Kanye West is turning up the dial on nostalgia as he prepares for a third listening event for his upcoming album “DONDA.”
The event is set to take place Thursday, Aug. 26,l at Chicago’s Soldier Field, and if all goes according to plan, it will precede the drop of the anticipated album, finally. West’s return to the city quite literally marks a return to home, even more so as crews hustle to recreate a replica of his childhood home inside the stadium.
On Aug. 20 the “College Dropout” rapper shared on social a photo of the home in which he grew up. The South Shore residence has sentimental value to the rapper, who purchased it for a reported $225,000 last year. The home was first owned by his late mother, Donda West, beginning the 1980s, however, she later sold it in 2004, just three years before her untimely passing.
West previously held listening events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. West would go on to set up temporary lodging at the stadium to finish working on the album that was dealt two release pushbacks. But as one fan predicted, his return home to Chicago, Illinois, may have been a part of the plan from the beginning.
For the first event, West donned an all-red outfit, complete with red shoes and a nude mesh-like face covering, symbolizing what some believe to be “hell.” The second event West saw West wearing black attire but concluded the music by ascending into the air, symbolizing the journey to “heaven.”
Now with the focal point being his return to home, fans suspect “he will be wearing white and he’s in heaven” and at some point may feature an hologram of his mother.
Instead of predicting what the wildly unpredictable entertainer will do next, some people unleashed their frustrations with West holding yet another listening party in the first place. One social media user commented “Kanye be doing every single f——-g thing but actually releasing the album.”
Another roped in the ongoing speculations that West has stalled the album’s release in hopes of dropping it the same day Drake drops his album “Certified Lover Boy.” “He needs to stop the BS and start releasing some music! We all want to know what’s u with this Donda album! I bet he’s waiting for Drake to lead the way…,” wrote one person.
Rumblings of West hoping to have a release battle with the “Hotline Bling” rapper began circulating on social when “DONDA” failed to make Aug. 6 its release date after the second listening event. West famously went head to head with rapper 50 Cent in 2007 when both released albums on Sept. 11.
Whether that is West’s actual plan remains unconfirmed, but speculation further grew when the rapper posted, and deleted, a photo of a group chat with rapper Pusha T and several others, including “D” — who fans suspect is Drake. In part, West wrote, “You will never recover. I promise you,” leaving scores of fans to speculate he was taking aim at Drake.
