Artist: Kanye West | Album: Donda

Alternate cover art he has tweeted:

Alternate cover 1

Alternate cover 2

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Background by /u/Kitchen_Ur_Lies

The culturally ubiquitous Kanye West, now legally just “Ye”, seemed to be working on everything besides music after releasing his latest solo effort, ‘Jesus Is King.’ A post-Jesus spin-cycle rendition of his cancelled album ‘Yandhi’, it gave listeners what was to be the first of his exclusively non-secular gospel releases “from here on out.” After the uniquely mixed reception to a West effort, Kanye embarked on many ventures outside of music, including helming a creative director role at Gap and casually running for president of the United States. As Kanye’s Gap and very successful Yeezy ventures seemed to make him a billionaire by April 2020, music appeared to be an afterthought for the next iteration of his artistic catalogue.

During an interview with Michèle Lamy in May 2020, cinematographer Arthur Jafa, whose work includes Jay-Z’s 4:44 music video, announced he was collaborating with West on a single off his previously unannounced record, God’s Country. This was our first tease at a new West album since announcing Jesus is King II with Dr. Dre just one month after the former’s release. Stems from these sessions have made their way to the public, including on the aforementioned single and video Jafa worked on, Wash Us In The Blood. A collaboration between Kanye, Travis Scott, Ronny J, and mixing by Dre, the industrial underpinnings of the track still met the laundry cycle of Jesus himself with censored lyrics and heavily reinforcing his reinvigorated faith. Excitement in the project was replenished by fans of the old Kanye just two weeks later, as he dropped a teaser to a track called DONDA, in memory of his late mother on what would have been her 71st birthday. The snippet begins with Donda West reciting lyrics to KRS-One’s Sound of the Police, with Kanye rapping about police brutality and racism over a soulful beat reminiscent of his earlier production techniques. The anticipation seemed to climax as Kanye quickly tweeted and deleted a 20-track album now called DONDA to be released on July 24, which included track names from the Yandhi era. In typical Ye fashion, this was changed 2 days later to a shortened 12 track album and seemingly focused on a gospel tone. July 24th came and went with not a peep from Kanye, until July 26th when he posted the official artwork at the time for DONDA, personally one of my favorite covers he’s ever had made. Not much was said about the album for two months while fully submerging into his presidential candidacy, until late September when he gave us the poorly named snippet for his recent tweets, Believe What I Say. As the 2020 election grew closer, Kanye West released the official theme song for his campaign called Nah Nah Nah, complete with verses by DaBaby and 2 Chainz. When he announced he’d be running for president in 2020 before Pablo, the former sentence didn’t seem like it’d become reality. After his concession, it appeared DONDA was completely shelved as no new developments came towards the turn of the year, soon to be followed by family turmoil resonating with his name online at the start of 2021, as news broke that Kim Kardashian filed from divorce from Kanye. While some fans at the time turned this into hope for new music, CyHi the Prynce ended up confirming this by early March that Kanye had indeed gone back to working on DONDA. Months later, this turned into concrete evidence as posted by Consequence on Instgram video of Tyler, The Creator and a masked Kanye working on music with a tracklist in the background.. A day later, in the most respectful manner, full confirmation that DONDA exists came from Justin LaBoy after a listening session in Las Vegas with “production light years ahead of it’s time, and the bars sound like he’s broke & hungry trying to get signed again.” And if that wasn’t direct confirmation that something was to come soon, Pusha T posted on his Instagram the day after that a listening event was coming to Atlanta Thursday July 22nd. The hype train was fully set in motion by a Beats commercial premiered during game 6 of the NBA finals, confirming a DONDA release date of July 23rd, lining up for just after the listening party.

Donning a red suit and army face mask, Kanye sold out Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium to premiere rough versions of 15 tracks that would make the album. The two hour delay for the entire event didn’t help, but when Ye finally emerged, he came to the center to drop to his knees in prayer-like form, under a spotlight. This performance was not his most involved, as Ye never carried a microphone nor addressed the crowd, only playing formless stems of what was assumed to be a completed project to drop that same night. He repeatedly dropped to his knees, seemingly to look up to God for answers at questions he never conveyed directly, only briefly through some of the more somber songs such as Never Abandon Your Family. The most notable positive reactions came from Hurricane and Praise God, ending with the long awaited reunion of Kanye and Jay-Z on wax, with Jail.

