Kanye West presented his latest work of art to the public and press at Milk Studios in New York on Monday night. The star-studded crowd including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, and DJ Khaled gathered at a loading dock in the rain to hear West play each track and speak out about his secretive sixth album.
Yeezus, due June 18, features contributions from Travi$ Scott, Hudson Mohawke, Mike Dean, and Daft Punk, who worked on three or four songs. Chief Keef and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon guest on the same track (“Can’t Handle My Liquor”), while Rick Rubin executive produced the album.
On the thought process: “Collectively, collaboratively, we didn’t give a fuck about what nobody said from the outside looking in. We just wanted to make the best product possible and this is just the beginning of an entirely new mentality of how to make music directly for the people.”
On the direction: “It’s about delivering some shit for ya’ll to go to work to, ride to, listen to when you’re working out and shit, whatever ya’ll doing to provide a soundtrack to this shit. We’re gonna keep on doing this shit over and over and over, making shit from my core, from my gut.”
On working with Rick Rubin: “It was good for me to go to the god, Rick Rubin, and play him my shit, ask him questions, and allow him to take this project to an entirely new level, and he made a lot of great decisions at the end and pulled it to a whole new level.”
On the title: “I wanna explain something about the title Yeezus. Simply put, West was my slave name and Yeezus is my god name.”
Check out more photos and footage from the listening session below.
