I talk to god every day, that’s my Bestie | Donda Album Review
Overview
Kanye West’s highly anticipated Christian Rap record named after his late mother (RIP) is finally here. After spending several consecutive, grueling weeks developing an entirely new set of trust issues as a product of repeated album release delays, I almost lost hope. Kanye gave us three iterations of an unfinished yet still perfect album in the form of progressively more unusual live performances while continually pushing back the actual release date, leaving me Stockholms-ing myself into saying “Take your time, king.”
Then one fateful Sunday morning, we all woke up to a broken internet and a newfound faith in god: Donda had finally released… sort of. No album cover whatsoever, no listed features, only a censored version of the album itself, and a somewhat nonsensical track list ordering. Just as during Kanye’s listening events, it was *abundantly* clear that the album remained incomplete. Yet somehow, nearly each of the 27 tracks is equally beautiful and activates a different region of the brain/heart/feet. In an extremely strange and confusing series of events, Kanye still managed to release a near-perfect record, reminding us why the whole world gets down on its knees for him.
Possibly the most refreshing element of the album is, somehow, its heavy religious influence. As an otherwise entirely non-religious person, I found myself with jaw pain from a fairly constant beaming smile, listening to Kanye sing and rap about something he so clearly is deeply passionate about. A secondary aspect here is the lack of cringe with which Kanye managed to execute this. As a connoisseur of cringe, I of course have a deep appreciation for it as a concept before all else, so after Kanye released his expertly cringe Jesus is King album, I was fully under the impression that he was - dare I say - washed. Naturally, then, this only added to the pleasantness of the surprise that came with listening to back-to-back beautiful tracks/bangers off Donda. I truly cannot wait to risk catching COVID on a crowded dance floor while bopping to Jesus music.
Given the length of the album and my love-at-first-listen for it, it would be inappropriate of me to do anything less than provide thoughts on each individual track, making sure to stroke every inch of the album. You (most definitely have not) asked, so I will deliver.
Track-by-track Analysis
The album begins with an eerie Candyman/Bloody Mary-esque chant in which nothing other than the name “Donda” is repeated with varying cadence and intonation. Some say that if you listen to this track three times in a row in front of the mirror, the ghost of Kanye will appear behind you and whisper into your ear, “Slavery was a choice.”
This is immediately followed by “Jail,” in which Kanye delivers an homage to Watch the Throne in a duo with Jay-Z. Kanye shouts random words vaguely related to the American criminal justice system (#ACAB), but is accompanied by a background choir and hypnotic Mike Dean guitar licks, so it’s still epic. Unfortunately, this eventually leads into Jay-Z, who provides arguably one of the worst verses recorded in the history of rap music, and makes for one of the only bad moments on the album. As a narrative, however, this is quite entertaining because Kanye repeatedly asks “Guess who’s goin’ to jail tonight?!” and immediately prompts Jay-Z to start rapping (#DefundJayZ). It pains me greatly to admit that the alternate version of Jail, where Kanye replaces Jay-Z with Dababy, is miles better than the original.
The next track takes the listener back to 2013, with a sound that uncannily mimics that of Yeezus. Kanye raps in a slightly distorted voice over aggressive 808s, a choir, and intermittent, high-pitched feedback, and is complemented by vocals from Vory, who provides his first of several appearances across the album as one of the more dominant features. The most noteworthy aspect of this song is its oddly sexual undertones - one can only wonder what Kanye means when he repeatedly raps about being breathed on and inhaling in god.
One of my personal favorites, Off the Grid, comes in at track #4, in which Kanye begins to masterfully dabble in the sound of drill while bringing together two artists any regular peon like myself would never think to have collaborate: Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign. Carti’s shout at the beginning immediately sets the mood for the most aggressive song on the album and makes me fantasize about committing felonies every time it plays (who’d have thought child negligence could lead to great music?). Picking up after Carti, Fivio Foreign runs this song as one of the standout features on the album, and raps nonstop for two straight minutes. Against all odds, however, the topic of god persists throughout the song, culminating in one of the best lyrics of the year, delivered by Kanye himself, “I talk to god every day, that’s my bestie.”
Kanye once again does DJ Khaled’s job better than DJ Khaled himself by pushing The Weeknd and Lil Baby inside each other on Hurricane. Nothing much to say about the track itself other than that it’s great and Lil Baby is rap’s highest-valued stock right now. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning - in an effort to trigger the libs with a hot take - that The Weeknd most definitely fits the category of washed artists, so it was nice to see that Kanye could elevate his status momentarily via a feature.
Going further on washed artists who hold up surprisingly well because Kanye is Kanye, Travis Scott starts off on Praise God with a fairly fun verse over a classically evil-sounding beat. Baby Keem carries the rest of the song with an even more fun verse, which unfortunately includes a line about “uncle’s spaghetti” that makes me think of Eminem every time I hear it, and that has not been an enjoyable experience since the 2000s.
