Kanye West has again landed in the middle of a controversy after an unreleased album, purportedly titled WW3, leaked online over the weekend. The entire album appeared on Discord late last week, just days after another purported project, C*ck, had its tracklist leaked on YouTube. The leak caused widespread outrage as one of the songs was found to contain disturbing endorsements of Adolf Hitler, resulting in severe repercussions, including the cancellation of a concert and online backlash.
Kanye West’s Pro- Hitler Album Gets Leaked
The debate grew stronger as the C*ck tracklist was joined by a vicious message from anonymous leakers. The leakers denounced Kanye for what they believed was the glorification of Nazi beliefs, saying that the music was not an artistic expression but dangerous propaganda. They also made it known that proceeds from an intended group buy of the leaked album would be donated to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in protest.
In retaliation, Kanye went to X (previously Twitter) to express his anger. He blamed unnamed people for leaking music files and posting them with fabricated storylines. Citing the leaks and subsequent backlash, he said that getting banned from sites and having shows canceled only proves the very things that he has been attempting to bring attention to. Although he did not specifically mention the offending song in the leaked album, his comments seemed to deflect responsibility and assert his contention that he’s being unjustly gagged.
Meanwhile, the backlash rages on. One of its biggest consequences is the cancellation of his South Korea concert scheduled for May 31 at Incheon. The concert, promoted by South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang through its music streaming platform Coupang Play, was set to take place on May 31 at Incheon. On Monday, the firm said it was canceling the event out of recent controversy that has surrounded the rapper. Full refunds to all ticket holders will be made, Coupang and ticketing agent Interpark said.
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To add insult to injury, Coupang also took off all of Kanye’s Yeezy line merchandise from its site on the same day. While neither of the companies specifically mentioned the song Heil Hitler, which, according to reports, came out earlier this month, the timing of the move makes the motivation obvious.
While speculation reigned around the released tracks, Kanye also addressed rumors regarding Uncle, a song others thought was about his wife Bianca Censori. He shut down the rumor, stating the song isn’t included in Cuck and isn’t related to her.
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