After months of social media feuds and wildly publicized statements, rapper Kanye West has released a new album called Donda 2, to a strongly negative reaction from fans. The album was released quite unconventionally – through a $200 musical device, as well as a livestreamed event held at Miami’s LoanDepot Park:
The album was unveiled on 23rd February, and like Kanye’s recent endeavors, seemed to be a mixed affair. The visual unveiling was a massive affair, complete with a reconstructed mockup of Ye’s childhood home, surrounded by a spectacle of black-clad dancers, fire, water, and motorcycles. The songs themselves were a mix of influences – both from modern rappers like Travis Scott and Baby Keem (who were featured on songs), as well as older sounds from Soulja Boy and West’s own mid-2010s ‘Bon Iver’ era.
THE REMAINING OF DONDA 2 HAS BEEN ADDED ‼️😳 pic.twitter.com/5imCBJ2QCU
— RapTV (@raptvcom) February 25, 2022
While the first release put out a tiny handful of songs, the album has now been updated with a full tracklist, pictured above.
Fan Reactions
While Kanye’s most loyal fanbase has stuck with him through years of controversy, even diehard supporters found the launch to be a confusing, ‘unfinished’ project. Music reviewer Jon Denton even compared the experience to Cyberpunk 2077 – a much-hyped video game release that drew millions of excited supporters, only to let them down on release.
DONDA 2 is the Cyberpunk 2077 of albums
Broken, false-advertising and unfinished. But still so much potential.
— Jon FM (@JonDenton) February 24, 2022
Others echoed the sentiment – many felt that the album’s tiny 6-month production process was far too rushed:
Kanye might have broken his 10 album steak. Donda 2 kinda fucking sucks. Lyrically he’s doing absolutely nothing on every song and the production is mostly boring. Wish he stayed working on this album for longer
— Alex (@NoMorePartiesI2) February 25, 2022
Others picked apart the atrocious sound quality of the livestream event. At some point, even Kanye himself seemed frustrated – tossing his microphone into ankle-deep water.
Kanye west throwing his mic in frustration during his Donda 2 performance LMFOAOAOAO pic.twitter.com/hUU5mEv6XV
— Joel Tav (@JkMaNzZ) February 23, 2022
Ofcourse, this led to no shortage of Pete Davidson memes:
Kanye unmasking the Sound Engineer at the Donda 2 event 🤣#DONDA2 pic.twitter.com/AxsVtkEXVM
— Kawhi Burner (@FunGuyBurner) February 23, 2022
Meanwhile, fans reacted with a mixture of laughter and disgust at some of the lines Kanye included in this album. Most of all was Kanye’s reference to Morgan Freeman – the 84-year-old acting veteran was mentioned in a track. His strange choice of lyrics, however, ensured that by Friday, the actor was trending on Twitter – for a rather unfortunate reason:
I refuse to believe that “When you laid down and I gave you this semen / I swear I heard God, the voice of Morgan Freeman” is a real Donda 2 line
— Николай (@valentinov222) February 23, 2022
Along with including Morgan Freeman, God, and semen in one line, Kanye also took some awkward digs at his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. Right before a track named Sci-Fi was performed at the live event, Kanye played a certain monologue of Kim’s, from her 2021 appearance on Saturday Night Live.
“I married the best rapper of all time. Not only that, he’s the richest Black man in America, a talented, legit genius, who gave me four incredible kids,” was the quote Kanye chose to play.
What he chose to omit, however, was the line that she followed up with.
“So when I divorced him, you have to know it came down to just one thing: his personality.”
Narcissistic much?
With a rushed production schedule, flawed live event, chaotic tracklist, cringey lyrics, and much more, it’s time to bring back the Old Kanye – now more than ever.
(Featured Image Credits: Dill35mm/Twitter)