Stream ‘Diet Yeezus’ Mashup Project Reimagining Kanye West’s Classic 2013 Album

Toasty Digital, the gifted mashup artist behind 'Good Kid Twisted Fantasy,' is back with another 'Ye experience—and also has plans for some 'Donda' reworkings.

August 12, 2021

With a near-final version of Kanye West’s 10th studio album Donda seemingly imminent, fans have taken to keeping an eye on YouTube rips of the most recent listening event/performance art experience in Atlanta. As ’Ye continues to work on the vulnerability-centered new album, most fans—at this point more than adept at practicing supportive patience—have adopted a “take your time” approach to the wait.

Thankfully, there is additional sonic mercy to be found in the recently released Diet Yeezus project, the latest mash-up opus from preeminent musical collagist Toasty Digital. As with other works from the creator, a narrative approach is brought to the mash-up medium here, complete with a reimagining of the Rick Rubin-involved Yeezus era. Toasty previously brought together revered works from Kendrick Lamar and Kanye for the fascinatingly well-edited Good Kid Twisted Fantasy; you may also remember him from the future-focused Kanye 2049 project.

Of his timing on the release, Toasty Digital told Complex, “I was actually planning for a later August release but then, once the Donda rollout kicked off, I knew my project had to go out the same day. Both because it’s a light flex and because I didn’t really believe it would drop when Kanye said it would. The fans are starving!”

Yeezus quite famously saw the enlistment of Rubin’s minimalism-seeking ears mere days before its 2013 release, seemingly resulting in some of the reductionism present across the album’s 10 tracks. With Diet Yeezus, an alternate scenario is brought to life in which a “traumatic visit to the Kardashian family farm” leads to West choosing to become a strict vegetarian. Once Rubin is recruited, the songs are imbued with an even stricter “plant-based, cruelty-free” sound which leaves the bulk of the album “unrecognizable” to those who heard it in its previous form.

The resulting universe here is built with elements of tracks from Ty Dolla Sign, Death Grips, Rick Ross, Nipsey Hussle, Kid Cudi, Daft Punk, Playboi Carti, and many more. The pattern from previous releases is also followed in terms of titling, with multiple carefully woven elements—including a slew of sounds taken from several different ’Ye albums—featured in each “new” song.

Listen to Diet Yeezus below via SoundCloud and for the full experience, consult Toasty’s Patreon page.

Toasty’s already looking ahead to how he’ll reshape ’Ye’s new album, telling us, “I’m excited for Donda too, because I’d like for my next big project to be some variation of Frank Ocean’s Blonde meets Kanye.”