Of course, the album never dropped that night. Instead, Kanye lived out the Phantom of the Opera, living out of Mercedes-Benz stadium, affirming his ties to the city of Atlanta which is his actual birthplace, not Chicago. Another Beats commercial, and another album listening event/release date pairing were set for the evening of August 5th. The flare was kicked up a notch for the second showing, with most participants of the show and Kanye himself wearing DONDA fitted vests that were seen in clips of his stay the 2 weeks between listening parties. Kanye loves his bed and his mama, and they together took center stage to start the show. This second showing was lauded for having upgraded the sonic quality of the music, with clear bass and smooth high frequencies resonating through the stadium and the crowd. This listening party seemed to be a medley of high points throughout his career, blending notes and sequences from 808s and Heartbreaks, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, The Life of Pablo, and elements of Jesus is King. The breadth of range in the tracks and standout performances from new collaborators such as Fivio Foreign, Roddy Ricch, and Griselda displayed the growth from the first listening session. With an overall gospel feel, yet hip hop in spirit, Kanye ended the show by seemingly floating to the heavens to the tune of No Child Left Behind. Overall a great show, but still no album after.

As speculative album release dates were tweeted and posted and changed by streaming services, the only certainty was that Kanye was now going to bring the spectacle back to Chicago, and this time putting even more effort into the stage and show aesthetics. Kanye rebuilt his childhood home, which has now become a tourist attraction in Chicago, and had several special guests stand and sit upon his porch. He derived the most scrutiny from the choice of guests, including DaBaby who recently brought upon himself backlash from the LGBT community for an on stage outlash against gays, as well as Marilyn Manson who is facing a series of rape and sexual assault allegations, both of whom were now associated with the album release and his childhood home. The erratic decisions coincided with some of his inclusions and removals from the songs heard before, such as seemingly kicking off Jay-Z, Kid cudi, The LOX, and Conway entirely off the project. The dark, brooding vibes continued the whole show with black masks and clothes covering most of the guests and those marching around his home. By the time Kanye got to Pure Souls and raps “this the new me, so get used to me,” his childhood home engulfs in flames with him inside. By the time Come To Life cues, Kanye is fully on fire and begging not to die alone. As he slowly walks off the flames, No Child Left Behind’s church organs bellow the stadium as the spotlight shines on a white-hooded figure, Kim Kardashian in a Balenciaga wedding dress. As she walks, she meets a maskless Kanye, who we hadn’t seen in months at this point, re-enacting their wedding, in what seemingly was both a rebirth of his life and marriage.

At this stage, the album was set to release on September 3rd, 2021, coinciding with the release of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. However, the album seemed to finally come sooner than the announced date, as it suddenly appeared on streaming services the Sunday morning after the last listening event, and the world could finally listen to what was meant to be the official release of DONDA, despite claims from Kanye that it was released without his permission.

Review by /u/Kitchen_Ur_Lies

Coming in at 1 hour and 48 minutes, 27 tracks, 30+ features, and 3 listening parties, the original album entered Kanye’s discography as his longest studio album to date. This was eclipsed on November 14th when the deluxe was released with an additional 5 tracks, and a new runtime of 2 hours and 11 minutes. Both the original and the deluxe contain several “part 2s” which are the same titled songs but with inclusions or swaps of featured guests, bloating the runtime and track list, yet with purpose. I viewed this as Kanye creating his most “customizable” album to date, allowing the listener to pick what the best version of a track is, and the lack of a proper cover art lends itself to that theory. Listeners are given the option to add their favorite version of a track to their playlists, whether it’s minute adjustments to production on a track like on Come to Life (Deluxe), or entire feature changes like on Jail pt 2. Most conventional deluxe albums will add the extra songs to the end of the project, but the deluxe also scrambles the track sequencing of the originally released album, even adding in “part 2s” to the middle of the project instead of at the end. The livestreaming of each listening party also made it very easy for avid fans (real ones like me) to snip and keep previous versions of the songs to use towards their personal library. This is further supported by Kanye simultaneously releasing an interactive stem player to control the vocals, drums, bass, and samples used in the album. A lot of high quality edits and blends (plugging this BEAUTIFUL Heaven & Hell edit here) have come about as a result of this, possibly to the greatest extent of any Kanye release yet, and amazing ones can be found at /r/Yedits. Since I did most of my listening to the original sequencing of the album, I’ll write in that order, but insert words about “part 2s” with the original tracks.