Vory returns, this time with The Voice i.e. Lil Durk, for another fun track on Jonah. Durk’s millionaire/billionaire discourse here and there is a bit cringeworthy, but his voice can be great and as we all know, lyrics don’t matter in 2021. (This would appear to refute my Jay-Z slander earlier, but I assure you that it does not; Jay-Z deserves to be slandered for his Jail verse, and no I will not explain further.)
Ok Ok is a fairly unnecessary track, one of the only other low points on the album, but it did allow for a better version of itself to be created in Ok Ok Pt 2, with Fivio Foreign ad-libs and… Shenseea??!! Her verse was wildly unexpected and incredibly good. The madman did it again, putting a drill rapper on the same song as a dancehall artist.
JUNYA WATANABE ON MY. Probably the most fun song on the album and potentially the only one with absolutely zero religious or spiritual undertones, Junya provides the perfect face for Carti to paint in the way he does best: by spewing utter nonsense and making it sound heavenly. Plus, the alternate version of Junya gives us a short flashback to Ty Dolla $ign from 2017, the year he ran music. Kanye simply cannot fail to bring out the best in every artist he features, even if those artists go right back to being mediocre or bad afterwards, much like a girlfriend does for a boyfriend who definitely needs therapy.
The close second in terms of fun tracks comes next in Believe What I Say. Kanye seamlessly integrates a Lauryn Hill sample into an upbeat track with fun 808s that can’t not make you smile. This song is about—lol as if I paid attention to the lyrics, it’s the type of song that will have you singing all the lyrics and not caring or paying attention remotely to the meaning behind them.
24 is another of my favorites, and is a return in terms of album progression to the excessively spiritual. Kanye takes this opportunity to throw a church choir and organs onto a singing track to put together a sound that emulates the feeling of what (I’d imagine) it’s like going to Sunday Mass - makes me almost want to become a Jesus guy. No sarcastic comments to make here, Kanye is so goated it’s not even funny. SAVE MEEEE, YEEAAHHHHH
Remote Control is an immediate return to meaningless fun, especially in Young Thug’s feature in the second half of the track. This song is a direct indication that Ye has definitely spent too much time with Elon Musk - rapping about hovercrafts and CEOs. On the bright side, though, there’s an OnlyFans pun as well as… YOUNG THUG, whose feature here was another incredibly unexpected but more than welcome appearance. There’s something truly special about Thug’s ability to say absolutely anything, make it sound amazing, and be hilarious, illustrated better nowhere than in the following consecutive lines (emphasis on *consecutive*):
“I treat you lovely and righteous and kind (Hah)
And we'll be lastin' with another 'til we die (Yeah)
I'd give you kids at the drop of a dime (Dime)
Oh-woah, told the b***h fold my clothes (Fold my clothes)“
The song literally ends in actual gibberish. How can you not love Kanye, man.
Moon is another perfect example of Kanye taking an otherwise mediocre artist (Don Toliver - yeah, I said it) and elevating them. His beautiful vocals put the boi to sleep fr. Unfortunately this is also accompanied by painfully unnecessary Kid Cudi vocals as well. It’s the type of addition that isn’t necessarily bad, but also isn’t good, which in a way makes it worse than if the addition was just bad, since that could at least be comical.
Heaven and Hell is what happens when you get drunk, go to the studio, and start completely rambling. And I have no complaints with this. Plus, the drop is incredible. All in all a positive addition to the album. Even the instrumental sounds like a drunk creation by someone who is insanely talented.
Kanye then reigns in a short and interesting track with Donda. The song starts off with a monologue from his “mother”, some choir vocals, and some vaguely eerie singing. Was really hoping that all the “mother” monologue was created by a deep fake Kanye had someone make of his actual mother, but unfortunately this was not the case. Kanye really had the opportunity to do the most 2021 thing ever, short of turning the color black into an NFT or some BS like that, but he definitely dropped the ball a bit.
Keep My Spirit Alive is another Jesus track that is severely goosebump-inducing. KayCyy’s singing on the chorus throughout the song is beautiful and contrasts surprisingly well with the rest of the more traditional, lyrical-miracle type rappers on this song. The word count on the discussion of this song truly does not do justice to KayCyy’s vocals.
Jesus Lord is Kanye’s non-traditional ballad moment. He recruits 4 other rappers - all being those that oldhead rap fans likely lost their mind over - to go off on a ~10 minute long track. With no chorus whatsoever, this song truly lays out bar after bar after bar over nothing more than some simple drums, light background synths, and an intermittently repeated, high-pitched “Jesus, Lord” chant that is borderline haunting.
