Donda / Kanye West / August 29, 2021
- Joshua Yoo
- Nov 16, 2021
- 2 min read
A polarizing album rollout, industry-wide chaos, and social media firestorm all accentuated the long-awaited release of Kanye West’s tenth studio album, and it all seems par for the course. Seemingly nothing is predictable, and it reflects in everything up to the music itself, but the mayhem can’t hide the generation-defining expertise that Kanye still, very much, possesses now.
There are moments of tender confessionals (“Come to Life”), touching remembrances (“Jonah”), and grapples with themes evolving to this day, finding Ye wholly reflective and unafraid to express his mind. The album acting as an overarching dedication to his late mother, he infuses the record with themes of piety and reverence less overtly than his previous record, instead blending these themes in fluidly, and often beautifully (“24”), in narrative pockets of the record.
There are also moments of purely inventive, unabashed, and electrifying thrills, where Kanye’s flashes of composition and production shine bright. With futuristic banger “Off The Grid,” the attention-stopping HOV-assisted “Jail,” and the beautifully ascending “Moon” all amidst the tracklist, the periods of excitement are as thrilling as they are sporadic in appearance within the structure and organization of the album. He also utilizes his star-studded guest artist pool like never before, truly pushing the best out of his collaborators on nearly every track with an appearance.
The final product may not wholly justify the anticipation it built up, but it certainly leaves fans with a lot to chew on. Kanye delivers on bold ambitions and imposed pressure with meaningful substance, yet again.
Highlight(s): Off The Grid, Hurricane, Jesus Lord, Come to Life, Moon, Believe What I Say, Jail, Lord I Need You
Lowlight(s): God Breathed, Junya, New Again, Tell The Vision, Jail pt 2
SCORE: 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbDMNjT-QpI
Comments