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Cuck (album)

Cuck is the reported upcoming eleventh studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. Media personality DJ Akademiks announced the album under the title WW3 during a live stream on April 2, 2025, a week after the release of the title track as a single on March 26. Amid the surprise release of a demo (production dated December 2024) of his preceding visual album Bully the month prior, West caused controversy by numerous public acts of hate speech, including making antisemitic statements, supporting Nazism, posting offensive remarks; as well as coming out about enacting incest with his cousin as a child on his Twitter account (the latter of which coinciding with the release of the second single from the album, called "Cousins", and its music video). Dave Blunts makes uncredited guest appearances on the album.

Background

See also: Views of Kanye West § 2025

In February 2025, West posted several offensive, instigative, and insensitive comments on his X account, including calling for the freeing of mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs amid his sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Several of West's comments were deemed antisemitic, homophobic, ableist, and misogynistic.[1] That month, West met Dave Blunts and they began working on an album together.[2]

On March 6, West stated that his upcoming music would have an "antisemitic sound".[3][4][5] On March 15, he once again identified himself as a Nazi.[6] On March 16, he posted images of a Nazi swastika and the sig runes of the Schutzstaffel, claiming them as his "new album cover" and "new Sunday Service logo", respectively.[7]

After portions of it were published by Blunts and Adin Ross, West released the single "WW3" on March 26.[8] On March 30, DJ Akademiks held an interview in which West wore a black Ku Klux Klan-inspired outfit and made further controversial remarks including stating that he regrets having children with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, and that he considers Drake "a million times better" than Kendrick Lamar, as well as negative remarks about various celebrities including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Playboi Carti, Lamar, and the late Virgil Abloh.[9][10] The following day, West released the music video to "WW3" on Twitter. The video contains a repurposed scene from the American television miniseries Roots alongside graphic sexual imagery featuring interracial sex and footage of a KKK gathering.[11]

On April 2, DJ Akademiks announced that WW3 would be released the next day (which did not happen), and shared the track listing.[12] Akademiks also previewed the track "Bianca"; the lyrics of the track concern West's separation from his wife Bianca Censori, pleading with her to "come back".[13] On April 3, West revealed the album cover, which depicts a male and female Klan member wearing white and red KKK-inspired outfits, respectively, posing in front of a stack of hay bales.[14] The album cover is an edited version of the 2015 photo The wedding of two members of the KKK in a barn in rural America by Peter Van Agtmael with the man edited black and a white dog with a cape reading "white power" being removed [15] On April 21, West announced that he was changing the title to Cuck, which he said represented "[his] whole style".[16] He released the second single called "Cousins", initially named "Dirty Magazines", the same day in a tweet with part of the text reading "This song is called COUSINS about my cousin that's locked in jail for life for killing a pregnant lady a few years after I told him we wouldn't 'look at dirty magazines together' anymore," with the music video attached alongside it,[17] containing lyrics discussing West's experience having an incestuous relationship with a male cousin as a child and his recreational use of nitrous oxide.[18]

Blunts, who wrote the entirety of Cuck, denied the album was antisemitic, describing it as follows: "It's about one man going between hurt, betrayal and pain and he's putting that shit down..."[18]

Track listing

All songs written by Kanye West & Dave Blunts.[18] Track listing from April 28, 2025.

Cuck track listing[12]
No.TitleLength
1."Bianca"1:56
2."Hitler Ye and Jesus"2:06
3."Jared"2:54
4."WW3"1:45
5."Virgil"2:04
6."Nitrous"1:37
7."Cousins"2:34
8."Heil Hitler"2:58
9."All the Love"1:38
10."Dirty Magazines"1:27
11."Jesus"1:24
12."Cosby"2:30
Total length:24:53

References

  1. ^ Strauss, Matthew (February 7, 2025). "Kanye West, Amid Return to Public Eye, Praises Hitler, Diddy, and Chris Brown in Hate-Filled X Rant". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  2. ^ Horvath, Zachary (April 15, 2025). "Kanye West Claims He & Dave Blunts Are 'Almost Finished' With 'WW3' Album". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  3. ^ Saponara, Michael (2025-03-06). "After Years of Antisemitic Rhetoric, Ye Now Declares 'My New Sound Called Antisemitic'". Billboard. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
  4. ^ Winslow, Mike (2025-03-07). "Ye Says His New Album Has "Antisemitic Sound"". AllHipHop. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
  5. ^ Nevares, Gabriel Bras (2025-03-06). "Kanye West Declares New Album "Bully" Has That "Antisemitic Sound"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
  6. ^ Moore, Sam (March 15, 2025). "Kanye West Defends Being A Nazi With 'Bisexual' Comparison". HipHopDX. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  7. ^ Nevares, Gabriel Bras (2025-03-16). "Kanye West Unveils Nazi-Inspired Logos For New Album "Bully" Cover Art & Sunday Service". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  8. ^ Gee, Maddie (March 31, 2025). Ye Drops "WW3" Song as Lawsuit News Breaks (Report). Rap TV. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
  9. ^ Bennett, Jessica (April 3, 2025). Ye Leans Into Controversy With Potential Tracklist For New Album 'WW3' (Report). Vibe Magazine. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  10. ^ Saponera, Michael (March 31, 2025). 8 Things We Learned From Ye's Interview With DJ Akademiks (Report). Billboard. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  11. ^ Cowen, Trace (April 1, 2025). Ye's "WW3" Video Features Repurposed 'Roots' Scene, Depicts Woman Being Whipped (Report). Complex. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Blake, Cole (April 3, 2025). Kanye West Is Supposedly Dropping A New "WW3" Album Today (Report). HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  13. ^ Dolak, Kevin (April 3, 2025). Kanye West Raps About Split With Wife Bianca Censori on His New Album, 'WW3' (Report). The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  14. ^ Fisher, Caroline (April 3, 2025). Kanye West Unveils KKK-Inspired Cover For Upcoming Album "WW3" (Report). HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  15. ^ "The Modern Ku Klux Klan • Peter van Agtmael • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos". Magnum Photos. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
  16. ^ Blake, Cole (April 21, 2025). "Kanye West Bizarrely Changes His Album Title To 'Cuck'". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  17. ^ "Ye continues to sound off after alleging sex acts with a male cousin. But this time it's about his kids". Los Angeles Times. 2025-04-22. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
  18. ^ a b c Blake, Cole (April 22, 2025). "Kanye West Reveals Dave Blunts Wrote The Entirety Of His New Album, "Cuck"". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 22, 2025.