Entertainment
Kanye West Just Revealed His New Album Cover's Heartbreakingly Powerful Image
In the past 24 hours, Kanye West has dropped two new singles, "Lift Yourself" and "Ye Vs. The People." On the morning of Saturday, April 28, Kanye West revealed his new album cover and he said the image has a lot do with forgiveness. West tweeted a text message exchange with a person named Wes, in which the rapper sent them a photo of a man and wrote the following:
"This is my album cover. This is plastic surgeon Jan Adams. The person who performed my moms final surgery. Do you have any title ideas? I want to forgive and stop hating."
Billboard speculated that Wes could be DJ-producer Wesley Pentz or Sheck Wes, who is signed to West's G.O.O.D. Music label. Wes wrote in response to West's text, as an album title suggestion:
LOVE EVERYONE
West approved of the suggestion, texting in response, "I love that."
West's mother Donda West died on Nov. 10, 2007, the day after she underwent breast reduction surgery, abdominoplasty, and liposuction, performed by Adams, according to the Los Angeles Times. On Nov. 20, 2007, Adams told the Los Angeles Times, "When she left this office, there was no problem whatsoever."
According to MTV in 2008, the Los Angeles County Coroner determined Donda West's cause of death to be "coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors due to or as a consequence of liposuction and mammoplasty." Deputy Medical Examiner Louis A. Peña's report, which was obtained by MTV in 2008, continued:
"In summary, it is my opinion Ms. West died from some pre-existing coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors following surgery ... based on the history and available information, as currently known, the manner of death could not be determined."
In a 2015 interview with Q Magazine, West opened up about his mother's passing. "If I had never moved to L.A. she'd be alive," West told the publication, according to E! News. "I don't want to go far into it because it will bring me to tears."
In 2016, Kanye wrote a sweet tribute to Donda on her birthday in a now-deleted tweet featuring his daughter, North. "NORI ASKED IF THE AIRPLANE COULD TAKE HER TO HEAVEN TO SEE YOU FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY, I LOVE YOU MOM," the tweet read, according to E! News.
So it is possible that West's new album could be titled LOVE EVERYONE, as Wes suggested in their text exchange, and perhaps the theme of the album could be the topic of forgiveness. After revealing Adams as the subject of his album's cover on Twitter, West posted more from his texts with Wes, who told West:
I think it's exactly what you should use
Love love love love
I'm so tired of saying and thinking the word hate.
Wes continued, recalling a night in which he and West had a touching conversation about forgiveness, to which West replied, "That's amazing."
West continued his theme of forgiveness in a follow-up tweet that read:
I've got a new challenge for everyone today. Pick somebody that you had an argument with that you think you hate maybe even someone you haven't spoken to in years and contact that person and tell them I love you.
Earlier this month, West reactivated his Twitter account and announced that he will release two new albums in June: A seven-track album with a release date of June 1 and a collaboration album with Kid Cudi as the group Kids See Ghost, released on June 8.
West's has already released two singles on Friday, April 28 that may be from his seven-track solo album: the upbeat song "Lift Yourself" and the politically-charged track "Ye Vs. The People" with fellow rapper T.I. But there's still much more to be revealed about Kanye's new album.