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Kanye West took Ye cover photo 'on his iPhone on way to album listening party', says Kim Kardashian

Rapper just dropped his anticipated eighth album

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Friday 01 June 2018 08:43 EDT
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Kanye West debuts his new album at listening party in Wyoming

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Kanye West's new album Ye is now available on streaming platforms, after he played it to members of the public at a listening party in the US.

One of the biggest talking points at the moment, as fans delve into the lyrics, production and features, is the cover art.

It shows a mountain range in Wyoming - the location of West's album party - and the words "I hate being Bi-Polar it's awesome" in neon green handwriting.

In May, West had previously claimed the album cover would feature the image of Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on his mother before her sudden death in November 2007.

"I want to forgive and stop hating," he explained of his decision.

Adams himself wrote a letter to West, obtained by The Blast, he said he would "have to decline at this time" and "ask that you cease and desist using my photo or any image of me to promote your album or any of your work".

"I don't want to seem ungrateful... I just think that if in fact this conversation to love is genuine on your part... then it's inappropriate to drag the negativity of the past with it," he added.

West seems to have been convinced, but consequently had no album cover, and appeared to do a last-minute improvisation on the way to the album event.

His wife, prison reform campaigner Kim Kardashian, tweeted: "Kanye shot the album cover on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party."

It's at least less controversial than the cover art West chose for Pusha T - whose album he produced - which was a photo of Whitney Houston's bathroom.

West paid a reported $85,000 to obtain the rights to the picture, which showed the bathroom littered with drugs and drug paraphernalia. It was allegedly taken by a family member in 2006, while Houston was struggling with a serious drug addiction - a few years before she died on 11 February 2012.

Houston's estate criticised West for using the picture, saying it was "extremely disappointed" with him and adding: "Even in Whitney's death, we see that no on is exempt from the harsh realities of the world."

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