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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Peony Hirwani

‘Where is Donda 2?’: Fans left waiting as Kanye West fails to release new album on 22/2/22

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Kanye West’s fans are “furious” as the rapper failed to release Donda 2 on 22 February.

The 44-year-old rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, announced in January that his 11th studio album would be released on “22/2/22”.

However, the album did not appear online at midnight as expected.

Almost a month after making the initial announcement, Ye had revealed that his new album would “only” be released on his “own” Stem Player platform.

According to reports, Ye also turned down a $100m deal with Apple for the release of his new album.

On Tuesday (22 February), the “Follow God” rapper posted a direct link on social media, which gave fans access to a live stream of his MiamiDonda 2 listening and Donda 1 performance” event.

However, many people complained that they couldn’t hear or see anything but a colourised screen with a heartbeat sound playing in the background for the first couple of hours.

Soon after that, many fans took to Twitter to express their annoyance about the “complicated” album release.

“Bro where tf is Donda 2??? I can’t listen to a heartbeat for hours,” wrote one fan.

Another person added: “Where is Donda 2 pls? This is annoying.”

“Kanye has been posting every day for the past month but crickets on the day of RELEASE [Kanye West] SPEAK UP [laugh emoji] where tf is Donda 2,” another fan wrote.

“It’s 22/2/22 on a Tuesday at 2:22, in the 2nd decade of the 2nd millennium. Where is Donda 2?” asked another user.

One fan who bought Ye’s Stem Player just to listen to his new album was “furious” about his silence on the album’s release.

Stem Player costs $200 (around £150) and is available in the UK and US and a few more countries through a devoted website.

In other news, Ye’s “Donda Experience Performance” event at LoanDepot Park in Miami featured posthumous vocals from XXXTentacion, as the rapper danced near a flaming house while wading through water.

On other tracks, Ye sampled US vice president Kamala Harris’ “we did it, Joe” phone call, and a sample of Kim Kardashian’s SNL monologue about the “Eazy” rapper, saying: “So, when I divorced him, you have to know it came down to just one thing: his personality!”

Ye was also joined by Jack Harlow, Pusha T, Alicia Keys and Migos during the live event.

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