DONDA opens with Donda Chant, a meditative chant spoken by Syleena Johnson, whose history working with Ye dates back to All Falls Down. Repetitive mantras and prayers are common in several religions as a form of meditation, and using Donda’s name as the centerpiece to invoke this state lends to this album being dedicated to Donda. The ebbs and flows in how Donda is repeated resemble a drum or heartbeat, but unfounded claims that this was mimicking Donda’s final heartbeats have no substantial evidence.

Jail is the loud and abrasive opener to the themes of Donda, crisis and Christ. Backed by a blaring guitar riff reminiscent of “dad-rock,” Kanye uses the repetitive nature of the instrumentation and the hook to mirror the echoing thoughts he’s having at this point in life, complete with their grit. Having a highly publicized divorce from Kim Kardashian, Kanye is left in a frenzy as she breaks away and asks her to just take everything she wants. These lyrics are also an allegory for God to strip Kanye of possessions including wealth and family, similar to the Old Testament tale of Satan stripping those from Job. Themes of stripping and starting anew are explored many times throughout the project, with Kanye leaning on God for the rebirth portion of this cycle.

Guess who’s goin’ to jail tonight?

Guess who’s goin’ to jail tonight?

Guess who’s goin’ to jail tonight?

God gon’ post my bail tonight

Whatever metaphorical jail Kanye finds himself in, he leans on God to save him, including the fragile mental state a divorce would likely put him through. Having changed his phone number to avoid hearing Kim’s sides of things to preserve personal well-being, to looking at the bright side thinking “single life ain’t so bad,” Kanye reinforces that he’ll be alright as long as he’s with God. Kanye employs one of the most lauded rappers ever and his big brother, Jay-Z, to confirm his affirmations.

God in my cells, that’s my celly

Made in the image of God, that’s a selfie

Pray five times a day, so many felonies

Jay paints the picture of the jail cell more vividly, and Kanye took this a step further in the second listening party livestream by showing his living quarters. Continuing the themes of despoiling oneself, they’re both left to nothing more than their image others and God have given them. In Jay’s terms, that’s a selfie. Some of my favorite wordplay in the album comes with the simple line of “pray five times a day, so many felonies.” Jay is clearly referencing the Muslim practice of Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha throughout the day, but is exchanging his sins as felonies that must be made right before God. As Muslims fall to their knees in each prayer, Jay hopes to cleanse his “fell on knees.” He also takes this time to tease the return of The Throne, since Kanye has “stopped all of that red cap”, signaling another new beginning. Jail pt 2 enlists Marilyn Manson and DaBaby, both fresh off controversy themselves. Marilyn Manson’s inclusions are reciting the hook along with Kanye, and in my opinion have no place on the album, as his heinous allegations plus the fact Kanye did fine on the hook alone with the choir was ample already. As the track is echoing Kanye’s thoughts on starting anew, his original chorus already lent itself well to that. DaBaby took the golden opportunity to speak for himself as he felt the full backlash of unsavory homophobic comments at Rolling Loud this August. The money lost after being dropped from three upcoming festivals equated to food being taken off his daughters’ tables, and he reminds us of his harrowing past and upbringing that would lend to him being nothing more than a product of his environment, yet he still managed to rise out of it. As he took the fall for his remarks, he stands on his position and says if he’s “guilty, guess they gon’ have to take me” to jail tonight. Soon after this verse came out, Kirk ended up meeting with HIV-Awareness organizations to learn about the impact HIV has on both the black and LGBT communities. Both versions of Jail end with a raucous drum medley akin to some of the drums on Love Lockdown, leading us out of the monotony of recurrent thoughts and sounds felt throughout the track.

For God Breathed, Kanye continues themes of repetitive nature in calling on God to cleanse his actions and provide guidance for the future. The title likely references 2 Timothy 3:16, which states,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness

As the last track divested Kanye, he’s taken a new turn and admits he may not know everything, all he knows is that God breathed on this. By telling the listener that God’s doing more than he himself can put into words, he reminds us to look at what he has done long before there were sons and daughters and sun and water. He cues his divorce once more, saying that putting besides the lawyer fees and loyalties, God will solve it all for him. The entire time he recites these chants, the soundscape built around the track is reminiscent of I Am A God, with a thunderous bass backing harsh bellows after every other bar, mirroring the menacing drums in the former track. Vory acts as a conduit for Kanye’s renewed thinking

Devil on my shoulders, I can’t let em breathe

Brush ‘em off my sleeve, I’m filled with memories…

Their hearts are filled with greed

Okay, now they want the old me…

I know that you’d be proud if you was here today

But it’s okay ‘cause I’m okay

Reflecting on his past relationship with God on wax, such as telling God he’ll “be back in a minute” on Can’t Tell Me Nothing, to featuring him on the previously mentioned I Am A God, to how he reveres him once more. As people ask for the old Kanye, and a lot did ask for secular music after Jesus Is King, he recites how greedy that is considering he’s now doing what he feels is best for him. The last lines are certainly talking to the eponymous Donda, who Kanye’s well-documented grief from losing her has transformed him since late 2007. As of this track he’s now a billionaire with four kids he’s proud of, giving him the solace that he’s made her proud by now. He allows the track to literally breathe for 2 more minutes after these last lines are said, staying faithful to the song’s name.

