My son… I got a chance to share not only what he has meant to me, but what he has meant to a generation.” The overall effect is of someone rewatching old family movies and the words resonating more years later. On the title-track, Donda West is heard giving a public address and says: “The man I describe in the introduction as being so decidedly different. Ye samples several voice recordings of his mother throughout the album. Named after West’s late mother, who passed away in 2007 following complications from cosmetic surgery, ‘DONDA’ has long been billed as a tribute of sorts – Kanye has been very open over the years that he’s never completely recovered from her passing. There’s even stadium-sized rock in the form of Jay-Z collab ‘Jail’ and blissed-out R&B as he flips a Lauryn Hill classic on the breezy ‘Believe What I Say’. West utilises his Sunday Service Choir to great use, with gospel flourishing scattered across the record – most notably beautifully harmonising with The Weeknd on ‘Hurricane’. ‘DONDA’ at times harks back to the harsh intensity of ‘Yeezus’ with the industrial techno of ‘God Breathed’ and the dizzying noise-trap of ‘Off The Grid’.īut there are lighter touches too. Production-wise, too, many of the tracks see Kanye in fine form. Kanye occasionally brims with a newfound urgency on the record, whether it’s his defiant boast of “This Southside, and we outside” on ‘Pure Souls’ or his bumper-length verse on ‘Jesus Lord’. But despite the varying quality on display on ‘DONDA’, Kanye does at times sound energised again – possibly for the first time since 2016’s ‘The Life of Pablo’. So it’s a bit of a shock to get 27 whole tracks from him. READ MORE: Kanye West – ‘DONDA’ review: some gems among lots – and lots – of fillerįor a long time, it’s felt like music has taken a backseat for West, who has seemed more interested in designing domes and venturing into town planning.Here are the biggest talking points from the hugely divisive record. As ever with Kanye, there’s a lot to discuss. A day we almost thought would never come – Kanye West’s ‘DONDA’ out in the world, available for streaming and not just via sporting arenas in major U.S cities.