Kanye West Best Posts: Boos Reviews Donda Track by Track

  1. Boos
    Posts: 11,372
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    Joined: Feb 15, 2011

    Boos Nova Nation

    Aug 31, 2021
    Had some time to k--- at work so I listened to the album and reviewed it track by track in my spare time between calls. Took longer than expected due to the length of the album lmao, but hey it got me to the end of the day pretty much.


    Jail: What an anthem. “I’ll be honest, we all liars” rings out. I think Kanye putting the song with the most hype around it first, is in a minor “correction” of sorts/doing the opposite of what he did with Blood on the Leaves on Yeezus. The guitar stabs on this are so dope, and the way the choir comes in at certain parts is fire. I’m not sure why there is hate for Jay’s verse. Yeah, there’s a corny line or two, but overall he killed it. “Prayed five times a day, so many fell-on-knees.” The symbolism of these two on a track again speaks for itself. As far as Part 2 goes, Da Baby absolutely goes in, and in a vacuum Manson’s minor addition is actually great. I feel disgusting for saying that, though. The drum outro is vintage Kanye. 9/10

    God Breathed: Sick bassline that sets the cadence for the song. Obviously, it is very reminiscent of Yeezus, and probably was birthed during the same sessions as Wash Us in the Blood. Kanye is rapping about God, but it pulls you in more than pretty much any of his rapping on JIK. The Maury line is awful, though. Kanye is definitely the worst part of the song. Vory -- my f---ing god this kid renegaded the album -- pulls this song way up in score. His part is beautiful. The outro reminds me of Say You Will, but opposed to the 808s intro, this outro feels like it may drag on a bit too much. 7/10

    Off The Grid: The hook to this is a far more tasteful way of expressing the same sentiment as the lines from On God from JIK. “That's why I charge the prices that I charge I can't be out here dancin' with the stars No, I cannot let my family starve.” And it’s hard as f---. Fivio Foreign comes through relentlessly for what has to be 32+ bars, and the modern day Nicki Monster verse. Not a single line was missed. Thank God Kanye came through and spazzed as well for that last verse, minus the bestie bar. Sort of like Gone-lite. What a song. The beat switch is phenomenal as well with how seamless it is. It didn’t stop the track dead in its place. 10/10

    Hurricane: What is there to say. He got the best rapper in the world currently, and threw him on a track with the best vocalist in the world currently. On top of this being an unreleased grail from the Yandhi era (the unreleased version with Big Sean is way more ambitious musically speaking, however.) Baby spits a soulful verse, one of many on the album that could be considered the feature of the year. Kanye’s verse is very introspective and refreshing. “Made the best tracks, and still went off the rails.” I wonder if Kanye even noticed The Weeknd’s shameless plug at the end lol. 9.5/10

    Praise God: Travis on some dark s--- is undefeated. I know he deserves a lot of the negativity thrown his way, but he came through on this. The only negative is that he and Kanye are pretty interchangeable on this and it is difficult to tell the difference at first. The sample of Donda West’s voice is creative as h---, and actually adds to the song rather than feeling forced. All that being said, Keem is the star of this song. So many quotables. Still outside, bada da bing, his mom calling him challenged lmao. Pumped for his album. Let's get right. 8/10

    Jonah: What I would do to get a Kanye song featuring Vory and Justin Vernon. It would be heavenly, no pun intended. Of course, Vory is the star of another song he is tabbed for on this album. So f---ing good. You can feel the pain in his lines, great addition to the song. I like the direction of Kanye’s verse from the perspective of a wiser OG. Vory sings about people getting shot down on the block, Durk spits about the Von/Rondo situation and dropping his location in order to get his vengeance, all while Kanye spits about how doing so is a lose-lose scenario. 7.5/10

    Ok Ok: The beat on the is very eerie. I wish on a song where Kanye says, “they got me wanna rap agan,” that we’d have gotten more than one verse from him. Especially, considering the verse he did spit was amazing. I love the sub shots at Drake and Cole, who bit pieces of his style, while being vocal about how they turned sour on him. Kanye always gets the best out of his features, Lil Yachty is another one. I didn’t think I’d like him on a song like this. The music I do like of his is usually fun, so I was pleasantly surprised with his verse. I love the juxtaposition of putting Rooga on the song right after Durk, and the verse Kanye spit on Jonah plays into that. The woman singing on part two is enjoyable as well. Gave me Yeezus vibes with the dancehall delivery. Solid track. 7/10

    Junya: What a fun track. Mhm mhm. Both go in. Mhm mhm. All playing aside, I love this song and it is a perfect mood changer from a darker stretch to open the album. Ty$ floats as well. Should’ve just had him on the OG. 8.5/10

