Kanye West Says 'Donda 2' Will Be Released Exclusively On $200 Stem Player

Kanye West has dropped another bomb on social media, and this time his fans are raising hell.

While the rapper has been busy throwing shades in a seemingly never-ending payback campaign, he took a little hiatus to talk about his upcoming album, "Donda 2," but it was not met with good responses from fans.

Kanye dropped "Donda" in August 2021 after many elaborate listening parties and months after, in January, announced that he would be working on a sequel to the project.

Ye, as he is formally called, has mostly kept details of the upcoming project lowkey — except kicking Kid Cudi off the album —  until now. In a recent Instagram post, Kanye revealed that "Donda 2" will be streamed exclusively on his own platform called the Stem Player.

The Yeezy founder shared a one-minute snippet of a song from the upcoming album, teasing fans just a little bit harder. Alongside the snippet, Ye wrote:

Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube. Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own. Go to stemplayer.com now to order.

News of Kanye customizing an exclusive platform to hold his "Donda" project first broke in August shortly after releasing the highly-anticipated album. Per The Blast, as part of the Donda album experience, Ye shared on his website that he was launching the DONDA Stem Player that contains all the tracks in the album alongside some exclusive features.

Adding his genius signature to the concept, the device, which looks like a Walkman CD player, includes features like vocal controls, bass and drums instrumentals, and sample songs. In addition, the Stem Player boasts of the ability to "isolate parts, add effects, and split any song into stems."

Other interesting tools included are tactile effects, looping, Bluetooth, touch-sensitive lights, and silicone skin.

The "Praise God" rapper had reportedly been working on bringing the pocket-sized device to life for years and was thrilled to debut it with an album as special as "Donda," which pays tribute to his late mother, Donda West.

Following the announcement, angry fans have taken to social media to express their displeasure at the self-proclaimed genius. As you might know, in the past weeks, Kanye has been in the news for his never-ending rants against his estranged Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson, along with a host of other people.

Many have attributed his disturbing online tirade to struggles with mental health, while others believe it's a ruse to promote "Donda 2." However, with the new update, the matter theory seems to be proving true, and fans are livid.

In the comments section, one pissed user wrote, "this is the last straw," while another asked, "what the hell, bro?"

Another fan mocked Kanye's mission to "free music," writing, "'Time to free music,' *tells you to buy his product to listen to his music* bruh haha."

Twitter fans aren't taking it easy on the Grammy Award-winning artist either. One user opined, "He wants to free everybody from capitalism but he's charging them $200 for his album."

This user noted, "so all that drama was just to promote his iPod lol." Many netizens protested the $200 price of the Stem Player and tagged the rapper a "hypocrite" for calling streaming platforms "oppressive" while doing something seemingly worse.

However, some fans believed the rapper was doing something noble despite the $200 cost. A user who shared such sentiment wrote, "He's not wrong. Artists do deserve more money for their work, but I'm not paying $200 for an album unless it's Taylor Swift."

Another fan supported the notion but opined that $50 would have been a more reasonable price. "Donda 2" is set for release on February 22, and only time will tell if Kanye indeed follows through with the update.