maura:

Is Kanye West really dumb enough to send zips of his new, not-out-until-September album to his colleagues (the zip is called “Record for Hype,” which apparently means that this particular binary comminiqué was directed toward Hype Williams) via Mediafire? Or is this whole “Lol but to unzip the file you need a password and nobody has one” conceit a big joke designed to test the credibility limits of people desperate for shiny new things to distract them at all times? The message boards that pop up on the linked Google results page lead me to believe the latter, and that some prankster is getting much more than their RDA of lulz today…

(via)

Talked to a couple of people, and have found out that:

• The files are most certainly real. The track listing is correct, and Def Jam is decidedly pissed.
• Hackers broke into Hype’s computer. They were able to crack the network, so it’s only a matter of time before someone cracks the password to the files.
• Still, Gabe Tesoriero, director of Def Jam’s publicity (and Kanye’s former personal publicist), apparently feels that a leak isn’t imminent.

So, we shall see.