Update: Frank Ocean's mother on Saturday revealed that the voice at the end of the track is her son.
Ahead of Ye's golden performance slot on this weekend's Saturday Night Live's season finale, the rapper has also been hosting listening parties for a new solo record, which is expected this summer. The new material is said to be mostly "dark" but "really good."
We previously reported back in February that West had promised new music "in a couple months." Given the SNL performance, that fits in with the timeline. Of course, we knew Ye wouldn't be performing the NBC comedy show—especially the finale—without being able to deliver some fresh material. He recently tweeted the date "June 18," interpreted by some in the industry to be the release date for the album. That remains to be confirmed.
West has been working with a ton of collaborators this round, including Daft Punk, Skrillex, The-Dream, Azealia Banks and more.
SNL will close out its season with host and Oscar winner Ben Affleck on May 18.
Watch fan footage of the "New Slaves" video below (for the time being):
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