Back around 2013, when Kanye West was still trying to put together the ferocious album we would all ultimately know and love as Yeezus, he approached Rick Rubin to put his legendary reductionist spin on the project. The producer helped Kanye strip down some of the musical components on the album, while shearing six songs off the final tracklist, saving them for a sequel that never came. As we know, Kanye spent the next two years touring and dropping loose singles before heading into an entirely different direction with The Life Of Pablo.
While Kanye and Rubin haven’t said much about the fate of Yeezus 2 in the years since, recently, West’s protege and G.O.O.D. Music signee CyHi The Prynce confirmed that, at least it does exist in some form, through a playlist that he recently uploaded to Spotify.
The playlist, titled ypm features just six songs, all reduced to either single letters or numbers, and tagged with a Yeezus 2 kicker. The playlist is currently offline, and before that, was unable to be played by the public. There are a few educated guesses that could be made about the content of some of the tracks. “W” for example could stand for “Wolves,” while “OO,” might very well mean “Only One.” As for ”333,” “MM,” “WISI,” and “AY” however, that remains a complete mystery.
Because Kanye has never been one to delve into his musical past in any kind of meaningful way outside of a pair of live performances of his 808s & Heartbreak album at the Hollywood Bowl, a while back, it might be a long time before we hear the contents of what was originally supposed to be Yeezus 2. Maybe in another decade or two he’ll give it the deluxe re-issue treatment? Until then, the mind is left to wonder.
