Fans and celebrities alike came out in droves for Kanye West’s Donda album listening party that was held yesterday at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium. Despite being notoriously vocal at previous listening parties, i.e., the premiere of 2016’s The Life of Pablo at Madison Square Garden, Kanye chose to let Donda—which is named after his late mother—speak for him as he silently paced, and sometimes danced, across a white floor mystified with fog.
Kanye’s mother can be heard speaking and praising her son throughout the album. And although this body of work is predominately hip-hop, it’s juxtaposed with religious themes both lyrically and sonically—following the template from his 2019 Grammy-award winning Best Contemporary Christian Music Album, “Jesus is King.”
I’m honestly fine with Kanye keeping religious themes. It works so well on the DONDA snippets we heard
— noah/levi 253 (@sheilacandoit) July 23, 2021
The entire album isn’t church-themed though, as he previewed songs featuring Lil Baby, Pusha T, and the most shocking collaboration of the night, his Watch The Throne counterpart, Jay-Z. Jay, who reportedly did his verse at 4 pm on the day of the listening party, referenced Kanye’s controversial support of former President Donald Trump.
“Hold up, Donda, I’m with your baby when I touch back road/told him stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home.”
“Hova and Yeezus, like Moses and Jesus.” #DONDA pic.twitter.com/CJDxfb0vn7
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) July 23, 2021
The listening party was a family affair with his estranged and soon-to-be ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, in attendance alongside their four kids, North, Saint, Psalm, and Chicago. Khloe Kardashian was also there to show her “brother for life” some love. In addition to the Kardashian Klan, a crew of celebrities attended such as Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Lil Baby, and more.
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Kanye’s 10th studio album Donda was scheduled to be released by G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings today. However, the album was not released at midnight which is the norm for new music drops.
Will you be listening to Donda when it drops?
@endphp
