Hear An Alternate Version Of Kanye’s ‘Wolves’ Featuring Sia, Vic Mensa, And Frank Ocean
It’s no secret that Kanye West’s album rollout for The Life Of Pablo was especially haphazard, but “Wolves” may have a history more convoluted than any of the other tracks combined.
As you may recall, Kanye premiered “Wolves” at his Yeezy Season 1 fashion show last February, with features from Vic Mensa and Sia. The three artists performed the song live on Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special just days later, and fans clamored to no avail for an official version to surface.
Fast forward to last week, when Kanye debuted The Life Of Pablo during his Yeezy Season 3 event at Madison Square Garden. “Wolves” did end up making the final tracklist, but in a completely altered state, with an additional verse from ‘Ye, a surprising Frank Ocean feature, vocals from classical singer Caroline Shaw, and Sia and Mensa’s contributions scrapped altogether.
Hours after TLOP dropped, Kanye said he was going to “fix” the track, and now we may have an idea of what his “final” version could be. A new iteration of the song -- dubbed the “OG version” by some fans -- surfaced on Wednesday and includes contributions from Ocean, Sia, AND Mensa. This time around, Ocean’s verse kicks off the song instead of closing it, and some bombastic percussion ups the drama a bit. Kanye’s second verse (including that “unfollow/unswallow” bit, as well as his shoutouts to North and Saint) is noticeably absent as well.
Of course, if Kanye’s still sticking to his perfectionist roots and continuing to rework the project, it’s anyone’s guess which version will make the final, FINAL version of TLOP. Which one do you think it should be?