Back around the Beginning of August, Kanye West had announced the release of his newest album, named after his deceased mother, “Donda”. But, in actuality, he instead streamed a live event at Mercedes-Benz stadium and had played snippets of songs on the album. The entire event was pretty confusing however, due to him playing songs that weren’t even his. He played Jay-Z songs, Pop Smoke songs, 2-Chainz songs, and more. The entire experience was a worrying sign for me personally.
Weeks later, he made a second appearance at Mercedes-Benz stadium. This stream, although still being a little confusing, was a little more promising than his last stream. By the end of the stream, all the lights had shut off in the stadium. Silence. Suddenly, as the lights turned back on, me and my friend were shocked to see Kanye (being supported by a harness) floating up toward the sky, with the track “No Child Left Behind” playing as he seemed to ascend to heaven.
After being stunned by this event, the hype me and most people had been following had reached its peak; However, Kanye still hadn’t released the album. Everyone was confused, as he continued to post cryptic images on his instagram. He even posted random coordinates across the world, including one close to Denver.
Finally, after the third appearance at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 29th, 2021, Kanye West dropped his 10th studio album (not including his collab albums). Everyone was excited. After the failed project of his previous album (Jesus is King) he had lost a lot of traction. It had also been 2 years since a full feature length album.
I’m not going to go over every song, but I will be pointing out the highlights and my general opinion. That being said, I suggest listening to the album for yourself to form you’re own opinion.
The first song (Donda Chant) starts with a female voice repeating the name “Donda” over and over for 2 minutes. Considering it was just meant to be an intro for the album, and I personally think it was an interesting way to start an album.
5th track, “Hurricane” ft. The Weekend and Lil Baby is a very interesting song. The mixing is very well done and I feel like the features carry this track, with the Weekend giving a very angelical performance, and Lil Baby completely overshadowing Kanye’s verse.
9th track “Junya” ft. Playboi Carti was not an enjoyable listen to say the least. Easily one of the worst songs on the entire album. The lyrics don’t flow at all. The beat sounds lazy and bland. Carti doesn’t really make anything better. I’d avoid listening to this song and “Junya pt. 2” (the 26th track).
13th Track “Moon” ft. Kid Cudi and Don Toliver is a highlight of the album for me. Its a good breath of fresh air. Kanye also joins in with the calming nature of the humming and singing by Cudi.
14th Track “Heaven and Hell” sounds like it could be in an action movie trailer. Kanye flows along well with the beat and has a very intense and uplifting feeling. The beat drop on this song is also a great transition to a very powerful song (which i’m glad to see Kanye is still trying to pay homage to his more intense sounding music from his past projects)
23th track “No Child Left Behind” (the song Kanye floats into the sky with) ft. Vory is also strange for me. Kanye’s line “He’s done miracles on me.” That he repeats numerous times on the track is actually very soothing to hear. Again, I’m not much for religious musical themes (although there is nothing wrong with it) but this is just so good to hear.
27th and final track “Jesus Lord pt. 2” ft. The LOX and Jay Electronica sound similar to Jesus Lord pt. 1 and also offers more deep lyrics. The song and last verse of the album is said by Larry Hoover Jr., who pleads for the freedom of his father Larry Hover Sr. The last words of the album, “Free my Father, Mr. Larry Hover Sr.”
That is my opinion on all the songs. So, to conclude this review, what did I think about this Album? To be honest, I’ll take what I can get from Kanye at this point. With that being said, I feel like Kanye tried, and succeeded with this album. I’m glad to see that Kanye still had that same musical spark he had all those years ago. A lot of the songs are about Jesus and Chistianity and repenting, but even with all these themes of Chistianity it still acts as an enjoyable listening experience if you’re able to look past the lyrics (again, not that there’s anything wrong with the themes of Chistianity).
If I had to give this entire album a rating out of 10, I would have to say, with all the musical variety and deep lyricism, as well as acting as a solid tribute for his mother, I would personally give this album a 7/10.