    Believe What I Say: Vintage dropout trilogy Kanye. What a sample. “People saying tweeting gonna make you die early, how ‘bout how my heart hurting.” What a line. I love the song’s direction, specifically the portions about his marriage. What more can you ask for? Fun track, with some real lines thrown in. That sample of the dude singing is f---ing fire too. Such a perfect track, and a nice ode to the past. So happy we got this song. 10/10

    24: This feels like a song only Kanye could put together. It’s beautiful. The choir with the vocal processing is wild. Kanye is singing his heart out. Another song about God that doesn't seem forced. Refreshing after JIK and personally believing he’d never find a creative way to focus on God while also producing great music. This would serve better as the outro, but I’ll touch on that later. 7/10

    Remote Control: The drums on this are sick. The whistle melody is a nice touch. The vocal melody of “On remote controOoOoOllllllll” is addicting as h---. Thug is the perfect feature for this type of song, and the vocoder section is crazy. Surely, Kanye has to be behind that and I love the vision. “Told a b---- fold my clothes.” LMAOOOOO. Thug is wild. Kanye trolling with the Gabagoola dude is funny. 8/10

    Moon: Don Toliver literally sends me to the moon with these vocals. Holy s---, literally floating away like the Winnie the Pooh gif. Thankfully, Kanye got the moon man himself, Cudi, on this and he was a perfect addition. I just find myself relating to a lot of Cudi’s themes and this song is no different. The harmonies between Toliver, Cudi, and Kanye on the latter half of the song are beautiful. 10/10

    Heaven and h---:
    Sick f---ing sample. Kanye’s rapping on this makes me wish I actually deeply followed my early catholic school upbringing so I could tell the devil to lay down myself. I read a lot of complaints saying a lot of the songs lead up to a big drop but it never comes. Here, I feel like the build up pays off and it gets me hype as f---. Disclaimer: I don’t agree with the build up complaints anyway. What is this EDM? Kanye coming through with sporadic vocal sounds reminiscent of Feel The Love, always gets me going. Great rapping from Kanye, another fantastic instrumental outro. 9/10

    Donda: This is a beautiful intro to the second half of the album. The musicality is fantastic. I wish the rapping was still on it, and if it was I could see a place for this on the tracklist, but it feels like it is only here because of the album title. In a vacuum I would rate it higher, but on a bloated album this one could probably go, or it should’ve been the actual intro. 6.5/10

    Keep My Spirit Alive: Westside Gunn is the standout on this song. Overall it is pretty forgettable. Not offensively bad or anything, just bland. Also, Kanye stop being a lazy f--- and just finish the three lines that he spliced in Roye’s vocals. It sounds like s--- doing that, and it would’ve taken all of five minutes to do it yourself. Like, why? I did enjoy Kanye’s rapping when it was completed, so it’s not all bad. All together, his parts needed a lot more polishing. Kacyy’s hook is great, though. 6.5/10

    Jesus Lord: The Swizz Beatz sample repeating Jesus Lord is dope. I guess Kanye decided to borrow some of the rapping ability on KMSA and use it on this song because, boy, did he come through. Another very introspective verse from him. And not some rinky dink 8 bar verse where he’s barely on the song that he snuck in a few times on Donda, either. I’m sure he is very scorned at the fact everything good he does goes by the wayside in the media, while misstep he makes gets ridiculed more than seemingly any other celebrity that hasn't actually done any of the crimes himself. Not that he is innocent morally, though. Jay Electonica murdered his verse, like how does this mean keep getting away with this! Verse of the year. Also, the Larry Hoover Jr. outro is like the antithesis to the Chris Rock skit at the end of Blame Game lol. As for Part 2, I love how Kanye keeps his eyes and ears to the culture and flew The Lox down the ATL to get on the track as a group the day after they won the Verzuz battle. Hip-hop is unbeatable. 10/10

    New Again: Chris Brown is right. Kanye is a hoe… for putting this song on the album. This song is completely undercooked. The intro vocals sound like they are being sidechained to nothing? Just pumping in and out for no reason. I like the nostalgic sound that reminds me of a Graduation track. The Heyyyy and Hiiii line is hilarious, and there are some other cool moments on here that I wish were fleshed out more, but all together this is the worst song on the album. This song don’t count. 5/10

    Tell The Vison: f--- off. N/A

    Lord I Need You: One of my favorites on the album. What a great ode to his (former?) wife. It is very specific to their relationship, but also very relatable at the same time. The sample is magical, the verse is fire, and the singing puts some nice emotion into the track. The Taco Bell/KFC line in vintage playful Kanye ala mayonnaise colored benz I push miracle whips. Wheezy outta here!! 10/10

