The road to Kanye West’s 10th album Donda, named for his late mother, has been as idiosyncratic as the artist himself, sometimes vexing (hope none of you were counting on a July 23 or Aug. 6 release) and others stunning (the man levitated!). West has hosted a pair of livestreamed listening events at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and taken up residence at the venue in the interval, essentially letting the entire world in on his recording process (and, to some, making a powerful artistic statement on the very nature of finality). So it’s safe to say this is not your average album rollout.
Currently, the best concrete information we have on Donda’s release is its Apple Music preorder page, which was posted last week, and has since been updated to reveal two key details: Donda is now set for release this Friday, Aug. 13, and the first single—which has yet to see an official release, but is available to hear online in a seemingly finished (or as finished as a Kanye song can be nowadays) state—will be “Hurricane,” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby.
The album features 24 tracks, many of which are floating around YouTube in various forms, including “No Child Left Behind,” a snippet of which debuted in a Beats commercial in late July.
Rumor has it Donda will be an Apple Music exclusive—Paste has reached out to the streamer for clarification on that, as well as confirmation of the album’s newly listed release date.
Listen to an unofficial version of “Hurricane” below—we’ll update you once the real deal becomes available.
