After five weeks, four official public hearing sessions and millions of words of speculation from the media, Kanye West released his "Donda" album to streaming services on Sunday morning. It's unclear when exactly the album was posted, but a press release from West's label Def Jam arrived at around 8:15 p.m. ET. The album's arrival time thematically coincides with recent years' performances of Church of the West such as "Sunday Service".
The album, which is about two hours long in its unreleased version, changed dramatically during the listening events – one in Las Vegas, two in Atlanta on July 23 and August 6, and the last Thursday in Chicago – very different. More song selections and featured singers with ongoing orders. Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Pusha T, Late Pop Smoke, Baby Kim, Jay Electronica, Kid Cudi, The Lox, and many others appeared in its various incarnations. However, during the third and most recent event, Jay-Z's fiery verses on "Prison" were replaced by new verses by Dabby - fueling online outrage - and several other popular verses were dropped. However, the version released restores Jay-Z's appearance and those previously removed by the other popular ones, Kid Cudi and Lox.
The Weeknd's verse also appears; Many cuts are often credited to West collaborator Mike Dean; And veteran producers Swizz Beetz and Gesfelstein also receive credit on the eight-minute "Jesus Lord," one of the most memorable songs from the listening sessions. 88-Keys, BoogzdaBeast and Jeff Bhasker receive production credits on other songs.
However, "Prison" also has a credit to Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson, who made a controversial appearance during Thursday's incident. Between DaBaby, who effectively declared himself a homophobe with his public comments, and sex offender Manson, West was accused, among other things, of trolling the public after Thursday's incident. was widely accused.
Curiously, at the time of the album's release, "Prison Pt. 2" which apparently credits DaBaby by his real name, Jonathan Kirk, appeared on the Spotify track list, but was blacked out and not played. which usually happens when the song is not legally approved to be played by the streaming service. Copyright conflict or some similar complication. However, the song became playable by 10 p.m. PT.
The album's release also sparked a "release-date battle" with Drake that some had speculated, the recent social-media feud between the two and the Canadian rapper's long-awaited "certified" Looking forward to the apparently imminent release of Boyfriend Boy". Albums—Given the widespread "Donda" previews and their audience-polarizing behavior in recent years, West will almost certainly have lost out.
It's also possible that this officially released version of the album may not necessarily be the final one: West remixed and remixed elements of his 2016 "Life of Pablo" album until weeks after it was posted on streaming services. -Continued to record.