On February 11, Kanye West will premiere his seventh album, currently named ‘Waves’ (its third title so far) at a fashion show in New York for Season 3 of his Adidas clothing line, Yeezy. That’s just a week away, so it was almost believable when, last night (February 3), he tweeted a Rolling Stone cover of himself, shot by Odd Future leader Tyler, The Creator, with the cheeky strapline “Kanye: Does he like mustard?”
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/695024571821355009
It seemed impossibly random. In a flurry of tweeting action, Rolling Stone distanced themselves from the cover, and Billboard decried it as “fake”. Kanye called out Billboard for disrespecting his artistry. Then he did a poll, with the brilliant hashtag #trollingstone, asking if it should be the cover anyway.
While we love Kanye, and have many mustard-related questions for him, this is not an actual cover of Rolling Stone https://t.co/2c3ZWpaorN
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/695050571800141824
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/695050773424549888
DAMN FIRST TIME I SEEN PEOPLE STOKED ON ONE OF THEIR COVERS EVER….. FUCK I WAS SO STOKED HAHAHA NO WORRIES ILL SHOOT A COVER ONE DAY
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) February 4, 2016
Kanye West tweets fake "Rolling Stone" cover; "Rolling Stone" responds https://t.co/TYKaiH3RmO pic.twitter.com/3pjgGbpUMg
— billboard (@billboard) February 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/695073094466084864
DOES HE LIKE MUSTARD?
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) February 4, 2016
But the only person who really knew what was up – who saw the most pressing issue, and pursued it – was Tyler: Does Kanye, in fact, like mustard? Because among other mustard-related hints, one 12-year-old piece of evidence would suggest that there’s more to the joke. Let’s go all the way back to 2004, shall we?
The mustard in the ‘All Falls Down’ video
As you can see in the above video from 2004, Kanye gets a fair bit of the old yellow spilt all over his pink polo shirt while rushing through an airport. Then he has to say goodbye to his girl at the gate. It’s not a good day. Mustard doesn’t look so good. But in 2014, a replica of the shirt goes on sale for $400.
You can buy a $400 replica of Kanye West's mustard-stained polo @noraleighx http://t.co/1z0kgatrJn pic.twitter.com/MwccFEjlzN
— Kim Bhasin (@KimBhasin) June 4, 2014
Colonel Mustard’s mention in Talib Kweli’s ‘In The Mood
Kanye featured on this 2007 track, in which Talib Kweli drops in Cluedo’s sauciest fellow. “Cats all sappy like romantic flicks, dude, get a clue/Like Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick”.
Yeah, probably wasn’t about this, was it.
The mustard in ‘Facts’
Fast forward to 2016 and Kanye’s ‘Facts’ bungs in a reference to popular mustard brand, Grey Poupon.
@dauphineslips 'I give grey poupon on a dj mustard' #KANYE https://t.co/WCXFzwSHB5
— Robert Boileau (@scorpio114) January 2, 2016
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid12850839001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAABumiUU~,CmZu1qzq0Nydx8DqfQUoDJv2_kpwyWWq&bctid=1065162732001
DJ Mustard
Actually, that reference in ‘Facts’ also mentions DJ Mustard. The 25-year-old producer, AKA Dijon Isaiah McFarlane, is so mustardy it hurts. Kanye is a fan – they produced Rick Ross’ ‘Sanctified’ together, according to the below video, where Kanye asked for more than 100 of Mustard’s beats, one of which Kanye slowed right down.
Here’s the final song.
They later worked together again on Big Sean’s ‘IDFWU’
DJ Mustard: I Gave Kanye West Over 100 Beats – http://t.co/rRNkySd40A pic.twitter.com/A2b1zWrJ6v
— Hip Hop Makers (@HipHopMakers) June 7, 2014
Tyler, The Creator’s weird sense of humour
If you look back at the Rolling Stone cover, it’s strikingly similar to these photo portraits Tyler made of his famous friends just days ago. Maybe he just captioned Kanye’s one and Kanye loved the randomness. It’s a possibility.
Golf Wang releases What Makes You Smile? lookbook featuring A$AP Rocky https://t.co/erqePAxX0H pic.twitter.com/73fwYfyS39
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) January 29, 2016
Still doesn’t tell us if Kanye likes mustard or not, though.
@kanyewest do you like mustard though
— Matt Bellassai (@MattBellassai) February 4, 2016