Kanye West has finally released his long-awaited album “Donda” after months of delays.
The rapper, 44, launched the 27-track record on to streaming services after a number of promotional events that did not culminate in the release of new music.
The album, which was initially promised a year ago and has suffered multiple delays, features material from controversial figures Marilyn Manson and DaBaby.
West had said the record would arrive in July, then spent time living at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had held a listening party, while working on completing the record.
At the most recent listening event in Chicago, his estranged wife Kim Kardashian West made a show-stealing cameo, emerging from the audience in a wedding dress months after filing for divorce from the rapper. West’s 10th studio record is named after his late mother.
The album, a follow-up to 2019’s “Jesus Is King’’, features collaborators including Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi and the late rapper Pop Smoke. The track “Jail’’, which isthe second on the album, features Jay-Z.
At the recent listening event, West had replaced his verse on the track with one by DaBaby, who was recently criticised for homophobic comments made at a music festival.
West appeared to offer an explanation for DaBaby’s absence from the track with screenshots of text messages shared on Instagram.
One screenshot appears to be of a text conversation with one of his representatives, in which West is told that DaBaby’s manager has not cleared the cameo on “Jail”. Another screenshot appears to be of text messages between West and DaBaby, in which West tells him the delay is preventing the album from coming out.
Another track, “Jail pt 2’’, does feature a verse by DaBaby.
Both “Jail” and “Jail pt 2” give co-writing credit to Brian Warner,the real name of shock rocker Marilyn Manson, who has denied multiple allegations of sexual assault and who made a surprise appearancealongside West and DaBaby at the recent event in Chicago.
Donda West was an English professor at Chicago State University who died in 2007 aged 58 following complications from cosmetic surgery.Her death had a devastating impact on West, who as well as his latestalbum also named a creative content company after her. — PA Media-dpa
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