Kanye West’s reckoning with himself began on November 10, 2007. Donda West, his mother and manager, died suddenly in her home a day after undergoing plastic surgery. Her cause of death was never fully determined due to an inconclusive autopsy report.
Left without anything concrete to blame for his mother’s death, Kanye instead shouldered the burden of grief by holding himself responsible for her indulgence in the Hollywood lifestyle. “If I had never moved to L.A., she’d be alive… I don’t want to go far into it because it will bring me to tears,” he told Q magazine. This self-imposed weight would haunt him going forward.
Whether it was the somber tone and existential crisis of 808’s & Heartbreak, released a year after the untimely passing of Ms. West, or the chaotic unhinged nature of 2013’s Yeezus, the reality of her death loomed large over anything Kanye released. He explored vices and sought support from others to try and get over his loss: narcissism, meaningless sex, fan admiration, performance art, medication and, most recently, a full embrace of his faith.
And yet, the wound never closed: his reputation spiraled, the women left, the fans got bored, the performance art became meme worthy, the medication supposedly inhibited his creativity and his faith continued to be tested, mostly due to his own mistakes.
Fourteen years after his life was forever changed, he seems to finally be ready to own his grief and self-condemnation.
But Ye’s public bid to heal comes at a tumultuous time in his life: public opinion has soured on him due to anti-Black statements about “slavery being a choice” and aligning with former president Donald Trump. His personal life also fell into shambles, losing friends like JAY-Z because of his political views and his wife Kim Kardashian, who filed for divorce in February. Furthermore, both his past solo projects — ye and Jesus Is King— received lukewarm reception, the latter feeling like Kanye trying to appeal to Black Christians without acknowledging his hurtful actions.
Luckily for him, Kanye’s strategy of arena album listening parties of unfinished material and turning fans into unpaid executive producers for his album Donda, seems to have worked. The first listening session in Las Vegas may have been panned, but the second one in Atlanta saw several improvements and put Kanye back in the good graces of some, despite the release date continuing to be pushed back as if Kanye is the boy who cried album.
No one knows for sure when, or if, Donda will see the light of day, leading fans to record the listening sessions, break up the tracks, convert them to mp3 files and upload them to mega drives across the internet. That’s how the Donda leak has surfaced, a 23-track odyssey of semi-finished material effectively proving Kanye West isn’t going anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLa1P-YTs7o
The leak begins with (the unofficially titled) “Donda,” Kanye’s mother — taken from an excerpt of a presentation where she celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks’ life and work — talks about instilling self-confidence in Kanye, speaking with a commanding bravado which makes it easy to see why her death left a void. Pusha T and Kanye then trade bars about Kanye’s souring public perception and desire to keep it real regardless if it’s considered unpopular.
“Was a hero after Katrina but the levee went dry,” Push raps, referencing Kanye’s George Bush comment on a telethon for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005, potentially his peak of public approval.
But then things get confusing on the Baby Keem and Travis Scott-led “Praise God/Into The Night,” where their verses have no connection to Kanye’s overlying theme of grief, guilt and forgiveness. That’s one thing perplexing about the Donda leak, many of the songs don’t seem to connect to Kanye’s plight, mostly because the featured artists are positioned so prominently over him. But this quick questioning is forgiven because the guests deliver marquee performances supported by glorious and atmospheric production.
Baby Keem goes off on his verse with more fluidity in his flow than ever before. Fivio Foreign becomes one of the few rappers who can overpower Playboi Carti on “Off The Grid,” which will have the listener begging for Carti to get yanked away so they can hear Fivio torch through his verse, balancing flexing and inspiration with sorrow and introspection.
Some of Kanye’s features feel purposeful. Where so many rap albums seem to shoe in flashy guests just to fill a quota to get the Spotify streaming farms in Montana to put them on RapCaviar — Kanye has a vision. Including crooners and melodic rappers such as Kid Cudi, Roddy Ricch, Vory, Lil Durk, Ty Dolla $ign and Don Toliver allows the ethereal production to flourish. They all possess the emotive singing needed to make the album feel like it’s coming from a celestial great beyond.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1pIZNFYUJ0
Despite this praise, there are songs such as the 11-minute the LOX and Jay Electronica-featured “Jesus Lord,” which feel directly manipulative. Kanye opens the cut making a bid for sympathy and speaking on people not seeing his good deeds, then tries to tell a poignant story about generational trauma, only to underscore the problem by shoehorning Jesus in to fix cyclical violence. But that pales in comparison to putting Larry Hoover’s son on the lengthy outro to speak about Kanye trying to help Hoover Sr. out of jail. Despite some moments that seem genuine, like when he talks about the hurt he felt seeing his cousin get locked up, the track plays like Kanye trying to get people to feel bad for him, and frankly, that’s up to the listener — not Kanye.
The weak points in the Donda leak come when Ye isn’t supported by a boosting feature or production beautiful enough to distract from his weak bars. Kanye is the faulty part of this album, his bars for the most part are pedestrian and unspectacular outside of the hooks and the obligatory “yep, Kanye really just said that” moments.
