We Got To Hear The Latest Version Of Kanye West's Much Anticipated "Donda" Album Tonight And It Was Much Better Than The First Go Round
Hip Hop DX - Kanye West’s second Donda listening party was hosted at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Thursday night (August 5), hours before the album was expected to arrive. Par for the course, the event didn’t begin on time but once it did, those in attendance militantly put their white lights up.
Dressed in a black Balenciaga spiked jacket, full-face mask and black pants, Kanye took centerstage in the blacked-out arena next to a single twin bed with a white sheet, set of weights and two pairs of shoes as dozens of people shrouded in black walked circles around him.
At one point, Ye started doing push-ups as the 24-track album played before stripping his jacket off to expose his “DONDA” vest.
Not since Don King have these eyes seen a natural-born promoter like Kanye Omari West.
Two weeks back he threw his first "listening party" which in reality ended up being more of a giant focus group than anything. He played a dozen and a half tracks that were "half baked" or nearly complete, as well as songs he was on the fence about.
(sidebar - This is morbid as fuck, but I can't even begin to comprehend the vault of unreleased music this guy has to have. For somebody that's a big a perfectionist as he is, and as OCD, he's probably sitting on a catalog that we won't hear in his lifetime that's similar to Prince)
Fast forward to post show, and as we're all more than well aware of now, he announced the album was in fact not complete and that he'd be living inside Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta until it was.
I had it on good authority that the target date was August 6th, but the know-it-all's in the comment section clearly know better.
The album is due to drop any minute now, and it's available for pre-order on apple music.
The version he played on tonight's live stream was MUCH better than the one a couple of weeks ago. For one, we got a slew of notable featured guests. We're talking Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, The Weeknd, Roddy Ricch, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti, Lil Yachty, Fivio Foreign, Don Toliver, Young Thug, Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, Jay Electronica and The LOX (fresh off their Verzuz this week), just to name some.
Young Thug and Kid Cudi made their appearance on a previously shared song that fans have been referring to as “Remote.” We also heard a few new songs, including one with Lil Yachty and Lil Durk. "Track 20" was a new one featuring the Weeknd. "Track 15", another new one, featured Jay Electronica and the Lox.
The show of course wouldn't have been complete without full theatrics, which included Kanye levitating (which Coley covered)
He also rocked a very gimp-ish looking outfit straight out of 8mm that I want to pretend never happened.
And what would a second listening part be without a full merch line unveiled immediately after it ended? (What a fucking marketer)
Full review coming after it drops (again, any minute now) and we get a few chances to run through it.
p.s. - this made me laugh