A Timeline of Kanye West's New Music

A recap of Yeezy Season, so far.

May 21, 2013

Image via Complex Original

We've been waiting for this week and it's finally here.

Kanye West released new music to the world on Friday in a viral installation campaign that streamed a visual of his face rapping his latest song, "New Slaves," on 66 locations in 10 different cities across the world. It's an exciting time in hip-hop—and everyone is taking inspiration from Ye's latest debut.

It all started on May 2 when he tweeted "June Eighteen." Now, we're a month away from the scheduled release date for his sixth studio album Yeezus and if you haven't been keeping up, we've got you covered. Here's Everything You Need to Know About Kanye West's New Music.

The "June Eighteen" Tweet

Date: May 2

When Kanye West tweets, the Internet stops. Yeezy season began when Kanye deleted all his previous tweets and then sent a cryptic missive that just read, "June Eighteen." "June Eighteen" could have meant the announcement of plenty of events—Kim K's due date, an announcement of an announcement, and of course, the release date of his next album.

The 2013 Met Gala Performance

Date: May 6
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that Kanye West would be performing at their annual Met Gala, we were certain that Kanye would premiere at least some new music. While viewers tuned in to the live stream of the red carpet, there were no cameras around when Kanye took the stage at the Metropolitan Museum of Art...there were only Vines.

It's frustrating to watch 6-second clips of a performance but that's all that was available. It was all thanks to A-Trak and a few models (Jaime King, Coco Rocha) in attendance. The first glimpse of Kanye's new music was a clip from A-Trak's Vine of him screaming "I am a god." It confirmed rumors that Kanye's new album would include some screeching vocals, and some reference to God.

Here's a clip:

Another glimpse of Ye's new music was of his song, "Awesome." Coco Rocha posted a Vine of Kanye on stage with the caption "Kanye telling Kim not to worry what anyone says that she's awesome. Quite touching really:"

Reports surfaced that Vogue would be releasing a HD video of Kanye's entire performance but they've yet to release any official footage.

The "Adult Swim" Upfronts at Roseland Ballroom

Date: May 15
Location: Roseland Ballroom

What's a TV upfront? Who cares! (Actually, you can read a description here.) All we knew was Yeezy was performing in NYC at a pop-up show. We have no idea what it had to do with Adult Swim, but we're thankful they made it happen. Kanye hit the stage at Roseland and did not disappoint. He previewed two songs from the new album, one we don't know the title of and the other we're guessing is called "Awesome."

On stage, Kanye appeared within a pyramid. But this pyramid wasn't built for a pharaoh, it was built for an auteur. When he first hit the stage, video of lighting appeared on the triangular screens of the pyramid and Kanye was barely visible—it looked as if he was inside a TV screen, behind the images. As the show carried on, various images flashed across the screen like winds of sand and and flashing lights, making his live show unlike any other you've seen before.

The highlight of the night came when Yeezy went on a rant against paparazzi, being a celebrity, and more in typical Kanye fashion:

"One thing about me. I'm the worst kinda, worst kinda, worst kinda celebrity...because all I do is make real music. All I do is sit in the studio and make real, real shit. and that's it. That's motherfucking it. That's motherfucking it. So I don't want nobody trying to run up on me with no cameras, trying to sell pictures and shit to magazines, asking me no dumbass questions. throwing me off of my focus and shit. Harassing you all motherfucking day. I ain't no motherfucking celebrity..."

The Viral Installations for "New Slaves" Begin

Date: May 17
Locations: 10 Cities, 66 Locations

How's this for some guerilla marketing? Too cool to just drop a new song by tweeting out a link, Kanye took it to the streets. He did however send out a tweet, but one that announced all 66 locations where his "New Slaves" song would premiere.

While some of the locations were shut down or monitored by police, Ye's mission was complete—"New Slaves" went viral in a matter of minutes. All it took was a flatbed truck draped in black cloth to roll up, project the video of Kanye's face rapping for a little over four minutes, and drive away.

With a chorus like "You see it's leaders and there's followers/But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" and blunt vocals, Ye's return to music was official. And his methodology was inspiring, just ask Kendrick Lamar.

"Yeezus" Is Confirmed as Album Title

Date: May 19

Remember all those rumors about Kanye naming his album/song/something "I Am God?" Well, they were kind of right. Yeezus is confirmed as the name of Kanye's sixth studio album, and was announced early Saturday afternoon by RapUp from unnamed sources. People were hesitant to believe the title until Kim Kardashian and Virgil Abloh Instagrammed photos of the album art with the hashtag #yeezus.

Yeezus drops on June 18.

"Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves" Performances on Saturday Night Live

Date: May 18
Location: New York City

Halfway through Saturday night's season finale of SNL, Kanye took the stage to debut his track, "Black Skinhead," and later in the show, "New Slaves."

Three years prior, Ye performed "Power" at SNL on a stark white stage with a dozen models, decked in an all-red outfit with gold practically hanging off of him. On Saturday, the stage was Kanye, his band, and a screen flashing images of his face behind him. It was a powerful image that left viewers focusing on Ye's stoic facial expressions.

Nothing took away from his performances—not the set design, not the live band. His voice was blunt, he was angry and the strength of his performance was in his vocals and nothing else. The next day, Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone tweeted an excerpt from his forthcoming Daft Punk cover story revealing that they worked on "Black Skinhead" with Kanye.

Kanye's introduction of new music was a carefully crafted experience that ended with a night of two performances that left fans even more anxious to hear what seems to be a very dark and emotional new album.