THE OFFICIAL late REVIEW OF KANYE WEST’S DONDA
Kanye West released his 11th studio album, DONDA, which was named after his late mother Dr. Donda West. (She passed away back in 2008 due to plastic surgery complications).
In the past few years, West has managed to have somewhat of a career renaissance regarding being a born again Christian. His last few albums (Ye, his Kids See Ghosts collaborative project with Kid Cudi and his recent Grammy award winning Jesus Is King) have had him dealing with many topics regarding mental health, him building a family with Kim Kardashian-West, being a billionaire and being unashamed of wanting to make Christian music great again.
Most fans and critics alike had many opinions regarding whether or not Kanye West was doing this as a publicity stunt, a cry for help or just simply letting his ego take over his music. Some even speculated that Kanye is too far gone to make the award winning music that he was well known for since the early part of the 2000’s, when he was just simply known as a budding music producer who wanted to prove to the world that he can be an established rapper like the people he used to make music for in his hey day (mainly Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records as examples).
Over the past few years, it’s rather noticeable but also distracting that due to his ego and him being a famous global superstar that most people seem to personally attack him more for his personality than the actual music itself. Kanye himself is a grown adult and he is not a deity, no matter how many times he hilariously claimed that he was a God on Yeezus, while featuring a fictional version of the Christian version of God on the album.
With most things regarded to the likes of art and entertainment (and unfortunately, mixing of politics), the best way to critique this album is by talking about first and foremost the music, while also constructively discussing the ideas of the music. Whether we like Kanye or not, at the end of the day, he just happens to be the luckiest person in the world making arguably some of the most memorable and eye catching music in recent memory. Most rappers can not even come close to making the kind of music that Kanye seemingly wants to make.
Instead, the best part about going along with this review is talking about the best and worst songs on the album. Also, it’s rather fitting that this was released on an early Sunday morning at 8 AM, since that is the same time churches usually start their praise of worship.
Either way, these are the good, bad and just OK songs on DONDA:
GOOD SONGS: Jail Pt. 2, Jesus Lord Pt. 2, No Child Left Behind, Praise God*, Off The Grid, Hurricane, Moon, Believe What I Say, Pure Souls, Lord I Need You, Remote Control, Come To Life
OKAY SONGS: Keep My Spirit Alive, 24, Donda, Junya, Ok Ok, New Again, God Breathed, Heaven and Hell
BAD SONGS: Tell The Vision, Jail, Jonah, Junya Pt. 2
*Praise God was almost ruined by a Baby Keem feature, an artist who just so happens to be related to Kendrick Lamar. (They’re both cousins.)
In the listening of this album, there were over
27 songs that almost felt overlong or maybe an excuse to boost up album sales by streaming multiple consecutively. However, in the case of Kanye, this surprisingly does not seem to be the case here.
Most of the songs, of course, do have features that range from the most unique (Da Baby & Marilyn Manson, Fivio Foreign, Don Toliver, etc.) to the not so surprising (Lil Baby, The Weeknd, Jay-Z, Roddy Ricch, etc.) Even while listing some of the bad songs on here, it at least shows that Kanye was willing to want to give fans some of the best and worst of this project, instead of just offering a random Deluxe Edition the next week which will just increase the number of songs that were only additionally added just to boost up sales. The production at times also seems very lively and organized, even though the mastering is not as perfect as one would expect. If it was being done on purpose, then it would still lead with a lot of questions as far as how Kanye’s creative process goes while making something as grand as this.
This album by Kanye West is his most focused, slightly straightforward and personal to date. Even for someone in his soon to be mid-40’s as far as age goes, it goes to show that Kanye still has some flair left in him to make him much more than just another rapper.
Overall:
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
If you’re expecting a Yeezus Pt. 2, you’ll be disappointed.
If you’re expecting a Jesus Is King Pt. 2, you’ll be doubly disappointed.
Either way, this is still a solid project from front to finish. It is, however, not possible in this new age to get 8’s or 9’s out of a Kanye West project since it seems from the get-go, those days just might be far out of his reach. However, if we can get projects that are a lot more detailed and concrete as this (but with more self-reflection), one will be willing to be proven wrong.
- albert chan