New Again is also most definitely a drunk Ye creation. He starts off with an insightful discussion of the intricacies of modern dating as it relates specifically to texting (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 I's / Or "Heyyy" with a bunch of Y's). Kanye then proceeds to spend the rest of the song asking god for mercy and to make him “new again”, presumably because his bit at the beginning was too real.
Not even going to waste my time on Tell the Vision…
Lord I Need You is interesting because Kanye’s rapping on this song is quite mediocre, but the choir singing in the background at various points as well as Kanye’s own singing towards the end of the song are both incredible. The most interesting thing about this song is that Kanye introduces a never-before explored rendition of practicing religion, that being one in which one’s love for god may not necessarily be platonic. He only briefly touches on this with the background vocals, which in a few instances repeat the lyrics “Lord I need you to wrap your arms around me.” Kanye explores this avenue of spirituality further in the track that comes right afterwards.
Roddy Ricch starts Pure Souls off by instantly turning it into a head-nodder. Kanye beautifully weaves in, first, drum claps over Roddy’s verse, followed by finally adding the 808s for the complete hip hop effect. This song perfectly exemplifies one of my favorite things to exist in modern rap music - sing-songy rapping. Both Roddy and Kanye pull this off effortlessly, at times both singing with overlaid vocals, at other times one of them alternating between rapping and singing solo. Kanye picks up Roddy’s verse running, and at an intermediate point revisits the aforementioned concept of romantic, and even sexual, love for god. The following lyrics stand out:
“Devil get behind me, I'm loose, I'm free
Father, Holy Spirit, let loose on me
Father, I'm Yours exclusively”
There are a number of interpretations that can be pulled out of these lyrics, each worthy of an honors thesis itself. But what is most clear here is that Kanye is exploring sexual relationships with both Satan and god (potentially simultaneously), as well as what exclusivity in such relationships would entail. Truly a fascinating idea that certainly is years past anything the modern religious scholar could even begin to opine.
Going even further, Kanye brings the conversation around exclusivity back down to Earth from the heavens towards the end of Pure Souls, as the chorus transitions from Roddy repeating “The truth is only what you get away with, huh?“ into an entire choir-like segment sung by Shenseea in which that lyric is constantly repeated. Kanye seems to suggest here that in earthly relationships, god tells us that “it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.” Once again, masterful use of music to promote social discourse.
Finally, we arrive at Come to Life, a song that could warrant an entirely separate OnlyDans post of its own, and the song that is my easy favorite off the album. Completely breaking character here and doing the one thing I hate most (being geniune), I can do nothing but admit that hearing this song the first time made the boi shed a single tear. Come to Life is a full-on singing Kanye track, backed up by synths, a small amount of electric guitar (bowing down to Mike Dean as I write this), and, most importantly, heavenly piano runs. It’s a rare occurrence for a song - any genre - to not require any kind of drums or bass, and this one most definitely falls into that category. Kanye starts off the song with only a synth playing, and as the song progresses, both his voice and lyrics become increasingly emotional as the various aforementioned musical elements are layered onto each other one-by-one.
Lyrically, Come to Life is very obviously about Kanye’s breakup with Kim, but the song feels applicable to any situation involving dealing with adversity. This is wildly corny but among other lines, “Floating on a silver lining“ is repeated several times throughout the song, and it feels like a perfectly succinct analogy for the concept of the darkest times being just before dawn. Aptly enough, that’s also a line in the song, but that idiom is at this point completely played out and been ran through. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that hearing the way Kanye sings “I’m free” - differently each time, at that - 100% altered my brain chemistry. And finally, of course, the words “maybe they’ll come” hit hardest.
Kanye ends the album with No Child Left Behind, a song that in my opinion is very fitting as a closing track. Kanye once again sings over church organs, this time with Vory, in a very minimalistic fashion. Many lyrics are repeated, and much of the song doesn’t include singing at all - Kanye simply lets the melody repeat through the church organs, signifying the closing of the album. As any musical genius would do, though, he offers us food for thought before leaving. The first words on this song are “No child left behind,” while the last are “He’s done miracles on me.“ Kanye cleverly creates a metaphor, once again, for a sexual relationship with god, who miracles on him, while suggesting that this relationship *must* exist because not one of god’s children can be left behind.
Baptism (Conclusion)
By the time I reached the end of the album, I felt as though I had been baptized. But as a non-religious person, of course, this terminology did not sit right with me, as it not only is plagued by a religious connotation, but it also is specific to only one religion. I spent several hours pondering on ways to convey this feeling of having had my version of “god” miracle on me. Then it dawned on me - I had been spiritually circumcised. So with this album review, I hope that you’ll allow me to spiritually circumcise you as well.
