Cruel Winter is an unreleased sequel to GOOD Music's compilation album, Cruel Summer (2012). The album was worked on for about 4 or 5 years before ultimately being scrapped.[1][2]
History[]
Version 1 (2012-2013)[]
On September 28, 2012, when asked why he wasn't featured on Cruel Summer, Q-Tip stated: "I know, I know, I’m sorry about that but I have to let the cat out of the bag. Kanye’s probably gonna get…if there’s a Cruel Summer then there’s got to be a Cruel Winter, right?”[3] Q-Tip later confirmed Cruel Winter on October 19.[4] On October 26, Pusha T called Cruel Winter a "Q-Tip/Kanye thing".[5] In November, Big Sean revealed that a follow-up to Cruel Summer was in the works and was set to release soon.[6] On December 31, 2012, Malik Yusef tweeted a picture of himself and Kanye, stating that they were working on Cruel Winter.[6] Despite Common saying that the album was nothing more than a "rumor", the album would continue to be worked on throughout 2015.
[7] In February, Travis Scott states that "Cruel Winter is happening for real".[8] On July 10, Travis Scott stated that Kanye may release Cruel Winter "out of nowhere".[9] However, Pusha T reveals that Cruel Winter will not release due to the amounts of projects that Kanye was working on at the time.[8] The album was presumably scrapped by the end of 2013.
Version 2 (2015-2017)[]
On October 6, 2015, AllHipHop reveals a rumored track list for Cruel Winter.[10] While the album didn't release in 2015, it was revealed that Kanye had revived the album and was working on it again. In an interview in February 2016, CyHi the Prince revealed that "there was a lot of work done for [Cruel Winter]".[8] From there, the album was not mentioned again until June 1, 2016, when several clips of Kanye and Big Sean in the studio were posted. Two days later, a new song from the album was first previewed on Big Boy's 92.3, albeit it was untitled at the time.[11] The song, titled "Champions", would officially release on June 10, featuring vocals from Kanye, 2 Chains, Big Sean, Desiigner, Gucci Mane, Quavo, Travis Scott, and Yo Gotti.[12] Kanye also teased a "12-15 minute version of the song with the G.O.O.D. Music roster on it," although this version has never released.[13] In September 2016, Travis Scott revealed that he was the executive producer of the album and it was set to release in early 2017.[14] In March 2017, when CyHi was asked about Cruel Winter, he teased a song on the album with him and Big Sean that he called "crazy".[15] In November 2017, CyHi again provides an update on Cruel Winter, stating that it was set to release after his album released.[16] However, this did not happen and the album was presumably scrapped before 2018.
Track lists[]
As of today, no official track lists from Cruel Winter have been announced or leaked.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-good-music-cruel-winter-finished-2026543
- ↑ https://www.thefader.com/2018/08/15/kanye-west-cruel-winter-yeezy-home-delayed-projects
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/music/kanye-west-625-1257269
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121023061501/http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.21577/title.q-tip-confirms-contribution-to-good-musics-cruel-winter
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20121028175936/http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.21656/title.pusha-t-says-cruel-winter-is-a-q-tip-kanye-thing
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cruel-winter-kanye-west-malik-yusef_n_2388485
- ↑ https://www.complex.com/music/a/daniel-isenberg/common-says-there-will-be-no-cruel-winter-album
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 https://howlandechoes.com/2016/06/cruel-winter-is-coming/
- ↑ https://www.complex.com/music/a/edwin-ortiz/travis-scott-says-kanye-west
- ↑ https://allhiphop.com/rumors/kanye-west-to-release-a-new-project-this-week-cruel-winter/?expand_article=1
- ↑ https://www.spin.com/2016/06/kanye-west-round-and-round-cruel-winter-single-stream-2-chainz-big-sean-gucci-mane/
- ↑ https://fr.rateyourmusic.com/release/single/kanye-west-gucci-mane-big-sean-2-chainz-travis-scott-yo-gotti-quavo-desiigner/champions/
- ↑ https://www.xxlmag.com/kanye-west-premieres-new-single-with-gucci-mane-travis-scott-and-more-off-cruel-winter/
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/68098-travis-scott-says-hes-executive-producing-kanyes-cruel-winter-album-out-early-2017/
- ↑ https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.42793/title.cyhi-the-prynce-reveals-big-sean-feature-says-kanye-west-is-in-good-spirits
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo-H9akP_BA