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Kanye West does whatever Kanye West wants--even if it means renting out an entire stadium as his personal living space.
The rapper hosted an album listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week, and in the most Kanye move ever, he’s been there ever since. As he finishes the recording process for his upcoming project, Donda, he’s living inside of the venue, which is now fully equipped with his own little bedroom set up in one of the dressing rooms.
Following reports that he temporarily moved into the concert venue, Ye posted a picture to Instagram showing off his modest living space: a small room with nothing but a twin bed, a small closet, and white-painted concrete walls.
While this is obviously an unexpected and unusual occurrence for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they’ve fully embraced their guest’s extended stay, giving him his own “DONDA STUDIO” plaque outside of his bedroom.
Though the album was originally scheduled to come out on Friday, July 23 following Thursday’s listening session, fans weren’t too surprised to find out it had been delayed, since Kanye has done the same thing with previous releases.
Now, Donda is slated for August 6, and it seems like Mr. West is locked all the way into the process as he keeps a low profile in Atlanta.
The unfinished version of the album that Kanye played in Atlanta last week featured his highly-anticipated reunion with JAY-Z along with more contributions from Pop Smoke, Travis Scott, Pusha T, Baby Keem, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and more. The project also included “No Child Left Behind,” a song that appeared in a new Beats ad starring track star Sha’Carri Richardson.
The Donda listening event also prompted the City of Atlanta to proclaim July 22 Kanye West Day. While he’s highly associated with the city of Chicago, where he grew up, the rapper was born in Atlanta as his late mother, Donda West--who the album is named after--taught at Morris Brown College in the ‘70s.
This project marks Kanye’s first solo album since 2019’s Jesus Is King. On Christmas Day that same year, his Sunday Service Choir released Jesus Is Born, an album of gospel music that West executive produced.