The artist formerly known as Kanye West is reportedly planning to debut his rumored new album at a special event in Italy.
According to a report from Billboard's Mitchell Peters over the weekend, what is being described as a live performance is now slated to take place next Friday, Oct. 27. Recent weeks have seen a possible Ye event being discussed at length on Reddit and elsewhere, with prior whisperings about the performance and album linking both to an ultimately scrapped Oct. 13 debut date.
It’s no secret that a stage was previously revealed to be under construction at RCF Arena in the Reggio Emilia area of Northern Italy. However, no official announcements have been made about that venue with regards to a Ye performance. The arena has a listed maximum capacity of 103,000 people and is known as "the largest outdoor music venue in Europe."
Complex has reached out to a government rep in Reggio Emilia, as well as to a rep for RCF Arena, for comment. This story may be updated.
This weekend’s report describes the album in question as a collaborative full-length with Ty Dolla Sign, who’s also reported to be taking part in the performance. And while this is indeed being widely billed as a standard live performance, it’s also been pointed out that this could end up being a livestream listening session and performance art experience similar to the series of Donda events that surrounded Ye’s most recent studio album.
At any rate, the event will mark Ye's such project since his series of anti-Semitic statements last year and eventual Hitler-praising Alex Jones interview in December. By February, the Anti-Defamation League said it had "documented at least 30 antisemitic incidents that directly reference Ye."
In August, Ye made a surprise appearance during Travis Scott's Utopia-launching show in Rome.
