A gang of Kanye West lookalikes have taken over New York ahead of the rumoured release of a DONDA deluxe album. Around two dozen of them were spotted marching around Manhattan wearing moulded prosthetic masks, grey Apple headphones, YZY Gap jackets, and Balenciaga hats.
Kanye has been photographed wearing a similar outfit himself during recent outings, including during his meeting with Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, to “protect his identity”. The army of Ye impersonators posed for photos with fans as they swept through Central Park.
Black billboards that read ‘Kanye West presents Donda Deluxe’ began popping up around the city and at 1OAK nightclub on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, teasing the follow-up to the original 27 track album released back in august.
The move mimics Kim Kardashian West’s enlisting of an army of clones to model Yeezy Season 6 back in 2018. She employed a number of creatives, influencers and friends to don waist-length platinum wigs and looks from the collection to recreate the original paparazzi-style shots used to promote its release.
The deluxe version of DONDA is rumoured to include Kanye’s unreleased collab with André 3000, “Life of the Party” – previously leaked by Drake – as well as an alternate version of “Keep My Spirit Alive.”
Several more unreleased tracks from the rapper were included in his DONDA stem player, which fans finally got their hands on in October. The $200 device, intended to let users manipulate and remix tracks from the rapper’s tenth studio album, came loaded with “Never Abandon Your Family”, a scrapped song that was aired during Kanye’s first Donda listening party in Atlanta, and “Up From the Ashes” (originally recorded for 2019’s Jesus Is King).