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“Heartless,” the second official single from Kanye West’s upcoming 808s & Heartbreak, was officially released to iTunes today. The cover is similar to the 808s cover with its gray slate background and font, however the shriveled heart balloon is noticeably absent. It’s “heartless,” get it? A music video for “Heartless” is expected out shortly. As it seems to go in the hip-hop world, the same day we get an officially released 808s track, another has leaked. Meet “Anyway,” West’s collaboration with Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi. (more…)

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Kanye West knows one way to make guests pay attention at an album listening party: a room full of live nude women, standing and posing in silhouette against a wall of bright colored light in a performance designed by artist Vanessa Beecroft. That was the scene in a Los Angeles loft Tuesday night, as West unveiled his brooding, emotional 808s & Heartbreak album, set for release November 25.

More than 700 invited guests watched and listened as Beecroft’s 40 models slowly changed position with each song, some of them wearing fuzzy wigs that covered their faces. Just as provocative were West’s new tracks, including the singles “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless,” mostly obsessed with romantic pain and loss. All vocals were sung and treated with the electro “auto-tune” effect. But there was no rapping or overt sampling, just emotional waves of electronic sound, beats and occasional strings.

“You want to tell your friends you’re leaving me,” Wests sings on one stormy, lovesick track. “You’ll never find nobody better than me.” Later, his voice is wounded as he surrenders, “Goodbye, my friend. Will I ever love again?”

When the album was over, West grabbed a microphone and stood beside Beecroft’s models and called 808s & Heartbreak a very personal project. (more…)

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Kanye West premiered his new video for “Love Lockdown” today on Ellen. Like the three “Flashing Lights” videos before it, “Lockdown” makes for a strange viewing, with a despondent West loafing around depressed in a white room surrounded by a bunch of African tribes and 15-foot women covered in Day-Glo paint. That’s essentially the plot. At the halfway mark, a spaceship inexplicably makes an appearance, but the highlight of the whole thing is at the 1:09 when the guy with the spear breaks through the aspect ratio for a too-brief 3D feel. Still, the weirdest part this whole thing is that West premiered this clip on Ellen DeGeneres’ show — maybe we can look forward to premiere of the “Heartless” video on The View. (more…)

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Kanye West took the stage at a T.I. concert this weekend in Los Angeles to perform a pair of new songs and announce that his new album 808s & Heartbreak will be out on November 25th. 808s was originally slated for a December release, but West pushed up the date to the tentative “November Something.” “I just pushed my album up to November 25th. Can I sing y’all my second single?” West asked the crowd before launching into “Heartless.” West also performed “Love Lockdown” at T.I.’s MySpace show. (more…)

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Kanye West has taken a page from the Radiohead playbook by offering up his new single “Love Lockdown” in isolated song stems to allow fans to remix the 808s & Heartbreak track. But whereas Radiohead charged 99 cents for each stem, West has posted all of them for free over at his blog. As of now, there’s no contest aligning itself with the remixes — it’s just for recreational purposes to keep you occupied while you wait for the release of 808s on “November something.”

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Yesterday, we told you about Kayne West’s Comedy Central puppet show Alligator Boots. A minute-long clip from the pilot emerged today, giving us a brief but hilarious preview at the show being touted as “The Muppet Show meets hip-hop.” In the clip, the puppet rapper — who looks like a Muppetized version of Digital Underground’s Shock G — tells the story of Apple Bottom Jeans-wearing female puppets who bring their baby puppets to the puppet club with them. There are also verses about backstage breast-feeding and a baby seat in the Hummer. The script doesn’t require much from Kanye, so the rapper just does his part to look cool standing in a fake night club located somewhere on Sesame Street. Comedy Central is reportedly gunning for a 2009 debut for the series. (more…)

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Kanye West, Comedy Central and the producers of Crank Yankers are joining forces on a new puppet-centric television series tentatively called Alligator Boots. Whereas Yankers features puppets making crank calls, Boots will feature felt characters rapping. The series will feature music produced and performed by West and his protégé Rhymefest. Somehow West found time within his busy 808s & Heartbreak schedule to serve as host on the already-filmed pilot episode. If the show were to be picked up — they’re aiming for 2009 — there would be a different celebrity host every episode, much like the original Muppet Show. (more…)

