Kanye West Pitches ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover, Asks For Your Feedback

Yesterday, Kanye West released a new Rolling Stone magazine cover on Twitter. He acknowledged it was not yet a real Rolling Stone cover, but he also asked followers to vote on whether or not they wanted it to become a reality.

The cover features Kanye himself smiling ear to ear in a black beanie and a paint-stained denim shirt over a white background.

“KANYE,” text splashed over West’s torso reads in bright pink letters. And in smaller, black text below that, “Does he like mustard?”

In his tweet, Kanye also states that the portrait of him was shot by Tyler the Creator, fellow rapper and producer.

The question about mustard seems to be fairly random. Maybe it is a reference to the mustard that played a prominent role in Kanye West’s 2004 music video for his song “All Falls Down.” We may never know.

Rolling Stone, who did not take much time to post its own tweet stating that the cover Kanye had posted was not official, expressed a similar interest in Kanye’s mustard-related views.

While we love Kanye, and have many mustard-related questions for him, this is not an actual cover of Rolling Stone https://t.co/2c3ZWpaorN

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 4, 2016

An hour later, West conceded that while the cover was not yet real, it should be. Along with his own assertion that his cover was print-worthy, Kanye asked fans to pitch in their two cents by tweeting out a poll.

Make your voice heard by clicking on the embedded poll above and casting your vote. Even one vote could really count, as the poll is a very close race at the moment, with 53 percent of respondents saying that the cover should be picked up and 47 percent going the other way.

Kanye West is no stranger to using Twitter polls to ask for his followers’ input before making decisions, notes Stereogum. Two days ago, Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, tweeted out a poll asking what Kanye’s upcoming album should be titled.

WAIT new poll. Which album title do you like best? @kanyewest

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) February 1, 2016

Approximately 80,000 votes were cast in the album name poll. Another 40,000 votes (and counting fast) have already been cast in the Rolling Stone cover poll (which runs for another 18 hours), which shows that Kanye’s newfound democratic form of determination has quite a constituency!

Kim Kardashian West stood by Kanye’s side in the Twitter debacle, tweeting, “IT SHOULD BE!!!” in response to Rolling Stone’s clarification that the cover was unofficial and also sending out her own tweet praising the cover.

That pic Tyler The Creator took is seriously one of my faves of Kanye. He looks so happy!

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) February 4, 2016

While Kanye West’s exchanges with the Rolling Stone reps themselves were playful and good-natured, West became more serious after Billboard’s report of the incident, in which they called the cover “fake.” Kanye undoubtedly knew what they meant – that the cover was not officially recognized – but he made it clear he did not care for the wording.

West has not yet commented on the HiphopDX headline declaring “Kanye West & Tyler The Creator Troll With Bogus Rolling Stone Cover,” but something tells us he wouldn’t like that one, either.

Kanye West’s current back-and-forth with Rolling Stone, which most sources are calling a feud but which some sources, like Buzzfeed, are recognizing as friendly “I’m messing with you, but I know you still love me” banter, comes on the heels of his truly heated Twitter war with Wiz Khalifa and his girlfriend Amber Rose.

In the past few weeks, Kanye west has dominated social media with multiple controversies like this and the Wiz Khalifa beef. But some sources think the hubbub Kanye has made lately is just his way of getting free buzz for his new album, which is due to premiere at Madison Square Garden on February 11.

What do you think? Is Kanye’s cover proposal a good one? And is West’s recent slew of media controversy sincere or, dare I say it, fake?

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]