Kanye West – DONDA

Written By: Chloe Hamilton

Kanye West is one of the most well-known and successful music artists of this generation. Over the years he has gone from more of a hardcore rapper, to more of a gospel rapper. “Donda” is Kanye’s 9th Studio Album, but technically his 2nd gospel/rap album. I would refer to this as a gospel/rap album because he makes many references to God and the Bible in his album.

I have listened to Kanye for a while now, and I think he has come a long way in his career. Not only is this more of a gospel album, but I also like how Kanye is a storyteller in his songs. Many of his songs spread light on certain social issues. I immediately think of the track “Jesus Lord” which is another one of my favorites, because he talks not only about events and people in his personal life but builds a whole entire story of hardships people go through daily.

Kanye is a strange character, and that’s why it didn’t really surprise me when I listened to the opener of the album entitled “Donda Chant”, where they just chant “Donda” for a minute straight, with no music in the background. “Donda Chant” goes right into “Jail” which is honestly one of my favorites on the album. This song has a feature from JAY-Z, and is kind of their comeback song, after their falling out they had.

Overall, the album had many famous features on it. Some of these big names include: The Weeknd, JAY-Z, Travis Scott, Lil Durk, Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Chris Brown, and many more. It also is a very long album with 27 songs, this album has a total duration of 1 hr. and 48 min. My only critique is that I didn’t see the need for some of the songs to have a part two. I feel this just made the album longer than it needed to be. Normally, for albums it takes me a few listens to get into it. I never really like songs right off the bat; however, with this album I immediately fell in love with it. Kanye did a phenomenal job with this album, and it will definitely be in my top 5 of the year.

Rating 9/10

My Favorites: “Hurricane”, “Praise God”, “Remote Control”, and “Junya”

Honorable Mentions: “Jonah” and “Jail”