Kanye West Finally Releases Long-Awaited New Album ‘DONDA’

Guest artists featured include Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande and Marilyn Manson.

Maxim Staff

Aug 29, 2021

Kanye West had to compete with an apocalyptic Category 4 Hurricane Ida‘s landfall on the Louisiana coast to do it, but he still managed to top social media trends Sunday with the release of his studio album, Donda.

https://t.co/HmcvPU63Sj

— Donda (@DONDA) August 29, 2021

The hip hop mogul has been teasing the release for over a year. The real hype began in the summer of 2021. Donda (the title was his late mother’s first name) was first set to be released on July 23rd. Then on August 6th and later the 15th. It looked like it might drop on August 27 after West held a listening party at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

Now that it’s out, it might be easy to see why it took so long because Donda is a big album. It’s nearly two hours long and features 26 tracks in addition to a host of guest artists. A short sampling of the celebs joining West is an A-list who’s who:

Ariana Grande
Pusha T
Lil Baby
The Weeknd
Travis Scott
Lil Yachty
Playboi Carti
Kid Cudi
Young Thug
Chris Brown
Jadakiss
Pop Smoke
DaBaby
Marilyn Manson
Jay-Z

Social media response has been pretty positive:

Just finished listening to Donda. LONG album but no song is wasted w/ extensive features from every corner of hip hop from last 25 years. Very emotional experience.

Like a death & rebirth.

If you love Kanye, you will love this album.

If you’ve cancelled him you won’t listen https://t.co/BSYOeptNsV

— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) August 29, 2021

Kanye really blessed us with almost two hours of art today. #donda 🙌🏾

— James Starks II (@_JamesStarks) August 29, 2021

Listening to this Donda like… pic.twitter.com/8u9mZgmuhY

— Coach Yo (@YolettMcCuin) August 29, 2021

https://twitter.com/LethalShooter__/status/1431983313892384769

Donda is 🔥🔥🔥

— Adonis Jennings (@ADED_2) August 29, 2021

After taking so much flack for both the post-med mania and pivot to faith, DONDA is an arrival for someone who took the path they needed to in order to get there. It's a triumph of creativity but also of being.

— // (@AdamCook) August 29, 2021