Kanye West - Donda
Genre: Hip Hop
Score: 8/10
This is the 10th studio album from music legend Kanye West. What to Expect: :
A Paradigm Shift. Kanye West is the Frieza of Hip Hop. He is the Music Industry’s Madara Uchiha: the Rap Game’s Omni Man. He is a music producer with a God Complex and musical production skills only comparable to that of Prince’s and Quincy Jones’s. He is easily the most creative artist in the history of Hip Hop. He’s had it all. He’s lost a good chunk of it.
He should be in your Top 10. He’s sampled everyone. He’s worked with everyone. He’s a genius. He’s the voice of TWO generations. He’s a moron. He’s a low information voter. He was an even lower information presidential candidate. He’s mastered putting his foot in his mouth like a historian has mastered Esperanto. Despite his incredibly stupid and insufferable public personality, he’s one of our biggest artistic influences. Love him or hate him, there is always a reason to be excited for a new Kanye West album. I know that the production, performances, and songs will all surprise me in some way, shape, or form. I just hope that all of it will be worth the hype and wait.
Overall: This album is Kanye West’s Physical Graffiti. It is so goddamn long. And there are great and grand ideas and performances all over this record. They’re all presented in a disheveled way that brings back sounds and styles that Kanye has worked with throughout his entire career, particularly that of TLOP and Ye. But Good Lord, it is almost two hours long. It took a long time for me to digest it. Still, I love how unpredictable and untamed a lot of the performances and songs are. Do not skip the Part 2’s at the end of the track list, as they are great alternative takes that add a lot to the album. Because it’s so long, the tracks will naturally drag in length, but Kanye and Mike Dean do a really great job creating progressive song structures. They really help make the album a really satisfying listen, even in the grander scheme of Kanye’s career. Hopefully Kanye West the human being sees more financially and mentally sound days ahead of him. Listening to this album, you can tell that Kanye still really loves to make music as much as he did 25 years ago.
Play by Play:
Donda Chant - Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda, Donda
Jail - I love the synth riff on this track. The hook is very catchy. It makes me feel very pumped. It’s a fun track.
God Breathed - It reminds me of production off of Yeezus. Kanye’s flows are catchy. It’s a very primal track. I like it a lot. The choir is very epic. “God the Father like Maury” is poetic Kanye at his finest.
Off The Grid - The beat is great. It reminds me of Cruel Summer. Kanye’s hook is fantastic. Carti and Fivio also deliver great features. I also love this track.
Hurricane - I love this track. It’s a classic Kanye beat with one of Abel’s best features in a while. The choir laced into the beat sounds great. Lil Baby completely bodies his feature as expected.
Praise God - This beat is great. Travis has a great feature as well. Kanye’s performance is great. The sampling and production is super creative. Baby Keem’s performance is slick and cool, despite it not being the most lyrical feature of the year.
Jonah - Vory’s singing is great. Kanye’s beat is really pleasant. Lil Durk’s feature is passionate. It’s a great cooldown.
Ok Ok - I love the synths. Kanye’s flowing his ass off and his singing sounds great. It’s an exciting track. Even Lil Yachty holds his own. Fivio also delivered on his feature.
Junya - Catchy beat. Catchy hook. Catchy Carti feature. Yup. I love it.
Believe What I Say - This Doo Woop sample flip into a hip house beat on this song further cements Kanye’s legacy as one of the greatest producers in the history of hip hop. In fact, Kanye should make more house music in the future.
24 - Love the chords and choir pitched down. Kanye’s singing is pretty good all throughout the track. The song is a bit slow but a nice moment in the tracklist, especially with the organs playing throughout the end.
Remote Control - I love the beat and the tune of this track. Kanye is singing dramatically. The production is really nice on this track as well. Thugger is as eclectic as ever in his features.
Moon - I love this track. The singing by Don Toliver and Kid Cudi is great. The song reminds me of Kids See Ghosts.
Heaven and Hell - I love how understated the beat is. The production on this record is generally all over the place stylistically. On some tracks it is super minimal and understated while others are incredibly overambitious performances. Kanye is rapping in his classic flow in a commanding preachy delivery. I love how the song progresses and he does a really good job manipulating the samples to match the chord progression of the song.
Donda - Say what you will about Kanye as a person, he never lost it as a producer. I enjoy the minimal piano loop and his singing along with the sample. His incorporation of the Sunday Service Choir is great.
Keep My Spirit Alive - His vocal melody is classic Chicago gospel organs he helped put on the map. His singing is actually really dope. Westside Gunn is as grimy and ruthless as ever despite the mellow vibe of the track (Boboboboboooommmm!!). Griselda always destroys a feature with a lyrical sledgehammer. Even Kanye keeps up with ease. His flow actually reminds me of Travis $cott’s flow on a few tracks off of AstroWorld.
Jesus Lord - I also love this beat. The hook makes me laugh quite a bit. Kanye’s verses are great. They’re engaging, thoughtful, and compelling. It’s a really enjoyable progressive rap track even if you’re not a Christian. Jay Electroinica also delivers a pretty enjoyable feature.
New Again - This song reminds me of Fade from TLOP. His incorporation of the Sunday Service Choir is great. I love the synth and the minimal beat. The progressive structure is really new for Kanye, that’s for sure.
Tell The Vision - The piano loop goes so hard. The Pop Smoke recording picked up sounds like a very rough demo, but it sounds like they tried to mix that in as best as they could.
Lord I Need You - The Vocal Samples mixed with the Sunday Service Choir is why we listen to Kanye. His line about spending an hour in Walgreens is why we listen to Kanye. The minimal synth and sub bass drum hits are why we listen to Kanye. The right mix of raw and autotune is why we listen to Kanye. It sounds like Real Friends.
Pure Souls - Roddy Rich is absolutely bodying this track. He’s clearly one of the standouts of the next generation of big rappers. Kanye’s verses are emotional and inspiring. Shenseea has a great back end feature too. I’m really digging the progressive song structures all over this record.
Come To Life - The beginning reminds me of the beginning of Ultralight Beam. Kanye sounds absolutely confessional over this organ. I love his incorporation of the crowd samples. It really helps paint his own spirituality pretty dramatically. It reminds me of those pretty interludes you would have in the middle of a progressive rock or techno album, like Yes’s The Fragile or a piano section from a Jon Hopkins album like Immunity.
No Child Left Behind - I Am The Globglogabgalab.
Jail pt 2 - Lmao DaBaby. He went hard though.
Ok Ok pt 2 - I enjoy this alternate take a lot. I can understand why despite this being a BEHEMOTH of an album Kanye would be reluctant to leave alternate performances on the record.
Junya pt 2 - The hook is catchier the second time. Ty’s addition to Carti and Ye’s performances are fun and excellent. They sounded like they had a blast recording this.
Jesus Lord pt 2 - A posse cut featuring a lengthy and satisfying verse from Kanye, Jay Electronica, The Lox, and Swizz Beatz. Well played, Mr West. These pt 2’s are better than the pt 1’s.
Score: 8/10
Favorite Track in Bold
Just my opinion