“Lord I Need You” is filled with cringe lines (“We used to do the freak like seven days a week/ It’s the best collab since Taco Bell and KFC”), off-key singing and feels like a throwaway from Jesus Is King. “I Know God Breathed On This” sounds like the EDM Christian kids play at bible camp.
However, sometimes Kanye by himself works. “New Again” opens with a call for a new standard for texting and continues with Kanye asking forgiveness from God for his future sins. It’s a self-aware moment for Kanye where he seems to grasp the concept of being imperfect despite his high self-worth.
“Never Abandon Your Family” tugs at the heart strings despite feeling a bit manipulative and like a therapy session that should’ve remained private. Kanye’s devastation about his divorce, underscored by Donda West’s echoing sentiment about never abandoning your family, is a genuinely heartbreaking moment. Despite the tumultuous nature of his marriage with Kardashian, Kanye’s breakdown sounds authentic and real, further pushed when the context of how much family he’s lost becomes apparent.
Kim Kardashian Speaks Highly Of Kanye West Marriage Following 'Donda' Event
The transcendent moments on the Donda leak come when Kanye, the guests and production work in lockstep. “24 Hours/We’re Gonna Be OK” features some of Kanye’s best singing ever and is a beautiful song about getting through one’s trials, backed by a soaring chorus from the Sunday Service Choir and Vory.
“Jail” may have grabbed the headlines with JAY-Z’s return and his tease of Watch The Throne 2, but as a song it’s quite epic. The distorted guitars layered over higher pitched guitar riffs and Kanye’s Auto-Tuned singing creates a surreal and intoxicating experience, pushed further by Hov’s solid verse about moving past Kanye’s former MAGA affiliation to be there for his friend, though making sure he stays away from the red caps for good.
While admittedly it doesn’t sound fully sequenced or finished, the Donda leak is a beautiful exploration into Kanye’s healing process. Not every track connects but when they do, it paints a portrait of a man ready to let go of his hurt and accept the complicated tragedy of his mother’s passing. Through this acceptance and his faith, Kanye attempts to find solace, though it’s unclear if he ever does.
Whereas Jesus Is King sounded like a rapper trying to cosplay as the voice for Jesus Christ, the Donda leak feels like a troubled man accepting he’s not a god but merely an imperfect human. There’s no solution for Kanye, left alone only with his faith to pick up the pieces of his fractured personal life.
If fans were looking for an apology letter or an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, that isn’t present here. And of course skepticism can be raised about his intentions since he’s using an album rollout to sell something again.
Embracing the path of the flawed artist such as his idols Michael Jackson and Prince, Kanye will always be Kanye. But at least the music is decent again.
Check back with HipHopDX for the official Donda review when Kanye unleashes it unto the world.
“KANYE WEST’S ‘DONDA’ LEAK IS THE BEST MUSIC HE’S MADE IN 5 YEARS” —- umm, this isnt saying much at all! you gotta go MORE than 10 years back at this point for that to mean anything, to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Everything after that, blahhhh
I like Pablo and Yeezus tbh. Even if you think they’re bad there’s some undeniably great songs on both. Thanks for reading
Not objective enough. Think you’re too sympathetic to the memory of Kanye. But at least he’s trying IMO
3.8 is pretty objective mate
I feel like I was pretty fair on both sides of the Kanye coin in this review. But to each is own. Thanks for reading
Yeezus especially. Listening to it now, it’s a lot better than people give it credit for, production-wise in particular…
Yeezus is good, yes
My only complaint about the review is that the third paragraph makes it seem like the specter of his mother’s death loomed over everything he made after 808’s in a negative way, as it references that album and then Yeezus, but ignores that MBDTF came out in between those albums and is, arguably, his masterpiece. Good read otherwise, though, and I look forward to hearing the complete album.
That’s a fair critique. I love 808s and Yeezus so it wasn’t supposed to be a negative connotation. For me, MBDTF is an album about embracing being a jackass and tackling his fears of losing himself in celebrity now that no one is there to ground him, but I also think that album doesn’t have as much of Donda’s shadow over it and it is more a personal reckoning with not being constantly beloved as he was the past 5-6 years of his career, and then him working through that. A moment of “oh, I can do wrong and when I my make mistakes this is how people treat me.” So that’s why I didn’t mention it, also, word count. But super fair critique and I appreciate the well thought out comment. Thanks for reading…also this version better than the actual album lol.
@name: that’s ur opinion and not the masses. Good day.
This actually sounds excellent. I can’t wait to hear it complete.
