Kanye West's "Donda"

What’s up guys! Welcome to a new review where this week I’ll go over the anticipated Kanye West album, “Donda”. Let’s just get into it.

So this is Kanye West’s tenth studio album and boy was it one to see coming. This album release came after like two-three listening parties scattered over a period of time where each one got weirder and weirder. I think the last one before the release of Donda had both DaBaby and Marilyn Manson just chilling as Kanye bumped his tunes. I don’t know if he’s trying to make a statement of some sort, but after the recent events following both artists, I can only assume so. The album itself is a list of 27 tracks that spanned for a total of an hour and forty-nine minutes. Jesus Christ. Now, I’ve talked about this before but for those that don’t know, I have a personal preference when it comes to how long an album should be. When it comes to making an album, the biggest thing for me personally is that an artist should know when an album is being dragged too long. The issue with an album being too long is that when someone is listening to it, instead of having an album be a journey of listening to new sounds and enjoying something fresh, it becomes a chore. Now, this album was a big one and it honestly gave me some issues when listening to it. I knew I couldn’t properly review this project after one listens, so I gave it another. It was in the second listen that I realized something that I’ll address right now. The project was so big that it became a mission to try to make an overall statement about it because, by the time I was in the middle of the second half of the project, I honestly forgot a lot about the first half. In terms of the tracklist and length, this project really suffers from similar issues of Trippie Redd’s “NEON SHARK VS PEGASUS” album.

Now, I know that Kanye dedicated this album to his mother and I could see his reasoning be that he felt like it took that many songs to properly create a project for someone he cherished in his life. That makes sense… but why the lack of cover art? No, I don’t think a black screen on top of an album is seen as art, it’s instead a lack of it. If you really wanted this project to be about your mom, don’t you think you should put something in the front of it to properly introduce Donda West to your old and new fans? Not only was that an awkward decision, but he also goes ahead and makes the first song “Donda Chant” by a singer just saying Donda over and over and over again. Maybe there’s a metaphor for this that I’m missing, but if that is the case, maybe Kanye should’ve made that metaphor a bit more visible to the average listener. Okay, enough about my nitpicking for the style of the project, let’s get into the songs.

The production of these songs was pretty good to no one’s surprise. Kanye did a great job creating a variety of songs that matched the energies of so many emotions. The first half of the project had a lot of energetic songs that flexed what Kanye West experiences as a well-known celebrity. Songs like “Jail”, “Off the Grid”, “Hurricane”, and “Praise God”, “Ok Ok”, and “Junya” were really fun songs that made me feel hyped as I listened to the numerous features and beats. However, there’s a second half of the project that seems to be more gospel-based and focuses on using sounds to make you more vulnerable and chill. “Moon” was a great song to use as a divider between songs that were more energetic and songs that seemed to be slower and more conscientious. “Keep My Spirit Alive”, “Jesus Lord”, “Lord I Need You”, “Pure Souls”, “Come to life”, and “No Child Left Behind” were great songs that seemed to grow a lot from the experimental album “Jesus is King” that came before it.

While this project was super long and diverse in its sounds, as I’m writing this, I’m wondering is there was a bigger purpose for the project being the way it is. Maybe Kanye is trying to tell us something not only about his mother but about humans in general. The first half of the project could be Kanye saying that we all want the glories of life. We all want material wealth and want to feel good knowing that we’re living a good life. “Moon” and “Heaven and Hell” can serve as the transition between material wealth and personal wealth through salvation. The second half after these songs are definitely more gospel-like in nature and supports this thought. And maybe.. that is who Donda West was. A woman who wanted to succeed in life but knew that spiritual guidance was a necessary tool to get there. And the words that Donda West shares with us in this project are meant to be guiding lights… the same way those words guided Kanye in his journey to be the person he is today!

Or maybe I’m just overthinking it. Nonetheless, this project definitely has its pros and cons but is still worth listening to. Is this Kanye’s best album? Definitely not. But as a collection of songs wrapped up in a bundle for us to listen to, it does keep you entertained. I honestly would rate this project a 7.5 to 8/10. Thanks for reading this, and I hope you guys have a great week!

Favorite Songs: Jail, God Breathed, Off the Grid, Hurricane, Praise God, Ok Ok, Junya, Believe What I Say, 24, Remote Control, Moon, Heaven and Hell, Keep My Spirit Alive, Jesus Lord, Lord I Need You, Pure Souls, Come to Life, No Child Left Behind, and the pt 2’s at the end were cool.