After numerous teasers and delivering a headline-grabbing live performance, creative visionary and multi-Grammy award-winning recording artist Kanye West has officially released his latest studio album, Donda.
Consisting of 27 tracks, the album was released this past Sunday with features from Jay-Z, Fivio Foreign, Baby Keem, The Weeknd, and many more. While artwork for the LP originally took inspiration from the French-American artist Louise Bourgeois—a dedication for his mother who passed away in 2007—it is now simply black. Since the original announcement on July 22nd, the album has undergone numerous, including the final track listing.
Donda was originally scheduled to release back in July 2020 but was delayed and showed no signs of a major resurgence until just recently. After collaborator and G.O.O.D. Music President, Pusha T, declared an official public listening event at the Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium through an Instagram post, the Internet was buzzing with discussions on when the album would actually hit DSPs… if at all. A subsequent Apple Music listening event fueled the idea that Kayne would limit the album’s availability to special performances, but ultimately those concerns were unfounded. And fans had a right to be concerned. The rollout was continuously teased by Kanye through a series of ongoing Instagram posts leading up to the release, but the delays kept coming. But it’s here, and it’s breaking records. Donda is currently Apple Music’s top album in 130 countries, which is the most #1 entries. in Apple Music history. Over on Spotify, the Jay-Z and Francis and the Lights-assisted “Jail” debuted at #1 on the U.S. Spotify chart with 4.277 million streams. That’s the biggest debut a song has made in 2021.
Ye tapped an all-star cast of producers for the project, including Canadians Boi-1da and DRTWRK. The guest features weren’t indicated on the official DSP upload for whatever reason, but here’s a full list of the other artists on Donda, in order of appearance. It includes Syleena Johnson, Francis & The Lights, Jay-Z, Vory, Playboy Carti, Fivio Foreign, Lil Baby, The Weeknd, Baby Keem, Travis Scott, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Young Thug, Don Toliver, Kid Cudi, Stalone, Tony Williams, Conway The Machine, KayCyy, Westside Gunn, Chris Brown, Pop Smoke, Roddy Ricch, Shenseea, Sunday Service, DaBaby, Ty Dolla $ign, The LOX, Jay Electronica, and Swizz Beatz.
Donda marks Kanye West’s full-length return since his 2019 gospel influenced album Jesus Is King and his Sunday Service Choir series. You can check out Donda on Apple Music, Spotify and other digital streaming platforms via Getting Out Our Dreams II, LLC (Distributed By Def Jam).
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