Kanye West is releasing a new album 'DONDA', here's what we know

Yeezy Season is here! At least we’re led to believe. Social media has been buzzing lately with reports of the release of an oft-delayed Kanye West album titled DONDA, after his late mother, from many people, just not Kanye himself. The artist known to go Bobby Boucher on social media when working on music hasn’t said a single thing on the internet since his November 2020 presidential bid. In fact, we haven’t seen Kanye do much, there’s a man wearing a mask that’s allegedly Kanye West, but we’re not sure it’s him. What he has seen is a lot of hype from those close to him. What do we know?

This is an ensemble effort

Kanye’s last two albums have been light on features. DONDA’s list includes Post Malone, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Pusha T, Lil Baby, Future, Griselda, Baby Keem, Don Toliver, Ty Dolla Sign, and Tyler the Creator. Pusha T, Future, Travis, and Dolla Sign have established a good working relationship with Kanye over the past decade making multiple great songs together. Baby Keem and Don Toliver on the album show that Kanye is continuing his history of giving contemporary artists the opportunity to deliver on a big platform.

The album is partially secular

2019’s Jesus is King had Kanye making his first Gospel album. Since then, it’s been speculated that he won’t be releasing any secular music in the future. Well, it looks like those only lasted for a single album. The album has been described by listeners as “mildly explicit”. What does this mean? I have no idea. Being that it’s titled after his mother, it’s safe to say the references to the Christian faith they shared will be on the album.

The production is incredible

If one thing is certain about a Kanye West album, it’s that the production will be great. Even on the divisive Jesus is King and Ye albums, Kanye has been putting out music with genre-pushing sounds that have impressed listeners. Kevin Durant described DONDA as “Light years ahead” of other productions. While Kanye’s recent work can be described as inconsistent, we can at least trust that his production won’t be.

We don’t even know if it’s real

There have been listening parties, early reviews, snippets, and pictures of Kanye in a mask, but there hasn’t been a release date. I mean what would a Kanye West album be without some drama. Since College Dropout's release, almost every album has had some sort of turmoil. DONDA has been relatively drama-free, thus creating drama. Kanye hasn’t said anything which is equally concerning and promising. Will he just let the music speak for itself? I think we all can’t wait to find out.