Everything
He came, he saw, he Donda. Kanye West’s much anticipated album Donda has finally dropped and by dropped we mean leaked by his music label without his permission. Allegedly.
Look, it wouldn’t be Kanye if there wasn’t some controversy or beef to be had. But the saga leading up to, and now release, of Donda has well and truly set a new standard of how a backstory can sometimes overshadow the art.
When we last reported on old mate and his new tunes, Donda was slated to arrive August 6. Some listening parties, an announcement of controversial (actually, stupid) collaborations on the album and a weird as hell wedding reenactment featuring his former wife Kim Kardashian West later and Kanye’s album is now here. But it turns out that Kanye himself was still not convinced the album was ready.
In a post to Instagram almost immediately after it was released, Kanye declared that not only had Universal released Donda against his approval but they had also blocked Jail Part 2 from appearing on the album. According to NME, the track was visible but unavailable to play. However, this has now been changed and Jail Part 2 is ready to hear if you’re keen on listening to some of the most problematic men in music right now collaborating.
For context, Jail 2 was also the track that for whatever reason Kanye thought it would be a good idea to feature both with DaBaby and Marilyn Manson. If you’re not up to date with your celebrity cancellations – DaBaby recently went on a homophobic mid set at the Rolling Loud Music Festival at Miami. This resulted in a tidal wave of gig cancellation and brands disendorsing the rapper. And so they should. As for Manson, the controversial rock musician is the subject of multiple accusations of sexual abuse and violence against women from previous acquaintances and exes, including actress Rachel Evan Wood.
As to why Kanye would choose to collaborate with these two, there’s no denying his predilection for bad choices. Trump, anyone?
There’s no denying that Kanye is brilliant at two things – music and melodrama. The man knows how to make bangers and if you think he doesn’t, you’re letting your prejudice against him personally get in the way of your experience. But the melodrama part, we can probably do without. Otherwise he’s on track to becoming the Jared Leto of music.
