When last we heard about Kanye West’s mysterious new album, it was Theophilus London writing an Instagram caption about how Kanye had played the album three times at a Paris listening party. This, understandably, led many of us to believe that the album is done. This is apparently not the case. Or, anyway, Theophilus London later tweeted that actually, no, it isn’t done, and he also, sort of hilariously, disparaged the “Hypebeast bloggers out there writing for your magazine blogs” who reported otherwise. And now Malik Yusuf, who collaborated with Kanye on two solo albums and G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer, says that Kanye has “20 finished songs” that might make the album. Hey, that’s something!

Talking to Rolling Stone, Yusuf says, “This album is different. It’s like a pair of Timberlands; like how Timberlands are not quite leather and not quite suede. It’s not the smooth, slick Chicago music sound we have right now and it’s not the ruggedness of just ‘hip-hop hip-hop hip-hop.’ We’re still working like a motherfucker. We’ve been all around the world [recording].”

Yusuf, who has been working behind-the-scenes with Kanye for more than a decade, says that the two fought bitterly during the Yeezus process — “Kanye’s kicked me off the label eight times” — but he doesn’t say anything about how the new sessions are going. He also declines to name any of the 20 songs that Kanye has finished: “our favorite title may not even make it on the album.”

It would be nice if Kanye would just finish this motherfucker and give it to us already.

[Photo via Kim Kardashian’s Instagram]