Kanye Announces Donda 2 Will Only Be Available on His Own $200 Stem Player Device
Fans of Kanye West who want to listen to his upcoming album Donda 2 will have to do so on his own Stem Player.
The 44-year-old rapper revealed the news on Instagram late Thursday night, posting alongside a song snippet that “Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube.”
“Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” he claimed. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own. Go to stemplayer.com now to order.”
The $200 device “ships with Donda” and allows the user to “customize any song,” according to the website.
“You can download new music from stemplayer.com. You can play 4 different elements of the track: vocals, drums, bass and music. It also has a MP3 player available,” West wrote in another post.
In a follow-up post, West shared what appeared to be the album’s track listing, while in another, he urged his followers to “go to stemplayer.com to be a part of the revolution.”
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“I feel that same feeling like when I first moved to New York to make it in Music,” he said in the latter post on Instagram. “I ain’t know what was gonna happen but I knew had to move. After 10 albums after being under 10 contracts. I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected.”
West said he and the Stem Player team “set our own price for our art,” adding, “Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours you don’t eat. JAY-Z made Tidal and fake media attacked him.”
“Well in the words of my big brother. Come and get me,” he continued. “I’m willing to die standing cause I ain’t living on my knees no more. God please cover me. I run this company 100% I don’t have to ask for permission.”
West’s news about his album comes as he recently said he is working on taking “accountability” following a series of Instagram posts he made about estranged wife Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson.
The rapper wiped his account on Tuesday afternoon and shared a new photo following an influx of posts over the weekend that included screenshots of texts he’d received from both Kardashian, 41, and Davidson, 28, and memes that he captioned with harassing messages.
West posted a picture of himself standing solo on a platform surrounded by clouds, said he was “working on” his communication skills and referenced multiple posts which he said “came off as harassing” his ex, with whom he shares children North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2.
“I’ve learned that using all caps makes people feel like I’m screaming at them. I’m working on my communication,” he wrote. “I can benefit from a team of creative professionals, organizers, mobilizers and community leaders. Thank everybody for supporting me.”
Two hours later, however, West was back with another since-deleted post. He shared an image of a roadside billboard stating, “Stop telling fathers they should have fought harder to see their children & start asking mothers why he had to fight at all.”
The 22-time Grammy winner has expressed interest in reconciling with Kardashian, who filed for divorce in February 2021 after nearly seven years of marriage. On Valentine’s Day Monday, he shared photos of a pickup truck filled with roses that appeared to be en route to the SKIMS founder, though it remains unclear if she received them.
Kardashian, however, has expressed frustration with her ex, namely after he publicly criticized the fact that North is active on TikTok. Wrote the reality star on her Feb. 4 Instagram Story, in part, “Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.”
“From the beginning I have wanted nothing but a healthy relationship because it is what is best for our children and it saddens me that Kanye continues to make it impossible every step of the way,” she added.
West’s Instagram cleanse came just one day after a rep for actress Julia Fox confirmed that she and the rapper, who had been dating since New Year’s Eve, are no longer together.
Donda 2 drops Tuesday.