Off The Grid explains Kanye’s actions for everything he’s done in his life so far. Everything had purpose, and is the perfect leadup to God Breathed, since he’s not doing everything just for his four kids, but for their grandkids, and when they have kids. Going off the grid means being divisive, separating yourself, and otherwise not being complacent. In the literal sense, Kanye moving to Wyoming in 2018, the least populous state in the United States is the contra to living in Los Angeles the past few years. In addition, people have either ostracized or praised his behavior throughout his career. Kanye finds himself to be heaven sent, and while he may not speak exactly what he meant, he doesn’t hide his intent. He’s done divisive actions ranging from calling out George Bush for his Katrina efforts or lack thereof, stopping an award winner from giving her thank you speech, calling out the fashion industry for blackballing him, or endorsing Trump and verbally saying “400 years of slavery sounds like a choice to me.” His intent was unmistakable with each action, and even after the backlash of each, he never faltered in changing the stance. And through this outlook, he was able to bring his life in a direction he couldn’t have reached without it. Someone else who tends to be on novel trends in music and fashion is Playboi Carti, whose contribution does bring light to an artistic direction made throughout the album; no cursing. In a Drink Champs interview, he revealed this was because his eldest daughter North wanted no cussing on the album. Many guest verses on this album including the Carti one detract a bit due to the decision, but it doesn’t seem like something that will be updated in the future even though an explicit version does exist. Carti’s verse is fun and a bit of an ode to his lifestyle, tatts, his new kid, and more fashion. The apex of this track (and first half of the album for that matter) is subtly introduced as the track’s heavy, brooding 808s are exchanged for a higher pitched 808 with fast kicking drum pattern evocative of Brooklyn drill. Keen listeners would notice the drill instrumental taking over, and are met with the voice of Fivio Foreign, who arguably gave his standout performance of his career, akin to something Kanye has done for other artists, such as Nicki Minaj on Monster and Rick Ross on Devil in a New Dress early in their careers. Fresh off a 3 month stint in jail on gun charges, Fivio entered a cell once more, though this time with Kanye and a microphone. And in there, they found fire. Carrying Kanye’s Christian themes further, Fivio describes how his sentence didn’t make him lose faith once, as he prayed and felt God carry both feet, and now he stands as a God-like figure. He decisively pronounces his mental fortitude after his jail stint and now feels marvelous, almost like they let the monster loose. Contrasting DaBaby’s claims of being a product of his environment, Fivio emphatically says he’s “what God produced.” Praying is central to Fivio’s MO just like Kanye as well as he knows his old friends pray they settle their differences, while he prays they lower his current friends’ sentences. The main draw of Fivio’s verse is how he decides to enunciate certain words or play around with ad libs, stating “and my car quicker” and delivering one of his signature SKRRRT ad libs. As he rises through the industry, having battled demons and rapping on Demons with Drake, the word of advice he has for newcomers is

If you got a voice then you gotta project it

If you got a wrong, then you gotta correct it

If you got a name, then you gotta protect it

If you give me shock, then you gotta electric (Woo)

Protecting your name and your figure are central to him, as he’s one of the two main Woo rappers that blew up in 2019, the other being his deceased collaborator and friend, Pop Smoke who was killed in February 2020. The release of Fivio’s verse came out to rave reviews in early August 2021, exactly a year after unfounded reports that Fivio himself was killed in Atlanta. Even after that, and especially the rave reviews, the previously undisturbed instrumental after his verse now came with a new Kanye verse at LP3 and on the album. He delves further into how his actions affect the grid, including his viral moments, and how he won’t do an interview to explain himself after the criticism takes place. He gets into why he wears a mask on his face to hide his next move, and his constant moving to get away from miserable people, something in his Drink Champs interview he revealed is because all he carries is a bag of his belongings and calls that “home.” Emphasizing his leverages in life are his God power, and the only beverages he drinks is Holy Water, this is perhaps the most effort in a Kanye rapping verse since the closer of TLOP, Saint Pablo.

