Kanye West Unveils 10th Album ‘Donda’ at Listening Party: Everything We Know So Far

Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Kanye West Unveils 10th Album ‘Donda’ at Listening Party: Everything We Know So Far

He's back! Kanye West has been teasing an album called Donda for over one year, and the record is finally here. The 44-year-old rapper previewed his 10th LP in a new Beats commercial released on Tuesday, July 20, that featured track star Sha'Carri Richardson and a clip of a new song titled "No Child Left Behind." According to the ad, Donda is due out Friday, July 23. Two days later, he kicked off the release with a listening event at an Atlanta stadium, which his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, attended with their four children and her sister Khloé Kardashian. The "Famous" rapper's last album, 2019's Jesus Is King, was religious in theme, and before its release, fans wondered if Donda would fall along the same lines. In a 2020 interview with GQ, the Grammy winner hinted that he was no longer interested in making secular music and would rather stick to gospel-influenced sounds. "I was thinking of not rapping again, because I rapped for the devil so long that I didn’t even know how to rap for God," he told the magazine. "Then one of my pastors told me, 'My son just said that he would want a rap album about Jesus from Kanye West.' He didn’t say, 'Kanye West, you should do this,' or, 'You need to do this.' He just told me something that a child said. And that one thing made the difference." [jwplayer PmVzb6jn-l3ahXupL] There's also a possibility his family will come up in the lyrics, if not in the actual music. When he made his return to Instagram on Tuesday after a long hiatus, he did so wearing gold chains bearing the names of his four children with the 40-year-old reality star: North, 8, Saint, 5, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2. His eldest daughter has previously expressed interest in following in her dad's footsteps, singing on the runway at his Yeezy Season 8 fashion show in Paris last year. The "Closed on Sunday" artist has announced release dates before and then failed to deliver his promised album, but this time his collaborators were confident that Donda was finished and ready for listeners. "Kanye West album is really done," Revolt TV host Justin Laboy tweeted on Sunday, July 18, after attending an invite-only listening party in Las Vegas. "When it drops this week, we probably not going to listen to anything else for a while." According to another lucky invitee, the album draws on a variety of genres including trap and gospel. "He had a track with Lil Baby and I was ready to party," photographer Nigel D. tweeted on Sunday. "The music is still centered on God but there is a variety in sounds. Some slow, some trap, etc. Some songs could be played in a church, some in a club." Keep scrolling for everything we know about Donda: [podcast_block]

Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Kanye West Unveils 10th Album ‘Donda’ at Listening Party: Everything We Know So Far

He's back! Kanye West has been teasing an album called Donda for over one year, and the record is finally here. The 44-year-old rapper previewed his 10th LP in a new Beats commercial released on Tuesday, July 20, that featured track star Sha'Carri Richardson and a clip of a new song titled "No Child Left Behind." According to the ad, Donda is due out Friday, July 23. Two days later, he kicked off the release with a listening event at an Atlanta stadium, which his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, attended with their four children and her sister Khloé Kardashian. The "Famous" rapper's last album, 2019's Jesus Is King, was religious in theme, and before its release, fans wondered if Donda would fall along the same lines. In a 2020 interview with GQ, the Grammy winner hinted that he was no longer interested in making secular music and would rather stick to gospel-influenced sounds. "I was thinking of not rapping again, because I rapped for the devil so long that I didn’t even know how to rap for God," he told the magazine. "Then one of my pastors told me, 'My son just said that he would want a rap album about Jesus from Kanye West.' He didn’t say, 'Kanye West, you should do this,' or, 'You need to do this.' He just told me something that a child said. And that one thing made the difference." [jwplayer PmVzb6jn-l3ahXupL] There's also a possibility his family will come up in the lyrics, if not in the actual music. When he made his return to Instagram on Tuesday after a long hiatus, he did so wearing gold chains bearing the names of his four children with the 40-year-old reality star: North, 8, Saint, 5, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2. His eldest daughter has previously expressed interest in following in her dad's footsteps, singing on the runway at his Yeezy Season 8 fashion show in Paris last year. The "Closed on Sunday" artist has announced release dates before and then failed to deliver his promised album, but this time his collaborators were confident that Donda was finished and ready for listeners. "Kanye West album is really done," Revolt TV host Justin Laboy tweeted on Sunday, July 18, after attending an invite-only listening party in Las Vegas. "When it drops this week, we probably not going to listen to anything else for a while." According to another lucky invitee, the album draws on a variety of genres including trap and gospel. "He had a track with Lil Baby and I was ready to party," photographer Nigel D. tweeted on Sunday. "The music is still centered on God but there is a variety in sounds. Some slow, some trap, etc. Some songs could be played in a church, some in a club." Keep scrolling for everything we know about Donda: [podcast_block]

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The Title

The album is named after the rapper's late mother, Donda West, who died in 2007 from complications following cosmetic surgery. Kanye has always been vocal about their close relationship and also named his creative content company, DONDA, after her.

