The president of his label released one of the year's most talked-about hip-hop albums seven days ago, his wife was in the Oval Office two days ago, and today KANYE WEST might find out if there's any room left for him in the public imagination after, um, let's just call it one of the strangest album rollouts in recent memory. A ranch full of celebs, music execs, DJs, writers and other influencers were flown to WYOMING Thursday for a (slightly) early listen. My favorite anecdote from one of the traveling reporters: "When asked whether anyone had mentioned to West that the album will be released—and available on streaming services throughout the globe—by the time the listening session ends, a DEF JAM staffer just sighed." And then his label hosted some kind of communal listening party on the be-your-own-radio-station startup STATIONHEAD. Random lyric: "I could have NAOMI CAMPBELL and still might want me a STORMY DANIELS." And then—as of midnight on the West Coast—he hadn't actually released it through any of the major streaming services. I just sighed. No word yet on when the official WHITE HOUSE listening party will be... One thing that can't be stated often enough about that PUSHA-T album, though: Kanye is still a genius-level producer... RECORDING ACADEMY boss NEIL PORTNOW, facing crises on multiple fronts, will step down—a year from now. Which means he gets to oversee one more GRAMMY AWARDS. Which is one more Grammy ceremony than a lot of people wanted to see him run. If he's motivated to right some wrongs in the 2019 edition, and he presumably knows what those wrongs are, then great. If it ends up being about him, then no... HILARY ROSEN asks DANIEL EK a really good question. He doesn't really answer... Create your own YOUTUBE documentary festival this weekend: FABRICE BOURGELLE's WE OUT HERE: A LDN JAZZ STORY chronicles one of the world's most vibrant music scenes through the eyes of artists including SHEILA MAURICE-GREY, THEON CROSS, SHABAKA HUTCHINGS, MOSES BOYD and NUBYA GARCIA. And OSCAR BOYSON's RAMMELLZEE: IT'S NOT WHO BUT WHAT, produced in conjunction with the RAMMELLZEE: RACING FOR THUNDER gallery show in New York, is a short and energetic piece on the late, futurist musician and artist... It's FRIDAY and that means in addition to the possibility of Kanye making YE available to the rest of us, there's new music from FATHER JOHN MISTY, ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER, GHOST, BLACK THOUGHT X 9TH WONDER & THE SOUL COUNCIL, NEKO CASE, NATALIE PRASS, BIG FREEDIA, LUMP, JOAN OF ARC, MARCUS MILLER, LIZ VICE, MAZZY STAR, BEN HOWARD, DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE, MICHAEL RAY, MORCHEEBA, ROGER DALTREY, DIZZY WRIGHT, LAUV, ALBIN LEE MELDAU, MAPS & ATLASES, RUEN BROTHERS, AMERICAN AQUARIUM, PETE YORN & SCARLETT JOHANSSON, NICKI BLUHM and the CD version of THE ROYAL WEDDING: THE OFFICIAL ALBUM.