Album Reviews

Time and time again, Kanye West succeeds in the unexpected. With each album, he overcomes struggles regarding celebrity, ego, family, mental health, and religion, moving forward yet never fully conquering his demons. He married and had four kids with Hollywood socialite/tabloid fixture Kim Kardashian, though still maintained his unfiltered authenticity. A consistently provocative—off-putting, some might say—figure who lives at pop culture’s core, he encapsulates human nature’s duality and contradiction. Kanye West is a rough-edged perfectionist, a master of spectacle, and even if you hate him, the center of attention.

West’s 10th solo album Donda (named after his late mother, English professor Dr. Donda C. West) is one that few predicted: laser-focused, carefully perfected, and deeply personal without massive ego. The 27-track, 109-minute record arrives with surplus baggage; even the biggest Kanye stans would be hard-pressed to defend DONDA ACADEMY (his new Christian boarding school “finding the intersection between faith and the innovation of the future”), or this release cycle’s inclusion of alleged sexual predator Marilyn Manson and homophobe DaBaby. Still, Donda is the summation of Kanye’s entire career, minimal in style but maximal in presentation, a sprawling work of self-examination with a universal message. Ye is in top lyrical form, his vision perfectly complemented by The Weeknd, JAY-Z, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi, Jay Electronica, Mike Dean, Lil Baby, Gesaffelstein, Swizz Beatz, and others.

Donda: A Brief History

Like almost every Kanye album, Donda has a long history of false starts, alternate iterations, and associated public controversies. Following 2019’s JESUS IS KING, he announced a still-unreleased Dr. Dre remix album, JESUS IS KING PART II. Amidst his 2020 third party presidential run, he teased God’s Country then Donda: With Child, though over any potential album, his well-publicized marital issues and mental struggles took precedence. (“Everybody knows the movie Get Out is about me [...] Kim was trying to fly to Wyoming with a doctor to lock me up like on [sic] the movie Get Out because I cried about saving my daughter’s life [at a South Carolina presidential rally],” West tweeted.) On July 22, 2021, at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium Kanye held a ticketed (and Apple Music-livestreamed) Donda listening party, his label announcing an imminent release. Stumbling around the stadium in a red YEEZY GAP puffer, Kanye blasted his clearly unfinished 12-track, 45-minute album with rough mixing, wordless mumbles, and melancholic autocroons about losing his family. With this depressing divorce record, he satisfied his biggest fans but disappointed critics. The next day, Donda failed to drop.

For the next two weeks, in a jail cell-like locker room Ye lived at the stadium, working on the record. The second listening event, with Balenciaga and VETEMENTS designer Demna Gvasalia as creative director, was a true spectacle. Donda, with new features from The Weeknd, Jay Electronica, and Kid Cudi, at 22 tracks over 85 minutes sounded more finished. Still, an August 6 drop never occurred.

After moving to Chicago’s Soldier Field, on August 26 Kanye hosted a third and final Donda “album experience.” With a full-scale replica of his childhood home, he appeared at the controversial event nearly two hours late. As the album played, West and his collaborators stood around the house’s porch before he set himself on fire and reenacted his wedding. Unfortunately, Manson and DaBaby’s presence overshadowed the production, and until the next evening, the album wasn’t finalized. At long last, it dropped on August 29, controversial guests intact. (There’s no public explanation regarding Manson’s involvement, though Kanye said that DaBaby “was the only person who said he would vote for me in public.”) Unlike the listening parties, the officially released album censors all profanity, Kanye’s included.

The Music

Most Kanye West albums, Donda included, follow cinematic narratives. Opening with Syleena Johnson’s brief “Donda Chant,” the album transitions into the JAY-Z-featuring “Jail.” A beat-less rock song about a religious realm of suffering, amidst lyrics about his currently-scheduled-to-be ex-wife Kim Kardashian (“Guess who’s getting exed?/You made a choice that’s your bad, single life ain’t so bad!/But we ain’t finna go there!”) Kanye sings, “I’ll be honest, we all liars/I’m pulled over and I got priors/Guess we going down, guess who’s going to jail tonight?/God gon’ post my bail tonight.” JAY-Z’s verse (“the return of The Throne,” he says) launches Donda’s redemption-through-religion narrative: “Pray five times a day, so many felonies/Who gon’ post my bail? Lord, help me.” Kanye raps about his own journey with Christianity over “God Breathed”’s Yeezus-esque sonic minimalism, whereas the Fivio Foreign- and Playboi Carti-featuring drill track “Off The Grid” showcases the three rappers’ smooth flows about luxury, external anxieties, and religion’s sense of security.

