The last few weeks have been very controversial times for Kanye West. From supporting Trump, to the slavery comments, to the concept of free thinking, his name is in more headlines than ever. However, despite all of this, he is still an artist and who still has a career in music. In light of his latest behavior, many people have decided they will never listen to his music again. Others are on the complete opposite end and have decided to separate the art from the artist. It is safe to say everyone in attendance, at his listening party on Thursday night into early Friday morning, is still very interested in what the 40-year-old rapper has created in the studio.

Kanye keeps everyone on their toes

The promotion for this new album simply titled “Ye” has been unconventional, to say the least. He announced release dates for his, as well as others, on April 22, however, fans knew to take all of these dates with a grain of salt. The singles titled “Lift Yourself” and “Ye vs. The People” were released, but it would be difficult to classify either of these as real songs. Many only used these to discredit him more than they already had.

On Thursday, May 31 stories began to circulate of a listening party that was invite only, in Wyoming. This story spread quickly as “Wyoming” began to trend on Twitter and all those invited began to post videos of themselves getting on jets to head there.

The attendees included other rapper friends of Kanye West as well as Chris Rock, Jonah Hill, and wife Kim Kardashian.

Everyone connected with Kanye one way or another

To continue with the non-conventional theme Kanye announced fans could stream the listening party on two apps called Stationhead and WAV. It was shared fans would be able to have a “discussion in real time” for the former but the latter also contained a live chat section.

Users were told the stream would begin at 10:00 PM and it did - but no music was played until after midnight. Fans speculated this was because they were waiting for Game 1 of the NBA Finals to end.

Attendees gathered around a large open area surrounded by horses and large speakers with a small bonfire in the middle. Prior to this, all attendees were given complimentary merchandise that consisted of hoodies and long sleeve shirts with a picture of the Wyoming mountains and bold lettering stylized as paint strokes. As the seven-track album was played in its entirety twice, music filled the area and smiles abounded.

"Ye" is available on all streaming services now.
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