It wouldn’t be totally out of character for Kanye West to make fans suffer through the majority of the summer before dropping his G.O.O.D. music compilation Cruel Summer as some sort of demonstrative performance art, but it also wouldn’t be surprising if he waited until the dead of winter to do the same thing, so pardon us if we (like Vulture) remain skeptical of Pusha T’s announcement on Hot 97 yesterday that it would drop August 7 (via HipHopDX).
Things we know for sure:
- We’ve already heard the comp’s slinky first single, “Mercy,” as well as seen its stark video component..
- The last G.O.O.D. Friday single, the beef-launching Pusha-T track “Exodus 23:1,” was dropped the night before Friday, May 25, almost a month ago.
- According to reports from Cannes last month, Kanye’s Cruel Summer seven-screen art film has already featured an entirely fresh soundtrack (MTV noted that it works like “an extended music video”), but whether any of that music will appear on the compilation by the same name remains unknown.
- West himself hasn’t confirmed this release date yet (and we all remember how long we had to wait for Watch the Throne).
While you don’t hold your breath, we recommend checking out all the rejected 35th birthday stories SPIN offered up to Yeezy earlier this month.