Kanye West has announced plans to build his own city in the Middle East, dubbed the ‘YZY DROAM.’ West shared the news on X on 20th December via the verified account ‘@unreleased_ye.’
The city will reportedly be self-sustaining and 100,000 acres (twice the size of New York City). It is presently in the stage of recruiting architects, engineers, and contractors, among other roles.
Fans were completely taken by surprise by the announcement of the ‘YZY DROAM’, as the latest project they were anticipating the release of was actually West’s collaboration with fellow rapper Ty Dolla $ign, ‘Vultures,’ which has been teased for months and was expected to drop this month. Fans are now speculating it will actually be released on New Year’s Eve.
West is so notorious for announcing and then never releasing projects that his fans have created a tracker to document every unreleased or leaked song to ever come from the artist.
Ye’s reputation for abandoning projects has caused fans to react with skepticism to this latest announcement, however, not all fans have reacted with cynicism. Many fans responded to the announcement post with enthusiasm and questions on how to apply, offering their various manual labor services to Ye (formerly known as Kanye West).
Why a city?
This is the rapper’s latest entry into the world of real estate, with him previously buying million-dollar ranches in both Wyoming and Calabasas and launching his own Christian private school, ‘Donda Academy,’ in 2022. However, photos obtained by the Daily Mail show the building West bought to turn into a church boarded up and surrounded by litter, appearing abandoned and left to deteriorate.
The rapper, who changed his name to Ye, has also recently put his $57 million Malibu home on the market for $4 million less than he purchased it for, with the singer taking a significant loss on the property due to its condition.
Celebrity real-estate agent Jason Oppenheim of ‘Selling Sunset’ fame, told the Wall Street Journal the building lacks doors, windows, or electricity, and “It will take several million dollars for the house to be finished.”, meaning West’s fledgling real-estate empire could easily be in financial jeopardy.
Origins of ‘YZY DROAM’
Ye’s idea of a fully self-sustaining community was first mentioned during his 2020 appearance on the controversial podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ where he spoke about consulting NASA about the creation of ‘Donda Academy’ and its goals of a ‘hydroponic vertical growing garden’ among many other topics such as running for president.
“So it’s an organization created to guarantee the future of the human race. So now our focus is food, clothing, shelter, communication and transportation. The idea of the garden is from A to Z. You have to be able to make your food right there fully sustainable, right there on your land.”
West was also spotted in Saudi Arabia over the past three months with his daughter North West, attending events such as the fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou and cultural centers such as Diriyah.
He has been producing his latest album between his ranch in Wyoming and the AlUla Banyan Tree Resort in Saudi Arabia, which could explain the rapper’s chosen location of the Middle East for ‘YZY DROAM’, however as of now, there is no specific location for the planned city other than ‘somewhere in the Middle East.’
West is hardly the first celebrity to explore the idea of building an isolated community. Technology mogul Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly built a $100 million dollar doomsday bunker in Hawaii, and many celebrities such as George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio own private islands. It is unclear as of yet who West would permit to live in ‘YZY DROAM’ if it is ever successfully built.
