Kanye West’s Laptop Was Not Stolen, New Music Won’t Be Leaked
For weeks, fans have been waiting for Kanye West to drop his next album. All of that almost came to an end when it was rumored that someone had stolen West’s laptop in Paris.
According to the New York Times, a frenzy was created after an anonymous Twitter account set up shop with a handle called “kanyelaptop” and claimed that they had West’s laptop and his new album YZ 2.0 in their possession. On the Twitter account, the anonymous user has been baiting West fans with embeds of supposed leaks. They sound pretty convincing, but fans weren’t completely sure.
Entitled YZ 2.0 new @kanyewest pic.twitter.com/xqOfTnCN9D
— Kanye (@kanyelaptop) March 11, 2015
@kanyelaptop can we get a file instead of a video shot on a cell phone? cant hear anything to tell if this is real or not — ×B??† ??H?B× (@beatrehab) March 11, 2015
Leak a snippet? YZ 2.0?
— Kanye (@kanyelaptop) March 11, 2015
Additionally, West’s collaborator, Malik Yusef, posted to his Twitter account about the ordeal, and for a while, it seemed like the story was true.
“We have the PRIVATE INVESTIGATION FIRMS ON TOP OF @kanyewestSTOLEN LAPTOP!!!!!”
Kanye West’s laptop was stolen in Paris last night. http://t.co/l8fIRwEk9O pic.twitter.com/3pJYwFk9Dm — Complex (@ComplexMag) March 11, 2015
During this time, West’s new song “Awesome” was leaked, which only added fuel to the fire that his laptop was stolen.
@ComplexMag Hope that don’t make him push the album back… On the flip we might get some songs we never thought we’d get lol
— Bimbo Trolls (@artistrickards) March 11, 2015
Despite the leaked song, it turns out the anonymous account is a hoax. Kanye’s spokesperson cleared up the rumor before it became too damaging. Gabriel Tesoriero, the executive vice president of Def Jam, released a statement about West’s laptop.
“The stories circulating that Kanye West’s laptop has been stolen are completely false. His laptop has never been out of his possession. Hence, the laptop has not been hacked, and there has been no leak of personal data such as unreleased music, photographs, designs, videos or any other personal files. The leak today of the unreleased track ‘Awesome’ was unrelated and completely coincidental.”
Later on, Yusef posted, “As far as I know @kanyewest laptop is safe & sound and not in the possession of @KanyeLaptop Lol! Thank yall 4 bein ready 2 go 2 war 4 art!”
Looks like fans who are still waiting for an official release from Kanye can rest easy. It sounds like the artist still has all of his files.
[Photo by Andreas Rentz / Getty Images]