    Pure Souls: Roddy spits the line of the album, “the truth is only what you get away with, huh?!” What a line. He killed his whole verse as well. He’s one of my favorites from the new school, for sure. His melodies are top notch. Verses like these are why I fell in love with Kanye to begin with. Just very relatable, not too serious, and just good feel s---. The God’s plan line is very witty. It’s probably my favorite of Kanye’s rapping on the whole album. I love the breakdown by Shenseea of the truth line, it may last a tad bit too long, but I’m not mad at it. Overall, top tier track. 10/10

    Come to Life: Not even kidding when I say this track is only rivaled by Lost in the World for my favorite Kanye track of all time. Holy f--- this song hit me like a ton a bricks. So d--- emotional. I relate to this song on every level. Every time Kanye and Jeff Bhasker write a song together, it becomes a God-tier track. The beat changing to the piano is so d--- good. I don’t even know how to properly put my love for this song into words. It just resonates with my soul. This is why I listen to music. f---, man. Goosebumps every time I play this song, and I can never not run it back. 11/10

    No Child Left Behind: Vory did his f---ing thing again. What a talent. As the outro, Kanye’s input serves it well, having the “he’s down miracles on me” bit serve as the last words. I wish he would have fleshed this song on more, however. I think this could’ve been a killer song if he chose to go that direction. I don’t hate it as it stands as the outro. 8/10


    Ultimately, I really love this album. I thought Kanye was really done after Jesus is King, and his cult-like turn to christianity. However, he found a way to get his faith off all the while still making intriguing music with this album. It feels a bit bloated, but other than a couple of songs, I am struggling to find songs I would cut. I’m a stan, though so my objectivity is a bit skewed. In the end, I am not the artist either so it isnt my job to shave the fat off the album lol. There are some minor arrangement issues that I would have changed, but that’s hardly an issue for me. Also, I wish he would just let the curses rock. It’s not like God isn’t supposedly some omnipresent that can only listen to music that is officially released. If he/she/it exists in the form we are taught, that mother f---er already heard all the curses anyway! But f--- it, it’s 2021 and Kanye made a good album. I’m happy.

    Total score: 8.4
     
    #1
    13
    Modli2, pluto✰, Chrollo and 10 others like this.
    13
    Modli2, pluto✰, Chrollo and 10 others like this.
    Mar 28, 2024
  2. Oldboy
    Posts: 50,757
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    Joined: Feb 14, 2011

    Oldboy Administrator

    Sep 1, 2021
    U overrated almost everything

    album has couple of 9s. Lots of 8s. And lots of 3s as well

    jesus lord pt2 is contender for 10

    album overall is great. Hurricane is 808s incarnated
     
    Mar 28, 2024
  3. Mikey
    Posts: 7,827
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    Joined: Feb 15, 2011

    Sep 1, 2021
    Come To Life is classic for sure. Best song ive heard in a long time.
     
    #8
    5
    pluto✰, Detroit24, Boos and 2 others like this.
    5
    pluto✰, Detroit24, Boos and 2 others like this.
    Mar 28, 2024
  4. lil uzi vert stan
    Posts: 7,755
    Likes: 19,756
    Joined: Feb 15, 2011

    Sep 1, 2021
    Don’t necessarily agree with some of this but well written - nice job. I probably need to play the two hour album a few more times to rly have an opinion
     
    Mar 28, 2024
  5. Michael Myers
    Posts: 40,809
    Likes: 82,820
    Joined: Feb 28, 2011

    Michael Myers Moderator

    Sep 1, 2021
    Nahh its not that bad. People for sure overrate this now but it definitely has gems and not many actual bad songs imo
     
    Mar 28, 2024
  6. pluto✰
    Posts: 17,824
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    Joined: Mar 14, 2011

    pluto✰ where the opioids?

    Sep 1, 2021
    8.4 is very fair, will read soon. album is so emotionally honest man, it’s hard to even classify this as just a kanye album, the features make this the type of album more life wanted to be but a wonderful front to back experience

    gonna go listen to the pure souls outro now
     
    #11
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    Modli2, Ordinary Joel and Boos like this.
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    Mar 28, 2024
  7. BIGFOOT
    Posts: 6,082
    Likes: 14,113
    Joined: Jan 26, 2015

    BIGFOOT More than a myth!

    Sep 1, 2021
    Most are below 5’s with a couple of 7’s
     
    Mar 28, 2024