Kanye West‘s long-anticipated new album Donda has finally arrived. The 27-track offering is nearly two hours long and features a star-studded tracklist that includes appearances from Jay-Z, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Young Thug, Ty Dolla $ign, Kid Cudi and more.
The album also features vocal contributions from two controversial figures, Marilyn Manson and DaBaby, both of whom appeared at West’s third and final Donda listening party at Soldier Field in Chicago last week. Both artists appear on ‘Jail pt 2’, with Manson providing backing vocals and DaBaby’s verse replacing one delivered by Jay-Z on ‘Jail’ part one, the album’s second track.
According to West, however, Donda was released without his approval and Universal – who own West’s label Def Jam – attempted to block ‘Jail 2’ from being included on the album. The rapper took to Instagram earlier today to vent his frustrations. While ‘Jail 2’ now appears on the album, an early version of Donda reportedly did not feature the track. It’s unclear why Universal allegedly released the album without Ye’s permission, or attempted to block ‘Jail pt 2’ from appearing on the album.
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West’s decision to include both Manson and DaBaby during his Chicago listening party drew criticism. Manson is currently facing multiple lawsuits following sexual assault allegations made against him by several women earlier this year, including former fiancée Evan Rachel Wood, Esmé Bianco, and his former assistant Ashley Walters. The shock rocker has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.
DaBaby, meanwhile, has faced backlash over homophobic remarks he made during an appearance at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami in late July. The rapper was pulled from the lineup of several music festivals he was due to appear at, and made a public apology on Instagram before deleting it a week later.
Donda marks West’s 10th studio album, following on from 2019’s Jesus Is Born. The album was initially scheduled to arrive in July 2020, but experienced multiple delays. Several release dates were announced for July and August of this year, all of which went past without the album arriving, with West holding listening parties at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta along with in his hometown of Chicago last Friday.
Listen to Donda below.
