Kanye West’s Latest Album, Donda, Explores Grief And Faith
It’s finally here. Kanye West’s tenth studio album, Donda, has been released.
After it was announced back in May of 2020, it seemed to vanish into purgatory.
But this isn’t the first time West has done this.
Back in 2016, West dropped The Life of Pablo, his seventh studio album, which was 531 days late.
And with every passing day, it felt like Donda would never be released.
But on Aug. 29, the album quietly dropped while most fans were sleeping and it felt like Christmas when we woke up.
Named after his late mother who passed away in 2007, Donda, for better or worse, is Kanye’s longest album by far. It includes 27 songs and is a whopping 108 minutes and 49 seconds long.
The features, which fans argued were lacking in his last album, include: The Weeknd, Jay Z, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Don Toliver, Pop Smoke, and Roddy Ricch.
It kicks off with Donda Chant, a song many fans have labeled as irrelevant. The song has no beat, no real rhythm, and no melody. It’s just Syleena Johnson repeating the word “Donda” over and over again for 51 seconds.
But if you think this song doesn’t have any meaning, you don’t know West.
Some fans have broken down the track and found symbolism in the repetitiveness, claiming it represents his late mother’s heartbeat as she passed away.
Whatever it means, it’s a fitting intro for an album that’s essentially a eulogy to his mother, Donda West.
In terms of the music, we haven’t seen West this organized and cutthroat since his College Dropout days.
Songs like Off the Grid, Heaven and Hell, and Jesus Lord see West rap about his fear of losing contact with his children, his faith, and fear of not seeing his mother in the afterlife. All while holding a flow that’s akin to albums like Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
And often on these songs, he out raps the rappers of today like Playboi Carti, Lil Baby, and Roddy Ricch. It feels like he does this to prove that he can keep up with today’s rappers while speaking about himself.
Donda feels like West’s Magnum Opus. It’s a collection of songs with styles ranging from his early rap days, to his current sound, to something new. Some say the album’s lack of consistent style and tone is its greatest downfall. I disagree.
Although the album is all over the place and having a Hip House track like Believe What I Say on the same album as a grungy Yeezus-styled song like God Breathed can be looked at like a cardinal sin, West makes up for it with his experiences.
That’s the style of the album.
We see Kanye break down in some of the songs, with an especially emotional performance on Jesus Lord, which features him speaking about his night terrors, his regrets surrounding his mother, and his faith.
However, there are some tracks that feel unfinished. Junya is one of them. West posted on his Instagram that Universal released his album without his approval. If that is the case, then we know why some of the tracks feel like unfinished products.
So ultimately, we could see a similar situation like The Life of Pablo, which also felt unfinished and following its release was gradually edited and reuploaded over time by West and his producers.
Overall, Donda is a raw album, detailing many intricate aspects of West’s social, political and spiritual journey throughout his time in the public eye.
