Kanye West's bold artwork for his upcoming album was pulled after record execs feared mass-retailers would refuse to carry the CD.
Kanye West is speaking out – again.
The notoriously outspoken rapper took his furor to Twitter Sunday night, expressing displeasure that the original artwork for his new album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," was "banned in the USA!!!"
"They don't want me chilling on the couch with my phoenix!" he wrote, alongside a photo of the intended artwork – a painting of an armless, winged **** woman with a polka-dotted tail straddling a man.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the cover art wasn't exactly banned, as West put it. A source close to the artist reportedly said West was strongly urged to forgo his choice of cover art, but that his label, Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam, was willing to stand behind whatever he decided to do.
The rapper, 33, continued to tweet about the hypocrisy of the nation's conservative mentality and the stifling of his "true creativity."
"In the 70s album covers had actual ******... It's so funny that people forget that..." he wrote. "Everything has been so commercialized now.
"So Nirvana can have a naked human being on they cover but I can't have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings."
Mass-market retailers were reportedly the reason why the rapper was forced to pull the cover art, after label execs allegedly speculated that stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy, which account for at least 10% of physical CD sales, would refuse to carry the album.
West went on to state that his creative freedom comes before album sales.
"In all honesty ... I really don't be thinking about Wal-Mart when I make my music or album covers #Kanyeshrug! I wanna sell albums but not at the expense of my true creativity," he wrote.
West has been building hype around his upcoming album, releasing new music every Friday through his "G.O.O.D. Fridays" mix tapes and using Twitter to connect with fans.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/m...
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Monday, January 17th 2011 at 7:44PM
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