Kanye West – “DONDA 2” review

Kanye West is a 44 year old rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, businessman, fashion designer & supposed politician from Chicago, Illinois who everyone should be familiar with by now. You absolutely CAN’T deny the impact that Ye has had on hip hop within the past 18 years with albums like The College Dropout or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, regardless of how one may feel about his polarizing public image. The last we heard from him was over the summer when he dropped DONDA which was much more consistent than it’s predecessor Jesus is King, but the 2 hour runtime was unnecessary. 6 months later, we’re now being treated to his 11th full-length outing executive produced by Future & exclusive to his Stem Player platform.

“True Love” kicks off the album with an instrumental kin to “Runaway” talking about how genuine romance shouldn’t be complicated with a surprisingly great hook from the late XXXTENTACION whereas “Broken Road” pondering what it means to find your soul on top of a doleful beat & Don Toliver’s hook on here is so goddamn catchy. “Get Lost” goes a cappella looking back on all the good & bad memories of his life so far with an excessive amount of auto-tune slathering his vocals just before “Too Easy” has this glitchy quality to the production discussing his current trials & tribulations.

Meanwhile on “Flowers”, we have Kanye throwing it back to the Graduation days in terms of sound encouraging to send him $100k rather than the titular object leading into “Security” asserting that nothing can get in the way of him being with his family & Digital Nas’ production here almost reminds me of Yeezus in a way. “We Did It Kid” hardly has any Ye presence at all & it sticks out like a sore thumb even though I genuinely enjoy it’s horn-heavy groove alongside Baby Keem & the Migos’ verses, but then the Future-assisted “Pablo” follows it up with a trap cut that encourages the listener to try to have fun except it falls flat on it’s face.

“Louie Bags” starts off great with it’s hypnotic beat & talking about boycotting LV after Virgil Abloh’s passing, then Jack Harlow’s verse comes in & ruins the whole vibe. Future returns for “Happy” & it’s WAY better than “Pablo” from Wheezy peppy production to the subject matter asking the world if they look like they’re doing fine to them. “Sci-Fi” then works in some string sections as Sean Leon joins Ye in addressing his divorce from The Hobbit, but that line where he said “When you lay down & I gave you the semen. I swear I heard God, the voice of Morgan Freeman” had me ROLLIN’ in laughter.

Following that, “Selfish” goes into a minimal yet cloudier direction talking about how selfishness & materialism can damage a relationship while the symphonic “Lord Lift Me Up” is a decent Vory solo cut asking for God to lift up his spirits. The song “Keep It Burning” with Future finds the 2 basically flipping the Talking Heads joint “Burning Down the House” & making a hard hitting trap banger out of it while the penultimate track “City of Gods” with Fivio Foreign goes into drill turf telling NY to go easy on them. “First Time in a Long Time” ends the album on a triumphant yet electronic note with Ye opening up about his faith in God & feelings stemming from his divorce but on the other hand, fucking Soulja Boy comes through flexing his success & kills it.

I really don’t know what else to say beyond that, it’s just so painfully average even by Kanye’s standards. There are some interesting song topics & production ideas without a doubt, but it’s all blatantly unfinished. If Ye does plan on updating the album once it’s actually done like Stem Player co-inventor Alex Klein was saying on Twitter, then I feel like it’ll be A LOT better than what we got here.

Score: 2.5/5

Kanye West – “DONDA” review

This is the 10th full-length album from Chicago rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, businessman, fashion designer & supposed politician Kanye West. What can be said now about this man that hasn’t been said already? Regardless of how you feel about his public image, you can’t deny his creativity nor the impact his discography has had on hip hop over the last 17 years. More specifically The College Dropout & My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The last time we heard him in secular form was back in 2018 with ye, which in my opinion doesn’t get enough appreciation for detailing his struggles with bipolar disorder even to this day. Kanye later became a born-again Christian & went into gospel rap territory for his previous album Jesus is King in which the music was fine, but the mix was absolutely horrendous. But now after a embarrassing attempt at becoming president of the United States last fall & divorcing his Hobbit ex-wife, one can only go into DONDA expecting Ye to get a lot off his chest.

After the tedious “Donda Chant” intro, the first song “Jail” is a rock-tinged kickstarter with The Throne returning saying God’s gonna post their bail with co-production from Mike Dean alongside Dem Jointz & 88-Keys whereas “God Breathed” has assisted by E*Vax some choir vocals hanging in the back encouraging the listener to put their faith in the higher power. Playboi Carti & Fivio Foreign tag along for the trap-tinged “Off the Grid” co-produced by with 30 Roc proclaiming they did everything for the crib just before the Lil Baby-assisted “Hurricane” brings in some organs & snares with co-production from DJ Khalil & Ronny J to tell God to hold them close.

