It’s been a very interesting year for music. Unfortunately my column only begins this week, so I’ll do my best to hit some highlights throughout the next few weeks. The one thing everyone is talking about: Drake Vs. Kanye – who’s got the upper hand in the beef between the pettiest multi-millionaires alive? I’m not going to be discussing Drake or his incredibly weak album though. This review is for Kanye West’s newest record breaking and controversial album, “Donda.”
Named after his mom and created by a “reborn” Kanye West, due to him recently finding a relationship with God, taking the trauma dealt from his mother’s passing and throwing both of those aspects to the forefront of his music, his latest album is a bit of a mess at times. But what Kanye album wasn’t called a mess to begin with? The album takes the religious themes from his 2019 album “Jesus is King,” but is much more in line sonically and lyrically with some of his older albums like, “The Life of Pablo,” and “YE.”
There are a lot of cinematic and well put together songs on this project, and if you watched all three of his listening parties prior to the official release of the album you could hear the songs become more finished and alive as the weeks passed and he perfected his work.
A criticism I do have for Kanye on this album is that he allowed his features to carry a majority of the songs. However, this appears to have come from a more tactical decision to put on artists that would have only dreamed to be on a Kanye album. It comes off to me as a curation decision to put a multitude of unexpected features, rather than Kanye just not wanting to work as hard.
Regardless, Kanye had a lot of high points from a rapping perspective on this album. He hit flows he never has before on “Off the Grid”, implementing a catchy and fun take on Playboi Carti’s flow on “Junya”, which also has a great Carti verse on it.
He had moments of solemn reflection in his verses that were reminiscent of his early work, as he speaks on the conditions he grew up in and the current state of our country overrun with controversy and violence. Hearing Kanye sound so reflective was a great thing on this album because for the past few years he has remained such a mystery that it was nice to hear from his innermost thoughts once again. It almost felt like reconnecting with someone you’ve not heard from on a personal level in years.
As with any Kanye album, he snaps on the production and creates a soundscape with such variety and skill that it is hard not to be captivated by the many cinematic moments throughout the album.
Notably, the “Pt. 2” songs on the end, which were essentially remixes of earlier songs with alternate features and slight changes to the beats, were very unnecessary and probably played a big part in the criticisms that the album was too long. Had the album ended with the true last song, “No Child Left Behind,” it would have felt like a much more punctual and concise ending.
Some of my favorite songs are “God Breathed,” “Off the Grid,” “Ok Ok,” “Hurricane,” “Donda,” “Keep My Spirit Alive,” and “No Child Left Behind.” Some of the most impressive features on here are from Jay-Z, Fivio Foreign, Baby Keem, Westside Gunn & Conway, Don Toliver and Kid Cudi.
Looking at this from Kanye’s impressive discography, “Donda” probably doesn’t even breach the top five as far as albums go, but it is still a very impressive body of work to add to his catalogue. And yes, it is better than “Certified Lover Boy”, which I wanted to enjoy so badly, but it’s just boring. I rate “Donda” by Kanye West a 6/10.
Weekly ALBUM Recommendations:
WESTSIDE GUNN – HWH8
HIGHEST IN CHARGE – CURREN$Y
L’ORANGE – THE WORLD IS STILL CHAOS, BUT I FEEL BETTER
QUINTIN AHMAD DAGOD – N.O.A.H.
Weekly SONG Recommendations:
BABY KEEM & KENDRICK LAMAR – FAMILY TIES
WIKI – ROOF
SIDESHOW – INTERCHANGEABLE (FEAT. MAVI & NAKEL-SMITH)
GRIP – IDFT!?
