The new Kanye album is much better than you’re giving it credit for.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: This essay was written and published over a year before Kanye’s repeated and malicious verbal attacks on many individuals, but most notably on the Jewish community. Antisemitism is deplorable. Full stop. Kanye’s hostile and prejudiced words towards Jewish people can neither be explained nor defended. Kanye’s behavior is unacceptable and he does not get a “pass” because he’s made a few good songs. Learn more about the fight against antisemitism at ADL.org → https://www.adl.org/what-we-do/fight-antisemitism

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Many music fans decided to ignore all Kanye West updates due to his various (ongoing?) controversies. Honestly, with the ill-conceived presidential run, poor understanding of the history of slavery, and questionable acquaintances, you’d be forgiven if you reserved your attention for other things. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you a simple truth: Kanye’s latest album Donda is very good, and you should check it out.

It’s neither groundbreaking like 808s & Heartbreak nor a masterpiece like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but it is laced with complex production, thoughtful (and, sometimes, funny) lyrics, and a bevy of high-profile guests like The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Chris Brown, and JAY-Z (apparently, they’re cool again, thank goodness).

Hip-hop fans have been critical of the album because, one, it’s not really a hip-hop album and, two, it’s too damn long.

On the first point, they’re correct. It’s not a hip-hop album. No, it’s not a gospel album. It’s still not structured enough to be considered pop, and Kanye has never sang well enough to be solidly in R&B mode like Drake. It blurs the lines in entertaining ways. It’s both melodic and drum driven. Pure rap records appear right before songs that could be considered gospel chants. Sonically, it’s most similar to the moody parts of Yeezus (which lots of Kanye fans hated) but with the lyrical themes found in The Life of Pablo and Jesus is King.

We know Kanye isn’t going to rap a full album anymore. I’m not saying he can’t. I’m just saying he won’t. That space is reserved for Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J. Cole, Meg Thee Stallion, Pusha T, Griselda Records, etc. But, Kanye is still the best at making art that feels both novel and familiar, smart and cool, tailored to a generation that grew up on late 90s/early 2000s hip-hop. Kanye is the best at creating a vibe.

On the second point, I’d disagree, with a caveat. Donda’s total run time is 1 hour 48 minutes and 29 seconds. To compare, Donda is nearly as long as Star Wars: A New Hope. There are 27 tracks. This is a lot, but 8 of the songs are shorter than 3 minutes and can hardly be called “songs.” They’re really interludes or chants, and Kanye’s fans are used to this. Remember the skits in College Dropout and Late Registration? What about the interludes on Watch the Throne? A better criticism is that, while all the interludes do contribute to the album’s theme, not all of the interludes are good (more on the number of tracks later).

A quick word about the album rollout.

Fans were miffed that Kanye’s team announced the Donda album and then held a listening party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta . . . and another listening party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium . . . and a final listening party at Soldier Field in Chicago a few weeks later. The album still didn’t drop until two days after the listening party. Well, our memories shouldn’t be so short. This is kinda Kanye’s thing:

• College Dropout was reportedly postponed because of bootleggers.
• Late Registration was released a month and a half after the announced release date.
• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was distributed two months late.
• He held multiple listening parties for The Life of Pablo and it came out (only on Tidal) 3 days late.
• Jesus is King came out over a year after Kanye initially promised it.

No, I don’t necessarily miss the “old” Kanye.

The thing that impressed me most about the Donda is that Kanye takes a decided turn away from “luxury rap.” This album is not centered on how great it is to be rich. He does do that occasionally (for example, on New Again, Kanye asked, “Should I have really bought the Burberry last Thursday?”), but Donda is mostly about what it means to grow up, be in love, be difficult to be around, get divorced, deal with your demons, long for family, and be hopeful about the future. As proof of this growth (and, possibly, his religious exploration), Kanye only released the censored version of this album. All offensive words are blurred. No curses, no slurs, etc. Maybe the explicit version will surface later, but for now, this is what we have, and I like it.

Kanye’s musical legacy.

When he stops making music (which I hope is not for a very, very long time), Kanye’s legacy as a producer will be that he always helps relatively new or underground artists sound like they could be a headliner at Madison Square Garden. Likewise, he helps the vets sound like the best versions of themselves (think Rick Ross on Devil in a New Dress).

Kanye does that here with Fivio Foreign. As a casual music fan, you’re forgiven if you have never heard of him. His biggest song as a lead artist is 2019’s Big Drip with Quavo and Lil Baby. On Donda, Fivio rips Off The Grid and puts himself in contention for best rap verse on the entire album. Fivio sounds really good. So good that it makes you want to hear more of his music. Good for him, then, that Kanye is allegedly producing the next Fivio Foreign album.

Of course, the vets show out on Donda. JAY-Z’s surprise appearance on Jail reunites hip-hop’s favorite duo. Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine sound really good with Kanye at the helm. Jay Electronica and The LOX show up and prove that the real rappers still want to rap over Kanye’s beats.