Meanwhile on “Praise God”, we have Baby Keem & Travis Scott joining forces to say they’re gonna praise their way out the grave helping work in an organ & choir vocals leading into “Jonah” with Lil Durk & Vory having some hypnotizing production as well as lyrics about loneliness. “Ok Ok” is an atmospheric cut co-produced with Boi-1da linking up with Lil Yachty & Rooga to call out those who’ve betrayed them, but then Ye & Carti pay homage to Junya Watanabe on the organ-bass infused “Junya” assisted by Digital Nas.

“Believe What I Say” does a fine job at sampling the iconic Lauryn Hill joint “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” telling the listener not to let the lifestyle drag you down whereas “24” brings back in some organs to say God’s not finished. “Remote Control” with Young Thug satirizes society these days with an ambient backdrop & snares whereas “Moon” is the greatest interlude of the year hands down, with Don Toliver & KiD CuDi hitting every note perfectly as the guitars that’re wailing behind them.

The way “Heaven & Hell” samples Drum Broker’s “Arena” is really cool with Ye standing up to to the system & after the titular interlude co-produced by BoogzDaBeast, “Keep My Spirit Alive” with Hall ‘N Nash finds the trio saying “you can take it all with the Lord on my side” over a cloudy instrumental. Jay Electronica & The LOX come in for the gorgeous “Jesus Lord” co-produced by Swizz Beatz & Gesaffelstein wanting to know someone who needs God, but then “New Again” sounds like a throwback to the Graduation days production-wise talking about being born again.

Tell the Vision” from the latest posthumous Pop Smoke album Faith feels out of place given that Ye has no presence on this version, but “Lord I Need You” makes up for it with it’s pillowy beat co-produced by Wheezy as Ye asks God to wrap his arms around him whereas the Roddy Ricch-assisted “Pure Souls” fuses organs with bass & handclaps to say “The truth is only what you get away with”.

The penultimate track “Come to Life” is an luxurious ballad pondering if you’ve ever wished you had another life & finally, “No Child Left Behind” ends the album with a straight up gospel ballad saying God has done miracles on him. We are then treated to alternate versions of “Jail”, “Ok Ok”, “Junya” & “Jesus Lord” as bonus cuts.

It should really go without saying that DONDA is what Jesus is King should’ve been & it’s a respectable tribute to Ye’s mom. There are a tad bit of filler cuts running at 27 joints & nearly 2 hours, but the mix sounds so much better in comparison to the last album.

Score: 4/5

Kanye West – “Jesus is King” review

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Kanye West is a Chicago icon that really needs no introduction at this point. From his polarizing public image to his damn near flawless discography, the man has really made a continuous & undeniable impact on hip hop within the past 15 years. However throughout 2019, Kanye has been going around the world with his newly formed gospel-rap outfit Sunday Service performing gospel songs & covers of his discography for an hour. But after teasing fans with listening parties for his 9th full-length album for the past month, he’s actually dropping it worldwide.

The album begins with “Every Hour”, where the Sunday Service choir sing about how we always need God over a bare piano instrumental. The next song the track “Selah” talks about looking back & reflecting upon over an organ while the track Follow God” finds Ye encouraging the listener to find a higher power over a College Dropout-esque instrumental. The song “Closed on Sunday” makes painfully corny references to Chick-fil-A over a Timbaland instrumental starting off with an acoustic guitar & later switching up into something more minimalist & ominous while the track “On God” uses the titular expression to address his current well-being along with his past comments on the 13th amendment over a Graduation-inspired instrumental from Pi’erre Bourne.

The song “Everything We Need” with Ty$ & Ant Clemons sees the 3 talking about switching their attitudes over an trap beat co-produced by Ronny J & Mike Dean with an organ in the background while the track “Water” with Ant finds the 2 talking about purity over a somewhat funky instrumental co-produced by Timbaland. The song “God Is” sings about how the Lord is victorious & gives him power over a soulful instrumental while the track “Hands On” talks about religion being more prominent in Ye’s life over an intoxicating instrumental. The song “Use This Gospel” is pretty much a full blown Clipse reunion as Kanye only does the hook, but I’ll take it. Pusha T & No Malice both talk about seeking forgiveness like they never left over some plinky keys, but the sax solo from Kenny G was unexpectedly good. The album then finishes off with “Jesus is Lord”, where Kanye of course sings about his newfound love for Christ himself over some horns.

While I myself am not the biggest fan of gospel music, this is a decent experience. Kanye truly sounds like he’s legitimately happy & finally at peace with himself in comparison to his last 3 albums, but the mixing is absolutely terrible. Hopefully down the road, he’ll patch it up like he did with The Life of Pablo back in 2016.

Score: 3/5