“Donda”, is the most recent album by the American rapper Kanye West. This is his tenth studio album and was released Aug 29, 2021 after being delayed for a while. While the pandemic kept us all inside, Kanye worked on “Donda”. Named after his mom, Donda West, Kanye collaborated with many different artists in rap and pop. With all of this, “Donda” was made.

“Donda” starts off with a weird intro into the album with “Donda Chant”. It is 51 seconds of Syleena Johnson repeating the word “Donda” over and over again. The first real track is “Jail” It starts with a distorted guitar while Kanye gives us vocals in the background for the majority of the song. Jay Z then comes in and gives us a lot of metaphors in his lyrics. After Jay Z is done the song lasts a little longer and then goes out with bass boosted percussion.

A couple of popular songs from the album are “Praise God”, “Hurricane”, “Moon”, and “Off the grid”. “Praise God” Begins the track with an excerpt of a speech from Donda West. It then transforms into a mixture of choir snippets and underground beats. Both Baby Keem and Kanye West both have powerful lyrics in the song. “Hurricane” Starts slow and kinda dark with lyrics from “The Weekend”. As he goes on the beat comes in and the track starts to pick up in speed and instruments. The tone shift from “The Weekend” transitioning into “Lil Babys” part is smooth and natural. Trap beats keep “Lil Babys” lyrics going strong. After he is done “The weekend” introduces Kanye’s part. Kanye steals the show and drops good lyrics that hit perfectly with the beat. Finally the track ends with a strong performance from “The Weekend”.

“Moon” begins with a soft voiced “Kid Cudi” bringing a stunning performance. Kanye leaves his mark on the song with lyrics about modern culture. Lastly “Off The Grid”. I believe this is one of the hardest hitting songs on the album. It starts with a total tone shift and is followed by Kanye leaving good lyrics while “Playboy Carti” leaves some background noise. The production in this track is the best in the album. While leaving some of the most memorable lyrics like “God is my bestie”

Overall, Donda was a great album but had some downfalls from a couple of its tracks. “God Breathed” had so much going for it. The bass line with the insane beats made it so memorable. Sadly, halfway through the song it becomes an instrumental piece with no lyrics for 2 minutes. Other than that some songs on the album don’t leave a mark like Kanye’s other albums do. 

“Donda” is going to be one of my favorite albums of the year, but it’s not in the top from its couple of flaws. I give it a solid 8/10. It has its couple of pick tracks, but it is still missing some components to make it better.