Another week, another missed Kanye West release date – this time with his long-awaited “Donda” album for the second time. According to eagle-eyed sleuths who spotted the dates change on iTunes and Apple Music a few hours after it failed to arrive yet again this past Friday, it's now apparently August 13 — or possibly August 15! — according to eagle-eyed sleuths who spotted the dates change on iTunes and Apple Music a few hours after it failed to arrive yet again this past Friday.
Of course, with Kanye, an album release is never just an album release. His last three major releases — "Life of Pablo," "Ye," and, well, "Donda" — all came with lavish listening parties.
Even though he went so far as to put on an elaborate, expensive stage show around him at the most recent event, one that climaxed with him, yes, being lofted toward the stadium's ceiling by near-transparent cables, bathed in white light, as if he were ascending to heaven, the damn thing is still not here.
So, what's the hold-up? It's either Kanye's perfectionism or another tactic to keep fans involved, intrigued, upset, and offended — boundaries he's been pushing since the start of his career over 20 years ago.
However, industry insiders, fans, and others have speculated that he's waiting for Drake to announce a release date for his long-awaited new album, "Certified Lover Boy" — which the Canadian rapper has said will be out by the end of the summer — so he can square off against him in a release-date battle of the titans, as he did nearly 14 years ago with 50 Cent.
Indeed, now that he's gone to heaven, it's about the only way he can raise any more excitement for "Donda," which he's already debuted and altered twice.
In reality, Kanye West's 2007 standoff with 50, which saw both artists' third albums, West's "Graduation" and 50's "Curtis," drop on the same day, 9/11, was the most complex Kanye West release event. And there was a lot more at risk than there would be now in a similar struggle.
Prior to streaming services being the dominant format for music, the majority of fans had to pay for individual albums via CDs, downloads, or vinyl. Artists and companies knew that most fans only had a limited amount of money to spend on music each week, so forcing them to pick between two new albums on the same day was not a good business decision. For decades, artists strenuously avoided releasing big albums or singles on the same day.
However, “cautious” is not a term that has ever been used to characterize Kanye or 50, who were very much kings of the game in 2007, with Jay-Z still “retired” and working as president/CEO of Kanye's parent company, Def Jam Records, in his last year.
Even in an age when CD sales were dropping and the industry was being gouged by illicit downloading and other kinds of piracy, West's 2005 album "The Massacre" sold 1.5 million copies in its first week, making it one of the last albums to accomplish so. West’s 2005 album, “Late Registration,” had shifted 860,000 units in its first week, but his popularity and influence were soaring.
Two months before the film's release, the two began sparring: Interscope stated on July 13 that the release date for "Curtis" has been pushed back from September 4 to September 11 to avoid the Labor Day vacation (this was when most people still bought music in stores). Sources verified six days later that “Graduation” had been moved from September 18 to September 11.
The fight was on, much to the surprise of the industry and the joy of the fans.
The two exploited their antagonism to the farthest extent possible. 50 stated that if West outsold him in the first week, he would stop creating music, however, he later backtracked on that statement. West dropped two of his biggest songs, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger," while 50 famously had a meltdown in G-Midtown Unit's Manhattan offices, throwing his cell phone out the window and ripping a flat-screen TV from the wall, after learning the video for his Robin Thicke collaboration "Follow My L."
While sales predictions for the two albums were nearly identical in the weeks preceding up to their release, West's advantage grew in the days after their release - remember, the final count wouldn't be in for another week. The two stepped up their efforts that week, with West appearing on the Emmy Awards and 50 on a "5 Borough Tour" of his birthplace of New York City in an attempt to shift the scales. During the week, 50 began attacking West's label, Def Jam, alleging that the company was buying copies of "Graduation" to increase sales (without providing any evidence).
In the end, as MTV News put it at the time, West “pounded” 50, posting 957,000 copies of “Graduation” against 691,000 copies of “Curtis,” per Nielsen SoundScan, the industry standard at the time
“This is a tremendous day for hip hop and creativity, and a great day for Kanye West and Roc-A-Fella Records,” Jay-Z, then president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, stated (parent company of his Roc-A-Fella label, to which West is signed). “It's a wonderful indicator that music that's emotional, true, and honest can handle these kinds of songs.”
So, is West anticipating Drake's long-awaited "Certified Lover Boy" album, which the Canadian superstar recently said he'd completed? Drake hasn't produced a true full-length album since "Scorpion," little over three years ago, while constantly feeding his fanbase with stand-alone tracks, features, and other media nibbles. He’d originally promised that “Certified Lover Boy” would drop this past January, but backtracked.
Even if it's a titanic battle — there aren't many greater stars in hip-hop right now, and only a few more in mainstream music — what does a 2021 release-date standoff mean? The race to a billion cumulative album streams would very certainly be the finish line. However, because streaming is tracked by songs rather than albums — and because artists frequently add new tracks to albums in the days after release to assist boost statistics — this is a tough milestone to quantify: The first 24 hours, the first week, and so on.
That, however, is nitpicking: Conflict makes for good headlines, and there isn't a more juicy one in music right now than Kanye West vs. Drake. Both West's and Drake's labels declined to announce release dates for the albums, but superstar musicians will still be the ones to pick when they release music in 2021, as West's constantly shifting release dates demonstrate. Universal Music Group is the parent business of both artists' labels, so a streaming war would be a win-win situation.
As a result, all bets are off. Bring out the popcorn maker...
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