It’s a Kanye album, so there are lots of quotables:

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Ok Ok is a fast track, driven by heavy bass and Kanye in his signature melodic rapping mode (think Ultralight Beam or Hell of a Life). The chorus ends with a line I can’t get out of my head: “See me in person…I look like a ghost.”
• On Lord I Need You: “How you gon’ try to say sometimes it’s not about me? Man, I don’t know what I would do without me.”
• On Believe What I Say: “Don’t involve yourself in things you don’t have to know. I ain’t never question what you was askin’ for. I gave you every single thing you was askin’ for. I don’t understand how anybody could ask for more.”
• On New Again Kanye is at his best: “If I hit you with a “W-Y-D?” You better not hit me with a “H-E-Y” / It better be like “Hiii” with a bunch of Is or “Heyyy” with a bunch of Ys.”

If you like when Kanye is sampling, you’ll like this album.

One of his trademarks is flipping songs we know to make something fresh and fun. Almost all producers sample, so I don’t mean just sampling. I mean how he flipped Ray Charles’ I’ve Got A Woman to give us Gold Digger or how he twisted Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger to create Stronger, the top song on everybody’s workout playlist for at least a decade. On Donda, he channels a classic Lauryn Hill tune (Doo Wop aka That Thing) to make Believe What I Say. Stop what you’re doing and go listen to it right now. It’s awesome. The only regret here is that Lauryn Hill is obviously doing music again (Nas just had Lauryn on his latest album, produced by Hit-Boy), so Kanye should’ve requested her appearance and not just the sample clearance.

Too many songs and the sequencing wasn’t great…

27 songs: that’s way too many for one album. But only four of these are true “skips” for me. There are lots of tracks, but for eight tracks, Kanye uses “part 1” and “part 2” nomenclature. Instead of creating multiple seven-minute songs, he split the songs in two: same instrumental, different featured artist. For example, Jail part 1 is Kanye and JAY-Z, but Jail part 2 is Kanye and Da Baby. This tactic plus Kanye singing more than normal resulted in what felt like 3 separate albums. If I had a say in the sequencing for this album, I would’ve taken the 27 tracks down to 18 tracks (15 if possible…) and rearranged nearly everything. Here’s how, with a few notes:

1. Donda Chant (Intro)

2. Jail. Adding Da Baby’s verse after JAY-Z’s. If they need one, this could be the second single.

3. Pure Souls. Moving it from track 21 up to track 3.

4. Off The Grid. Hey, when is ESPN going to license the rights to this for football games? Absolute banger!

5. Hurricane

6. Praise God. If they need one, this could be the first single.

7. Ok Ok. Adding Shenseea to this track rather than relegating her to “part 2.” Nearly a perfect song.

8. Believe What I Say. Moving it from 10 to 8.

9. Jesus Lord. Cutting out the first 30 seconds of white noise, trimming Kanye’s verse and adding the LOX after Jay Electronica. I’d also encourage Kanye to redo his verse. Much of it is unnecessary and doesn’t rhyme. It takes up valuable space that the other artists could use.

10. God Breathed. Putting this track here rather than at spot 3 gives Kanye two songs with actual rapping right before a stretch of melodic pieces.

11. Donda. This interlude should still sit towards the middle and this is a good spot (rather than 15). It should be combined with Keep My Spirit Alive.

12. Lord I Need You. At 12 rather than 20. Btw, this song is much too short. It’s genuinely beautiful.

13. Come to Life. This is almost too long, but it’s good and kinda haunting so it should stay: “Gotta make my mark before I’m gone…I don’t wanna die alone.”

14. Moon. Stays at 13 but is now before Remote Control. Could also stand to be a little tighter (maybe 45 seconds shorter).

15. Remote Control. Pushed from 12

16. Jonah. Should appear later in the album than at its current spot (7). This already features Lil Durk, a rapper from Chicago, so Kanye should’ve added Chance the Rapper, obviously!

17. 24. Pushed from spot 11. This song sounds like Come to Life and I might consider cutting it and using it only in live performances.

18. New Again. Here, he’s literally asking God to refresh us every day. The choir repeats “make me new again…” as the song ends. It feels like a prayer, so it should be last track.

These would’ve been on the cutting room floor:

• Tell the Vision. A full, excellent version of this song appeared on the recent Pop Smoke album with Pusha T. The version used on Donda is not as good. Frankly, it’s rather weird. On Donda, we get no Pusha T verse (a mistake) and no Kanye verse (another mistake). I wish I would’ve never heard it on Donda because I really enjoyed it on Pop Smoke’s album.
• No Child Left Behind. This is a pretty good interlude but it overloads the album. I would’ve put it on a deluxe edition or used it at shows only. The refrain “He’s done miracles on me” is powerful, but could rest elsewhere, like Lord I Need You.
• Heaven and Hell. It’s just not a good song, and that’s putting it nicely. The rhymes are basic, the flow is weird, and the beat doesn’t compensate for that.
• Junya. The beat is so good but it doesn’t fit thematically. Junya is essentially Ye’s ode to luxury fashion designer Junya Watanabe. Kanye should’ve made this song, put it in a box, mailed it to Junya, and never let us hear it.

The Verdict: Lots of people are saying Donda is a bad album and that’s just not true. It’s a good album and about half of the tracks will be replayed regularly. With a few tweaks, it could’ve been great.