Kanye beats really saved the ROC and he gave Beanie Sigel some the dopest shit ever amazing producer…but he is a pretty lame rapper even with Pusha T or whoever writing for him his flow and voice are boring and i cant listen to his ‘bars’ but the god damn fire instrumental he has behind him saves the wack rhymes and thats what people there for the Production.I really wish he had of gave up rapping and just focused making albums with 1 MC like Jadakiss,Ghostface Killah,Nas,Benny The Butcher,Scarface,Lupe,Royce 5’9 …could of been a lot more classic albums cause i never wanna revisit him spit ‘got a light skinned girl looks like michael jackson got a dark skinned girl looks like michael jackson”?!?! what was that about why do people never mention that as one the worst rhymes on a big track of all time smh whatever i’ll give it a 2/5 for having The LOX on the album
Love the review!! Good stuff!!
Thank u!
Dope
So far this is Album of the Decade.
It’s solid, the beats and guest appearances. Kanye delivered!
Stick 2 producing
Trash just like his wife and plastic mom Donda. ..his breath stank like ray j genitilia. ..his lyrics are weak. Stick to producing do not open that mouf wit date foul breath
Monte’ Freeman
Serioisly…this is his worst album.
People dole out 5/5 too haphazardly. Like, I love Nas’s King’s Disease II but it’s a 7.5/10 or 8/10 album at best. This Kanye is a solid 6.5/10. Both albums have gotten 5/5 ratings from people on this site. If you think both albums are perfect rating albums then what do you give real classics?
You’re a 49’ers fan, therefore your idea of taste is null. Please shut up. Lube boy.
No, answer their question.
Not feeling it
Terrible besides one song. Off the grid
The singing is great, but the random sounds suck. Hurricane is the only decent one the rest suck due to random sounds whcih have no place in the music (even hurricane has some but not as much and is decent)
Really sucks, some random noises and sounds. Some songs are good tho
Great voices, ruined by random sounds which makes no sense, hurricane is fire tho.
Great voices ruined by random sounds. Hurricane and praise God fire ?
not good
JUST SUCKS?
PROBABLY ONLY 3 SONGS ARE ENJOYABLE
MATTER OF MONEY, AND PROBABLY THE ALBUM WAS ONLY A GIFT FOR HER MOTHER AND NOT FOR FANS OR PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO THEM SEVERAL TIMES
THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM
ALL THIS HYPE FOR NOTHING, SERIOUSLY
This is JOKE and any reasonable person who respects real hip hop knows this is a joke. I’m listening to Smif-N-Wessun right now. It’s shocking how much better many of their songs are compared to this garbage. Looks like KRS-One should write an Ova Here II. Money clearly can’t buy you everything, but sure helps to sell and promote garbage like this.
You should have used yo time to properly review Kings Disease 2. But we know you just doing this to then rate the final as a masterpiece when its not
You might be surprised lol
The Jesus Lord joint crazy the Jay Elec rap dope beat and sample very pure
lol its more garbage now than ever after released
this aged POORLY
eh, I feel like I encapsulated a different time period and went on what I heard and knew. But yes, I’m not doing the sequel review, but its worse now, in my opinion. Writing holds though, but you’re entitled to your opinion. Thanks for reading.
Worst then the 2nd listening event? I hope you can explain in detail how it is, other then the Manson and Dababy additions, which should have nothing to do with objective music reviews. I appreciated your first review strictly looking at the music. Keep in mind that there are way too many reviews these days based on the artist/person and not the album. I hope you can really tell me in your review how this album is “worst” musically. Take the artists name off it and even take all the vocals away. Have you heard anything this good musically recently? I haven’t.
I have been listening to hip hop for 30 years… yeah I’m old as dirt. But, the best hip hop has always been honest, outside of the fringes of society, boastful, braggadocious and did I say honest? Think what you want about Kanye, but he is all those things. I grew up with the main stream media trashing our artists and trying to tear them down daily. Please don’t be that. If you honestly don’t think the music is good then explain it. Tell me why you don’t thing the original version of Jail is bad, tell me why Hurricane or Moon or No Child Left Behind are not sonically ahead of anything out or tell me how Believe What I Say, Heaven and Hell and Jesus Lord are not ahead of anything we have heard this year. I keep reading reviews about base not kicking in on Tell the Vision, who cares, that song is sick!!! Pop Smokes voice is the base.
I was not a fan of Ye or Jesus is King, but this is different. Oh yeah, I am also not a Da Baby fan, but that verse is crazy! He goes hard.
With all due respect, I already said I won’t be reviewing the finished album and another person will be. I imagine their sentiments will be similar to mine. I’m not going to type out a review comment because I have full faith in the person who’s writing the review’s opinion, which I’ll be overseeing as the Reviews coordinator. When I say worse, though, I don’t mean substantially worse, but its worse to me. It’s not as good in current form. I’ve heard better musically recently. The Pink Siifu record, Vince Staples, Tyler, KEY!, Topaz Jones, Isaiah Rashad, Young Nudy & Mach Hommy. It’s not a bad album, it’s just not as good and loses alot of its supposed purpose on the final cut. Thanks for reading.
This reviewer is wack
Yup, overhyped trash for the new generation of god only knows what the fuck they identify as. And them arena cop outs were attended by the donkeys with severe fomo. The features especially made this album unbearable. Next year it’ll be in 25 cent bin along with Drake new album.