More than 20 million viewers watched rapper and fashion designer Kanye West put his own twist on a New York Fashion Week runway show on Thursday as he debuted a new album and clothing collection at famed music venue Madison Square Garden.
West, his reality star wife Kim Kardashian and her family, including former NBA basketball player Lamar Odom, entered the Manhattan venue to cheers from the audience.
It is the first time Odom, the estranged husband of Khloe Kardashian, has been seen in public since he fell into a coma after using cocaine at a brothel last October and was hospitalized.
The event was streamed for free online via subscription music service Tidal, garnering
around 20 million viewers according to the platform. Tidal, which touts
hi-fidelity streaming, is co-owned by a group of music's top artists
including West, Jay Z, Rihanna and Beyonce.
As
West played new tracks for his upcoming "The Life of Pablo" album,
dozens of models were unveiled standing on raised platforms in the
center of the arena, wearing the new Yeezy Season 3 that West designed
for sports brand Adidas.
The collection, launched
on the first day of the city's fashion week, featured West's penchant
for neutral tones but included bright pops of pink, red and orange
across the collection of leotards, tops, leggings and parkas worn by a
diverse group of models.
West also announced an
upcoming video game called "Only Once," which he said was about his late
mother Donda West's journey to the gates of heaven.
The show quickly became a top social media trend, as fans tweeted about the collection and the music.
One
particular explicit lyric regarding Taylor Swift on new track "Famous"
garnered a strong response from fans as West rapped that he had made the
pop star famous, referring to the their infamous 2009 MTV Video Music
Awards incident where West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech on
stage.
Swift and West had since buried the hatchet, but fans speculated the new lyrics could incite a feud between the two music stars.
Also
getting in on the action, former drug executive Martin Shkreli tweeted
out a letter addressed to West offering to buy "The Life of Pablo" for
$10 million so that it would be released solely to him, and kept from
the public.
Shkreli is currently being sued over
his Wu-Tang album "Once Upon A Time in Shaolin," the sole copy of which
he bought for $2 million.
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