Tag Archives: Ustream chat

Kanye West reveals (interchangeable) album covers in Ustream chat

Earlier today Kanye West hopped onto a Def Jam conference call and Ustream to talk about his upcoming album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

In regards to the album, ‘Ye dropped the following bits of info.  The album is about a “year and a half in the making” and he collaborated with RZA, Pete Rock, No I.D., Q-Tip, Rick Ross, Nicki Manaj, Rihanna, Fergie, and Elton John, among many other surprise guests.  He also confirmed that a new version of “See Me Now” features Big Sean, along with original guests Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Charlie Wilson.

While he was taking calls from the press, Kanye held up the physical album casing.  It’s a red three-fold case with a very interesting design.  In addition to the CD, the album comes with 5 interchageable covers.  You can swap them in and out of the front to give the case different looks.  We have already seen four of the five covers by artist George Condo; they include the two “Powersingle artwork, the “Runaway” single artwork, and of course the “banned” album cover, still pixelated.

When asked about how the final tracks will differ from the leaked versions, Kanye responded, “I don’t want to give away exactly what I did differently, you know you just gotta hear it and feel the surprises.”  And then came the best quote of the call from Cyhi Da Prynce (who stood by on the call with Big Sean and Pusha T): Referring to the leaks he said, “What ya’ll got is uncooked meat.”

‘Ye also discussed the inspiration behind his short film Runaway: “the colors…fantasty/future mashup…express some of the feelings that I’ve had as a creative dealing with a culture that beats down on creativity and anything that’s different.”

He said that the “uphill challenge” of the past year pushed him to make better products (ie. G.O.O.D. Fridays, the new album).  Speaking of new product, he spilled that his collab album with Jay-Z is due out “early next year.”  Cheers to that!

Watch the entire Ustream conference call after the break. Continue reading Kanye West reveals (interchangeable) album covers in Ustream chat

Kanye West hosts a Ustream chat: album gets a November release, next single drops in 20 days

Kanye West has been making the rounds on the Internet even since he decided to come out from hiding.  First it was Twitter, then Facebook, now Ustream.  On Friday Kanye hosted a live Ustream video chat from Korea to answer a bunch of fan questions.  The most important news to come out of the twenty-five minute chat session is that the upcoming album is coming out “sometime in November” and that the next single is expected to drop within the next 20 days.  He’s still deciding between “Lost In The World” and “All of the Lights” for the next single.  He gave a 30 second preview of the latter song, and man did it sound great.  Besides spilling that info, he also talked about his influences on the album and the “Power” painting video.  He says that he’s constantly looking at thousands of pictures and a number of artworks and movies for inspiration.  (He name dropped Avatar, late designer Alexander McQueen, Thom Yorke, and Trent Reznor.)  About the “Power” video he said, “I always wanted to recreate the Sistine Chapel.  This is not the full re-creation [though].  I still might want to do that.”  He went on to set the record straight concerning his time on the web; he held up his second laptop to prove he has a hand in updating his blog and Twitter feed.  He also addressed more serious issues about his new (and so far much improved) public attitude: I’m not allowing my attitude to get in the way of my creation anymore.”  He continues, “That’s all I want to do, is give you all the most amazing work I can.”  “All I can do is focus on being a better person,” he adds.  When a commentor asked Kanye why he is a racist, a surprisingly appropriate and light response was given.  “I actually don’t know a rapper before me that liked white people more than me.  I don’t know a rapper that wore tighter jeans.  I don’t know a rapper that collaborated with more white people than me.”  Atta boy, Mr. West.  Watch the recorded Ustream chat here.