Donda by Kanye West | Album Review
A heavenly yet bloated gospel rap experience
No other musician like Kanye West kept this summer under lockdown as he did, after announcing Donda last month the album went through several delays and multiple listening events before finally being released on August 29th (despite Kanye’s detest). Fans and casual music listeners alike became intrigued, no other rapper would host 3 live listening sessions and constantly delay the release of an album like Kanye could. Safe to say the hype was real indeed.
The album has been a long time coming, initially scheduled to drop last summer the album was subsequently scrapped until this July. After what feels like an eternity, Donda has finally arrived, and the verdict? Kanye has perfected his new gospel sound with his signature hip-hop to create an album full of reflection and forgiveness, however that isn’t to say that everything is heavenly. Donda suffers from the same rushed quality that Ye’s previous albums had with lazily written bars. Moreover, with 27 songs the album drags on longer than it needs to.
It should go without saying that as a producer, Kanye West is arguably one of the best. An album could be terrible but put Ye as the producer, and he’ll make it gold. So naturally, on the production side, Donda delivers. The album is very reminiscent of 2016’s The Life of Pablo in that it’s mainly hip-hop but with a heavy dose of gospel inflection. Kanye’s rekindled Christian faith gets put on display as a majority of songs play out like hymns, full of auto-tune and head-banging beats mind you.
Donda sometimes sounds like a world tour of Ye’s last few albums. We get some Graduation-era synths and dance beats on “Believe What I Say” and “New Again”. Alt-rock orchestral streams of consciousness that were on display in 2018’s Ye (“Jail”, “Jesus Lord”). Yeezus levels of abrasive rap (“Off The Grid”, “Praise God”, “Heaven or Hell”) and some slight College Dropout vibes with songs like “Keep My Spirit Alive”. Much like 2019’s Jesus Is King, Donda also features plenty of gospel tracks, complete with organs and choirs that make ballads such as “No Child Left Behind”, “24”, and “Donda” sound anthemic.
Kanye is both an artist and curator as he assembles a myriad of other musicians for every album, the guest list this time is honestly the most surprising since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye’s protege’s like Kid Cudi and Travis Scott make an appearance. The melodic leaders of the new school Playboi Carti, Roddy Ricch, Don Toliver, and Baby Keem come through. Hard-hitting lyricists Conway The Machine, Westside Gunn, and Jay Electronica provide bars. Singers Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign, and The Weeknd provide vocal harmonies on some songs. We even get to see the return of long-time friend Jay-Z, who last collaborated with Kanye a decade ago on 2011’s Watch The Throne.
The guest features on Donda are the real stars of the show, each artist truly gives it their all. Don and Cudi provide some woozy psychedelic croons and hums on “Moon”. Carti, La Flame, and Keem bring the noise on “Junya” and “Praise God” while The Weeknd’s heavenly vocals elevate “Hurricane” to ethereal levels. Jay-Z taps in on “Jail” with some brotherly advice (“Told him, “Stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home”) and letting fans know that Watch The Throne will never break (“Hova and Yeezus, like Moses and Jesus”).
There are also welcome some surprises, such as N.Y drill rapper Fivio Foreign and Jamaican superstar Shenseea stealing the spotlight on their verses for “Off The Grid” and “Ok Ok Pt 2” respectively. There are also some not so welcome surprises, such as the inclusion of Dababy and Marilyn Manson on “Jail Pt 2”. Both artists have been blacklisted from the industry for the right reasons (Dababy’s insensitive homophobic comments and Manson’s sexual assault allegations) and Kanye’s decision to include them feels a bit tone-deaf. Perhaps this is Ye’s way of showing that they could be redeemed in the eyes of God, which for Manson is kind of ironic considering he’s the “Antichrist Superstar”, but in execution, it fails miserably, and Dababy’s verse here is full proof of that (“I said one thing they ain’t like, threw me out like they ain’t care for me”.).
When it comes to lyricism, Donda is a mixed bag. While there are genuine moments of true emotion, a bulk of the album sounds like Kanye freestyled the first thing he could think of, it makes the album feel rushed and incomplete at times. At its best, Donda reveals a vulnerable Kanye that pleads with God and has faith that things will work, as is the case on “Come To Life”. He wrestles with the thoughts he has with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, finally illustrating his feelings about their marriage and separation (“I don’t wanna die alone. I get mad when she gone, mad when she home. Sad when she gone, mad when she home. Sad when she gone.”) but reveals that the silver lining holding him together are their kids.
He tells himself to not get dragged down by the rapper lifestyle on the chorus of “Believe What I Say”, a message that ’07 Kanye would tell himself. He puts everything in the hands of God on “No Child Left Behind”, knowing that God has always had his back (“Never called on y’all, never count on y’all I’ll always count on God”.). He still has time to spit some clever, braggadocious bars like on “Hurricane” (“Dropped out of school, but I’m that one at Yale. Made the best tracks and still went off the rail.”).
Unfortunately, this is where my positives for Donda end. Most of Ye’s verses and bars are lazy, whether his intention was ironic or not some bars just flat-out suck. Like the opening for “New Again”: (“If I hit you with a “W-Y-D?” You better not hit me with a “H-E-Y”, it better be like “Hiii” with a bunch of I’s
Or “Heyyy” with a bunch of Y’s”.). Or the constant repetition of “God Breathed”’s chorus. Then there are these lame dad jokes like on the outro of “Off The Grid” (“Some say Adam could never be black, ’cause a black man will never share his rib”.). Ye’s always been the rapper with clever, tongue-in-cheek bars but here that magic seems gone.
Another issue with Donda is without a doubt its length. Clocking in at an hour and 44 minutes, a lot of songs overstay their welcome. some getting pushed all the way past the 5–8 minute mark. A majority of songs feel like filler, like the opener “Donda Chant”, the Pop Smoke rehash “Tell The Vision” and the last 4 songs which are essentially remixes. All of which could’ve been left on the cutting room floor or at the very least, have some sort of care put into them. It’s all laughable considering the number of times Donda’s been delayed too, overall the album feels bloated yet empty all at once.
While I have my issues with the album, by no means do I think it’s terrible. When Donda works, it works tremendously. Kanye’s production and the guests here are incredible. Sadly, it suffers from the same issue that most of Kanye’s past few albums had, a rushed sense of quality with lackluster bars. Top that off with a chunk of the album that is essentially just rap filler and the entire experience becomes soured and quite honestly not worth the long wait.
Overall, Donda gets a 6/10 from me. The album’s production and guest features are the saving grace for this album and easily saved it from being scored lower. Without them, I don’t think Donda would’ve been anywhere near as good. While Kanye does offer some emotional verses and clever bars, he doesn’t quite have the golden touch like he used to.
Favourite Tracks: Jail, Off The Grid, Hurricane, Praise God, Believe What I Say, Moon, Heaven and Hell, Keep My Spirit Alive, Come To Life, Ok Ok Pt 2.
Stream Donda below
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