The Deep Internet Demo Kanye Used For His Fashion Show Was The Best Thing I Ever Downloaded

Kanye resurfaced a The-Dream gem for Yeezy Season 5, and it reminded me of how the internet used to be.

February 15, 2017
The Deep Internet Demo Kanye Used For His Fashion Show Was The Best Thing I Ever Downloaded

Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 5 show featured no new music, technically. Instead, he played a 20-minute version, created by recent collaborators DJDS, of an old demo of The-Dream performing J. Holiday’s “Bed.” The-Dream originally co-wrote the song for Chris Brown in 2006 or 2007 with producer Los Da Mystro; they were a productive pair, and in 2013, would both win Grammys for their work on Rihanna’s Unapologetic.

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In 2010, a Rihanna fan blogger posted a 53-track, extremely unofficial mixtape entitled LoveTape: The Demo’s (apostrophe included). It contained a number of reference vocal tracks of The-Dream performing mega-hits and nonstarters that he wrote for Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Janet Jackson, and Ciara. One track had The-Dream singing parts of what would become “Amazing” on Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak: “I’m amazin’, I’m amazin’… I became a monster, and a killer/ Next LP better than Thriller,” in The-Dream’s version. And, of course, there was his now-iconic demo of “Bed.”

Last.fm has counted just 159 listeners since the LoveTape’s release. Heaven only knows if Kanye was one of them, though I can see Jerome LOL getting in there. The Rihanna blog, and the mixtape’s Mediafire link, are sadly long defunct. But it’s one of my favorite things I ever downloaded. And the person who uploaded it, who goes by the name @cabyus on Twitter, is still very much on the ball, even as the music industry has changed the nature of fandom around them.

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“I honestly can't tell you specifically where I got [the demos],” they told The FADER today. “I was 15 and a huge internet addict, so I stayed on Google and just trying to research who he wrote for, what songs were never released, etc. This was back when leaked music was easier to find. Though I didn't actually leak it, why not compile it together for fans like myself to have it all in one file?”

I asked if they’d be copping the new Yeezy collection. “If I had the wallet for Yeezy, I’d probably be wearing Yeezy,” they said. “Until then, I’m a thrift ho ✊🏾”

Another lost gem of an earlier internet: this FADER cover story about The-Dream.

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On February 15, this post was updated to reflect the fact that DJDS created the "Bed" demo edit.

The Deep Internet Demo Kanye Used For His Fashion Show Was The Best Thing I Ever Downloaded