Kanye West was announced as a last-minute surprise act this year’s Soundstorm Festival, but he never ended up following through on it — he was, however, in the area over the weekend and even ended up crossing paths with Will Smith.
On Sunday (December 17), an unnamed woman shared a selfie of with Ye and The Fresh Prince aboard a first-class Emirates flight from Dubai to Los Angeles. Though not much else is known about said run-in, Smith seemed pleased whereas Kanye West had on his neutral face as she snapped a photo with them.
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It is also unclear if West was present at the event he pulled out of, which also involved Will, his son Jaden Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff sharing the sage during an explosive, cross-generational performance of “ICON.”
Check out both the aforementioned crossovers below:
Kanye West & Will Smith link up in Saudi Arabia following "Vultures" delay announcement pic.twitter.com/9hjgdsq2Dv
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) December 18, 2023
The snap arrived just a day after plans for Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s album Vultures were curbed, with fans once again having to wait a little while longer for the collaborative project.
Late last week, a representative for the pair confirmed to XXL that the album won’t be released until New Year’s Eve. Additionally, the pair is also planning to host another rave event in Saudi Arabia to celebrate the album’s release.
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Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign first pushed back their album in November. At the beginning of that month, Billboard reported that the duo’s record launch had been canceled without any further details.
Though the pair never announced an official date to drop the record, fans assumed that it would go public after its broadcast at the rave West threw in mid-December — this, of course, never ended up happening.
This is the second time Ye and Ty have pumped the brakes on the album’s rollout. They were initially set to perform it in front of upwards of 100,000 fans at a massive concert in Italy toward the end of October.
Rumored to take place at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, the show was then aborted after reportedly hitting a roadblock. As for the album, it was recently reported that the Chicago rap icon and California crooner are looking for a company to distribute their material.
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Billboard speculated that it will most likely be a smaller company as “some label leaders have passed on the opportunity” due to Ye’s antisemitic comments from last year. Because of this, Rick Ross recently signaled his interest in signing Yeezy to Maybach Music Group and releasing his album with Ty Dolla $ign through said imprint.
Later, it was revealed that the album was due to be released on Friday (December 15), but that too was shut down.
