This Friday (July 23), we could possibly be getting a new Kanye West album, as the rapper has been heightening anticipation for the project with a series of private and public listening parties.
This past Sunday, clips surfaced from a Kanye listening session in Las Vegas, where he played songs from a new album reportedly titled Donda in honor of the rapper/producer’s late mother, Dr. Donda West. There is also another listening session set to take place this Thursday (July 22) at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. However, while the album is expected to drop this week, Donda‘s release date has yet to be confirmed by Kanye himself, and with previous albums and releases from Yeezy often subject to change, there’s no telling when we can expect the album with certainty.
Kanye West's 'Donda' tracklist has been spotted in the studio where he was recording‼️? pic.twitter.com/rHdozTf3Y4
— RapTV (@raptvcom) July 17, 2021
Over the past few months, Kanye has been seen with his face covered by T-shirts converted into masks, which could be taken as a fashion statement, or a sign of things to come. And recently, numerous clues have been dropped in regards to the status of the project and what listeners can expect. For instance, a muted clip was posted to rapper Consequences social media account of Ye previewing something for Tyler, The Creator in studio and Tyler’s enthusiastic response. Then, social media star and host Justin Laboy shared his opinion on the album after a private listening, tweeting that the production is “light years ahead of its time” and he see Kanye channeling the energy of projects like College Dropout and Late Registration.
As far as guest appearances, while nothing is ever set in stone with Kanye, those who got a sneak peek of the album have mentioned hearing a Travis Scott and Baby Keem-assisted song, as well as features from Lil Baby and Pusha T. Post Malone and Playboi Carti are also rumored to appear on the project.