Even for Kanye West, this is unexpected. Usually we say that when something really insane happens, but today it’s kinda the opposite – which is even weirder. Pretending to be your average, normal person for a moment, Yeezy has uploaded two new tracks direct to SoundCloud.
Well, kind of new. Yeezy’s been particularly jonesing for his 2008 AutoTune opera spectacular 808s And Heartbreak of late, playing the album in its entirety for two nights in a row to some outrageously lucky Los Angeles crowds. The first track Say You Will is an altered version of the curtain-raiser from 808s, having about a minute and a half chopped out of it as well as having added vocals from Pulitzer Prize-winning performer Caroline Shaw. It’s perhaps even more haunting than the original for this, Shaw’s voice a ghostly and ethereal contrast to West’s robotic AutoTune.
The second track though. My freaking God why doesn’t it go for longer!? Kanye was of course the man behind the beat for Tell Your Friends from The Weeknd‘s 2015 earth-shatterer Beauty Behind The Madness. He obviously dug his own creation that much that he thought he’d lay down a couple of AutoTune-altered bars over it. It’s lounge-y and cool and, again, why does it only run for less than two minutes…
Whatever you make of these two tracks, the world is a better place when Mr. West is in a giving mood. His long-awaited seventh release SWISH still has that ‘TBA’ status next to its name, but if you like reading into things too much, long-time Kanye collaborator Travi$ Scott posted a link to the two tracks on his Instagram with the cryptic caption ‘It starts’.
God, we hope so.