Initially teased during the aborted Yandhi sessions, “Hurricane” is updated with The Weeknd’s soaring vocals, an impressive Lil Baby feature, and a highly confessional, dense Kanye verse about infidelity, alcoholism, celebrity, and mental health: “Here I go on a new trip/Here I go acting too lit/Here I go acting too rich/Here I go with a new chick/And I know what the truth is, still playing after two kids/It’s a lot to digest when you’re life always moving”/“60 million dollar home, never went home to it”/“Alcohol anonymous, who’s the busiest loser?/Heated by the rumors, read into it too much/Fiending for some true love, ask Kim, ‘What did you love?’/Hard to find what the truth is, but the truth was that the truth suck.” Sure, Kanye’s previously rapped about his fame and mental health (he’s diagnosed as bipolar), and has admitted his addiction struggles, but rarely before has he packed so much unflattering honesty into one verse. In this vein, “Kids See Ghosts” and “No More Parties In LA” are similar, but “Hurricane”’s brevity makes it all the more impressive; it’s quite possibly Kanye’s best, most vulnerable verse ever. Further, its production summarizes Donda’s unique style of organs, effect-laden choirs, atmospheric synth layers, and minimal drums.

The grand “Praise God,” with Travis Scott and Baby Keem, encourages others to find salvation in the Christian God (“We gon’ praise our way out the grave, dawg/Livin’, speakin’, praise God/Walking out the graveyard back to life”) and oppose the Devil. While the wandering “Jonah” and “Ok Ok” don’t impress, both fit the album’s narrative, the latter concluding with “find God ‘fore it’s too late.” “Junya,” named after and frequently referencing Japanese fashion designer Junya Watanabe, shows Kanye and Carti energetically trading bars about success, as the former adds Donda West dedications (“This on Donda/On my mama/Made a promise”) and Drake disses (“Move out of the way of my release!/Tryna get me off my Q’s and P’s/Why can’t losers never lose in peace?”). The funky “Doo Wop (That Thing)”-sampling “Believe What I Say” articulates even more conflicts with the Kardashian family (“Too many family secrets, somebody passing notes”), his record label, and the exhaustion of celebrity life.

Amidst Donda’s tension is “24,” a gospel song with organs, a distorted choir, and Kanye’s raw, passionate, off-key vocals. “I know you’re alive and God’s not finished/The Devil’s a lie, but now he finished/We gonna be okay,” he sings. The effortlessly smooth, catchy, Young Thug-featuring born-again track “Remote Control” portrays God as all-powerful controller, though somewhat confusingly ends with the “globglogabgalab” meme. The spacy, melancholic Kid Cudi-driven “Moon” segues into the distinctly eerie “Heaven And Hell,” built from reverb-heavy choir samples, handclaps, and synths.

With an album this detailed and lengthy, it’s easy to forget about the record’s namesake, Dr. Donda C. West. Donda, who Kanye paid tribute to on Late Registration’s “Hey Mama,” died in November 2007 from cosmetic surgery complications. Her death scarred Kanye, who felt responsible: “If I had never moved to LA, she’d be alive,” he told Q magazine. She’s most overtly celebrated on the album’s title track, which samples a speech promoting her Raising Kanye book: “What did I teach him? And why Kanye ain’t scared?” (On an alternate version known as “Donda South Carolina,” Pusha T tells Kanye, “You brought church to stadiums built for only soccer.”) The sentimental “Keep My Spirit Alive,” featuring KayCyy Pluto and Griselda rappers Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine, shows West rapping, “Who the squad? Donda/Who the mom? Donda.”

Easily his most outward-looking song in years, the nine-minute “Jesus Lord” shows West rapping about drug abuse (“Too many pills, so much potions/So much pain, too many emotions”), family (“Visions of my cousin in a cell really scarred me”), gun violence (“Movin’ to the hood was like signin’ up for the army/‘Cause they been killin’ n****s since n****s was watchin’ Barney”), poverty (“16, pregnant, baby daddy say she should abort it/But we can’t afford it, so she decides to move forward/Baby shower time, father didn’t show up/Now she feelin’ nauseous like she finna throw up”), and his mother. “And if I talk to Christ, can I bring my mother back to life?/And if I die tonight, will I see her in the afterlife?” he asks. Later in the song, West vividly portrays a story of religious salvation: “He gotta show him that it’s that real/He ran up on him with the pipe like, ‘N****, stand still’/‘You took my brother life, you made my mother cry’/‘Tell me one reason I shouldn’t send you up to Christ’/He said, ‘Go ‘head, take my life, I’ve seen everything but Christ’/The big bro just blacked out and all you seein’ was the light.” Even though Jay Electronica doesn’t “shake the tectonic plates of the game if I lay one vocal,” his verse matches Kanye’s proficiency. “Jesus Lord” concludes with a voicemail speech from Larry Hoover, Jr, son of convicted Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover, Sr. As Donda’s lyrical centerpiece, it’s one of Kanye’s few songs with a distinct universality that shows it’s not all about him.

