Donda
Donda is the tenth studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released through GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings on August 29, 2021. Donda was primarily produced by West, BoogzDaBeast, Dem Jointz, Mike Dean, and Ojivolta, and most of the material was recorded between November 2019 and August 2021. Guest appearances include the Weeknd, Jay-Z, Marilyn Manson, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, Lil Yachty, Baby Keem, Playboi Carti, Jay Electronica, Lil Baby, DaBaby, Roddy Ricch, Ty Dolla Sign, Fivio Foreign, Lil Durk, Pop Smoke, the Lox, Shenseea, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, Young Thug, and KayCyy; the deluxe edition adds André 3000 and Tyler, the Creator.
Donda sound has been described as an amalgamation of West's previous albums, including 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus, and Jesus Is King. It encompasses hip-hop, gospel, progressive rap, and pop, with elements of trap and drill. West's longest album, Donda explores his Christian faith, righteousness, his estrangement from his then-wife Kim Kardashian, and his late mother Donda West, for whom the album is named. It is both minimalist and maximalist, with darker lyrical content and production than many of West's prior works, in addition to reduced drums and most instances of profanity being censored.
West promoted Donda with large-scale listening parties at stadiums throughout the US. "Hurricane" was released as the lead single in September 2021, followed by "Life of the Party", "Believe What I Say", and "Off the Grid" in November. Donda polarized music critics, who generally considered it an improvement from Jesus Is King and praised the composition, but were divided over its cohesiveness and criticized the long runtime. DaBaby and Marilyn Manson's appearances generated controversy due to the allegations of homophobia and sexual abuse against them, respectively. Nonetheless, several publications named Donda one of 2021's best albums. It was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album at the 64th Grammy Awards, and "Jail" and "Hurricane" won for Best Rap Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance, respectively.
Donda received the most first-day streams for an album in 2021 on both Apple Music and Spotify. It was West's tenth consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, tying the record set by Eminem. It topped the charts in 18 other regions, including France, Australia, and the United Kingdom. It has platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, and received gold certification in Canada and New Zealand by Music Canada and Recorded Music NZ. In October 2021, West and Kano Computing released the Donda Stem Player, allowing users to remix Donda songs. The deluxe edition, with five additional songs, was released on November 14. Donda was West's final album released through a major label; he began releasing music independently with Donda 2.
Background
During a conversation with French fashion designer Michèle Lamy in an Instagram Live stream on May 25, 2020, American cinematographer Arthur Jafa revealed that he was working on video material with West for a single from his forthcoming album, titled God's Country. On July 21, West confirmed the album title had been changed to Donda in honor of his mother, after whom he had also named his creative company. The album had its name briefly changed to Donda: With Child, which was later reversed. West announced a release date of July 24, and posted a track listing for the album. In the following days, West continued to post track listings, only to subsequently delete them. Ultimately, the album missed its planned release date. In September 2020, West sent out a series of tweets about his relationship with Universal Music Group, mostly addressing his desire to buy his master recordings back from them. The rapper asserted that these efforts were obstructed by his signed contracts, succeeding this by tweeting multiple images that supposedly showed the contracts.Since his tweet that announces his 2024 run for presidency on November 4, 2020, West went radio silent for the entirety of the album's promotion; not saying anything on social media and wearing a full face mask in public. Information about the album and its listening events was relayed through fellow collaborators such as Consequence, Malik Yusef, Justin LaBoy, and Pusha T. West's manager Abou "Bu" Thiam teased the release of Donda on June 8, 2021, commenting on Gap's Instagram post announcing their jacket with Yeezy, "WestDayEver. Album OTW!" On July 17, Consequence posted a video of West in the studio with Tyler, the Creator on Instagram, suggesting a summer 2021 album release in the caption. On July 19, Pusha T announced on Instagram that West would be holding a listening event for the album at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on July 22. On July 21, West reinstated his Instagram account to share a series of images, alongside a commercial, featuring Sha'Carri Richardson, scored by the song, "No Child Left Behind", teasing a release date of July 23.
Recording
The recording sessions began a month after Jesus Is King was released. Producer BoogzDaBeast recalled that he was called in to Wyoming with West telling him "Man we're going back in, we're about to do a new album. Let's keep this going.". BoogzDaBeast came to Wyoming with 166 beats, which he later clarified were mostly unfinished ideas. Of those 166 ideas, West freestyled over 99 of them in what the producer calls "That One Night in Wyoming". Songs such as "Wash Us in the Blood"–which was initially set for release on Donda in 2020, but was left off the final album–and "Lord I Need You" were originally conceived during said session.In March 2020, West recorded new music in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, before returning to Wyoming with his family due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That same month, GOOD Music president Pusha T stated in a Discord interview that he had been recording with West recently. Pusha T was planning to meet with West on March 16, 2020, to complete a project, but cited "flights slowing down" due to COVID travel restrictions as the reason for a delay. On March 12, 2020, rappers Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine were spotted in Wyoming recording material with West. Westside Gunn would later confirm his collaboration with West in an interview for Elliot Wilson on Tidal, alongside recalling that they were set to travel to Cabo San Lucas after recording in Wyoming, until the COVID-19 pandemic canceled their plans. West held further recording sessions at Bighorn Mountain Ranch in Greybull, Wyoming, which he bought for $14.5 million. The ranch spans over 6,700 acres, covering a larger area than the Monster Lake Ranch property in Wyoming that West previously bought. West flew Lil Baby out to Wyoming to record for Donda on July 22, 2020, following on from him tweeting, "Lil Baby my favorite rapper but won't do a song with me." The rapper ended up recording his verse for "Hurricane" after Kenyan-American rapper KayCyy suggested to him that he should contribute to it. In September 2020, West recorded music with Buju Banton and Saint Jhn at Gargamel Studio in Jamaica.
