Kanye West’s tenth album arrives as a 30-track statement built around the memory of his mother, Donda West. It aims for scale and weight at once — voices in unison, drill beats, sermon-style breaks — but the record never settles on what it wants to be. The result is scattered rather than epic.
The Numbers Behind Donda
- Album: Donda — Kanye West (2021)
- Tracks: 30
- Total running time: 118 minutes
- Metacritic: 51/100
Donda Chant Through Praise God
The album opens on Donda Chant, a 52-second loop of a name repeated, setting a mood of ritual before any song proper begins. Jail follows, built on a heavy, distorted guitar line and a guest verse that gives the track real force — it ranks among the record’s best moments. God Breathed drags where Jail hits hard.
Off the Grid is a standout, its guest verses giving the back half real energy over a beat that keeps shifting gears. Hurricane is the heartfelt center of the first stretch — West sounds present here in a way he doesn’t elsewhere. Praise God closes this run strong, its guest verses trading off over a beat that keeps building.
Jonah Through Believe What I Say
Jonah and Ok Ok run together, competent but easy to forget. Junya is a bright, restless exception — its production is lively and fun even if the writing is thin. Believe What I Say stands out for the wrong and right reasons at once: a borrowed vocal line carries a track that otherwise coasts on mood alone.
24 Through Jesus Lord
This stretch is where the album’s excess becomes impossible to overlook. 24, Remote Control, Heaven and Hell, and the title track Donda pass by without urgency — pleasant textures, little substance. Moon offers a softer, more delicate turn than its neighbors, a brief shift in tone that lands.
Keep My Spirit Alive picks the energy back up briefly. Then Jesus Lord runs almost nine minutes, and its length isn’t earned.
That’s the album’s core problem in miniature: ideas worth two minutes stretched past five.
New Again Through No Child Left Behind
New Again, Tell the Vision, Lord I Need You, Pure Souls, Come to Life, and No Child Left Behind make up a long, mostly indistinct middle section. Pure Souls and Come to Life have moments — a strong hook on the former, a piano turn on the latter — but neither earns its length. The rest of this block feels like sketches left unfinished.
Jail Pt 2 Through Nah Nah Nah
The back half repeats itself, literally. Jail Pt 2 and Ok Ok Pt 2 add little to their originals beyond new verses. Junya Pt 2 is looser and less interesting than the first version. Jesus Lord Pt 2 stretches to 11:30, doubling down on the first version’s excess without giving a reason for it to exist. Nah Nah Nah closes out the main sequence on a low note.
The Guests on Jail Pt 2
Jail Pt 2 drew the most attention of anything here — and not for musical reasons. Its guest features landed as provocations rather than artistic risks, and they sit uneasily against the album’s stated purpose as a tribute to West’s mother.
One review said the album was “merely punctuated with moments of greatness.” The Los Angeles Times went further, calling it “depressing, exhausting” — a fair description of the listening experience by the album’s final third. Rolling Stone’s take lands closest to ours: West’s tenth album is an too long mess, dotted with moments of sincerity and some impressive music.
Verdict on Donda
Donda has real songs in it — Hurricane, Jail, Off the Grid, Praise God, and Believe What I Say all hold up on their own. But an album is not a playlist of best moments buried in filler and repetition. West had a tighter, better record inside this one and chose not to make it.
- Donda Chant0:52
- Jail4:57
- God Breathed5:33
- Off the Grid5:39
- Hurricane4:03
- Praise God3:46
- Jonah3:15
- Ok Ok3:24
- Junya2:27
- Believe What I Say4:02
- 243:17
- Remote Control3:18
- Moon2:36
- Heaven and Hell2:25
- Donda2:08
- Keep My Spirit Alive3:41
- Jesus Lord8:58
- New Again3:03
- Tell the Vision1:44
- Lord I Need You2:42
- Pure Souls5:58
- Come to Life5:10
- No Child Left Behind2:58
- Jail Pt 24:57
- Ok Ok Pt 23:24
- Junya Pt 23:02
- Jesus Lord Pt 211:30
- Nah Nah Nah2:59
- Wash Us in the Blood3:10
- Nah Nah Nah (remix)3:12