“This would have been the funnest time of her life,” the musician told David Letterman in 2019, referring to the fact that Donda never got to meet her grandchildren. “To have those kids running around that house, and being able to, like, go and buy them toys.”

Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

The Cover

Like his release dates, Kanye's album covers often change several times before they're finalized, but the rumored cover is a painting by artist Louise Bourgeois, who died in 2010 and was best known for her large-scale sculptures of spiders. Bourgeois' mother died when the artist was in her early 20s, and the event inspired her to stop studying mathematics and pursue a career in art.

Credit: Broadimage/Shutterstock; Inset: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

What About Kim?

Kanye has never been shy about including references to the Skims foudner in his lyrics, but some fans thought that could change now that the estranged duo are in the process of divorcing after separating in February. According to Page Six, there are no "negative" lyrics about the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum and he even played her the album before the private listening party. During Kanye’s listening party in Atlanta in July, fans heard lyrics directed at his split from the reality star, including one line where he says, “I’m losing my family.”

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Possible Guests

Last summer, Kanye released a track with Travis Scott, the father of Kylie Jenner's daughter, Stormi, called "Wash in the Blood," which was supposedly on Donda, but it's not clear whether that song made the final cut. Other rumored guests include Ty Dolla $ign, Baby Keem, Post Malone, Westside Gunn and Playboy Carti. Collabs with Pusha T and Lil Baby were heard during Kanye's listening party in July.

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The Listening Party

The rapper hosted a public event on Thursday, July 22, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The event was also livestreamed via Apple Music starting at 8 p.m. ET.

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First Listen

Kanye chose not to say anything to the Atlanta crowd during his listening party ahead of Donda’s official release on Friday, July 23. Instead an audience, which included the rapper’s estranged wife and their four children, watched as he paced around the area while listening to his record. 

Jay-Z’s collaboration on the album surprised many fans, and according to The New York Times, was a late addition. Kanye’s longtime recording engineer told the outlet on Friday that Jay-Z’s verse was recorded at 4 p.m. on the day of the listening session. One of his lyrics seemingly hinted at the designer’s affiliation with President Donald Trump: “Hold up, Donda, I’m with your baby when I touch back road / Told him stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home.”

Credit: Courtesy Kanye West/Instagram

A New Date

West teased a new time via Instagram on July 30. The post features a loading icon in the center of a white background. At the bottom of the shot, it says, “DONDA 08.05.2021,” seemingly indicating the release date or a second listening party may be on the horizon in early August.

The album was ultimately released Sunday, August 29. 

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The Collaborators

Donda featured a lengthy number of celebrity cameos, including DaBaby and Marilyn Manson — who both joined the rapper at his third listening party in Chicago.

The album also credited Chris Brown as a lyricist for the “New Again” track, as well as artists The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Jay-Z, Lil Baby, Kid Cudi, Playboi Carti, Young Thug, Jay Electronica and The Lox for their vocal contributions.

Upon its release, many fans speculated that Ariana Grande provided background vocals on the title track, however, the “Positions” crooner confirmed those claims are false. “You sound beautiful @thestalone,” Grande wrote via her Instagram Stories at the time, reposting a photo from Stalone's recording session.

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The Sequel

Five months after the release of Donda, the rapper confirmed that a second part to the album would be coming out on February 22, 2022.

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‘Donda 2’ Expectations

“These are the directives for the album: ‘If it cannot be played at a funeral, childbirth, graduation, a wedding, it will not be on our record,'” producer Digital Nas told Rolling Stone in January 2022. “We learned a lot from Donda 1. We learned what hit. We learned what was sticking. So we took from there. It has to be able to be played at four major moments in people’s lives. That’s crazy, right?”

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A New Way to Listen

Donda 2, which is slated for a February 2022 release, can only be streamed via West’s debut platform, The Stem Player.

“We did it,” the rapper wrote via Instagram at the time. “Don’t matter what happens 2mrw This happened tonight For the first time in a long time I feel alive we did it kid we did lord lift me up things change let’s keep it burning …”