Kanye West spent the last month-plus hyping up his tenth studio album, DONDA, playing it in football stadiums and tinkering with a sprawling track list that features as many A-listers as the Met Gala. This past Sunday the official release finally appeared, avoiding a rumored showdown with Drake’s new album, which will come out on September 3.
Ever since Life of Pablo, Kanye has embraced a kind of chaotic, real time approach to making music, allowing fans to hear works-in-progress and fine-tuning after the release. And he’s worked with artists and producers from well outside the Kanye West Cinematic Universe for even longer: This is the guy who gave us “Heard ‘Em Say” with Adam Levine in 2005 and tapped Jon Brion to co-produce a whole album, after all.
So scanning the liner notes of a new Kanye West project is often just as interesting as listening to the music itself—who made the cut, who got dropped at the last minute, and who got added? Much has already been made of the momentous Jay-Z reunion. Kid Cudi appears on the finished version of “Moon,” for instance, but his verse on the iteration of “Remote Control” that Kanye played during the August 5th listening is gone. And one version of the song that we’ve never heard apparently included a verse from Soulja Boy—who is now very unhappy that Kanye reached out to him just to scrap his contribution.
DONDA presents 27 tracks and over 100 minutes of music to sift through. These are the most interesting and surprising contributors to its latest (and, hopefully, final) form.
Syleena Johnson. The first voice we hear on the official version of DONDA isn’t that of Kanye or the album’s namesake, his mother. Instead, it’s Chicago R&B singer Syleena Johnson, who worked regularly with West in his early years. The record begins with “Donda Chant,” where Johnson says her name in percussive, hypnotizing fashion. The 52 second song creates a bit of semantic satiation for the listener–that feeling when you’ve heard the same word so many times it feels like it’s not really a word at all anymore.
The two Illinois artists haven’t put out music together in at least a decade. Johnson is perhaps best known for her passionate performance on the hook of “All Falls Down,” where she interpolates Lauryn Hill’s “Mystery of Iniquity.” West sampled the original song on an early iteration of his hit, but Johnson’s added grit helped make “All Falls” a smash. Johnson also sang on the Cam’ron and Kanye record “Down and Out,” while West produced her 2005 track “Bull’s-Eye (Suddenly).”
Ojivolta. This relatively unknown writing and production duo worked on a whopping 19 of the album’s tracks. They’ve already built up a pretty impressive CV despite a low profile, working on marquee pop songs for Shawn Mendes, Halsey, and Jon Bellion. In an Instagram post, producers Mark Williams and Raul Cubina credit the singer KayCyy (more on him later) with “being the link that made all this possible.”
88-Keys. This producer and vocalist emerged from New York City in the late ‘90s and, like West, helped push conscious rap to a more interesting and dynamic place sonically. In his early years, he made beats for artists like Mos Def, Consequence, and Macy Gray–in an old interview, 88 recalls that West was thrilled to meet him because of his work on Mos’ Black on Both Sides—and West would go on to executive produce 88’s first (and only) solo LP, The Death of Adam.
In the 2010s, 88-Keys worked with Jay-Z and Kanye on “No Church in the Wild,” Theophilus London on the West-featuring “Can’t Stop,” and even Sia on “Reaper.” On DONDA, he has more credits than he’s ever gotten on a Kanye record. He is listed as co-producer on both parts of “Jail,” “Remote,” “Heaven and Hell,” “New Again,” and “Pure Souls.”
Boi-1da. With the exception of Noah “40” Shebib, there may not be a producer more associated with Drake than fellow Torontonian Boi-1da. That’s why it’s a bit of an eye-opener that he’s got a credit on both versions of “Ok Ok” that appear on DONDA, since the Kanye-Drake feud recently flared up again. The song features Rooga and Lil Yachty, with dancehall artist Shenseea contributing a verse to “Pt. 2.” Fans online have noted that Kanye’s singing cadence is actually reminiscent of Drake’s more melodic work, and certain lyrics like “You wanna come in and play with the GOAT” could be interpreted as subliminal snipes at his rival.
The last time Boi-1da was credited on a Kanye track was The Life of Pablo’s “Real Friends.”
With Certified Lover Boy on the horizon, it will be interesting to see whether Boi-1da has been working with the two stars concurrently.
KayCyy. Kenyan artist KayCyy is another one of the new names on the album, adding vocals to “Hurricane,” “24,” and “Keep My Spirit Alive.” Per Complex, he’s been working with West for more than 18 months, and may be releasing music through Kanye’s new label YZY SND. “Every time Kanye would introduce me to people like Trav or Justin Bieber and all these people, he’d be, like, ‘Man, here’s my first artist out of YZY SND,’” KayCyy told Complex. “It’s like the Yeezy School of Music. You’re going to learn something there, and you’re going to meet somebody important there. Everybody’s there for a reason.”
