On Thursday night, May 31, Kanye West debuted a new album, Ye, complete with a unique visual. The image made it worth wondering what the meaning of the Ye album cover actually was. Kim Kardashian helped answer the question on Twitter, with an explanation that's simpler than one might expect. "Kanye shot the album cover on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party," she tweeted. The album cover shows a photo of mountains, with words scribbled on the image: "I hate being bi-polar it's awesome." According to TMZ, Kanye's album release party was held at a ranch 45 minutes outside of Jackson Hole, a popular vacation town in Wyoming. For months, the rap artist and producer had been stationed in the northern state, where he worked on producing both his album and the albums of other artists on his G.O.O.D. Music label. Those artists include Kid Cudi and Pusha T, with the latter having already released his album, Daytona, which sparked a rap beef with Drake. On Thursday, it was Kanye's turn to debut an album, together with a spur-of-the-moment cover. Previously, Kanye had given fans reason to think that the cover would feature a photo of a doctor who performed surgery on Donda West, Kanye's mother, before her death in 2007. In a text conversation that Kanye West tweeted in April, the artist said, "This is my album cover. This is plastic surgeon Jan Adams. The person who performed my moms final surgery. Do you have any title ideas?" Ultimately, Kanye opted for a different visual. Kanye West not only mentioned bipolar disorder on his new album's cover, but also within its songs. In one line, he declares, "ain’t no disability, I’m a superhero." The album does not, however, directly mention President Donald Trump, despite Kanye having announced Ye's release date at a time when his comments about the president were making headline news. In one tweet, the 40-year-old rapper said, "You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought." Despite not referencing Trump by name, Ye does mention Stormy Daniels, the adult film star that alleges she engaged in an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied her allegations. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Kanye also alluded to the reported relationship issues between his sister-in-law Khloe Kardashian and NBA player Tristan Thompson. On the track "All Mine," Kanye raps: "All these thots on Christian Mingle, that’s what almost got Tristan single, if you don’t ball like him or Kobe, guarantee that bitch gon’ leave you." Ye's release party was reportedly attended by close friends and family — Scott Disick was at the event, for example — but Thompson was away playing in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. Since stories about Thompson and Khloe began circulating, Kim Kardashian has refrained from commenting on the subject. "I kind of made this rule with my brother, if there's a baby involved, I'm gonna keep it cute and keep it classy, and not talk too bad," she told The Ellen Show in May. "I'm gonna try not to say anything too negative, because one day [Tristan and Khloe's daughter] True is going to see this, and you know, it’s so messed up." Kanye West? Not so much. With his new album, Kanye has used Tristan Thompson, a porn star's alleged affair with the president, and bipolar disorder as material for lyrics. Oh, and for one impromptu album cover.<doc-sep>Photo: GOOD/Def Jam Kanye snapped the photo for YE, his seventh album, himself. YE’s album art is a photo of Jackson Hole’s mountainous terrain (can you call it a skyline if it’s just … nature?). In bright green scrawl, the cover reads, “I hate being Bi-Polar it’s awesome.” After the album hit streaming sites Friday morning, Kim Kardashian West tweeted the key detail: “Kanye shot the album cover on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party,” she reported. (Does that mean YE is next on all of those “Shot on an iPhone” ads?) Kanye shot the album cover on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party 😂🔥❤️🔥🙏🏼🔥 — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 1, 2018 Previously, Kanye said he wanted his album art to be a photo of the surgeon Jan Adams, who was operating on Kanye’s mother before she died. Donda West died in late 2007, after complications from the liposuction and breast-reduction surgery. In an open letter, Adams asked that the rapper not use his photo. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful,” he wrote. “I just think that if in fact this conversion to love is genuine on your part … then it’s inappropriate to drag the negativity of the past with it.” YE is available to stream now.<doc-sep>
Kanye West has earned himself a reputation for his last-minute, sometimes seemingly erratic decisions about his creative endeavors. It perhaps comes as little surprise then that the album art for Ye, which debuted during a Thursday evening listening party in Wyoming, was decided by the rapper en route to that very event. He also shot it on his iPhone. News of this unorthodox decision came by way of his wife Kim Kardashian West. Tweeting early Friday, she wrote: “Kanye shot the album cover on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party.” She accompanied the reveal with several emojis, including a heart, tears of joy, prayer hands, and flames. The cover for the multi-hyphenate’s eighth studio album features a sprawling mountain range, perhaps not unlike the one seen by his guests during Thursday’s fireside listening party at a ranch in Jackson Hole. While the album’s title is officially Ye — for now, at least — the title on the front of the album cover reads: “I hate being Bi-Polar it’s awesome.” Kanye previously announced on Twitter via a screen grab of an iMessage conversation that his album cover would include a photo of Jan Adams, who the rapper identified as the plastic surgeon who performed his mother Donda West’s final operation. She died in 2007 from complications following the procedure. The move feels extremely on-brand for the rapper while also being perhaps a bit paradoxical, given his general aversion to phones. He has said phones disrupt his creative process and claims he didn’t have one until 2011. Turns out those iPhones can be pretty handy after all.