Kanye West’s next album artwork will feature the man who performed his late mother’s final surgery
We might also have a title for the June release
Kanye West has attracted plenty of attention with his recent comments about Donald Trump and Candace Owens, but now the musician has invoked another unlikely figure in conversations about his forthcoming eighth studio album.
The 40-year-old, whose last release was 2016’s The Life of Pablo, has revealed he wants the album cover to depict Jan Adams, the surgeon who operated on his late mother in the days before her death.
Donda West died in 2007, with a family spokesperson at the time citing “complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure”.
Now Kanye, in a message thought to have been sent to regular collaborator Wes Lang, has explained he wants to “forgive and stop hating” the man who performed the surgery.
There’s certainly plenty of intrigue about the new album, and that was already the case before the comments about the artwork.
Adams, who surrendered his medical licence after facing Medical Board complaints in the light of Donda West’s death, claimed the move from the musician is a ‘Macguffen’ (sic) – essentially a device used in fiction to symbolise a protagonist’s motives but with little value beyond that.
West famously blamed himself for his mother’s death in a 2015 interview, saying “If I had never moved to L.A. she’d be alive,” and has regularly dedicated performances to her.
Read more: Opinion: Connecting Kanye’s mental health to his politics insults sufferers like me
While he is yet to confirm an album title, the suggestion of LOVE EVERYONE in the shared text exchange is cited by various publications as the likely name of the new release.
Lang has collaborated with him on artworks in the past, and the exchange may have been with a view to the artist producing similar work for the new release.
West had previously confirmed his eighth album will drop on 1 June, and that it will be seven tracks in length, adding that a further album – part of his ‘Kids See Ghost’ project with Kid Cudi, will follow one week later.
The anticipated shorter length marks a stark departure from The Life of Pablo’s 20-track, 66-minute run time.
(Images: Getty)