Shenseea. The Jamaican vocalist makes two impressive contributions, singing the gospel-inflected outro to “Pure Souls,” where she riffs over an organ about God’s infinitude, and contributing a verse on “Ok Ok, Pt. 2.”
The former showcases her pure, crystalline singing voice, while the latter is an athletic, melodic rap. Over the last five years, Shenseea has developed a large following in the dancehall community, but her role as a key figure on DONDA means scores more will be introduced to the talented 24-year-old. Earlier this year, rumors circulated that Shenseea was involved with Drake and even pregnant with his child, but she vehemently shut them down in July.
Marilyn Manson & DaBaby. While Kanye has always presented himself as a wild card who’s willing to buck orthodoxies, his decision to have controversial artists Marilyn Manson and DaBaby appear together on “Jail, Pt. 2” is difficult to stomach. (Both were also present at the Chicago listening event.)
In a February Instagram post, actor Evan Rachel Wood came forward about the ways in which Manson “horrifically abused” her during their relationship, including “grooming” her as a teenager. Since then, many others have spoken up about harrowing things done to them by Manson, including allegations of rape and physical assault.
DaBaby has been widely criticized since making comments at Rolling Loud on July 25 that were both anti-LGBTQ+ and discriminatory against people suffering from HIV and AIDS. The Charlotte rapper, who previously worked with West on “Nah Nah Nah,” has oscillated between generic apologies and seemingly lashing out at “cancel culture.” He indulges in the latter during his verse. “I said one thing they ain’t like, threw me out like they ain’t care for me/Threw me out like I’m garbage,” he says on “Jail.” At the listening, West only played the version with DaBaby, leading many to believe Jay-Z had been removed.
The song also caused some additional 11th hour controversy when DONDA was initially released without it. “Universal put my album out without my approval and they blocked ‘Jail 2 [sic]’ from being on the album, West wrote on Instagram. Text message screenshots posted by West indicated that DaBaby’s manager hadn’t cleared the verse, and that it was holding up the release. “I’m not taking my brother off. He was the only person who said he would vote for me in public,” West wrote to his manager. “Jail 2” is the 24th track on the album.
Buju Banton & Lauryn Hill. DONDA isn’t nearly as sample-centric as West’s early albums, but the handful it features are noteworthy in their own right. The best-known is easily his flip of Lauryn Hill’s Grammy-winning “Doo Wop (That Thing),” which West uses as the backbone of the bouncy “Believe What I Say.” Kanye has been teasing the song for nearly a year, and it’s one of the clear highs on this latest iteration of the album. That track also features a spoken bridge by reggae legend Buju Banton. In September 2020, West flew to Banton’s recording studio in Jamaica, so it’s possible they worked on the song together there. West has a long history of flipping reggae music into songs like “Mercy” and JAY-Z’s “Lucifer.”
Jeff Bhasker. Another Kanye stalwart is back in the fold, as veteran producer Jeff Bhasker earned a credit on “Come to Life.” Bhasker has worked on a wide array of West projects, from Kids See Ghosts to 808s & Heartbreak to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The songs on DONDA have traces of Kanye eras past—“Come to Life,” a somber ballad featuring West’s reflections on everything from family strife to his marital struggles (it’s the song he played at Soldier Field as he lit himself on fire), has strong 808s vibes, which Bhasker was all over.
Rooga. West’s hometown of Chicago is a key theme on DONDA, so it’s fitting he got one of the city’s hottest rising rappers on it. (Rooga also performed his song “GD Anthem” at Soldier Field during the Chicago listening.) The bruising MC contributes the closing verse to “Ok Ok,” in which he laments betrayal by those he once thought were close friends.
Rooga’s appearance has also garnered attention because of his affiliation with the GDs (Gangster Disciples), a gang originally founded in Chicago by Larry Hoover. Lil Durk, another Illinois rapper and guest on DONDA’s “Jonah,” is known for his affiliation with the BDs (Black Disciples). Tension between the two groups has been a troubling fixture of life in certain South Side Chicago neighborhoods for decades now. Perhaps it’s no coincidence both are featured on DONDA.
Larry Hoover, Jr. Over the last few years, Kanye has been an advocate for the freeing of the founder of the GDs. Hoover has been imprisoned for decades, serving out six life sentences in a Colorado prison. West met with Donald Trump to push for Hoover’s release under the First Step Act, which aims to reform nonviolent drug sentencing.
