After promising a release date of July 24th, Kanye West finally released his album “Donda” on August 29, 2021. This 27-song album dedicated to his mother, Dr. Donda C. West, comes in at a run time of 1 hour and 48 minutes. While many Kanye fans chose to look at the “deeper meaning” of the album regardless of if they enjoyed the songs or not, many fans were disappointed with the album, saying it is “overstuffed” and has questionable lyrics. When asked about their opinions on Donda, current Brownell Talbot students and alumni had a lot to say. 

At first glance, this album seems overwhelming to many listeners. While new Kanye fans might be intimidated by this long album, long time fans know that lengthy albums are nothing new to Kanye’s discography. When asked about the length of Donda, alumni Ismael Ali ‘21 said, “I don’t think the length takes away from Donda at all, it’s a pretty cohesive album in my opinion with fantastic production and transitions. There wasn’t really a point I was bored at all.” Ali has been a Kanye fan for years, meaning he knows Kanye’s works inside and out. 

One reason why Kanye’s album is so long is due to the amount of features present in the album. Big name artists such as DaBaby, Chris Brown, and Kid Cudi are all featured in Donda. In fact, only 4 songs in the album do not contain a feature. Nathan Brown, a BT Junior, enjoys the features in the album: “All the features played their roles perfectly in Donda and showcase how great of a producer Kanye really is.” While Ali and Brown are dedicated Kanye fans, they did have a few concerns with the album. Some songs in the album are quite different from what Kanye has produced in the past, with the most prime example being the song Donda Chant. This 52 second long song relives Kanye’s mom’s last heartbeats on this earth. Although this song is not something most Kanye fans would listen to due to its mellow and word-lacking nature, the deeper meaning allows the song to be much more appreciated by listeners: “At one point or another I’ve had most of these songs stuck in my head and the message behind the album makes it and its overall execution even better” (Ali, ‘21). 

Overall, Nathan Brown and Ismael Ali rated the album Donda 7.5/10 and 9/10—both very high ratings. The mixing of the beats, wittiness of the words and raps, and meaning behind the album all contributed to the high ratings given to Donda. In addition, Kanye West has vowed to stop cursing in his music since 2019, making him a friendlier audience to younger individuals and fans who do not want to listen to explicit content. This religious decision has widened Kanye’s fanbase on a large scale, resulting in his music being even more well-known. To date, Donda has almost 400 million streams and Kanye West has over 55,900,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, establishing him as one of the most well known artists of the 21st century.