Hurricane has been one of the most fluid tracks on this project, dating back to its inception in a Yandhi teaser from 2018 and several reworks since, including three distinctively different versions played at each listening party. The Yandhi leaks floating around have verses from Ant Clemons, Big Sean, Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug, and 6ix9ine, but the two features on the final version didn’t come until years later. In a very erratic tweet storm around the time of DONDA’s original announcement, Kanye announced Meek is getting between him and Kim, Kris Jenner is Kris Jon-Un, but most importantly that Lil Baby is his favorite rapper but can’t get him on a song. Thankfully this was a false alarm as Baby just didn’t know, and so he was flown out to Cody, Wyoming to record his verse the next day. A year later, this verse surfaced at the first listening party along with a Kanye verse and hook on Hurricane, only for the week after that The Weeknd revealing in a GQ interview that he’d love to work with Kanye again. Calls were promptly made, and The Weeknd’s lyric tenor is risen to belt high resonant notes within the fifth octave for the same picturesque hook we’ve heard many renditions of. The beauty in this version is how the choir compliments The Weeknd’s voice, appearing intermittently with harsh distortion on the production, simulating the wash of a wave, like in a hurricane. Surfing on that wave comes Lil Baby, delivering some humble bars showing how his hunger drove him to success. With each hook, The Weeknd delivers exceedingly piercing vocals to punctuate the point that God is looking over all of us as the rain falls. Kanye takes over the weather report, recounting God making it rain, while the devil makes it hail, and above all how he prevailed. The gem of this track is the progression of the simple trap drums we get in the intro, to the organs throughout the track melding trap with the gospel tone of the album. The closed hat panning across the stereo range mimics debris being kicked around in a hurricane, and they vanish as a break in the storm happens, with the best way I can describe this as Hurricane seems to be the inspiration for this cover art.

In the released track sequencing, Praise God is the first track to include vocal excerpts from Donda herself. In late October 2007, Dr. West gave her last public speech as an honored guest at a poetry conference hosted by her alma mater, Chicago State University. In this, she talks about the writing process of her book on raising Kanye, and how social consciousness, racial injustice, and black youth empowerment influenced her relationship with him. The first excerpt appearing on Praise God is her reciting a poem from Gwendolyn Brooks, which effectively is about perseverance through hardship in the context of the next generation of blacks, but it could also be interpreted as Kanye pushing through the grief of losing his mother among other tribulations that have come now. The transition from Donda’s speech to Travis and Kanye shaking off the devil over thunderous bass claps is such a moment on the album, that it’s become viral on Tiktok since release and has catapulted this song to the best performing on the album to date. The eerie hums from Travis, evocative of his transitory hums on 90210, mark the transition all three are taking from forgotten faith or “spiritual death”, to becoming spiritually alive and reborn by praising God, using direct imagery from the Valley of Dry Bones in the Old Testament. This sets the stage for Baby Keem to start his Tame Impala shoutout habit and even delivering a clever bar about how most believers of God only use him like renter’s insurance, only in their time of need, and not revering Him when things are going well.

Jonah is dedicated in namesake to Jonah Ware, a 19-year-old musician and advocate against gun violence who was killed in Louisville, KY. Knowing this context, the melancholic instrumental and hook that drives the track is reserved for a sulking mood.

Like who’s here when I need a shoulder to lean on?

I hope you’re here when I need the demons to be gone

And it’s not fair that I had to fight ‘em all on my own

Vory reflects on the feelings of loneliness and solitude as he’s left to fight his mental despair or “demons” on his own without his significant other. This could be applied to Kanye’s current state, both in losing his mother and having to figure his tribulations on his own, or his current divorce and the betrayal that sets in his mind. Durk’s contribution signifies this as a tribute to victims of gun violence and their loved ones, as Durk himself lost one of his signed artists and close associates King Von in November 2020, closely followed by his own blood brother Dontay Banks Jr. in June 2021. While Kanye and Jay as brothers were able to keep their bond until they both became billionaires, Durk’s brothers were stopped at just millionaires. Kanye also tries to dead the “smoke an opp pack” slang that’s proliferated the internet and gang cultures in recent years for its blatant disrespect of the dead.

