Kanye West has worn a Ku Klux Klan-style hood at a listening party for his upcoming album Vultures, which is expected to be released on Friday.
West wore the garment, a pointed black hood with eyeholes, on stage at the event in Miami, which also featured music stars including Chris Brown, Kodak Black, Offset and more, plus West’s children North, Saint and Chicago.
ahhh here we go 😭 Kanye premieres a new look with a Black version of a KKK hood pic.twitter.com/6o9sO7qVu6
— SOUND (@itsavibe) December 12, 2023
The gesture follows West debuting T-shirts that read White Lives Matter at a show for his fashion brand Yeezy in October 2022. “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam,” he later wrote.
Later that month he made a series of antisemitic statements, writing: “Going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE … You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” He later said: “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler … [Nazis] did good things too.” He also posted an image of a swastika blended with a Star of David.
Adidas cut ties with the rapper following the comments, ending a lucrative partnership that had launched the rapper’s Yeezy trainer brand to huge success. Companies such as TJ Maxx and Foot Locker stopped stocking Yeezy products, while Gap ended their partnership with West.
The rapper (also known as Ye) reportedly addresses the allegations on Vultures, claiming “I ain’t antisemitic” in a crude, sexually explicit lyric.
The artwork for Vultures features a painting by Caspar David Friedrich, the Romantic-era German landscape painter who was later championed by the Nazis. There are similarities between the font for the album title, and its placement in the top left of the album cover, with album covers by Norwegian black metal band Burzum, whose leader Varg Vikernes has made white nationalist statements and was convicted in 2014 of inciting racial hatred by publishing blog posts attacking Jews and Muslims (which he denied he wrote).
Vultures is a collaboration with rapper and singer Ty Dolla $ign, with the duo styled as ¥$. Other guest artists include Nicki Minaj, Young Thug and Lil Baby, while West’s daughter North also contributes a rap. Veteran producer Timbaland is thought to also be involved – he wrote “One of my best body of work” on Instagram alongside a tracklisting from the album, which features 18 tracks.
One track given a short preview online features a sample or interpolation of Backstreet Boys’ hit Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).
