11/16/2023 0 Comments Kanye west listening party live streamIt became the subtext of the pain he has spent more than a decade examining. In words and in song, West has repeatedly framed her death as a foundational trauma. The emotional throughline of the album is its namesake, Donda West, Kanye’s mother who died in 2007 after complications from plastic surgery. “I’m losing my family,” he sings in “Never Abandon Your Family,” and it is sad and mournful and made more moving when you remember that the family he is talking about - Kim and the kids - were in attendance as Donda unspooled for the public. Lyrically, Kanye is effectively introspective while creating a toned-down version of the messy confessional approach that marked 2018’s Ye or 2016’s Life of Pablo. Kid Cudi, who tweeted two weeks ago that he wasn’t featured on Donda (apparently, at the time, he really wasn’t), showed up in two spots that make good use of his smooth singing. There were guest spots from Jay Electronica, Griselda, and a particularly buoyant Jadakiss verse somewhere in there too. Roddy Ricch features on the excellent “Pure Souls,” while the Weeknd and Lil Baby lend a hand on a retooled “Hurricane,” a song that has evolved since the first listening party. The feature list on the album is overwhelming. This listening event highlighted more songs - more than 20 - than last month’s, with more features and more bars and just… more. West showcased an album that was perhaps his most cohesive since 2013’s Yeezus. Over the next 90 minutes or so, Kanye - once again masked, at times alone, and at times surrounded by a mass of people dressed in black - fist-pumped and did pushups and transformed into a dementor while the latest iteration of Donda played. No matter: For the 35,000 people in attendance, including rap luminaries like Jay-Z and Consequence as well as Kanye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian and his children, and the countless people tuning into the Apple Music livestream, it was time to hit the “Ye” button. When Ye emerged for last night’s Donda listening event, he was again on Kanye Standard Time, showing up around 10:30 p.m. More promising signs: A preorder link appeared on Apple Music by late Thursday afternoon. The clock was a tether to reality - even hope. A clock on the wall counted down to 12:30 a.m., which is a totally reasonable time for an album release. Occasionally, the stream featured bizarre moments and naps and whatever the hell this is. Sure enough, hours before the album was supposed to be released, a live video feed emerged of Kanye inside a windowless room where he appeared to be putting the finishing touches on the record. The deadline sounded promising, particularly because it’s more time than Kanye had typically given himself for the final stretch of his last three projects. 6, with another listening event scheduled for the night before. Word got out that Donda would be pushed back two weeks and released on Aug. He hired a private chef, because a phantom’s gotta eat. He occasionally emerged in the same red getup from the listening party, giving the impression he hadn’t changed for days. Instead, Kanye moved into the arena - reportedly at a cost of $1 million a day - to finish the record, like a hip-hop Phantom of the Opera. No such thing materialized, which was a mercy because, at that point, the songs that had been previewed were brimming with potential but were still incomplete. The album, we were told, would soon follow. Roughly 42,000 people attended and watched Ye - dressed all in red, wearing a full face cover, and not speaking a word - vibing to his own music under a spotlight. Consider: Two weeks ago, in mid-July, West held a listening party at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. You could be forgiven if that’s the impression you’re left with after the chaotic theater surrounding his still-unreleased 10th album, Donda. Kanye West is making his best music in nearly a decade - he’s just not sure he wants you to have it yet.
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