Ok Ok is honestly the most ok ok song on the project, as its about backstabbing and betrayal in the music industry from the perspectives of Kanye, Lil Yachty, Rooga, and Fivio Foreign through his aggressive ad libs. Kanye is taking pretty direct jabs at Drake, with probably his most Drake sounding melodies in the project for both his verse and the hook. Lil Yachty’s portion has hums that seem to build up to something but fizzle out by the end of his verse. Rooga hops on to claim they closed the door on him, after just reminding us they done let the GDs in the door. Ok Ok pt 2 swaps Yachty for Shenseea, who has the most interesting contribution by playing with her Patois tongue on the beat more playfully than everyone else.

An ode to their passion for fashion, Kanye and Playboi Carti reunite to give a tribute to Junya Watanbe, a Japanese designer closely associated with Comme des Garçons. The most bass distorting 808s are found on this track to compliment the braggadocious themes Carti and Kanye rap on. Kanye can’t seem to find any misses in his discography, while Carti recounts having hits the past 5 summers. The prominent organ makes a reappearance here and gives the track a fun flair in addition to the clap, but this also makes the reappearance of Drake shots which watered down both their projects. He warns Drake to stay off his release, even though Kanye is the one that’s instigated for months he wants to dorp the same day as Drake.

Believe What I Say is an ironic title coming from a guy who always delays the work to his fans, so it’s the perfect track to sample another amazing artist who also gives their fans the constant bait and switch for her shows, Lauryn Hill. He originally wanted to sample her back on The College Dropout for All Falls Down, but ended up going with Syleena Johnson to re-sing the vocal portions for sample clearance issues. This time he samples her biggest solo hit, Doo Wop (That Thing)) with ease, and far more involved than last time. The bounce of the track gives an idea of how much fun Kanye had playing with it on an MPC. Playing on his speech, he recites that most people don’t agree with his method of delivering his message, that he now feels he needs to get across and past his point to be satisfied. The beautiful melody pairs well with Kanye showing some improvement in his vocal performing during the hook.

24 might be the most heartfelt track on the album, dedicated to the late and great Kobe Bean Bryant, who was tragically killed with his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash January 26th, 2020. The shock was felt around the world and as tributes poured out, it did inspire art in some musical minds. He enlists his Sunday Service Choir to invoke the pain and enlightenment of the mourning victims. As they wallow over the same 24 hours we’re all given and how there’s never a right time to go, Kobe’s memory is left to 24 candles found in tributes across the world. Kanye has used God to talk to his mother throughout music since her passing, and the choir uses Him as a conduit once again, speaking to Kobe saying that he’s still alive because God’s never finished. Not allowing the grief to consume anymore, optimism shines and the choir chants that we’ll be ok as the organ resolves into the refrain. It’s also worth noting this is one of the few tracks with a video on the album, giving us perspective on where Kanye went after floating out of Mercedes-Benz stadium. As the song transitions from cries of salvation to personal content, Kanye wanders towards images of his late mother and finally reaches peace once he makes it to Heaven and sees everything will be alright.

At this point I need to break up the review into the comments due to reddit’s character limit per post, but I’ll give my final thoughts here. Overall, Donda is the most refreshing entry to Kanye’s legendary discography almost 20 years after its inception, and easily the best since The Life Of Pablo. Elements of his entire discography come into play, sampling different notes and flavors of tracks to produce a sonically diverse, yet thematically focused project. At a point in his career and life filled with his highest peaks of financial success, and familial woes and lows, Donda acts as a therapeutic channel for Kanye to grieve, mourn, and rejoice all at the same time. The listening parties added to the hype for me, with each version successively improving or altering my expectations of the final product, while also giving me and the internet creative freedom over the versions to listen to.

Favorite Lyrics by /u/Kitchen_Ur_Lies

All this smoke got a scent

All that smoke heaven sent (Scent)

Everything I spoke, what I meant (Ah)

Never disguise my intent, lines outside the event

Brought my life out the trench

“Off The Grid”

God made it rain, the devil made it hail

Dropped out of school, but I’m the one at Yale

Made the best tracks and still went off the rail

“Hurricane”

You want dreams to come true? But I had nightmares

Cause if that come to life, then I might not be right here

Been in the dark so long, don’t know if the light here

But I’m just reaching for the stars like Buzz Lightyear

“Jesus Lord”

Talking Points

Where does this rank in his discography?

Did the wait substantiate the work, or were you left expecting more?

Favorite verse on this project? There’s many standouts, and I still have trouble picking one based off replays versus sheer lyrical display.

Does something as non cohesive as Donda function better in the streaming era where we can curate our own sequencing?

Do you want Donda 2?

CLB or Donda?