Kanye West presents his 10th album, but no official release
Steph Deschamps / July 24, 2021
The rapper Kanye West presented Thursday night his tenth album, Donda, during a listening session in a full stadium in Atlanta, but the official release scheduled for Friday did not happen, a move now usual for the artist.
Kanye West, 44, showed up two hours late to this sold-out event, announced a few days earlier, where he performed without a microphone, just walking and dancing on stage, all dressed in red, while his songs were played through the speakers.
In this opus, which is named after his mother, who died in 2007, Kanye West again addresses religious themes and makes several references to his highly publicized separation with Kim Kardashian, who was in the audience Thursday night in Atlanta, as were their children.
Rapper Jay-Z makes an appearance on the album, in a verse where he appears to reference Kanye West's support for Donald Trump. I told him to stop with that red hat, he says notably. Other contributions include those of Travis Scott, Pusha T, Lil Baby and Pop Smoke, who passed away in 2020.
Before the event of Thursday night in Atlanta, excerpts of one of the songs, No child left behind, had already been broadcast Tuesday during the sixth game of the NBA finals, in an advertisement where appeared the sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, deprived of the Olympic Games of Tokyo because of a positive test to marijuana.
But on Friday, the day of the official release of the album, nothing happened and it is a mystery when we will be able to hear the tracks. Kanye West is not new to the game, as Jesus is King, his last album, which was crowned with a Grammy Award in 2019, had been released after the postponement of several planned release dates.
Kanye West, who is one of the most famous rappers in the world, also formed with the American TV star Kim Kardashian one of the most prominent couples on the planet, until their announced divorce this year.
This week, the artist turned businessman has also been busy with the release of Lil Nas X's latest track, Industry Baby, which he produced.