Kanye West is doing a thing.
On Monday night, West announced Kanye West Presents Donda Listening Event, a public listening party dedicated to the upcoming release of his new album Donda. The event, which fans can purchase tickets to, will take place July 22, 8 p.m. local time at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This is a stadium that holds 71,000 seats, per the official website. How fitting.
The public listening party announcement came shortly after Kanye held a more private and intimate listening shindig for the upcoming album in Las Vegas over the weekend.
As The Root contributor Shanelle Genai reported earlier on Monday:
Permitted guests were there via invite-only and had to register after the fact to confirm their attendance. While there aren’t many photos or clips or videos available as cell phones weren’t allowed into the venue, chatter from notable folks posted online all but confirmed the exclusive event. Social media personality and host Justin LaBoy and NBA star Kevin Durant were among the few who were reportedly there, LaBoy posting several tweets following the event Sunday night.
Though no phones were allowed at the super-secret event, of course footage leaked, with ‘Ye donning a full mask and gloves.
The upcoming album is ‘Ye’s 10th studio album, named after his mother, who died tragically in 2007 following complications from cosmetic surgery.
As for this upcoming listening party function, it’s pretty safe to say there will be similar Kanye antics with a few surprises in between. Maybe one of those surprises will be a live tweeting session over music, as he hasn’t tweeted since losing his presidential run in November. Perhaps North West will regale the crowd with her hilarious rendition of her song “What Are Those?” from the Yeezy fashion show, which I routinely sing to my equally foolish friends. The possibilities are endless—just like Kanye’s merry-go-round journey with Twitter.
Tickets for the Donda listening party are now on sale at ticketmaster.com.