Pedestrians in New York City's SoHo neighborhood caught a glimpse of the elusive Kanye West this past weekend, when the rapper/producer finally emerged from his Hawaiian recording studio to sample tracks from his new album.

Street photographer William Yan snapped photos of Kanye along with his protege Kid Cudi and friends Virgil Abloh and Don C on Friday, May 21, as they passed through the downtown neighborhood. Cudi and producer Plain Pat joined Kanye later that night at the The Hotel on Rivington's CV Lounge in the Lower East Side, where he reportedly spun four tracks off of the upcoming album, 'Good Ass Job.'

DJ Semtex has been one of the few insiders to catch a preview of Kanye's new work, and the BBC disc jockey recently gave rave reviews on his radio show. "Okay, so I've heard the first Kanye West joint. I was sworn to secrecy. I'm not allowed to talk about it. All I can say is it is banging," Semtex said. "If that's a taste of what's coming on the album, he has smacked it. Lyrically ... he is saying things like, 'Wow, he said that?' It is going to shock everybody, the first record."

'Good Ass Job' will be Kanye West's fifth studio album. It was recently pegged for a September release.

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