“New Again,” marked by layers of synths and choirs, shows Ye submitting himself to be religiously cleansed, though considering his ongoing history of violence and abuse, Chris Brown’s “make me new again” hook feels insincere. Lyrics about rags-to-riches success make late drill rapper Pop Smoke’s reused “Tell The Vision” verse fit the LP’s narrative, while “Lord I Need You” is part prayer, part relationship tell-all. Simple organs define the Roddy Ricch-featuring “Pure Souls,” another of Kanye’s most emotionally honest tracks. “I was one of them weirdos with a pure soul/That would go to the flea market to buy fake clothes,” he raps as Roddy Ricch sings, “The truth is only what you get away with, huh?” At the end of his verse, Ye asserts, “Devil get behind me, I’m loose, I’m free.” “Come To Life,” a “Pinocchio Story”-esque autotuned stream of consciousness, plays with Broadway campiness as Kanye mentions family, religious purification, depression, and relationship issues: “You know where to find me, they cannot define me/So they crucify me, how so fazed when I leave/Come and purify me, come and sanctify me/You the air that I breathe, the ultra-ultralight beam/Brought a gift to Northie, all she want was Nikes/This is not about me, God is still alive, so I’m free.” With minimal lyrics and layers of atmospheric synths, closing track “No Child Left Behind” resolves Donda’s themes of family and religion. “Back again, I used my back against the wall/Never called on y’all, never count on y’all/Always count on God/He’s done miracles on me.” With that, Donda’s core section abruptly cuts off.

For all his expert curation, Kanye is indecisive; featured at Donda’s end are four alternate mixes labeled “pt 2.” DaBaby and Marilyn Manson replace JAY-Z on “Jail,” Kanye trades Lil Yachty for Shenseea on “Ok Ok,” “Junya pt 2” has additional Playboi Carti and Ty Dolla Sign parts, and “Jesus Lord” is an extended take with The LOX. Shenseea’s “Ok Ok” verse renders Lil Yachty’s obsolete, though Ty Dolla Sign’s “Junya pt 2” verse is the album’s low point. DaBaby’s “Jail pt 2” verse occasionally shines but from his victim mentality suffers (“I said one thing they ain’t like/Threw me out like they ain’t care for me/Threw me out like I’m garbage, huh?/And that food that you took off my table?/You know that feed my daughters, huh?”), and the 11-minute “Jesus Lord pt 2” overstays its welcome. Officially-released Kanye material always excites, though in this presentation, the “pt 2” tracks feel indulgent. (However, in this manner Kanye one-ups Drake, whose longest LP Scorpion is 90 minutes and 25 tracks long.)

Many of Donda’s criticisms—its demanding length, tiring rollout, near-unrelenting religiosity, some problematic collaborators, lyrics that might feel too informative, and it’s lack of an overt new sound—are valid. Kanye’s older albums were distinct stylistic advancements, where popular music met high art. Donda, however, provides alternate perspective on today’s established sounds. Barely noticeable background synths fill up so much modern music, but this record’s minimal drum use maximizes this approach to a more obvious point. Kanye’s lyrics sometimes show his middle age (he adds a few dad jokes here and there), though Donda juggles all of his previous albums’ complicated themes: religion, family, ego, celebrity, and mental health. The so-called “Old Kanye” never went away, and the “New Kanye” was always there. In all fairness, Donda’s brutal honesty and long-windedness makes it his most difficult record. It’s his only work that requires scheduling a focused listen, and it stalls at times. Even though Drake won the short-term commercial battle, Kanye West continues to innovate in ways that will later be more widely understood (and of course, there are far worse musical transitions into middle age).

Sound Quality

Despite its spontaneous and unconventional recording nature, Donda is Kanye’s best-sounding album in years. While there are still some iPhone vocal recordings and a few odd panning and/or filtering decisions, Maurizio “IRKO” Sera’s mix is tight and clean. The compressed but listenable mastering is necessary to “glue” the mix together; perhaps the DONDA STEM PLAYER will have more dynamic files. At the time of writing, UMG hasn’t announced any physical editions; given Def Jam’s seeming insistence on not cutting LP sides longer than 15 minutes, expect any possible vinyl edition to be 4 LPs long. For now, the 48kHz/24bit digital files satisfy and regarding the “pt2” tracks’ placement allow more listening flexibility.

(Malachi Lui is an AnalogPlanet contributing editor, music obsessive, avid record collector, and art enthusiast. Even though he’s an atheist, he greatly appreciates the religious elements in Kanye West’s work. Follow Malachi on Twitter: @MalachiLui and Instagram: @malachi__lui)