Kanye West is hardly known for being level headed. Through the years has been subject to scandalous headlines and faced major scrutiny from the press, but something that has he has consistently done that has enraged both the music and media industry is not sticking to his word when it comes to releasing his music.
13 months after the initial release date of July 2020, West finally released his much-anticipated album Donda. The album is a tribute to his late mother, and the medias opinions on the album build up were anything but positive.
Back in 2020, Kanye utilized his twitter to communicate with his fans about his upcoming Donda album. He tweeted on July 18: “New album DONDA coming JULY 24 #2020VISION.” This tweet was followed by a picture of some sort of track list.
As the months continued, so did his tweets. He then tweeted out the album art and other so called track lists. But July 24th came and went and there was no album released. In fact, Kanye went silent.
Kanye did have a lot of other things on his plate. Around the same time, he announced his 2020 United States presidential election campaign. He was also struggling with his marriage to Kim Kardashian, fighting with his label and managing bipolar disorder. However, he never publicly apologized for the delay.
Flash forward a full year to July 16, Donda finally seems to be making strides.
Pusha T, an American rapper, went to his Instagram to announce the first Donda listening party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on July 22. It was later announced that he would release the full album the next day.
In a way, the first listening party was a success. 42,000 fans showed up to watch West gallivant around on the stage to his music centered around his late mother, racial injustice, and other notable topics. Apple Music also live streamed the event so people all over the world could watch.
According to Billboard Apple Music the livestream event pulled in in 5.4 million viewers, breaking a livestream record for the tech company.
However, the next day came, but the album didn’t.
Fans were outraged. Just like a year prior, West never publicly apologized for the delay. As fans took to twitter to ask for the album, West was setting up camp In the Atlanta stadium. A live stream camera followed his every move from waking up to going to sleep to prove to his fans that he was still perfecting the album.
In the weeks to follow another listening party was announced for August 5 and the release date was moved to August 15. After his second sold out show in Atlanta, West once again went silent. When he broke the silence, he announced his third listening party in Chicago, his hometown, and the due date of Donda. The album would officially be released the day after the Chicago listening party no matter it’s completion status according to his record label.
Days before the Aug 26 concert, photos were released of the stage, and it seemed that West’s childhood home was being rebuilt on the Chicago bears football field.
The day had finally come for West to debut his yearlong project.
West began his performance by playing a 52 second song repeating the word Donda, while three of his children danced in front of his rebuilt childhood home. It was later confirmed that the chant represents His mother’s last heart beasts as she passed away.
As the concert continued so did some strange events. His newly divorced wife appeared in a black wedding gown and walked around the field confusing all of his fans both in person and at home. He also had his face covered like his past two listening parties making. The listening party as a while portrayed a demonic and strange ambiance.
But to the fans surprise…Donda finally arrived the next day.