Only two days into its official digital release, Kanye West’s new-and-improved “Love Lockdown” has made it to the top of the iTunes music chart. “We went #1 @ 7:45 NY time,” Kanye brags, posting an image of the iTunes list just to prove it. At the end of the day yesterday, Kanye woke up from a “studio nap” to find the song sat at three below Pink and Taylor Swift. That all changed in this morning. Kanye also confirmed those reports about his new album, saying “I’ve been workin’ on 808s and Heartbreak about 16 hrs a day and Superman passed out for a little bit.” Kanye also says “I guarantee this will be 50’s favorite album of mine. This will be gangster’s album of the year.” (more…)

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Only a week after Kanye West streamed his new single “Love Lockdown” on his website, the rapper returned to his blog to report that he has already re-recorded the track. “Your prayers have been answered!! There’s a new version of love Love Lockdown coming. We used new taiko drums and I re-sung it… it’s being Mastered now….,” West says in a post. The artwork for the single has also been modified with “perfected type 4″ font to appease all the “design snobs, lol…” West adds, “Sidebar… if you don’t like autotune… too bad cause I love it and have been using it since the College Dropout!!!” (more…)

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Kanye West was arrested today at Los Angeles’ LAX airport on charges of felony vandalism. West was walking through the American Airlines terminal when he allegedly confronted a photographer and a struggle ensued, with the photographer yelling for help but not before West smashed his camera by throwing it to the ground. A TMZ cameraman videotaped Kanye in the act of smashing the camera, so Kanye’s bodyguard Don Crowley told the cameraman to give him the camera. While the TMZ photog told the bodyguard he was press and thus could film what he wanted, Crowley grabbed the TMZ camera and smashed it as well. Kanye then tried to board his plane, but the police stopped him. (more…)

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Rumors of a new Kanye West album at year’s end appear to be true, according to some online music vendors. Both Amazon and Target show West’s fourth album, which breaks from the school theme with the title 808’s & Heartbreak, will be released on December 16th, positioning West in a good spot to challenge Lil Wayne’s one-week sales record in the lead-up to Christmas. The listings offer no album art or track lists, but it’s safe to assume the album will include West’s “Love Lockdown,” which the rapper sang to close this year’s VMAs. Additionally, Kanye made a surprise appearance at last night’s G.O.O.D. Music show at NYC’s Knitting Factory last night, performing “Love Lockdown” and “Swagger Like Us.” (more…)

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Last year, after given what he considered a second-rate slot by performing in a Palms’ suite instead of the VMA stage, Kanye West pledged never to return to the MTV VMAs. It turns out West will perform at the VMAs again, as MTV announced today that both West and Christina Aguilera were added to the award show’s performer roster. In the case of Aguilera, she’ll perform her old-school hit “Genie In A Bottle” in honor of the show’s 25th anniversary. The “Genie” will likely be the refurbished, rerecorded version of the song that will appear on Xtina’s upcoming Target-only greatest hits. As for West, if rumors of the rapper releasing a new song this weekend are true, it’s a safe bet that he’ll perform the rumored new track “Love Lockdown.” (more…)

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Is Kanye West releasing a new album in December? That’s the buzz on the blogosphere today. According to a few sources, Kanye West is planning on dropping the album’s first single, dubbed “Love Lockdown,” on iTunes on Monday, September 8th. Speculation has West releasing his new album at some point in December. West’s follow-up to 2007’s Graduation wasn’t expected until next year. Rumors of West’s sneaky release have also spread among the hip-hop blog community. (more…)

Kanye West has caught Olympic fever with his new video for Graduation’s “Champion.” The clip features an Avenue Q version of West getting approval from some judges to run in the 100 meter sprint at the “Unified Games.” Puppet ‘Ye takes to the track wearing those patented white Venetian blinds sunglasses and just when the gun is about to go off, we jump back into his past to draw some lyrical connections about overcoming hardships. If this is anything like the “Flashing Lights” video series, future “Champion” videos can feature Puppet Kanye partaking in other Olympic events like 10m Air Rifle, Javelin Throw and Water Polo.

Kanye West is hooking up with MTV for the new documentary Choose or Lose & Kanye West Present: Homecoming. In the hour-long doc, West and MTV VJ Sway Calloway will go to the homes of recently returned Iraq war veterans to hear their stories about their service and how they’re re-acclimating to civilian life. At each stop, West will present the soldiers with a gift, with the rapper paying their rent, taking care of their debt or funding their tuition. “There are hundreds of veterans out there who are falling through the cracks. They make the ultimate sacrifices for us by laying down their lives, but it seems like a lot of them just get forgotten about” said West. “I know my music inspires and helps a lot of people but you can always do more. I teamed up with MTV and took the opportunity to share the spotlight with these veterans and hear their stories.” The Choose or Lose special will air on MTV on Monday, July 28th, at 10PM EST.

[Photo: Getty]