Hoover’s son has been involved in the campaign for his father’s release. He closes out both iterations of “Jesus Lord” by thanking West for his work advocating for his father, and shares how his incarceration has affected his family. “First and foremost, I wanna thank you for taking the fight for my father to the Oval Office. You might not have been the only one that could’ve did that. But you were the one that did do that,” he said. West also speaks about Hoover on “Pure Souls,” singing, “This Southside, and we outside/And for all the guys that went to the White House and said, ‘Free the old man.’”
Fivio Foreign. It’s hard to deny the infectious energy of Fivio Foreign, who contributes one verse on “Off the Grid,” but also riddles “Ok Ok” with his trademark ad-libs (although sadly we don’t get a “Viral!” or “Movie!” here). His rapping on “Off the Grid” is among the most clear-eyed and impressive of his career, full of his trademark bravado, but also engaging with West’s religious motifs in very candid, compelling ways. “When I was in jail, I was lowkey/Shout out to supporters that wrote me/Eat food, work out and then go to sleep/You know I’m prayin’, He carryin’ both feet,” the Brooklyn drill star says.
According to Fivio, West will return the favor by executive producing his next album. If they’re able to recreate the formula from DONDA, it could be a real breakthrough moment.
Baby Keem. It’s been a hell of a weekend for 20-year-old rapper and songwriter Baby Keem, who snagged Kendrick Lamar’s first major verse in years on his new single “family ties,” and capped it off by joining Kanye and Travis Scott on “Praise God.” Some fans are upset about tweaks to the beat and verses of the song, which has undergone a series of changes at each listening. Still, Keem’s verse is raucous and sprawling, featuring one of the album’s most clever bars about Christianity (“Y’all treat your Lord and Savior like renters’ insurance, you know what I mean?”).
This is actually the second collaboration between Keem and Scott, whose single from April, “Durag Activity,” became the former’s highest-charting song when it peaked at no. 85 on the Billboard Hot 100. He’s currently at work on his first studio album, which seems like a star-making moment for the eccentric talent.
BoogzDaBeast. Chicago producer BoogzDaBeast might not have as many credits as Ojivolta, but he still racked up double digits, most notably on “Pure Souls,” “Believe What I Say,” and “Hurricane.” Boogz is a more recent addition to the Kanyesphere, receiving co-production credits on songs like “Mercy,” but really breaking through with his work on Jesus is King and several records from the G.O.O.D. Music Wyoming sessions (Kids See Ghosts, Teyana Taylor’s K.T.S.E. and Nasir). Boogz also worked on “Tell the Vision,” the Pop Smoke song featuring Pusha-T and West that appears in truncated form here.
Jay Electronica. It’s always at least a little surprising when Jay Electronica pops up on a song. Though this is their first official release, it’s not the first music Kanye and Jay Elec have made together. According to Jay, they worked on music for his album Act II: The Patents of Nobility, but it remains unreleased.
His verse “Jesus Lord” is dense and heady, featuring another ace entry to the Jay Electronica name pun canon (“Jay Elec-entendre-nica”), and some heated lyrics about America’s foreign policy failings. “But I flew my Ducati through North America like Wakanda/Earthquakes will strike this nation for what Bush did to Rwanda,” he says.
In a since-deleted tweet from March 2021, Electronica shared a message of encouragement with West. “[Kanye] from afar, seems like Almighty God is putting His final touches on His Mighty Sword (you). I would imagine the pain is intense. After this though, you unstoppable. Flame on King! and as for the rest of em, my mom would just say ‘Well son, fuck ‘em.’”
The Lox. It’s been smooth sailing for The Lox following their upset decimation of Dipset in the August 3 Madison Square Garden Verzuz event. Anchored by Jadakiss and a supremely polished performance that highlighted their chemistry, the Yonkers trio are re-entrenched in the zeitgeist and wound up being a late addition to DONDA.
Styles had worked with Kanye on the YANDHI sessions, specifically on a track titled “Cash to Burn” that featured the pair alongside jazz musician Kenny G. Jadakiss has a long history working with West, from his second album in 2004 all the way to Chief Keef’s “Don’t Like” remix. Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, and Styles P rap together on “Jesus Lord, Pt. 2,” the album’s 11-plus minute closing cut. Each MC highlights his unique qualities, but Sheek particularly impresses with brash, witty bars like, “Devil like, ‘Jesus Christ, he gotta be stopped’ / I don’t say ‘What’s up?’ you basically blocked.”