Kanye West is gearing up to release a new Abstract Mindstate album via his newly launched YZY SND imprint.
News about the Chicago duo’s new LP arrives following an announcement earlier today (July 21) that West will be releasing his long-awaited ‘Donda’ album on Friday (July 23), after previewing a snippet of new track ‘No Child Left Behind’ during last night’s NBA Finals.
Two weeks after the release of his 10th studio album, West will drop Abstract Mindstate’s brand new record, ‘Dreams Still Inspire’, on August 6, which West himself has fully produced and which he will distribute as the first release from his new YZY SND imprint.
The relationship between West and Abstract Mindstate (comprising E.P Da Hellcat and Olskool Ice-Gre) goes back to the early 2000s, when the ‘Jesus Walks’ rapper/producer began making beats for them on their 2001 album ‘We Paid Let Us In!’.
‘Dreams Still Inspire’ will mark the first album West has fully produced that was not his own since Common’s ‘Be’ in 2005 (if you don’t include Nas‘ 2018 EP/album ‘Nasir’).
In addition to handling the production, West also appears on ‘The Brenda Song’. Other contributors on the album include Tony Williams, Luka Sabbat, Deon Cole, and Jonquia Rose.
You can listen to the album’s first track, ‘A Wise Tale’, below:
The premiere of West’s ‘Donda’, also known as ‘Donda: With Child’, will take place at a listening event at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Thursday (July 22), which will then be live-streamed via Apple Music.
The event was confirmed by Pusha T in an Instagram post. PageSix reported that 5,000 tickets to the event have been donated by Kanye to historically black colleges in the city.
Speculation that the release of ‘Donda’ was imminent swirled following reports of West playing the album at a closed-door listening event in Las Vegas on Sunday. Internet personality Justin Laboy had also tweeted that Kanye played the album for him and professional basketball player Kevin Durant over the weekend in Vegas.
Laboy added in his tweets on Sunday (July 18): “The production is light years ahead of it’s [sic] time, and the bars sound like he’s broke & hungry trying to get signed again. Any artist who plan on dropping soon should just push it back”.
While an official tracklist has yet to be revealed, previous clips shared online that feature Tyler, The Creator in the studio with Kanye hint at the ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ rapper getting involved in the album.
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