what he’s doing. “When we talk, we don’t really get down to the granular of where he’s going and how he’s flying there, we keep it much more on a broader level,” Bartels said. 

“Kanye is working, that’s been widely reported. He’s always very focused, and our relationship with him is that we always have great respect for him and when he’s ready to do something or talk about something, we’re there for him, we totally support his vision and his focus, and that’s where we leave it. I check in with him from time to time just to see how he’s doing. What’s great about our relationship is that I always know when it’s go time — because he wakes me up.” Bartels has since been replaced as CEO by Eminem manager Paul Rosenberg.