On March 8, 2021, Cyhi the Prynce stated in an interview with VladTV that West had resumed work on Donda amid his divorce from his wife Kim Kardashian. On May 30, West was joined in the studio by fellow rapper Playboi Carti. On June 14, 2021, court documents were obtained revealing that West was recording for the album in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he held sessions at Island Sound Studio, after reportedly "freaking out" during his deposition in an ongoing lawsuit with tech company MyChannel. Singer-songwriter Syleena Johnson worked on music in San Francisco around a month later, indicating via an Instagram post that she was collaborating with West. Speaking for Cocktails with Queens on Fox Soul, Johnson said she recorded the song "Donda Chant" as well as vocals for another track that ended up not getting used, in said session.
After holding a listening event for Donda at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 22, 2021, West took up temporary residence in one of the locker rooms, converting it into a studio for finishing the recording and mixing with producer Mike Dean. Playboi Carti, Jay-Z and 2 Chainz joined West for recording in the room, with West posting a photo to Instagram of himself and the former there a day before the event. Jay-Z reportedly recorded his verse for "Jail" mere hours prior to the listening event. After failing to meet the album's scheduled release date of July 23, West continued to record and live in Mercedes-Benz Stadium up until the second listening party held there on August 5, 2021. 24 hours before the second listening event commenced, West and several other artists could be seen recording among doing numerous other activities during an Apple Music livestream.
Songs
"Hurricane" was originally previewed via Instagram by West in September 2018 and also leaked online, initially being intended for his scrapped album Yandhi. After the song was first previewed, it went through various iterations, with contributions from artists such as KayCyy, Big Sean, and American musician Ty Dolla Sign, of which the latter would feature on "Junya pt 2". However, none of their contributions made the final cut of "Hurricane", and they would be replaced with Lil Baby and Canadian singer the Weeknd. A song titled "Never Abandon Your Family" was previewed at the first two listening events for Donda on July 22 and August 6, 2021. Although the song was not included on the first version of the album, it later appeared on the deluxe edition. "Donda", which was initially titled "South Carolina" when previewed at the aforementioned listening parties, originally featured a verse where West traded bars with Pusha T. The verse contained references to West's South Carolina rally from his 2020 presidential campaign.The song "New Again", featuring vocals from R&B singer Chris Brown on the chorus, originally included a verse performed by the singer that he later leaked, after publicly calling West a "whole hoe". Several critics expressed negative responses to West's choice to remove the verse, including the co-host of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne tha God, that defined the verse discard as a "poor choice musically". On September 28, 2021, the song was updated on streaming services, with Brown being replaced by West and the Sunday Service Choir. Rapper Soulja Boy originally recorded a verse for the track "Remote Control", although he was not included on the final version of the song, being replaced with fellow rapper Young Thug. Following the album's release, Soulja Boy shared a snippet of his verse to Twitter, with the caption of the post reading, "Fuck Kanye". In November 2021, West apologized to Soulja Boy for removing the verse without informing him, though insisted he did so because it was bad. Fellow rapper André 3000 also recorded a verse for an unreleased track entitled "Life of the Party", which had been previewed at a listening event for Donda in Las Vegas. In the song, West disses Canadian musician Drake, who leaked the song in retaliation amidst a feud between them. André 3000 lamented the feud, stating that his verse was written before West's diss. The song was later released on the deluxe version of the album, with the Drake diss replaced by an alternate verse from West.
On September 7, 2021, DJ Akademiks shared a screenshot of a conversation between West and an unnamed engineer that worked on Donda, showing West firing the engineer after no response to his morning message to start work. On September 14, 2021, American multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren revealed he had recorded heavily for it and was tolerant of West delving into different subjects, but became frustrated with the rapper after a lack of feedback about his material. Rundgren also assumed it should be made clear if he can contribute or not and saw "a possibility" he is "actually in there somewhere" among the album's "junk", concluding by branding West "a dilettante". On September 24, 2021, after multiple artists had revealed that contributions to Donda from them were scrapped, West's sound engineer Nikolai Skrobat revealed that an upcoming playlist consisting of "forgotten tracks" from West's discography may include the album's unreleased material.